Purpose Virtual reality (VR) reduces experimental and clinical pain, but whether these effects extend to naturally occurring muscle pain (NOMP) during exercise remains unclear. This study examined whether immersive nature-based VR attenuates NOMP and improves motor performance during prescribed and self-regulated exercise. Methods Two within-participant crossover studies were conducted involving 12 (Study 1) and 24 (Study 2) h...

Purpose Portable near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) enables cost-effective monitoring of muscle oxygen saturation (SmO 2 ) during exercise, presenting a promising alternative for delineating exercise intensity domains. This study investigated whether SmO 2 breakpoints (BP 1 and BP 2 ) can provide accurate estimates of ventilatory thresholds (GET and RCP). Methods Twelve male Tier 3 triathletes completed an outdoor incremental T...

Skeletal muscle strength is multifactorial. Although associated, skeletal muscle size and strength often change disproportionately following resistance training with different loading paradigms. Examining strength relative to muscle size has been used to evaluate the potential contribution of muscle growth or other factors (e.g., neural or intramuscular adaptations) that occur with strength changes. Moreover, as muscle size co...