Ebru Çetin

The effect of moderate altitude on some respiratory parameters of physical education and sports' students.

Objectives. Analysis of the effects of moderate altitude on some respiratory functions of students enrolled in School of Physical Education and Sports. Methods. The study group comprised of 9 female and 10 male volunteers who were attending a 5-day skiing training camp. All participants were enrolled in School of Physical Education and Sports at Gazi University. The male students had an age range of 22.2 ± 1.7 years, height of 175.0 ± 4.3 cm, and body weight of 71.0 ± 10.4 kg; the female students had an age range of 21.2 ± 1.7 years, height of 167.1 ± 4.9 cm, and body weight of 53.7 ± 4.8 kg. Respiratory tests were performed on the 1st and 5th days (the first and second measurements) at an altitude of 1880 m (in Ilgaz Mountain); 10 days after being exposed to high altitude, further tests were performed at an altitude of 856 m (in Ankara) (the third measurement). Data were analyzed using SPSS software (version 10.0). Intragroup differences were analyzed using repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA). According to the results of normality test results, an independent-sample t test was used in comparisons between the groups. A significance level of p < .05 was used in analysis. Results. Statistical analysis indicated that there was no significant difference between the intragroup comparisons of female and male students. Intergroup comparisons showed significant differences in forced vital capacity (FVC), forced expiratory volume (FEV), peak expiratory flow (PEF), maximal voluntary ventilation (MVV), and VC parameters (p < .05). Conclusion. The authors conclude that moderate altitude does not have any effect on some respiratory parameters after 5 days of skiing camp.

Analysis of the Relationship between Elite Wrestlers’ Leg Strength and Balance Performance, and Injury History

The purpose of this study is to examine the correlation between leg power and balance performance in elite wrestlers and injury history. In the research group, there are 18 elite freestyle male wrestlers at the ages of 24.27 ± 3.18 years, with a height of 171.86 ± 5.44 cm and a body weight of 79.27 ± 11.16 kg. Information on the injury history of the athletes’ upper legs for the past year was collected via interviews with the club’s physiotherapist. Laboratory tests to measure performance assessed height, body weight, Y balance and isokinetic leg strength. Data obtained from the study are presented as mean and standard deviation. The test of normality was carried out by the Shapiro-Wilk test. The Pearson Correlation Test was performed for all parameters with normal distribution, and significance level was accepted as p < 0.05. It was found that there is a relationship between the wrestlers’ right leg ratio and hamstring strength and injury history. However, there is no statistically significant relationship between left leg hamstring, quadriceps, ratio, right leg quadriceps, or right and left leg balance performance, and injury history. The resulting data shows that the proportioning between hamstring and quadriceps muscles in freestyle wrestlers’ upper leg strength values is not ideal. This finding provides evidence that injury risk increases with the additional impact of loss of strength.

Effect of roller-ski aerobic high-intensity interval training on leg muscle strength in cross-country skiers

ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of roller-ski aerobic high-intensity interval training on leg muscle strength and time-trial performance after 8-week of roller-ski uphill training. The sample comprised of 10 males (age, 18.8±2.1 years) and 8 females (age, 16.1±0.3 years) junior cross-country skiers, who performed 8-week intervention training periods three times a week in addition to their normal seasonal training. All skiers performed all-out uphill interval training, 2 sets as long duration (10-15 minutes), at 85-92 percent of HRmax with total duration of 40-45 minutes (height difference is 144 MT and 2-km distance). Before and after the intervention period all athletes were tested for hamstring and quadriceps isokinetic strength at 600/sec and 2-km time-trial performance. Both group improved leg muscle strength and time-trial performance between pre- and post-test (all p<0.05). In conclusion, 8-week of supplemental aerobic high-intensity interval training promotes increases in isokinetic strength and time-trial performance.

Investigating the effect of sport branch on predicting the quadriceps strength of athletes using support vector machines

Quadriceps refers to a group of four muscles on the front of the thigh. Adequate quadriceps strength is essential for athletic performance. Quadriceps strength in athletes can be reliably assessed using isokinetic dynamometry. Also, some studies in literature showed the possibility of predicting the quadriceps strength of athletes using machine learning methods within acceptable error rates. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of sport branch on quadriceps strength prediction using Support Vector Machine (SVM). The dataset included 70 athletes selected from the College of Physical Education and Sport at Gazi University. The optimal values of SVM parameters have been found by using grid search. The predictor variables gender, age, height, weight and sport branch have been utilized to build sixteen different quadriceps strength prediction models. By carrying out 10-fold cross-validation, the performance of the prediction models has been evaluated by calculating the root mean square errors (RMSEs) and multiple correlation coefficients (Rs). The results show that the RMSEs of the prediction models change from 23.31 to 47.78 Nm. The model including the predictor variables gender, height, weight and sport branch yields the lowest RMSE and highest R. One can conclude that sport branch has a profound effect for predicting the quadriceps strength of athletes.

New prediction models for the maximal oxygen uptake of collegeaged students using non-exercise data

Maximal oxygen uptake (VO2max) refers to the maximal amount of oxygen that an individual can utilize during intense or maximal exercise. VO2max plays a significant role in sport science, education and research. The direct measurement of VO2max is time-consuming, requires expensive laboratory equipment and trained staff. Because of these disadvantages of direct measurement, numerous VO2max prediction models for a variety of subject groups have been developed. The purpose of this study is to develop new Multiple Linear Regression based on VO2max prediction models for Turkish college students by using physiological and questionnaire variables. The dataset includes the data of 62 (28 females and 34 males) students, ranging in age from 18 to 27 years, from the College of Physical Education and Sports Science at Gazi University. Seven different models consisting of the predictor variables gender, age, weight, height, Perceived Functional Ability scores (PFA1 and PFA-2), and Physical Activity Rating score (PA-R) have been used to predict VO2max. The performance of the prediction models has been evaluated by calculating their standard error of estimates (SEE’s) and multiple correlation coefficients (R’s). The prediction model including Gender, Age, Height, Weight, PFA-1 and PAR yields the lowest SEE with 5.14 mL.kg-1.min-1 and highest R with 0.93. It can be concluded that in situations where it is difficult to measure VO2max, the given model with MLR equation can be used to predict the VO2max of college students with acceptable error rates.

Effect of Aerobic High-Intensity Interval Training on VO2max and Anaerobic Power in Cross-Country Skiers

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether eight weeks of aerobic high-intensity interval training with roller ski is effective in cross-country skiers. 10 male (age, 18.28 ± 2.1 years; height, 171.26 ± 4.12 cm; weight 61.39 ± 6.28 kg) and 8 female (age, 16.05 ± 0.3 years; height, 158.3 ± 6.47 cm; weight, 49.34 ± 0.7 kg) junior cross country skiers completed the study. All skiers performed a 2 × 2-km all-out uphill intervals with roller-skis, 3 times a week, in addition to their traditional training program. Measurements included VO2max (maximal oxygen uptake), anaerobic power, and also for 2-km roller ski. All values were listed as pre-to post-test mean (± SD), significant level, and percentage changes (%). Pre-to post-testing changes in VO2max, anaerobic power, and also 2-km roller ski performance were significantly higher during all post-test trials in all groups (P < 0.005). With reference to the training effects found in our study, we suggest that the skiers should integrate the roller ski aerobic high-intensity interval uphill models in their training programs for improving performance.