Effects of Six Weeks of High-Intensity Functional Training on Physical Performance in Participants with Different Training Volumes and Frequencies

Effects of functional training on muscle strength, jumping, and functional movement screen in wushu athletes: A systematic review

This study aims to analyse the effects of functional training on muscle strength, jumping, and functional movement screen in wushu athletes.

METHODS

This study followed the guidelines of the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA). A systematic search of electronic databases was also conducted, including EBSCOhost, Scopus, PubMed, Web of Science, CNKI, Google Scholar, and Wanfang. The Physiotherapy Evidence Database (PEDro) scale was an effective indicator to evaluate the quality of studies included in the systematic review.

RESULTS

This systematic review included 474 participants aged 8-24 years old. The intervention period for most studies was 12 weeks. Among the included studies, 6 focused on muscle strength, 4 on jumping performance, and 11 on functional movement screen.

CONCLUSION

These articles have been analysed, and the positive impact of functional training interventions on muscle strength, jumping, and functional movement screen of wushu athletes has been verified.

Effects of functional training on sprinting, jumping, and functional movement in athletes: A systematic review

This systematic review aims to illuminate the effects of functional training on sprinting, jumping, and functional movements in athletes. A systematic search of electronic databases—that include PubMed, EBSCOhost (Sport Discus), SCOPUS, ProQuest, Google Scholar, and additional references—was carried out using keywords associated with functional training, jumping, sprinting, functional movement skills, and athletes, in compliance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) statement criteria. The Physiotherapy Evidence Database (PEDro) scale was used to measure the methodological quality of the studies included in the systematic review. Results: From a total of 220 studies, 15 included ones met all eligibility criteria and were scored between 4-5 points—considered as“ moderate quality”—by the PEDro scale. Most studies recorded positive effects of functional training on athletes’ sprinting, jumping, and functional movement. In contrast, a small number of studies did not find any positive effects of functional training on sprinting, squat jump, vertical jump, and countermovement jump due to the short duration and frequency of the training, as well as the lack of additional exercises that come with the interventions. Furthermore, the reviewed studies reveal that there is limited research within the literature on 5, 15, 25, and 50 m sprinting, squat jump, quadrant jump, and functional movement in athletes. Conclusion: Although the length of training interventions varied across studies in this systematic review, functional training interventions were found to help improve athletes’ performance. The review reveals that training duration, intensity, and frequency are some critical variables that need to be taken into account when developing a successful functional training intervention for athletes. More studies are required to evaluate the influence of different accessible functional training durations on athletes’ sprinting, jumping performance, and functional movement. Finally, further research needs to be done to investigate the impacts of functional training on performance and movement skills of male and female athletes at all levels in other sports.

Systematic Review Registration: https://inplasy.com/inplasy-2022-5-0130/, identifier INPLASY202250130

Application of Functional Training in Sports Dance Training

With the rapid development of the economy, people's various needs for daily life are also increasing. Because this sport combines sports and dance, which makes the sport have the effect of physical fitness, as well as the emotional edification and visual beauty that dance brings to dancers and audiences. With the increase in people's needs, at the same time, corresponding to the relatively insufficient functional training of the project, this problem makes sports dance, the international standard ballroom dance, always at a low level of development, and at the same time, makes it lack of competitiveness. Also, the nature of dance is now more of a viewing experience. In view of the lack of functional training in international standard ballroom dancing, this article will study the role of functional training in this. By adopting the technology of human body feature recognition and functional action screening, it implements the steps of human action recognition detection technology, human action tracking technology, human body posture shape recognition method, and functional action screening. And the final experimental results show that functional training can screen out 57.3% of female dancers, with ligament damage, and 52.1% of male dancers. The screen outs were more than half of the total numbers, which shows that functional training effectively improves international standard ballroom dance that can provide good assistance for dancers' training.

Effects of Training Loads on Stress Tolerance and Mucosal Immunity in High-Intensity Functional Fitness Athletes

Purpose: This study aimed to analyze the effects of training load on stress tolerance (ST) and secretory immunoglobulin A (SIgA) in male and female high-intensity functional fitness (HIFF) athletes during two different 10 and consecutive weekly training volume loads [higher (week 1) and lower volume (week 2)]. Methods: 14 athletes [7 males: 29.3 (±5.8) years; 86.3 (±8.2) kg and 176.8 (±3.8) cm and 7 females: 32.7 (±4.4) years; 60.0 (±6.7) kg and 162.5 (±5.9) cm] participated. The ST, assessed by Daily Analysis of Life Demand in Athletes questionnaire (DALDA) and Saliva sampling were performed in four time-points (pre (T1) and post (T2) week 1; pre (T3) and post (T4) week 2). Results: Female athletes showed a decrease in ST (symptoms of stress) from 15 T1 to T3 [F_(3,36) = 7.184, p˂ 0.001, ηp² = 0.374], without difference in male athletes (p > .05). There is a significant difference of SIgA concentration [F_(3.36) = 3.551; p = .024; ηp² = 0.228], with a significant decrease in female athletes group in T2 compared to T1 (p = .013) and T4 (p = .023). In addition, the different training volume loads did not impact mucosal immunity in male athletes (p > .05). Conclusion: The current findings suggest that higher HIFF volume results in decreased ST and SIgA concentration in female 20 athletes and a subsequent decrease in training volume loads contributed to restoring these variables.

Is There Any Non-functional Training? A Conceptual Review

This conceptual review investigates whether functional training (FT) is a different approach from traditional strength, power, flexibility, and endurance (aerobic or cardiorespiratory) training already adopted in the physical training plan of professional, recreational athletes, healthy, and older adults. The 20 most recent papers published involving FT were searched in the PubMed/Medline database. Definition, concepts, benefits, and the exercises employed in FT programs were analyzed. The main results were: (a) there is no agreement about a universal definition for FT; (b) FT programs aim at developing the same benefits already induced by traditional training programs; (c) exercises employed are also the same. The inability to define FT makes the differentiation from traditional training programs difficult. Physical training programs can be easily described and classified as strength, power, flexibility, endurance, and the specific exercises employed (e.g., traditional resistance training, ballistic exercises, plyometrics and Olympic-style weightlifting, continuous and high-intensity interval training). This apt description and classification may provide consistent and clear communication between students, coaches, athletes, and sports scientists. Based on the current evidence and to avoid confusion and misconceptions, we recommend that the terms FT, high-intensity FT, and functional fitness training no longer describe any physical training program.