Low levels of body fat, while important, aren’t the be-all and end-all of athletic performance. You certainly don’t want to lug around unnecessary pounds, but deliberately undereating can lead to serious social and physiological issues. High-intensity competition requires food-generated energy, and many nutrients allow adequate recovery.
Read MoreUsing Video to Improve the Skill-Learning Process
Video review is a proven method of learning new skills. It can provide immediate feedback, showing athletes flaws in technique. It also forms a “library” of successive improvements in the desired technique over a period of time. Many athletes use video images to match their internal sense of proper technique.
Read More6 Tips on Dealing with Pressure in Sports
Pressure in competition can be internal and/or external. Six techniques help athletes deal with pressure and thereby maximize their performances.
Read MoreDNAFit – Achieve Your Genetic Potential
Anyone who has been in a training squad will have seen team-mates who improved greatly with training and others who didn’t improve anywhere near as much. As an increasing amount of research is carried out into performance genetics, the reasons for these differences are becoming clearer. There are now a number of genes that can partially explain the response to different types of training.
Read More11 Mistakes I’ve Made (So You Don’t Have To)
Part of me being a coach is helping the next generation and passing on what I’ve learned. Here is your chance to learn from some of the things I did wrong.
Read MoreThe Genetics of High Performance Exercise
It is often said that elite athletes are born and not made. This indicates that there is a large genetic component to sporting performance. Many studies have looked at the inheritability of athletic traits, and estimates for how much sporting ability is inherited ranges from 20% up to 70%, depending on the sporting skill required. It appears that for physiology-based sports, such as athletics, the genetic aspect is higher than in skill-based sports where different roles can be fulfilled by different people. For example, a sprinter will always need to be fast, while an elite soccer player can be quick, have good endurance or a mix of the two. Understanding the genetic component to sporting success can lead to better training programs, more efficient training and potentially increased success.
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