Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

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Open Access Thesis

Keywords

Ohio Northern University--Wrestling--Training; Ohio Northern University; Stretching exercises--Physiological aspects; Wrestling--Training; Academic theses;

Abstract

Stretching prior to physical activity is common in sports and recreational exercise. Athletes, coaches, trainers, and physicians recommend stretching in an effort to both prevent injury and enhance performance. However, much of this information is based more on anecdotal evidence and intuition, rather than scientific evidence. Researchers have found that typical pre-exercise stretching protocols do not reduce the incidence of injuries (Pope, Herbert, Kirwan, & Graham, 2000). Studies have also found decrements in various performance measures such as maximal strength (Kokkonen, Nelson, & Cornwell, 1998) and explosive force and jumping performance (Young & Elliot, 2001; Young & Behm, 2003) after stretching. Very few studies regarding this issue of stretching have been conducted using multi-response protocols or the upper body. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine the effects of stretching on anaerobic performance of the upper body, utilizing upper body ergometry. Eight male wrestlers from Ohio Northern University participated in this study. Each participant performed a six-minute intermittent arm crank test on two separate occasions, once after a warm-up and once after a warm-up plus ten-minute stretching protocol of the upper body. The results of this study were nonsignificant (p < .05), thus, indicating pre-exercise static stretching has no effect on upper body power, more specifically, intermittent arm ergometry power output. The variables measured were peak power, average power, and percent decline in power. Peak power and average power were also analyzed during the initial 15-second sprint bout of the arm crank test to replicate a more single or short response activity. It was concluded that static stretching prior to upper body ergometry has no effect on anaerobic power.

Year of Submission

2008

Degree Name

Master of Arts

Department

School of Health, Physical Education, and Leisure Services

First Advisor

Forrest Dolgener

Second Advisor

Robin Lund

Third Advisor

Kevin Finn

Comments

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Date Original

2008

Object Description

1 PDF file (46 leaves)

Language

en

File Format

application/pdf

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