Investigating the Differences in the Simple Reaction Time and Muscle Stiffness Between Gym Users and Open-Skills Sport Practitioners: An Exploratory Study

Background/Objectives: The number of people who practice gym activities is increasing. Most gym activities take place within a building, and the movements are controlled, making them closed-skill activities. This could decrease the processing speed capacity. The objective was to investigate whether a difference, assessed by a simple reaction time and muscle stiffness task, exists between people who practice gym versus open-skills sports activities. Methods: A total of 58 gym users and open-skills sport practitioners were recruited. Participants’ anthropometric characteristics were evaluated. Electrodes were set at the tibialis anterior (TA) and gastrocnemius lateralis (GL), and participants performed the simple reaction time task. A drop jump test (muscular stiffness) was also executed. A multiple comparison test was adopted to study the differences between groups for FAT%, reaction time, and ground contact time. The significance level was set at p ≤ 0.05. Results: Data from the groups presented no statistically significant differences in the simple reaction time task (p = 0.999) and in the drop jump (p = 0.999), or from a superficial electromyography point of view. Conclusions: This exploratory study detected no statistically significant differences between the groups. The study design does not support equivalence conclusions. Further studies are required to understand the topic in depth.