title: Hypoxic resistance training in elite Rugby Union athletes

authors: Mayo, Brad

subjects: hypoxic

abstract: Limited research suggests that muscle adaptations may be enhanced through resistance training in a hypoxic environment. Altitude training has been integrated into athlete preparation strategies for the past five decades by elite athletes, with the goal of improving performance. Simulated altitude modalities allow athletes the ability to live low (sea level) and train high (completing training sessions at altitude) to enable, intermittent hypoxic exposure (IHE) training paradigm to optimize adaptation and performance. The first part of this thesis reviews the literature on different methods of hypoxic training and how this may be implemented into the sport of Rugby Union. Part two of the thesis includes an original investigation whereby 17 professional Rugby Union athletes (age [mean ± SD], 24 ± 3 years; body mass, 98.7 ± 12.8 kg, height; 188.9 ± 7.9 cm), performed 12 resistance training sessions over a three-week period. Participants were randomly divided into two groups: HYP (n=8) where resistance training sessions were performed in an environmental chamber with O₂ concentration maintained at ~14.4% (~3000m simulated altitude), or CON (n=9) identical resistance training sessions were performed without the simulated altitude (O₂ = 20.9%, at sea level). The research assessed pre and post-test measures of strength, power, endurance, speed and body composition. Analysis revealed a small positive effect for bench press (d = 0.24), weighted chin-up (d = 0.23) and bronco endurance tests (d = -0.21) in the HYP group when compared to the CON. In conclusion, resistance training in a hypoxic environmental chamber may lead to small improvements in upper body strength and endurance compared to the same training performed at sea-level. These findings are somewhat novel, given the short timeframe of the study and the elite population sampled. This study adds new practical information for athletes, coaches and practitioners on the effects of resistance training in a hypoxic environment on strength trained, professional team sport athletes.

text: Hypoxic resistance training in elite Rugby Union athletes Limited research suggests that muscle adaptations may be enhanced through resistance training in a hypoxic environment. Altitude training has been integrated into athlete preparation strategies for the past five decades by elite athletes, with the goal of improving performance. Simulated altitude modalities allow athletes the ability to live low (sea level) and train high (completing training sessions at altitude) to enable, intermittent hypoxic exposure (IHE) training paradigm to optimize adaptation and performance. The first part of this thesis reviews the literature on different methods of hypoxic training and how this may be implemented into the sport of Rugby Union. Part two of the thesis includes an original investigation whereby 17 professional Rugby Union athletes (age [mean ± SD], 24 ± 3 years; body mass, 98.7 ± 12.8 kg, height; 188.9 ± 7.9 cm), performed 12 resistance training sessions over a three-week period. Participants were randomly divided into two groups: HYP (n=8) where resistance training sessions were performed in an environmental chamber with O₂ concentration maintained at ~14.4% (~3000m simulated altitude), or CON (n=9) identical resistance training sessions were performed without the simulated altitude (O₂ = 20.9%, at sea level). The research assessed pre and post-test measures of strength, power, endurance, speed and body composition. Analysis revealed a small positive effect for bench press (d = 0.24), weighted chin-up (d = 0.23) and bronco endurance tests (d = -0.21) in the HYP group when compared to the CON. In conclusion, resistance training in a hypoxic environmental chamber may lead to small improvements in upper body strength and endurance compared to the same training performed at sea-level. These findings are somewhat novel, given the short timeframe of the study and the elite population sampled. This study adds new practical information for athletes, coaches and practitioners on the effects of resistance training in a hypoxic environment on strength trained, professional team sport athletes.

year: 2017

title: Piloting a telemetric data tracking system to assess post-training real driving performance of young novice drivers

authors: Isler, Robert B.

subjects: driver training

abstract: Evaluating the effects of driver training interventions is a difficult research task. The ultimate goal of such interventions is to make the driver safer and therefore less likely to be involved in a road crash. A particular driver training intervention can only be considered to be effective if it can show a significant reduction in the number crashes for the driver, or a significant change in driver behaviour that clearly implies safer driving. Getting accurate and comprehensive crash records is difficult and to measure post training behavioural driving changes based on selfreports (e.g., log books) may not be accurate enough to be statistically meaningful.

text: Piloting a telemetric data tracking system to assess post-training real driving performance of young novice drivers Evaluating the effects of driver training interventions is a difficult research task. The ultimate goal of such interventions is to make the driver safer and therefore less likely to be involved in a road crash. A particular driver training intervention can only be considered to be effective if it can show a significant reduction in the number crashes for the driver, or a significant change in driver behaviour that clearly implies safer driving. Getting accurate and comprehensive crash records is difficult and to measure post training behavioural driving changes based on selfreports (e.g., log books) may not be accurate enough to be statistically meaningful.

year: 2008

title: Kua Hiri Mai Te Rā - A journey of self identification for the descendants of Ngāti Rāhiri ki Taranaki

authors: Marsh, Melissa Sue-ann

subjects: Ngāti Rāhiri

abstract: Prior to the arrival of Pakehā to the shores of Aotearoa, Māori retained and transmitted their histories, genealogies and protocols orally through such mediums as song and chant. The intracacies of the information held was such that every aspect of the Māori culture had its assigned expert whose job was to both retain and pass on their area of expertise. The settlement of Pakehā saw a change in how information was stored and disseminated, with a number of ethnographers, surveyors and historians recording accounts given to them from various Māori sources in written form. The main motivation for this at the time was to secure the information and cultural practises of a people who were deemed to be a dying race.

The implication that Māori were close to extinction was in vain, as many resisted against the gradual assimilation of Aotearoa (New Zealand) by the new foreign immigrants. The subsequent annexation of Aotearoa under British colonial rule eventually led to war against Māori, as Māori attempted to protect and retain both their lands and their identity. The result of the war led to a great loss of Māori lands, lives, and most importantly – identity.

Within Taranaki the Ngāti Rāhiri Hapū fought many generations for the right to stand unified as a people. Although they can be regarded as a small coastal hapū entity, they are at the forefront of maintaining and asserting their rangatiratanga status within today’s society. At the centre of the proclamation of rights and entitlement within their ancestral lands, questions have been raised that, for a number of generations, had baffled the likes of Elsdon Best and S. Percy Smith, as many sought to find answers regarding the true origins of Ngāti Rāhiri.

The impetus in undertaking this research is to ascertain who this prominent ancestor Rāhiri is from both a Ngā Puhi and Taranaki perspective, and investigate how these combined histories assist in the assertion of self by the Ngāti Rāhiri ki Taranaki people. By undertaking a critical review and analysis of literature, court minute records, hapū documents, proverbs, histories and knowledge from tribal elders pertaining to Rāhiri, this researcher will endeavour to provide and present relevant information and evidence, in a cohesive format, to show the close ancestral ties and affiliations between the two peoples. Furthermore, it is hoped that the research findings presented within this body of work may provide a significant contribution to the descendants of the Ngāti Rāhiri ki Taranaki Hapū, as they continue to assert their mana and rangatiratanga through the knowledge and understanding of self, when posed with the question - Ko wai a Ngāti Rāhiri?

text: Kua Hiri Mai Te Rā - A journey of self identification for the descendants of Ngāti Rāhiri ki Taranaki Prior to the arrival of Pakehā to the shores of Aotearoa, Māori retained and transmitted their histories, genealogies and protocols orally through such mediums as song and chant. The intracacies of the information held was such that every aspect of the Māori culture had its assigned expert whose job was to both retain and pass on their area of expertise. The settlement of Pakehā saw a change in how information was stored and disseminated, with a number of ethnographers, surveyors and historians recording accounts given to them from various Māori sources in written form. The main motivation for this at the time was to secure the information and cultural practises of a people who were deemed to be a dying race.

The implication that Māori were close to extinction was in vain, as many resisted against the gradual assimilation of Aotearoa (New Zealand) by the new foreign immigrants. The subsequent annexation of Aotearoa under British colonial rule eventually led to war against Māori, as Māori attempted to protect and retain both their lands and their identity. The result of the war led to a great loss of Māori lands, lives, and most importantly – identity.

Within Taranaki the Ngāti Rāhiri Hapū fought many generations for the right to stand unified as a people. Although they can be regarded as a small coastal hapū entity, they are at the forefront of maintaining and asserting their rangatiratanga status within today’s society. At the centre of the proclamation of rights and entitlement within their ancestral lands, questions have been raised that, for a number of generations, had baffled the likes of Elsdon Best and S. Percy Smith, as many sought to find answers regarding the true origins of Ngāti Rāhiri.

The impetus in undertaking this research is to ascertain who this prominent ancestor Rāhiri is from both a Ngā Puhi and Taranaki perspective, and investigate how these combined histories assist in the assertion of self by the Ngāti Rāhiri ki Taranaki people. By undertaking a critical review and analysis of literature, court minute records, hapū documents, proverbs, histories and knowledge from tribal elders pertaining to Rāhiri, this researcher will endeavour to provide and present relevant information and evidence, in a cohesive format, to show the close ancestral ties and affiliations between the two peoples. Furthermore, it is hoped that the research findings presented within this body of work may provide a significant contribution to the descendants of the Ngāti Rāhiri ki Taranaki Hapū, as they continue to assert their mana and rangatiratanga through the knowledge and understanding of self, when posed with the question - Ko wai a Ngāti Rāhiri?

year: 2011