Anthony Leicht

James Cook University | JCU · Sport and Exercise Science

Background Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury during contact sports has a high incidence that has not been reduced despite the immense resources devoted to understanding its aetiology. A neurocognitive approach could increase knowledge of the mechanisms contributing to ACL injury enabling practitioners to address and minimise future risk. Obj...

Importance It is unclear whether counseling to promote walking reduces the risk of major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) in people with peripheral artery disease (PAD). Objective To test whether a counseling intervention designed to increase walking reduced the risk of MACE in patients with PAD. Design, Setting, and Participants The BIP tria...

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women are key members of the community who have specific roles within their families that may result in lower levels of physical activity (PA) undertaken. Clearly identifying barriers for women to engage with PA, and exploring culturally based activities (i.e. Traditional Indigenous Games), may help to improve...

Wannouch, YJ, Leahey, SR, Whitworth-Turner, CM, Oliver, JL, YH, KC, Laffer, JC, and Leicht, AS. A comprehensive analysis of 10-yard sprint reliability in male and female youth athletes. J Strength Cond Res XX(X): 000-000, 2024-This study investigates the inter-week test-retest reliability of 10-yard sprint times in youth athletes. Although essentia...

The purpose of this study was to identify the external demands during official under-18 basketball matches that included four quarters (Q1, Q2, Q3, Q4) and/or overtime (OT) periods. Variables included: 1) distance covered and distance covered within four intensity zones (standing-walking S-W, jogging JOG, running RUN, and high-speed running HSR); 2...

The purposes of this study were to quantify the physiological response to the initial two-week preseason period in elite male rugby league (RL) athletes, and to determine if a repeated bout effect (RBE) occurs. Eighteen RL players were monitored for the initial two-week preseason period. Blood samples were collected on days (D)1, D2, D4, D5, D8, D9...

This study aimed to investigate the effects of shift work on sleep quality, cardiovascular function, and physical activity (PA) levels in Taiwanese police officers. Twenty-one male police officers aged 26.9 ± 4.1 years old located in Taipei voluntarily participated in this study. The participants completed the resting heart rate (HR) and hemodynami...

Lower limb injury rates have increased dramatically in line with the rise in female athletes participating in team sports where larger training demands are required for higher performing athletes, increasing exposure to injury. One modifiable and intrinsic risk factor associated with lower limb injuries is muscle strength, measured through single j...

We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis on the acute effects of prior conditioning activity (CA) on change of direction (COD) performance. Eligible studies, involving healthy participants undergoing acute CA with at least one measure of COD performance, were analysed across diverse databases. A total of 34 studies were included for syste...

Our aim in this study was to examine the impact of fans (vs. no fans), geographical location of league, and team ability on home winning percentage (HW%) or home advantage (HA) in professional European basketball. Data were collected from five prestigious professional, national basketball leagues within Europe (Spain, Germany, Italy, Greece and Isr...

This study examined the intra-session reliability of sprint performance on a non-motorized treadmill amongst healthy, active male and female adults. One hundred and twenty participants (males n = 77; females n = 45) completed two familiarization sessions, followed by a third session that consisted of three trials (T1, T2, T3) of maximal sprints (4-...

Purpose: Assessment of recovery in post-cardiac surgical patients is commonly conducted using lung function, dominant handgrip strength (DHGS), and health-related quality of life (HRQoL). The aim of this study was to determine the recovery of lung function, DHGS and HRQoL in cardiac surgical patients at six-weeks and six-months after hospital disch...

Physical exercise has been recognized as essential for human health and evolution for thousands of years, beginning with the ancient cultures. Hippocrates, Plato, Aristotle, and the Roman physician Galen were the earliest recorded and most well-known promoters of the beneficial effects of physical exercise. Since these times, several dedicated labo...

Purpose: Purpose: Assessment of recovery in post-cardiac surgical patients is commonly conducted using lung function, dominant handgrip strength (DHGS), and health-related quality of life (HRQoL). The aim of this study was to determine the recovery of lung function, DHGS and HRQoL in cardiac surgical patients at six-weeks and six-months after hospi...

Injury rates to the lower limb have increased over the past 40 years, coinciding with increases in female sport participation rates. Sport specific tests such as the running vertical jump (RVJ) are utilised for injury risk profiling, however the test-retest reliability is unknown. Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate the test-rete...

Importance: It is unclear how to effectively promote walking in people with peripheral artery disease (PAD). Objective: To test whether brief counseling delivered by allied health professionals increases step count in participants with PAD. Design, setting, and participants: In this randomized clinical trial, participants with symptomatic PAD...

The aim was to examine inter-system and inter-unit reliability of both WIMU PRO (UWB) and Polar Team Pro devices in measuring indoor sport-specific movements. Seventeen active and healthy adults (age: 21.4 ± 5.2 years; height 170.3 ± 8.2 cm; body mass: 71.2 ± 4.5 kg) completed one repetition of an indoor team sport circuit (i.e. accelerations, dece...

Professional coaches commonly rely on performance analysis and metrics to help make decisions regarding their practices, selection and tactics. However, few studies to date have explored coaches’ perspectives of performance analysts successful integration into the high-performance environment. The aim of this study was to investigate coaches’ philo...

Objective: To examine the feasibility and effect of an individualised and force-plate guided training program on physical performance and musculoskeletal injury risk factors in army personnel. Design: Pre-post, randomised control. Methods: Fourteen male and five female Australian Army soldiers were randomised into two groups and performed 5-we...

Patients with peripheral artery disease (PAD) have reduced muscle capillary density. Walking training (WT) is recommended for PAD patients. The goal of the study was to verify whether WT promotes angiogenesis in PAD-affected muscle and to investigate the possible role of miRNA-126 and the vascular endothelium growth factor (VEGF) angiogenic pathway...

Introduction Prevention of musculoskeletal injury is vital to the readiness, performance, and health of military personnel with the use of specialized systems (e.g., force plates) to assess risk and/or physical performance of interest. This study aimed to identify the reliability of one specialized system during standard assessments in military per...

In professional team sports, like Rugby League, performance analysis has become an integral part of operational practices. This has helped practitioners gain deeper insight into phenomena like team and athlete behaviour and understanding how such behaviour may be influenced by various contextual factors. This information can then be used by coaches...

Introduction: Post-activation potentiation enhancement (PAPE) often results from the inclusion of high-intensity, conditioning activity during warm-up. The majority of PAPE studies to date have incorporated lower body resistance exercises (e.g. loaded squats) to examine PAPE on subsequent jumping and cycling performances. Very few studies have exam...

Purpose: Purpose: The aim of this study was to determine the inter-instrument reliability of different dynamometers and spirometers commonly used in clinical practice. Methods: Methods: The study involved 113 healthy volunteers across three facility sites. At each site, dominant handgrip strength (DHGS), and lung function (forced expiratory volume...

To examine the repeated bout effect (RBE) following two identical resistance bouts and its effect on bowling-specific performance in male cricketers. Male cricket pace bowlers (N = 10), who had not undertaken resistance exercises in the past six months, were invited to complete a familiarisation and resistance maximum testing, before participating...

Objectives Post-exercise hypotension (PEH) is a clinically relevant phenomenon, which occurs after aerobic and resistance exercises. However, its existence following functional training (FT) remains unknown with negative feelings induced by the high intensity component of FT a potentially limiting factor to adherence of FT. Thus, the aim of this st...

The main aim of this study was identifying the internal demands during competition including the impact of analysis method (i.e., average vs. peak demands). A secondary aim was to analyze the effects of playing time on the internal demands (average and peak). Methods: Twenty-two professional basketball players were monitored during 11 games. The fo...

Introduction Military personnel are required to undertake rigorous physical training to meet the unique demands of combat, often leading to high levels of physiological stress. Inappropriate recovery periods with these high levels of physical stress may result in sub-optimal training and increased risk of injury in military personnel. However, no r...

Objectives To examine the effects of match-related contextual variables on positional groups and success in the National Rugby League (NRL). Methods Data relating to match location, match outcome, quality of opposition and match type (absolute score differential) from all matches across the 2015–2019 NRL seasons were collected, in addition to 14 p...

Introduction Physical training is important to prepare soldiers for the intense occupational demands in the military. However, current physical training may not address all fitness domains crucial for optimizing physical readiness and reducing musculoskeletal injury. The effects of nontraditional military physical training on fitness domains have b...

Background Handgrip strength (HGS), lung function and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) are relevant indicators of future cardiovascular risk and mortality. The impact of cardiac surgery on these predictive variables has been under-explored. The aim of this study was to determine the acute (within hospital) changes in HGS, lung function and HR...

Background: : Rugby league involves repeated, complex, and high intensity change-of-direction (COD) movements with no existing test protocols that specifically assesses these multiple physical fitness components simultaneously. Thus, the current study examined the convergent validity of a repeated Illinois Agility (RIA) protocol with the repeated T...

Background: : Rugby league involves repeated, complex, and high intensity change-of-direction (COD) movements with no existing test protocols that specifically assesses these multiple physical fitness components simultaneously. Thus, the current study examined the convergent validity of a repeated Illinois Agility (RIA) protocol with the repeated T...

Background The relationship between exercise-induced muscle damage (EIMD) indicators and acute training loads (TL) is yet to be reviewed extensively in semi-elite and elite athlete populations.Objectives The objectives of this systematic review and meta-analysis were threefold: (1) to evaluate studies of EIMD following the initial period of the pre...

Background: Although maximal and submaximal walking are recommended for patients with peripheral artery disease (PAD), performing these exercises may induce different physiological responses. Objectives: To compare the acute effects of maximal and submaximal walking on post-exercise cardiovascular function, regulation, and associated pathophysio...

The current study examined the acute effects of a bout of resistance training on cricket bowling-specific motor performance. Eight sub-elite, resistance-untrained, adolescent male fast bowlers (age 15 ± 1.7 years; height 1.8 ± 0.1 m; weight 67.9 ± 7.9 kg) completed a bout of upper and lower body resistance exercises. Indirect markers of muscle dama...

Background: Walking training (WT) improves walking capacity and reduces clinic blood pressure (BP) in patients with peripheral artery disease (PAD), but its effects on ambulatory BP remains unknown. Objective: To investigate the effect of 12 weeks of WT on ambulatory BP and its variability in patients with PAD. Methods: Thirty-five male patien...

There is substantial interest by clinicians to improve the health outcomes of older and frail patients following major surgery, with prehabilitation a potential and important component of future standard patient care. We studied the feasibility of a randomised controlled trial of pre-operative prehabilitation in frail patients scheduled for colorec...

Aim: A simple objective test is required to identify people with impaired physical aspects of health-related quality of life (QOL) due to intermittent claudication. This study assessed the relationship of QOL, function and physical activity to the need to stop during a six-minute walking test (6MWT) amongst people with intermittent claudication....

Handgrip strength (HGS) is a functional test that has been directly associated with lung function in some healthy populations; however, inconsistent findings have been reported for populations with chronic diseases. The aim of this study was to identify the relationship between HGS and lung function in both healthy and unhealthy adults. A systemati...

We aimed to assess the cardiovascular responses and locomotory demands of male referees during diverse elite, international, basketball matches, and to investigate the influence of moderating factors (competition sex, level and stage) on these demands. Cardiovascular and locomotory responses were monitored in 123 elite, male referees while officiat...

Objective This study examined the impact of submaximal walking training (WT) on local and systemic nitric oxide (NO) bioavailability, inflammation, and oxidative stress in patients with intermittent claudication (IC). Methods The study employed a randomised, controlled, parallel group design and was performed in a single centre. Thirty-two men wit...

Objectives: Post-exercise hypotension (PEH) is a clinically relevant phenomenon, which occurs after aerobic and resistance exercises. However, its existence following functional training (FT) remains unknown with negative feelings induced by the high intensity component of FT a potentially limiting factor to adherence of FT. Thus, the aim of this s...

Objectives This study examined the effect of match location, score-line, team quality and match outcome on the expression of team playing styles in the National Rugby League (NRL) across the 2015–2019 seasons. Methods Thirty-eight performance indicators (e.g. offloads, runs) from all NRL games (n = 2010) were collected. Match-related factors exami...

The ability to recover from official match-play across a single and multiple matches is often considered a key factor in subsequent performance for modern professional basketball. The aims of this study were to: (i) explore the differences in match performances between different match congestion cycles (i.e., matches separated by zero, one, or two...

A coaching change is an extreme, but frequently occurring phenomenon in elite soccer with its impact on team success debatable. The aim of the current study was twofold: (i) to compare team’s performance when coached by new and old coaches; and (ii) to investigate the impact of a coaching change on team’s performance according to coach- and club-re...

The aim of this study is to analyse the performance evolution of all, and the dominant, team’s performances throughout an eight-season period within the Spanish professional basketball league. Match-related statistics were gathered from all regular season matches (n = 2426) played during the period 2009–2010 to 2016–2017. The non-metric multidimens...

The root mean square of successive differences (RMSSD) of R-R intervals, the most robust vagal modulation parameter of heart rate variability (HRV), has been proposed as a marker of global health and training adaptations. The weekly averaging of RMSSD and its natural logarithm (LnRMSSD) has been adopted to enhance detection of training-induced adap...

This study examined the relationship between evasive skill and developmental level in a rugby league (RL) talent pathway. An observational and cross-sectional research design was used with a total sample of 90 male participants (under 18, n = 30; under 20, n = 30; and state league, n = 30) performing an attack play task, requiring three attackers t...

Objectives: This study aimed to identify styles of play in the National Rugby League (NRL) relative to season and end of season rank (position on the NRL ladder) across the 2015-2019 seasons. Design: Retrospective, longitudinal analysis of performance indicators. Methods: Forty-eight performance indicators (e.g. runs, tackles) from all NRL teams an...

Identification of the exercise volume and intensity of basketball referees, across competitive match types based on competition sex and level, would assist in developing appropriate training regimes. Purpose: The aims of this study were to quantify and compare the exercise volume and intensity encountered by semiprofessional basketball referees dur...

Background: Although maximal and submaximal walking are recommended for patients with peripheral artery disease (PAD), their execution may induce different physiological responses. Objectives: To compare the acute effects of maximal and submaximal walking on post-exercise cardiovascular function, regulation and associated pathophysiological process...

The FIBA Basketball World Cup is one of the most prominent sporting competitions for men’s basketball, with coaches interested in key performance indicators (KPIs) that give a better understanding of basketball competitions. The aims of the study were to (1) examine the relationship between match KPIs and outcome in elite men’s basketball; and (2)...

The purpose of this study was to examine performance advantages associated with batting stance, in the form of left- vs. right-handed dominant stance, and orthodox vs. reverse stance, of talented junior cricket batters within age-restricted competitions. Data were sourced from the national male younger age competition (YAC; Under-17; n = 237) and o...

The aim of the present study was to examine the differences in game-related statistics between national and foreign female basketball players in the Women’s EuroLeague, according to playing positions and team ability. The official box-scores of 112 games from the 2016–2017 season of the Women’s EuroLeague (FIBA) were examined. Players were categori...

PurposeThe aim of the current study was to examine the impact of lower body compression garments (CG) on cardiac autonomic control of heart rate (HR) prior to, during and following submaximal exercise.Methods Thirty (15 males, 15 females) healthy, active adults undertook consecutive 10-min stages of supine rest, moderate–intensity upright cycling a...

Background: Rugby league involves repeated, complex, change-of-direction movements, although there are no test protocols that specifically assesses these physical fitness profiles. Thus, the current study examined the convergent validity and reliability of a repeated Illinois Agility (RIA) protocol in adolescent Rugby League players. Methods: Twent...

Bipartite networks are related to non-linear and ecological approaches where, at least, two different kinds of entities are considered. In sports, we can consider players as entities that base their decisions (actions and reactions) on opponents and their own actions. Incorporation of bipartite networks into modelling of racket sport performances m...

Objective: The aim of this study was to assess the effects of a single bout of maximal walking on blood and muscle nitric oxide (NO) bioavailability, oxidative stress, and inflammation in symptomatic peripheral artery disease (PAD) patients. Methods: A total of 35 men with symptomatic PAD performed a graded maximal exercise test on a treadmill (...

Objective The aims of this study were firstly to assess the correlation between disease specific measures of quality of life (QOL) and physical performance and activity, and secondly to identify demographic, clinical, functional, and physical activity measures independently associated with QOL in people with intermittent claudication. Methods This...

Background: Asthma and obesity are becoming increasingly common among children. Such conditions are known to negatively affect both cardiac autonomic function and oxidative stress. We therefore investigated the heart rate variability (HRV) and oxidative (malondialdehyde, MDA) response to exercise within a high humidity environment (~65%) in obese...