Monthly Archives: September 2018

Sands, Moore receive ACSM student awards

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July 23, 2018

 

Kinesiology students Colleen Sands and Christopher Moore recently received student awards to attend and present research at the American College of Sports Medicine’s 65th annual meeting held in Minneapolis. Both students work in the Physical Activity and Health Lab under the supervision of Associate Dean of Research and Professor of Kinesiology Catrine Tudor-Locke.

Sands ‘18, a recent graduate who was named a spring 2018 Rising Researcher, received the Dr. Priscilla M. Clarkson Undergraduate Travel Award to present a poster titled “Does Music-Based Cadence Entrainment Alter Metabolic Intensity?” The $1,000 award, established in memory of the late UMass Amherst professor of kinesiology and dean of the Commonwealth Honors College, is given annually to an undergraduate student to present at the ACSM annual meeting.

“Ms. Sands has proven to be a capable and gifted young researcher,” says Tudor-Locke. “In her last two years as an undergraduate she proved to be a valuable asset to our research team, and as a result, I invited her join my lab this fall as a graduate student. Her attention to detail and the high quality of work she produces has been greatly valued, and she works exceedingly hard. Her passion for this field is also evidenced by her personal public health initiative in her local community to develop a Kids’ Running Club from the ground up, acting on her passion for spreading awareness of the importance of physical activity in youth.”

Christopher Moore ‘17 received the Michael L. Pollock Student Scholarship and presented a poster titled “Revisiting the ACSM Metabolic Equation for Walking: Development of a Cadence (steps/min) Metabolic Equation.” The $200 award is given to help pay travel expenses for graduate students traveling to ACSM’s Annual Meeting to present their scholarly work.

“Mr. Moore has accepted and excelled at every challenge I have thrown at him,” says Tudor-Locke. “Notably, he is off to an incredible start as a scholar after only his first year as a graduate student. He has been an active co-author contributing to submitted manuscripts and is currently leading (as well as continuing to co-author) numerous other manuscripts that are coming out of our lab. He has already been a part of thirty-four academic conference presentations, including eight as first author. I look forward to witnessing his continued and soaring trajectory.”

Sands selected as Rising Researcher

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Commonwealth Honors College student Colleen Sands, a senior majoring in kinesiology, has an impressive resume of academic, athletic, and research achievements. A Division 1 athlete, Sands captains the UMass cross country and track & field programs while consistently achieving Dean’s List rankings for exceptional academic performance. Her athletic accomplishments have been recognized by the Ken O’Brien Scholarship award for outstanding athletic and academic performance.

 

Colleen Sands, ’18

 

Sands’s research on the role of wearable technologies for public health outcomes has received high praise from her mentor Professor of Kinesiology and Associate Dean of Research Catrine Tudor-Locke. “Colleen demonstrates a strong ability to think critically about research questions and the implications for clinical practice and public health,” says Tudor-Locke.

Sands, who received the Priscilla Clarkson Undergraduate Award from the American College of Sports Medicine, has been presenting as first author on her research nationally and internationally. She presented at the 2017 New England American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) Regional Conference, and this year, she will present at the ACSM 2018 annual meeting. Sands has also submitted a first-author abstract to the 2018 International Society for Physical Activity and Health Congress in London, England.

“It has always been very clear that Colleen conducts herself with great integrity, holds herself to a very high standard, and strives to achieve her best in all situations,” says Tudor-Locke. “She is in an excellent position to excel in her future studies and research endeavors.”

Tudor-Locke Examines Walking Cadence as Measure of Exercise Intensity

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Tudor-Locke Examines Walking Cadence as Measure of Exercise Intensity

University of Massachusetts Department of Kinesiology Professor and Chair Catrine Tudor-Locke

Catrine Tudor-Locke

July 19, 2018

Professor of Kinesiology and Associate Dean for Research Catrine Tudor-Locke, with members of her Physical Activity and Health Lab and others, is the first author of a new publication examining walking cadence as a reliable, consistent measure of exercise intensity.

In a comprehensive review of 38 relevant studies focused on walking cadence and intensity for adults, Tudor-Locke and team conclude that approximately 100 steps per minute qualifies as a good metric for moderate intensity levels in healthy adults, with vigorous walking beginning at approximately 130 steps per minute.

With step-counting now widely accepted in physical activity interventions, and the increasing availability and affordability of commercial wearable physical activity monitoring devices, such as Fitbit, there is an opportunity to provide cadence-based values to guide and monitor healthful ambulatory activity.

One of the added benefits of tracking cadence, however, is that it does not require such devices. Cadence can be determined simply by manually counting the number of steps accumulated during a 1-minute period (or by using multiples in still shorter increments), or more crudely by dividing the total number of steps accumulated during a bout of exercise by the duration of the bout (e.g., 3000 steps per 30?minutes = 100?steps per minute).

The study’s conclusion provides easy to understand guidelines for “brisk” exercise, with real-world implications for creating public health recommendations.

“For example,” the authors write, “walking cadence can be used to prescribe physical activity, shape behavior (e.g., in physical activity interventions and clinical therapeutic programs) and/or analyze behavior (e.g., making sense of data from research-grade and consumer-grade physical activity monitors).”

Tudor-Locke recently presented the study at a symposium during the American College of Sports Medicine’s 65th annual meeting in Minneapolis, MN; the review also appears in a special edition of the British Journal of Sports Medicine.