Fitness Study 2020

Summary

The experimental participant group (n=15+15) includes male and female fitness athletes during their \~25 week competition preparation in fall 2019 for the Finnish national championships. Participants must have at least two years of goal-oriented gym training and their health status will be determined before measurements via an online pre-study questionnaire. The control group (n=15+15) will maintain their normal training and diet without competing during the study period. Otherwise, the control group is matched with the athletic group based on age, height, weight and training experience. Participants selected for the study will complete an additional questionnaire to be reviewed by the study physician to confirm that participants meet the health status inclusion criteria. This study includes four laboratory testing sessions over the 50-week period. Time points include testing before the diet or the control period start (PRE), one week before the competition (MID), after the competition (COMP) and after a recovery period (POST). During COMP-POST the participants are advised to continue training, but to stop competition dieting."Measurements will include body composition (fat mass and fat free mass by bioimpedance, DXA and skinfolds), resting metabolic rate (indirect calorimetry), vastus lateralis and triceps brachii muscle-cross sectional area, subcutaneous fat thickness from ultrasonography and circulating hormone analysis. Also, whole blood will be analyzed for hemoglobin and hematocrit and systems biology approach: e.g. serum metabolome and possibly also other analysis. Lower body maximal voluntary isometric force will be measured via knee extension machine device. Average weekly physical activity will be determined with a wrist-worn uni-axial accelerometer. Training and dietary data (nutrient intake, volume, intensity etc.) will be collected via nutrition and training diaries. Psychological questionnaires will be conducted via an online survey.

Conditions

• Weight Reduction
• Diet; Deficiency

Interventions

OTHER

Dieting intervention

This study includes four laboratory testing sessions over the 50-week period. Testing sessions will be performed over one week. Time points include testing before the diet or the control period start (PRE), one week before the competition (MID), after the competition (COMP) and after a recovery period (POST), during which the participants are advised to continue their normal training regimen, but to stop competition dieting. Participants will spend three hours in the laboratory between 0700-1300. The control group will be advised to maintain their normal physical activity diet throughout the study. The participants will be given identification numbers and the research group is blinded so that they do not know which group participants belong to. All measurements will be conducted at the same time (always within max ±1 hour) due to the importance of standardizing the time of the day of measurements.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare

  collaborator OTHER_GOV

• University of Jyvaskyla

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Juha P Ahtiainen, PhD · Faculty od Sport and Health Sciences, University of Jyväskylä, Finland

Study Design

Allocation

NON_RANDOMIZED

Purpose

BASIC_SCIENCE

Masking

DOUBLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2019-02-02

Primary Completion

2020-06-01

Completion

2020-08-01

Countries

• Finland

Study Locations