Swimming and Skiing: Two Modes of Existential Consciousness

The philosophical argument between Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus can be summarised in their conflicting accounts of skiing and swimming. For Sartre skiing exemplifies the struggle of existence and the angst of the alienated ego. For Camus, swimming represents some glimmering of collective harmony, the possibility of transcendence. Sartre's thinking is inflected by quantum theory and the ‘steady state’, whereas Camus is more of a wave theorist, with a lingering nostalgia for the ‘primeval atom’ and a fondness for peak experiences. Put together their separate ways of analysing consciousness suggest a two-phase account of cognition.     

Skiing and its Discontents: Assessing the Turist Experience from a Psychoanalytical,a Neuroscientific and a Sport Philosophical Perspective

Abstract

This article addresses the question whether skiing as a nature sport enables practitioners to develop a rapport with nature, or rather estranges and insulates them from their mountainous ambiance. To address this question, I analyse a recent skiing movie (Turist, 2014) from a psychoanalytical perspective (skiing as a quest for self-knowledge and as therapy) and from a neuro-scientific perspective (ski resorts as laboratory settings for testing physical and psychic responses to a variety of cues). I conclude that Jean-Paul Sartre’s classical but egocentric account of his skiing experiences disavows the technicity involved in contemporary skiing as a sportive practice for the affluent masses, which actually represents an urbanisation of the sublime, symptomatic for the current era (the anthropocene).     

The role of speed and incline in the spontaneous choice of technique in classical roller-skiing

Cross-country skiers change technique depending on terrain (incline) and effort (work rate; speed at a particular incline or resistance). The literature is not unequivocal about the influence of incline or speed on the choice of technique, i.e., which of these act as a ‘control parameter’. Identifying task related control parameters for spontaneous technique shifts assists elucidating which mechanisms are active for triggering technique transitions. The aim of this study was to investigate whether speed or incline acted as such control parameter for technique shifts during classic style roller skiing. In this study, we kept the exercise intensity constant while changing two potential control parameters (speed and incline). Thus, any effect of work rate was excluded.Eight male competitive cross-country skiers performed roller skiing on a treadmill while incline was altered from 3 to 11% and back to 3% each minute by 1% and speed changed accordingly to obtain a constant work rate. This protocol was performed at three submaximal work rates (170, 200, and 230 W) to obtain various combinations of speed and incline.The athletes were free to choose their technique (double poling, double poling with kick and diagonal stride), which was identified using continuous phase analysis on the motion of the skis. Physiological response (heart rate, oxygen uptake) was recorded continuously.The incline seemed to affect choice of technique shift more than speed: the ANOVA for repeated measures on all work rates showed no significant effect of incline (p > 0.2) and an effect for speed (p < 0.001). No effect of protocol order (increasing versus decreasing incline) was found for transitions. The physiological response was lowest for conditions of steep incline-low speed and was affected by protocol order. Cycle rate was affected by incline only in the double poling technique.Possible mechanisms related to the triggering of technique transitions are discussed.     

The effects of the arm swing on biomechanical and physiological aspects of roller ski skating

This study analyzed the biomechanical and physiological effects of the arm swing in roller ski skating, and compared leg-skating (i.e. ski skating without poles) using a pronounced arm swing (SWING) with leg-skating using locked arms (LOCKED). Sixteen elite male cross-country skiers performed submaximal stages at 10, 15 and 20 km h⁻¹ on a 2% inclined treadmill in the two techniques. SWING demonstrated higher peak push-off forces and a higher force impulse at all speeds, but a longer cycle length only at the highest speed (all P < .05), indicating a lower force effectiveness with SWING at the two lowest speeds. Additionally, the flexion–extension movement in the lower limbs was more pronounced for SWING. Oxygen uptake was higher for SWING at the two lowest speeds (both P < .05) without any differences in blood lactate. At the highest speed, oxygen uptake did not differ between SWING and LOCKED, but the RER, blood lactate and ventilation were lower with SWING (all P < .05). Taken together, these results demonstrate that utilizing the arm swing in roller ski skating increases the ski forces and aerobic energy cost at low and moderate speeds, whereas the greater forces at high speed lead to a longer cycle length and smaller anaerobic contribution.     

The Job Insecurity Scale: A psychometric evaluation across five European countries

Multiple instruments have been developed and used to measure quantitative job insecurity (i.e., insecurity to lose the job as such), often without systematic evaluation of their psychometric characteristics across countries and language barriers. This may hamper consistent and reliable cross-study and cross-country comparisons. This study's aim was to introduce and validate the four-item Job Insecurity Scale (JIS) developed by De Witte across five European countries (i.e., Belgium, The Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, and the UK). Overall, the results demonstrated the construct validity (i.e., configural invariance and invariance of the measurement model parameters), the reliability (internal consistency of the items), and the criterion validity (with respect to affective organizational commitment, perceived general health, and self-reported performance) of the JIS. The different translations of the JIS can thus be considered as valid and reliable instruments to measure job insecurity and can be used to make meaningful comparisons across countries. Furthermore, the JIS translations may be utilized to assess how job insecurity is related to outcomes.     

Examining the relationship between trait self-control and stress: Evidence on generalizability and outcome variability

Trait self-control has in several studies been found negatively linked to stress. These studies have, however, mostly relied on student and/or one-country samples. Study 1 investigated the generalizability of the relationship between trait self-control and stress through a four-country survey (N = 4097). The results showed consistently strong and negative relationships between trait self-control and stress across the four countries. Study 2 investigated the relationship between trait self-control and daily stress through a two-week diary study (N = 594; n_obs = 7880), showing that trait self-control was negatively related to daily stress and stress variability. Together, the two studies show that trait self-control’s negative link to stress generalizes beyond students and the United States.     

Does parental autonomy support mediate the relation between parent and infant executive function? A study of mothers and fathers in the Netherlands and China

Parenting skills, such as Autonomy Support (AS), have been proposed as a potential mechanism explaining the intergenerational contiguity of Executive Function (EF). However, few studies have focused on mothers and fathers among non-Western families. The current study investigated the role of maternal and paternal AS in the relation between parental EF and infant EF at 14 months of age among 123 Dutch and 63 Chinese first-time mothers and fathers and their infants. Multiple-group structural equation models were built for mothers and fathers separately with country as a grouping variable. Results showed that parental AS did not mediate the relation between parent EF and infant EF at 14 months. Mean-level differences were found in parental AS, maternal EF, and infant inhibition across countries, while no country differences were found in the relation between parent EF, AS and infant EF. Our findings suggested that individual differences in early EF may not be stable enough to be reliably predicted from parental factors across the Netherlands and China.     

The effect of exercise intensity on joint power and dynamics in ergometer double-poling performed by cross-country skiers

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of increasing exercise intensity on the role of joint powers in ergometer double poling (DP), while taking specific dynamic constraints into account. One main question was whether lower-body power contribution increased or decreased with increasing intensity. Nine male Norwegian national-level cross-country skiers performed ergometer DP at low, moderate, high and maximal intensity. Kinematics, and ground (GRF) and poling (F_poling) reaction forces were recorded and used in link segment modeling to obtain joint and whole-body dynamics. Joint powers were averaged over the cycle, the poling (PP) and recovery (RP) phases. The contribution of these average powers was their ratios to cycle average poling power. At all intensities, the shoulder (in PP) and hip (mostly in RP) generated most power. Averaged over the cycle, lower-body contribution (sum of ankle, knee and hip power) increased from ∼37% at low to ∼54% at maximal intensity (p < .001), originating mostly from increased hip contribution within PP, not RP. The generation of larger F_poling at higher intensities demanded a reversal of hip and knee moment. This was necessary to appropriately direct the GRF vector as required to balance the moment about center of mass generated by F_poling (control of angular momentum). This was reflected in that the hip changed from mostly absorbing to generating power in PP at lower and higher intensities, respectively. Our data indicate that power-transfer rather than stretch-shortening mechanisms may occur in/between the shoulder and elbow during PP. For the lower extremities, stretch-shortening mechanisms may occur in hip, knee and trunk extensors, ensuring energy conservation or force potentiation during the countermovement-like transition from body lowering to heightening. In DP locomotion, increasing intensity and power output is achieved by increased lower-body contribution. This is, at least in ergometer DP, partly due to changes in joint dynamics in how to handle dynamic constraints at different intensities.     

The effect of swinging the arms on muscle activation and production of leg force during ski skating at different skiing speeds

The study investigated the effects of arm swing during leg push-off in V2-alternate/G4 skating on neuromuscular activation and force production by the leg muscles. Nine skilled cross-country skiers performed V2-alternate skating without poles at moderate, high, and maximal speeds, both with free (SWING) and restricted arm swing (NOSWING). Maximal speed was 5% greater in SWING (P < 0.01), while neuromuscular activation and produced forces did not differ between techniques. At both moderate and high speed the maximal (2% and 5%, respectively) and average (both 5%) vertical force and associated impulse (10% and 14%) were greater with SWING (all P < 0.05). At high speed range of motion and angular velocity of knee flexion were 24% greater with SWING (both P < 0.05), while average EMG of m. biceps femoris was 31% lower (all P < 0.05) in SWING. In a similar manner, the average EMG of m. vastus medialis and m. biceps femoris were lower (17% and 32%, P < 0.05) during the following knee extension. Thus, swinging the arms while performing V2-alternate can enhance both maximal speed and skiing economy at moderate and, in particularly, high speeds.