American Journal of Sports Science and Medicine

In consequence of USADA’s charges, Lance Armstrong conceded he doped during his cycling career. The logic proposed in the post hoc fallacy entails that Armstrong’s sportive feats are therefore ‘caused’ by his doping use. This fallacy generalizes to the belief put forward in the doping debate that the progress in speed over time in professional cycling is determined by riders’ use of progressively potent doping agents. To examine this fallacy, the current study compared Armstrong’s mountain time trial wins, realized in the Tour de France (2001, 2004), to victories demonstrated by riders in similar races uphill in the French race (1958–1996, N = 17). The fallacy expects that riders will race faster over time and that Armstrong’s achievements will be far superior to other riders. However, if these expectations are disconfirmed the fallacy will be refuted. We developed a climbing index to evaluate riders’ km/h performances: Cl_I = (Corrected altitude climb / Distance trial) ● 100. Higher values indicate more demanding races. Mediation regression analyses showed that, over time, the trials became less demanding, b = -.0076 (∆R² = .201, p ≤ .05), and that riders raced b = 0.201 km/h faster per year (∆R² = .234, p ≤ .05). The index had a robust influence on riders’ speed (r = -.97) and they raced b = -2.302 km/h slower per unit of the index (∆R² = .932, p ≤ .0001). The significant mediating influence of the index, b = 0.175 km/h (p ≤ .05), subsequently reduced riders’ progress in speed to a nonsignificant b = 0.026 km/h per year (p = .38, ∆R² = .003). Furthermore, Armstrong’s performances did not prove to be outliers. Findings invalidate the reasoning employed in the post hoc fallacy, since the CL_Iand not the year in which riders competed constitutes themain determinant of riders’ performances. They also entail that Armstrong’s modern doping agents may not have given him the proposed advantage over his forerunners who won trials before the 1990s, i.e., the years in which these potent aids were not yet rampant in professional road racing.

American Journal of Sports Science and Medicine. 2013, 1(4), 63-70. DOI: 10.12691/ajssm-1-4-3
Pub. Date: November 22, 2013

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Effects of Acute Consumption of L-Carnitine Tartrate (LCLT) Following an Exhaustive Aerobic Exercise on Serum Lipoproteins Levels in Iranian Elite Wrestlers

by Mostafa Dehghani, Saeid Shakerian, Mohammad Kazem Gharib Nasseri, Massood Nikbakht and Sedigheh Heidari Nejad

Original Research

Background and Objective: In this study, the effect of LCLT supplementation was investigated on serum levels of high-density lipoprotein, low-density lipoprotein, and very low-density lipoprotein following an exhaustive aerobic exercise in elite wrestlers. Materials and Methods: Twenty healthy elite male wrestlers with a mean age of 22.05 ± 2.6 years, mean weight of 77.10 ± 11.65 kg, mean height of 1.79 ± 0.06 cm, and mean body mass index of 23.79 ± 2.45 kg/m² were participated in this single-blind clinical trial. The subjects were selectively divided into two groups of supplement and placebo. Ninety minutes before performing Conconi protocol, the supplement group received 3 g of LCLT dissolved in 200 ml water plus 6 drops of lemon juice and the placebo group received 200 ml water plus 6 drops of lemon juice. Blood samples were collected 90 min before exercise, immediately after exercise, and 30 min after exercise from brachial vein and their serum lipoprotein concentrations were measured. The obtained data were analyzed by SPSS-16. Result: The findings showed that acute consumption of 3 g LCLT tartrate in the experimental group, compared with the placebo group, had a significant positive correlation with increment of high-density lipoprotein and decrement of low-density lipoprotein following an exhaustive aerobic activity, while no significant change was observed in very low-density lipoprotein. Conclusion: The findings of the present investigation indicate that supplementation instant LCLT effect significant change was observed in HDL, LDL and VLDL and concentrations.

American Journal of Sports Science and Medicine. 2013, 1(4), 59-62. DOI: 10.12691/ajssm-1-4-2
Pub. Date: November 07, 2013

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Swimming Exercises Increase Peak Expiratory Flow Rate in Elderly Men

by Kaori Sato, Yu Konishi, Masakatsu Nakada and Tadayoshi Sakurai

Original Research

Peak expiratory flow rate (PEFR) refers to the maximum velocity of expiration. Because PEFR can quantitatively represent the state of airway stenosis, it is often used as a long-term measurement for bronchial asthma patients with chronically obstructed breathing. Our main aim in the present study was to evaluate the long-term effect of swimming exercises on elderly people by measuring PEFR, and the secondary aim was to investigate whether the effect is gender-associated. Subjects were aged ≥ 65 years and did not have a current or past history of smoking, respiratory diseases, and/or heart diseases (8 men; mean age, 81.8 ± 4.7 years; mean height, 161.1 ± 7.5 cm; mean weight, 59.8 ± 8.0 kg; mean swimming history, 12.6 ± 5.1 years; 13 women; mean age, 77.5 ± 3.5 years; mean height, 149.9 ± 4.2 cm; mean weight, 54.5 ± 8.2 kg; mean swimming history, 12.0 ± 4.4 years). Subjects swam the breaststroke and/or crawl based on their preference for about 25 minutes. All subjects performed swimming exercises in the same swimming facility for 7 months. During this period, all subjects swam once a week and exercised a total of 28 times. PEFR of male subjects gradually increased during the observation period (P < 0.05), and significant increases were seen at 16 weeks, 24 weeks, and 28 weeks, compared to first-time measurements (P < 0.05). PEFR in elderly males increased by swimming once a week for 28 weeks, while PEFR in elderly females did not significantly change throughout the study period. This may suggest that the PEFR increasing effect of swimming on elderly people is gender-dependent.

American Journal of Sports Science and Medicine. 2013, 1(4), 56-58. DOI: 10.12691/ajssm-1-4-1
Pub. Date: October 28, 2013

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