Exertional tests have become an informative tool to assist with clinical concussion management and return-to-sport medical decisions. However, current tests are resource intensive and thus, we developed a widely accessible, multimodal exertional test (MET). The objectives of this study were: (1) To evaluate the discriminant validity of the MET by examining sex-stratified differences in symptoms, heart rate (HR), and performance metrics between concussed and healthy athletes; and (2) To assess the predictive (prognostic) validity of the MET by determining whether week 1 MET performance predicts time to medical clearance. This study was conducted at a single academic institution and affiliated sport medicine clinic in Toronto, Canada, with participants recruited between August 2022 and November 2024. 115 interuniversity athletes (female n=49, male n=66) completed the MET at off-season and 55 interuniversity athletes with concussion (female n=37, male n=18) completed the MET up to six times at 1-, 2-, 3-, 4-, 6-, and 8-weeks post-injury. Average and maximum HR, symptoms, performance metrics, and MET pass/fail status were measured prior to and during the protocol. Probabilistic hierarchical models were implemented to estimate differences between concussion and healthy athletes (discriminant validity) and negative binomial analyses were used to examine whether MET performance predicted time to medical clearance (predictive validity). At 1-week post injury, concussed athletes exhibited greater symptom provocation during the MET compared to healthy athletes, with differences after each task. MET failure rates were highest during weeks 1 (63
Plyometric jump training (PJT) can improve athletes’ physical fitness across a range of sports and populations. Nonetheless, the role of PJT in adult female team-sport athletes’ fitness, jump performance, and kinematics remains unclear, particularly given the increasing number of published, heterogeneous studies. This systematic review aimed to first examine the effectiveness of PJT in improving physical fitness and jump-performance kinematics in adult female team-sport athletes, and second, to provide evidence-based recommendations for PJT prescription for this population. A systematic literature search was conducted in the PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, and EBSCO databases up to March 2026. The included studies recruited healthy female team-sport athletes (mean age: ≥ 18 years), incorporated a PJT programme ≥ 2 weeks in duration, included comparator groups, and assessed athletes’ physical fitness, jump performance, and/or kinematics. The risk of bias (RoB) was assessed using the Physiotherapy Evidence Database scale. Hedges’ g effect sizes (ES) with 95 https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/NERCY
Esports performance relies on in-game, cognitive, and physiological capacities. Its growing professionalization has led to increasing interest in structured out-of-game training interventions as part of performance-support strategies for elite players. However, the feasibility and effects of such interventions in world-class professional players remain unexplored. The present exploratory ecological study examined the implementation of high-intensity interval training (HIIT) and cognitive-motor training (CMT), together with training-related changes in in-game performance, executive functions, and cardiovascular outcomes, under competitive-season constraints in professional League of Legends (LOL; n = 5) and Valorant (VLR; n = 5) players. Data were collected at the team training facility in Berlin, Germany, between May and July 2024. Both interventions could be implemented during the competitive season, with 100.00
Soccer practitioners routinely use external load (EL), internal load (IL) and fitness measures to monitor players; however, the same monitoring variable may be interpreted as training load (TL), performance, or athlete capacity depending on its purpose and reference. The conceptual problem addressed in this review is therefore not the absence of definitions for EL, IL, or fitness status, but rather the lack of an integrated interpretative structure explaining how these established constructs should be differentiated when evaluating soccer physical performance. This conceptually focused narrative review therefore aims to clarify the distinction between TL, physical performance output, physiological response, and athlete fitness capacity, and to integrate these established concepts within an interpretative framework for soccer training and monitoring. The framework does not propose match demands, physiological responses, or fitness status as replacements for the established concepts of EL, IL, and fitness. Rather, it organizes their interpretation according to three related questions: what external output did the athlete produce, what physiological response accompanied that output, and what does the relationship between output and response indicate about the athlete’s capacity to perform?. By separating the purpose for which monitoring variables are interpreted, the framework aims to support practitioners in selecting appropriate measures and aligning training prescription with either physiological adaptation targets or the external performance demands that players are required to reproduce in competition.
Cold-water immersion (CWI) is widely used after strenuous exercise, but review-level findings vary by outcome, comparator, recovery window, population, and protocol. Reuse of the same primary studies across reviews can also exaggerate apparent consistency. We searched PubMed, Web of Science, SPORTDiscus, Cochrane Library, Embase, and Scopus from inception to 30 January 2026 for systematic reviews, meta-analyses, and network meta-analyses of post-exercise CWI. Fourteen reviews were included. Primary-study overlap was quantified using the corrected covered area (CCA) overall and for outcome-specific study-to-review mappings. Because overlap was high and review-level estimates were statistically dependent, we did not perform second-order meta-analysis. Source-verified estimates were synthesized in a structured, overlap-aware format. Methodological quality was assessed with AMSTAR 2. Of the 14 included reviews, 13 provided quantitative estimates, whereas one review provided narrative evidence on heart rate variability (HRV). Overall CCA was 12.68
