Multi-Disciplinary (Performance) Sports Science: The Future of High Performance Sport.

There is no doubt that successful sports performance is multi-disciplinary in nature. Athletes and coaches need to be aware of the physiological, biomechanical, psychological, nutritional, medical and immunological and other issues that can impact on their competition performances.

It – performance – is rarely – if ever -about one thing in isolation!  (more…)

Sport Analysis and the Era of Negativity

Seems like every coach has a video, a camera, a DVD player and some analysis software these days.

Coaches spend more time behind a desk, staring at replays and performance analysis data than they do actually working and communicating with athletes and staff!

Modern analysis techniques and equipment have given us the luxury of detail- the ability to evaluate, measure and analyse performance in far greater depth than ever before.

Most analysis techniques used in elite sport evolved from research methods used in the academic world, where a wide range of analysis tools are used to systematically investigate technique, movement, skills, decision making etc as part of a the study behind a journal article, research project or thesis.

The problem with all this analysis is that analysis, by its nature is destructive. Analysis breaks down performances, techniques, skills etc into component parts or measurable events. It looks to identify what went wrong with an athlete or team and what problems, faults and mistakes led to a poor performance. (more…)

Strength Training for High Performance Sport – An Overview

It was not all that long ago when the words “strength training” and “gymnasium” conjured up images of muscle hulks and Arnold Schwarzenegger – that is before he become the Governator!

However, in recent years, strength and conditioning has gained acceptance as an applied sports science and is respected as a profession in its own right in many high performance sporting systems around the world. It has become a fundamental and integral aspect of the training and preparation of elite athletes in a wide range of sports.

This article will cover some of the contemporary issues in strength training for high performance sport and suggest some practical applications for the practicing coach.

The basic issues: Strength training or no strength training? (more…)

Put Physiology Last…and See What Happens.

It’s all the same. All over the world, in every sport, when coaches write training workouts they think in terms of the big three physiological variables only: volume, intensity and frequency (how much, how hard, how often). But what if there was another way? What if instead of writing training sessions based on the physical aspects of performance, coaches and athletes built their training sessions and programming around the mental side of performance. This article challenges coaches and athletes to look at putting physiology last when they design and deliver training sessions and to think about what might happen if they looked at things differently.

Sports Science MDID – the Multidisciplinary / Interdisciplinary Approach to Performance Science.

These are the most common arguments for why the MD/ID approach to sports science will not work: However, the single counter argument to refute all these is this: Performance is multidisciplinary and multi-factorial by nature. Performance is the balanced integration of physical, mental, technical, tactical, cultural, genetic and other factors. Nothing Read more…

Training Based Research Studies: the Biggest Con in sport since the Muffin.

Remember how when we were kids everyone liked to eat cupcakes.

Then when we got older and a bit more health conscious we were told to give them up because of the sugar and flour and other stuff in them.

Then along comes a sports nutritionist who said “Muffins are a great food for athletes – nutritious, high carbohydrate energy foods”. So we all started eating them again even though they are basically still just big cupcakes.

What a big con.

Almost as big a con as Training Studies in Sports Science Research. (more…)