This week in the world of sports science, here’s what happened…
- Feet flat or lifted when bridging?
- The Athlete Sleep Behaviour Questionnaire has been updated!
- NBA Inside The Game: a fan experience like never before!
Feet flat or lifted when bridging?
The bridge exercise is a staple in the strength and conditioning as well as rehabilitation fields. It is typically performed with either the feet flat on the ground (ankle plantarflexion) or lifted off the ground (ankle dorsiflexion). Many people believe that bridging with the feet lifted off the ground enhances gluteal muscle activation even further.
However, recently, physiotherapist Thomas Dekkers challenged this common belief on LinkedIn. He referred to research involving 20 participants who performed five-second isometric holds in various bridge positions. The EMG results showed some interesting findings: bridging with feet flat effectively increased hamstring recruitment, while elevating the feet resulted in greater activation of the hip adductor muscles and quadriceps.
So, the next time you are bridging, remember that foot positioning really does make a difference!
The Athlete Sleep Behaviour Questionnaire has been updated!
The Athlete Sleep Behaviour Questionnaire (ASBQ) was created to evaluate and track the sleeping behaviours of athletes. However, it has since been revised and updated to the ASBQ-2, which aims to align more closely with the latest research in sleep science and provide a more accurate assessment of athletes’ sleep behaviours.
The ASBQ-2 still has 18 questions scored from 1 to 5 (Never = 1, Rarely = 2, Sometimes = 3, Frequently = 4, Always = 5). However, the questions have been updated to enhance specificity and improve the accuracy of assessing sleep behaviours.
If you have been using the original ASBQ, please note that the newly updated ASBQ-2 is now recommended instead. For a detailed look at the changes made to the questions and the reasoning behind them, please click here.
If you are trying to improve your sleep, why not check out our relevant blog, 8 Powerful Tips To Help Your Athletes Sleep Better and our course “Sleep” by Dr. Hugh Fullagar.
NBA Inside The Game: a fan experience like never before!
Basketball enthusiasts are on the verge of experiencing the game like never before, thanks to Amazon’s innovative AI platform, “NBA Inside The Game.” This cutting-edge technology will harness AI and real-time tracking of 29 player points to provide next-level analytics during games.
Fans will enjoy a range of exciting features, including shot difficulty, which reveals just how challenging each attempt was; expected field goal percentage, an AI-driven prediction of shot success based on player pose and defender positioning; and the Defensive Score Box, which will focus on a defender’s impact, highlighting their ability to contest shots and create stops. The Play Finder feature will enable fans to delve into game footage and search for specific plays.
NBA Inside The Game represents an exhilarating development for basketball fans and showcases how AI is not only transforming sports but also enhancing the overall fan experience!
If you’re interested in how AI is transforming the sports industry, our podcast episode (click here) featuring Jake Schuster, CEO of Gemeni Sports Analytics, is highly recommended.
From us this week:
>> New course: Velocity Based Training
>> New podcast: How Scotland Built a Fitter, Faster, Stronger Rugby Team
>> New infographic: Dexa Scans
>> New article: Hydrotherapy
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