You feel beat up, you’re tied, you’re sore and you’ve lost the spring in your step…and you have to perform at your best in the next 24-28 hours. What do you do? Exercise-Induced Muscle Damage (EIMD) is characterized by symptoms that present both immediately and for up to 14 days after the initial exercise stress
It’s been well established that both chronic (long term) and acute (short term) sleep deprivation can negatively impact numerous areas of physiological and psychological performance and health. When it comes to physiological dysfunction of sleep deprivation, we think of the muscle. Of which, poor sleep quality and quantity can lead an athlete’s ability to build
Well, wouldn’t this be the dream… Endurance athletes have the pursuit of improving power-weight ratio to make them faster, fatigue less and become more efficient. This can be done by either being lighter, improving power output, or both. It’s been well establish that a calorie deficit is needed to drop body fat. Generally speaking, calorie
It’s been known for some time that there’s a clear and robust link between nutrition status and immune function. With regards to COVID-19, one of the biggest challenges is focused on reducing inflammation. To help reduce the severity of illness, a recent review paper published in the Journal of Clinical Medicine can
Okay, if I’m completely honest, I wrote this article 100% for myself to give me peace of mind that taking ~10 days off training would not lead to muscle mass, strength or performances losses over the Christmas period. So apologies if it’s a little nerdy. Classic understanding of training periodisation was founded upon Hans Selye’s
Overtraining was coined initially on the idea of excessive training which resulted in fatigue and underperformances. If you’ve ever been in this position, you’ll agree that more is not more and that you paradoxically have a deconditioning effect. I.e. you become a worse athlete by training harder. However, there’s new insight from the 2019 EROS
Tis the season to be jolly Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la…. Tis also the season for higher food consumption, lowered training demands and the perfect recipe for weight gain. But that’s fine, because January is fast approaching where we can undo ‘the damage’ and ‘get back on track’. Well, I have a better idea for you – why
It’s very evident that CBD products have increased in popularity despite minimal research supporting its use in athletes (other than anecdotally). CBD products claim to have low levels of THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) – This is the compound that makes you high and can get the pro athlete banned…if for some reason you wished to supplement, it’s
I think it’s safe to say that advice on alcohol consumption prior to training sessions, games and competitions is a given…just don’t do it.But what about after exercise, games and competitions when all the hard work is done? What are the recommendations with intake and its impact on recovery? Here’s what you need to know
I think it’s safe to say that sleep quality and quantity is a fundamental performance tool that is greatly under-utilised by athletes. It’s been very well established that sleep is vital for both brain and body and plays a large role in mental and physical well-being. Sleep loss impairs cognition, learning and memory retention, disruption of growth
As mentioned on previous #D2EW episodes, the depletion of carbohydrate stores within the muscle is one of the main factors than causes fatigue in athletes. When muscle glycogen (stored form of carbs) hits a critical level of depletion, the muscles contractibility and ability to produce force is impaired – this is one of the main
It’s been reported that approximately one third of people who lose weight on a diet will regain more weight than they originally lost. Therefore, it’s been highlighted that we don’t necessarily have a weight loss problem; we have a weight maintenance problem. In the overweight and obese, this is largely down to the obesogenic environment,
Today, we examine a supplement that not many of you would have come across… Sodium Citrate. Long story short, it’s very similar to Sodium Bicarbonate (SB) but without the nasty gastrointestinal issues (kinda). SB is an extracellular buffer (outside of the muscle) that serves as an ‘alkalizing agent’ to improve performance during intermittent type exercise
30-50% of endurance athletes experience gastrointestinal issues whilst training and competing. This can lead to underperformance and in some cases, the inability to complete an event or training session. Previous #D2EW episodes have covered how to mitigate gut issues on race day – such as training the gut prior and following appropriate fuelling strategies during. But are
It’s been incredibly well documented that a fat loss phases involve a calorie restriction – This is fat loss 101, simply consume fewer calories than you expend. Albeit sometimes isn’t so simple. Actually, most of the time… However, once your fat loss phase has finished and you’re at the desired bodyweight or body composition that
