ArticleBMC sports science, medicine & rehabilitation2026
The paradox of sport: adolescent athletes are highly sedentary across competition, practice, and rest days.
Article in BMC sports science, medicine & rehabilitation, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT07502742 (Pain in Athletes INtervention), which is not on this map. Cited by 1 paper.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Pain in Athletes INtervention (PAIN): A Randomized Crossover Clinical Trial in Aging Former Athletes, Master's Athletes, and Nonathletes
Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- Sport training day affects adolescent athletes' sleep schedules.Frontiers in sports and active living · 2025Article
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6 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundElite athletes are highly sedentary outside of sports and must stay active after retiring to remain healthy. While sports are often recommended to improve physical activity, the effect of sport training day on daily physical activity levels in adolescent athletes is not well described. The purpose was to assess (1) physical activity (i.e., step counts and activity score [METs]) and (2) sedentary behavior (e.g., total duration and prolonged [> 1 h] bouts) in male and female adolescent athletes across different training days (i.e., competition, practice, and rest days).
methodsAdolescent basketball and volleyball athletes wore an accelerometer continuously for 14 consecutive days while in-season. Training days (i.e., competition, practice, and rest days) were tracked for each athlete. In-person testing included anthropometrics, vertical jump height, and body composition via bioelectrical impedance.
resultsThirty-nine athletes (15.6 ± 0.9 years; n = 24 female, n = 15 male) participated. Athletes were more physically active on competition and practice days (step count [mean ± SD]: competition: 13,021 ± 2,572, practice: 11,735 ± 1,875, rest: 6,742 ± 3,150 [p < 0.001]); activity score [METs]: competition: 35.6 ± 1.0, practice: 34.7 ± 0.9, rest: 33.0 ± 1.3 [p < 0.001]). Athletes had high total sedentary behavior across all training days (competition: 570.4 ± 89.3 min, practice: 619.5 ± 74.6 min, rest: 638.5 ± 90.8 min [p = 0.001]), but the greatest prolonged bouts of sedentary behavior on competition days (competition: 195.4 ± 100.9 min, practice: 115.9 ± 74.0 min, rest: 144.6 ± 96.2 min [p = 0.002]).
conclusionAdolescent athletes were highly active on competition and practice days but did not meet physical activity guidelines on rest days, achieving only ~ 6,700 steps/day. Athletes were highly sedentary across all training days, averaging ~ 10 h/day of waking sedentary behavior. Only a third met physical activity guidelines regardless of training day. Adolescent athletes are highly sedentary and many fail to meet physical activity guidelines, challenging the notion that sports alone make individuals sufficiently active. CLINICAL TRIAL NUMBER: Not applicable.
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