Alexander Koch

Lenoir–Rhyne University · Health, Exercise and Sports Sciences

Purpose Endurance performance has been enhanced both by carbohydrate mouth-rinsing (CHO-MR) and allowing subjects to view an artificially slowed clock. Taste sensitivity and perception of time are altered in older men. We assessed the effects of CHO-MR and clock manipulation (ClkM) on running performance and ratings of perceived exertion (RPE) in o...

Objective We tested the impact of subjects’ belief in an ingested substance’s ergogenic or ergolytic properties on muscular endurance performance and perceived exertion. Methods Trained men (n = 15, age = 41 ± 4 y; body mass = 82.1 ± 15.8 kg; height = 173 ± 8 cm; experience = 7.4 ± 2.3 y) completed one set to failure at 80% repetition maximum of t...

Introduction. According to the ACSM’s position stand on resistance training, there is strong evidence (category A) that the optimal number of repetitions to optimize hypertrophy should be between 8 and 12 repetitions per set for each exercise. Aim of Study. We investigated which intensity scheme would maintain 8-12 repetitions during repeated sets...

The purpose of this study was to test whether believed versus actual acute creatine ingestion impacted resistance exercise performance. Fifteen men (21.9 ± 2.7 years old) completed four bouts of three sets each of squat and bench press to volitional fatigue at a 10RM load with 1-min between-sets rest interval. Thirty minutes prior to each exercise...

It is unclear how athletes regulate their performance prior and during exercise when deceptive methods are applied. Therefore, the aim of this study was to test if time manipulation can influence pacing strategy and running performance. Ten recreationally active subjects were informed they would complete four 60-min time trials only with time feedb...

We investigated whether hand guards (HG) influence the perception of pain and exertion during the execution of a standardized task on high bar to induce forearm muscle fatigue as well as a decline in grip strength after the task. Design: A cross-over study design was employed 15 healthy and physically active volunteers completed static bodyweight h...

Introduction. The Olympic weightlifting movements (snatch, clean and jerk) and their variations (snatch and clean deadlift, high pull, etc.) have been widely used in order to improve performance in many sports, but there are no normative data, nor data on reliability of kinematic parameters for power snatch from recreational weightlifters. Aim of S...

Athletes may increase power output through eliciting postactivation performance enhancement (PAPE). Muscle force and power may be increased during PAPE by coupling of 2 exercises, termed a “strength-power potentiating complex” (SPPC). Implementing SPPCs in the field is complicated by the need to use rest periods of several minutes in duration, whic...

BACKGROUND: We sought to examine the impact of load reduction strategies (LRS) during resistance exercise on serum vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) levels. METHODS: Ten resistance-trained men (25.1±5.4 years, 76.1±8.4 kg, 175±10 cm) completed 3 bouts of resistance exercise in a randomized, counterbalanced order. Bouts consisted of six exer...

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to analyze the effect of SS (2x45s) on the anaerobic power (Wingate Anaerobic Test [WAnT]) in young soccer athletes, and to determine if there was a the relationship between SS and anaerobic power output was influenced by subjects’ fitness. METHODS: A randomized and crossover study was applied in twenty-one mal...

Studies from the 20th century had proposed that exercise-derived anabolism is the result of acute release of anabolic hormones. Recent advances in molecular biology have validated the hormonal theory, but have raised the question of whether exercise-induced anabolic hormones are related to chronic hypertrophy. Intrinsic factors of muscle contractio...

Background: The purposes of this study were to determine differences in training loads and stress hormones among national level powerlifting competitors and the effect on performance. Methods: Thirteen experienced male powerlifters provided detailed training logs during the 8 weeks prior to a national competition. Participants were divided into...

The purpose of this investigation was to determine the agreement among three bioelectrical impedance analysis devices (BIA) in athletic young adults. Fifty-one participants (26 men and 25 women) were assessed for percent body fat (PBF) using an arm-to-arm bipolar single-frequency device (ABIA), a leg-to-leg single-frequency device (LBIA), and an oc...

Objectives: We sought to determine if individualized programming by heart rate variability (HRV), improves resistance training outcomes in American football players. Design and Methods: Twenty-seven National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCCA) Division II American football players (age 19.03 ± .98 y, height 185.50 ± 5.30 cm, body mass 100.59 ± 1...

Sleep deprivation negatively impacts cognition, pain, mood, metabolism, and immunity, which can reduce athletic performance. Melatonin facilitates sleepiness and may be impacted by the proximity of exercise to sleep. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the influence of exercise time of day on salivary melatonin (s-melatonin) respon...

We describe discrepant behavior of serum creatine kinase (CK) activity during and after cycling in a hypertensive athlete when compared to the healthy athletes from the same team of endurance cyclists. Heart Rate (HR), Blood Pressure (BP), Perceived Exertion (PE) and serum CK activity were evaluated before, during and after 150 km indoor cycling. T...

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to compare muscle thickness and 10RM between no load reduction and load reductions during 16 weeks of resistance training (RT). Methods: Twenty-one moderately trained men (age: 23.2±4.2 years, body mass: 75.1±7.6 Kg, height: 175±4 cm) were randomized into one of three exercise groups: Control (CON, n=7), al...

We investigated the effect of carbohydrate mouth rinsing on resistance exercise performance. Fifteen recreationally trained women (age 26 AE 4 y; height 1.61.9 AE 5.1 m; weight 59.5 AE 8.2 kg) completed two resistance exercise bouts consisting of three sets of five exercises (half-squat, leg press, bench press, military press, and seated row) to vo...

Taurine (TA) ingestion has been touted as blunting the deleterious effects of ethanol (ET) ingestion on motor performance. This study investigated the effects of ingestion of 0.6 mL·kg-1of ET, 6 grams of TA, and ethanol in combination with taurine (ET+TA) on economy of movement (EM) and heart rate (HR). Nine volunteers, five female (22 ± 3 years) a...

Introduction: Sepsis remains associated with a high mortality rate. Endotoxin has been shown to influence viscoelastic coagulation parameters, thus suggesting a link between endotoxin levels and the altered coagulation phenotype in septic patients. This study evaluated the effects of systemic polyspecific IgM-enriched immunoglobulin (IgM-IVIg) (Pe...

Statement of the Ethical Review Board. Statement of the ethical review board confirming that the study as it was conducted adhered to the trial study protocol as it was approved. (PDF)

Trial Study Protocol. (PDF)

TREND Checklist. (PDF)

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of anaerobic training on salivary lymphocytes (s-LYMPH), and further determine whether these responses differ between cool vs. thermoneutral environments. Nine lightly clothed (∼0.3 clo) volunteers (7/2 women/men: age 21 ± 1 y; height 168.7 ± 7.3 cm; weight 66.4 ± 8.4 kg; body fat 20.6 ± 7.6%) com...

We compared perceived muscle soreness (MS) and serum creatine kinase (CK) activity after upper body or lower body resistance exercise. A total of 64 previously sedentary men were randomized into two groups: bench press (BP; n = 32, age = 22.6 ± 4.6 y, body mass = 74.8 ± 11.5 kg,) or leg press (LP; n = 32, age = 22.7 ± 4.8 y, body mass = 72.9 ± 7.6...

Mouth rinsing with a CHO solution has been suggested to improve short (<1 h) endurance performance through central effect. We examined the effects of mouth rinsing with a CHO solution on running time to exhaustion on a treadmill. Six well-trained subjects ran to exhaustion at 85% VO2max , on three separate occasions. Subjects received either an 8%...

Bisesti, BA, Lawrence, MA, Koch, AJ, and Carlson, LA. Comparison of knee moments and landing patterns during a lateral cutting maneuver: shod vs. barefoot. J Strength Cond Res 29(11): 3075-3078, 2015-Noncontact anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries often occur during lateral cutting maneuvers, in which extension, adduction, and external rotatio...

The non-activated rotational thromboelastometric assay (NATEM) is increasingly used as sensitive test for the evaluation of the endogenous activation of haemostasis. The reproducibility of the test results in citrate stored blood has never been investigated. The NATEM assay was performed in citrated blood samples stored for 0, 45 and 90minutes usin...

High volumes of resistance exercise increase muscle hypertrophy, independent of the extent of muscle damage. We compared volume load and markers of muscle damage after resistance exercise using two load reduction strategies versus a constant intensity. Methods: Twenty-seven trained men (age = 23.4±3.5 years, body mass = 74.5±10.7 Kg, height = 174±8...

Previous research has found upper body eccentric contractions evoke greater muscle damage than lower body eccentric contractions of the same relative intensity. Whether these differences persist for conventional movements, consisting of both concentric and eccentric muscle actions and performed on isoinertial equipment is unknown. PURPOSE: To compa...

Previous studies have described an association between hypertension and higher basal serum Creatine Kinase (CK).PURPOSE: To compare serum CK activity during and after cycling between one hypertensive athlete and healthy athletes.METHODS: A team of semi-professional endurance cyclists came to our laboratory for assessment. WFC (30 years old; 15 year...

Resistance exercise can result in localized damage to muscle tissue. This damage may be observed in sarcolemma, basal lamina, as well as, in the contractile elements and the cytoskeleton. Usually the damage is accompanied by release of enzymes such as creatine kinase (CK) and lactate dehydrogenase, myoglobin and other proteins into the blood. Serum...

The pro-inflammatory status of the elderly triggers most of the age-related diseases such as cancer and atherosclerosis. Atherosclerosis, the leading cause world wide of morbidity and death, is an inflammatory disease influenced by life-style and genetic host factors. Stimuli such as oxLDL or microbial ligands have been proposed to trigger inflamma...

Bacteria such as Staphylococcus aureus induce myocardial dysfunction in vivo. To rectify conflicting evidence about the role of TLR2 signaling and cardiac dysfunction, we hypothesized that the specific TLR2 agonist purified lipoteichoic acid (LTA) from S. aureus contributes to cardiac dysfunction in vitro and in vivo. Wildtype (WT-) and TLR2-defici...

Inflammation and coagulation are closely linked, and both can be triggered by endotoxin. Thrombelastometry and impedance aggregometry are of diagnostic and predictive value in critically ill patients. In this observational study we investigated the correlation of endotoxin activity with thrombelasometric and aggregometric variables in patients with...

Fall-related injuries associated with aging are a serious clinical and economic problem. The Flo-Dynamics Movement System© (FDMS), which consists of eight movements with a water-filled device, may be a useful low-impact exercise suited for older persons. This study investigated the effects of the FDMS regimen with the Wun-Jo™ trainer on measures of...

Purpose: The authors tested different loading schemes for the number of repetitions completed during multiple sets of resistance exercise. Methods: Twenty-four resistance-trained men (age 24.0 ± 4.5 y, body mass 78.3 ±10.2 kg, height 177 ± 7 cm) were tested over a 5-wk period. During week 1 a 10-repetition maximum (10RM) in the leg press was det...

Background Heavy exercise stresses immune function, however carbohydrate (CHO) supplementation has been shown to attenuate the decline in some measures of immune function after exercise. The purpose of the study was to investigate the impact of CHO supplementation on salivary immunoglobulin A (s-IgA) levels, interleukin 2 (IL-2), and interleukin 5...

PURPOSE: We examined the effects of creatine supplementation on the response to repeated bouts of resistance exercise. METHODS: Young men (24.1 ± 5.2 yr) were divided into Creatine (CM, n = 9) and Placebo (PL, n = 9) groups. On day (D) 1 and D15, subjects performed four sets of bicep curls at 75% 1-RM to concentric failure. On D8-D13, subjects con...

Genetic or pharmacological ablation of toll-like receptor 2 (TLR2) protects against myocardial ischemia/reperfusion injury (MI/R). However, the endogenous ligand responsible for TLR2 activation has not yet been detected. The objective of this study was to identify HMGB1 as an activator of TLR2 signalling during MI/R. C57BL/6 wild-type (WT) or TLR2...

de Paula GP, Koch AJ, Cerqueira MS, Rocha JAS, Borges LS, Schettino L, Machado M, Pereira R. Time Course Effect of Static Stretching on Maximum Grip Strength. JEPonline 2012;15(6):31-36. This study investigated the effect of a stretching procedure on maximum grip strength. Eleven adult men were submitted to two stretching protocols of finger flexor...

In the current study, we examined the relationship between serum creatine kinase (CK) activity following upper body resistance exercise with a 1- or 3-min rest between sets. Twenty men performed two sessions, each consisting of four sets with a 10-repetition maximum load. The results demonstrated significantly greater volume for the 3-min condition...

Background: The perioperative morbidity and mortality of abdominal aortic aneurysm repair is linked to systemic inflammation. Important triggers of the latter are Toll-like receptors (TLRs), which play a central role in innate immunity. Ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury can be influenced by either TLR stimulation before I/R (preconditioning) or TL...

Numerous cases of swine-origin 2009 H1N1 influenza A virus (H1N1)-associated acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) bridged by extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) therapy have been reported; however, complication rates are high. We present our experience with H1N1-associated ARDS and successful bridging of lung function using superimpose...

The purpose of this study was to compare metabolic demand of a kettlebell (KB) swing routine with treadmill (TM) running at equivalent rating of perceived exertion (RPE). Thirteen subjects (11 male, 2 female, age = 21.4 ± 2.1 years, weight = 73.0 ± 9.2 kg) completed a 10-minute KB swing routine consisting of 35-second swing intervals followed by 25...

The purpose of this study was to assess the effect of resistance training on upper-body muscular strength and the expression of work capacity and muscular endurance. In addition, a training-induced change in the relationship between muscular strength and endurance was assessed by testing changes in the accuracy of using endurance repetitions to pre...

Systemic inflammation (for example, following surgery) involves Toll-like receptor (TLR) signaling and leads to an endocrine stress response. This study aims to investigate a possible influence of TLR2 and TLR4 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) on perioperative adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) and cortisol regulation in serum of cardiac surg...

Restoration of myocardial blood flow after ischemia triggers an inflammatory response involving toll-like receptors. Toll-like receptor 2 deficiency is associated with a reduced infarct size after myocardial ischemia and reperfusion. Because a marked mortality was observed in C3HeN wild-type mice, which was absent in TLR2 mice, we tested whether ca...

To examine the effects of different rest intervals between sets on serum creatine kinase (CK) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) activity, 10 men (age = 25.6 ± 2.2 years, height = 173.1 ± 7.1 cm, and body mass = 75.9 ± 10.0 kg) participated in a randomized within-subject design that involved 4 resistance exercise sessions. Each session consisted of 4...

Supplementary Tables S1 to S5. The supplementary tables contain detailed information about the studied cohorts.

It has been proposed that individual genetic variation contributes to the course of severe infections and sepsis. Recent studies of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) within the endotoxin receptor and its signaling system showed an association with the risk of disease development. This study aims to examine the response associated with genetic...

The purpose of the current study was to compare serum creatine kinase (CK) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) concentrations at multiple time points after resistance exercise sessions that incorporated different rest intervals between sets and exercises. Twenty untrained men (18.65+/-0.49 years, 68.30+/-7.98 kg, and 174.4+/-4.80 cm) performed 2 resist...

Resistance exercise produces transient perturbations in immunity, including alterations in circulating leukocyte numbers, cytokine concentration, and some measures of cell function. These changes are typically interpreted as being transiently detrimental to host defense. The mechanisms responsible for these immune fluctuations appear to be neuroend...

To test whether preconditioning with a toll-like receptor (TLR) 2 agonist protects against myocardial ischemia and reperfusion by interfering with chemokine CXCL1 release from cardiomyocytes. C3H mice were challenged with vehicle or synthetic TLR2 agonist Pam3Cys-Ser-Lys4 (Pam3CSK4; 1 mg/kg) 24 hrs before myocardial ischemia (20 mins) and reperfusi...

Whether inflammatory cytokines affect the skeletal response to glucocorticoid (GC) treatment is unclear. Our objectives were to (1) identify the cytokine(s) elevated during exacerbations of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD); (2) determine whether the cytokine(s) identified in this way is related to systemic GC sensitivity; and (3) examine whether cy...

In recent years, kettlebells have re-emerged as a popular training modality for the conditioning of athletes. We sought to quantify the aerobic challenge of one popularly recommended kettlebell workout. Ten college-aged men (age = 20.8 +/- 1.1 years, height = 179 +/- 3 cm, body mass = 77.3 +/- 7.7 kg, Vo2max = 52.78 +/- 6.22 ml.kg.min) completed a...

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of caffeine ingestion before a resistance exercise session on markers of muscle damage (CK, LDH, ALT, AST) and leukocyte levels. Fifteen soccer athletes completed two resistance exercise sessions that differed only in the ingestion of caffeine or a placebo preworkout. CK concentration increased...

The fibrin-derived peptide Bbeta15-42 (also called FX06) has been shown to reduce myocardial infarct size following ischemia/reperfusion. Hemorrhagic shock (HS) followed by volume resuscitation represents a similar scenario, whereby a whole organism is vulnerable to reperfusion injury. We subjected male farm-bred landrace pigs ( approximately 30 kg...

The United States Army has recently modified its measuring tape test to determine the percent body fat for soldiers who surpass their training weight. This study was conducted to determine the correlations amongst the new US Army tape test (USATT), a seven-site skin fold test using the Jackson-Pollock equation to estimate body density (JP7), and un...

The backward overhead medicine ball (BOMB) throw has gained some attention as a simple measure for estimating total body explosive power. However, previous research indicates varying degrees of relationship with standard power measurement. to determine the relationship between a BOMB throw and maximal snatch (S) and clean & jerk (CJ) performances o...

The ratio between testosterone (T) and cortisol (C) has been proposed as a marker of training status. Specifically, a higher ratio is thought to represent a more favorable hormonal milieu for muscle hypertrophy and strength gain. Purpose: We examined the impact of weightlifting training on the ratio of serum testosterone to cortisol (T:C) as athlet...

The stigma against women engaging in heavy resistance training has all but disappeared. This has opened the way for women to train with programs comparable to those of men. Limited data exist to determine if women make the same gains as men from comparable resistance training programs. To compare the effect of similar resistance training programs o...

The purpose of this study was to determine how different set configurations (constant and varying intensity) during training affect the velocity of the barbell during the clean lift. Methods: 15 Olympic weightlifters from Truman State University (9 men, 6 women) performed a clean workout consisting of 6 sets of single repetitions in both the consta...

KOCH, A. Immune Response to Exercise. Brazilian Journal of Biomotricity, v. 4, n. 2, p 92-103, 2010.Exercise produces transient perturbations in immunity, including alterations in circulating leukocyte numbers,cytokine concentration, and some measures of cell function. These changes are typically interpreted asbeing transiently detrimental to host...

Extended Methods section (0.11 MB DOC)

Primer sequences and TaqMan probes (in-vivo experiment). (0.06 MB DOC)

Primer sequences and amplicon sizes (in-vitro cell culture). (0.04 MB DOC)

Preliminary results as Online Supplement and Figure legends for Supporting Information file - Figure S1. (0.05 MB DOC)

Effects of IL-1β on cell proliferation and MMPs activity in vitro. (2.37 MB TIF)

Mild therapeutic hypothermia following cardiac arrest is neuroprotective, but its effect on myocardial dysfunction that is a critical issue following resuscitation is not clear. This study sought to examine whether hypothermia and the combination of hypothermia and pharmacological postconditioning are cardioprotective in a model of cardiopulmonary...