| Summary: | The purpose of the investigation was to study a programme of Progressive Reinforcement Training and to note the changes in performance in running 800 metres. Two secondary purposes were:
1. To study several physiological variables and to note changes after the Progressive Reinforcement Training.
2. To note certain psychological characteristics of the subjects.
Nine students of a major secondary school in Vancouver participated in the study. The group trained on a Progressive Reinforcement Training Programme for seven weeks. The Cattell Junior-Senior High School Personality Questionnaire was administered to each individual of the group. The group was pre and post-tested on the following items: vertical jump; isometric leg strength; treadmill performance time; acid-base balance prior to and after the first and last training sessions. Time trials were recorded prior to, during and after the training programme.
The results of the Personality Factor Questionnaire indicated that the runners tended to be happy-go-lucky, conscientious, doubting and self-sufficient. All members of the group were classified as positive achievers.
The results showed that there was no statistically significant improvement in the vertical jump score (t=0.076). There were significant differences at the .05 level of significance on the following isometric strength scores: Left Knee Flexion (t=5.69); Right Knee Flexion (t=4.4l); Left Hip Flexion (t=2.58); Right Hip Flexion (t=5.30); Left Hip Extension (t=7.32); Right Hip Extension (t=4.98). However, no significant gains were made on the Left Knee Extension (t=2.07) or Right Knee Extension (t=2.15).
Within the Progressive Reinforcement trained group, it was found that treadmill performance times were significantly increased (t=9.02).
The results of the blood analyses indicated that a general trend existed in which the pH values decreased significantly as a result of training.
After the Progressive Reinforcement Training, it was noted that there were significant improvements in times for running 800 metres (t=6.84). === Education, Faculty of === Curriculum and Pedagogy (EDCP), Department of === Graduate
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