Why research in sports science is so important

A team member of mine recently published a paper on the effect of genetics on aerobic trainability. This led me to want to share why research in sports science doesn’t just affect athletes — it affects everyone.

Craig Pickering, Olympic athlete and head of sports science at DNAFit recently published a research paper (with John Kiely, Bruce Suraci, and Dave Collins) titled The magnitude of Yo-Yo test improvements following an aerobic training intervention are associated with total genotype score.

Craig and his colleagues helped us understand that there are differences in how well people respond to aerobic training based on our unique genetic makeup. The next step would be to figure out how we might enhance the fitness of those expected to see the smallest improvements, helping them to get as fit as possible.

This led me to want to share why I believe research in sports science is so important

Sports science is, amongst other things, the study of exercise and people’s response to exercise. Research in sports science essentially affects anyone who wants to exercise — from the absolute beginner to top performing elite athletes.

On-going research in sports science is important for a number of reasons

Firstly, research into any field brings with it innovation — which drives us forward as a society.

Secondly, improving athletic performance is a worthwhile aim in and of itself. Elite athletes dedicate a considerable amount of time and effort to what they do, so we want their training to be as effective and as efficient as possible.

Finally, sports science research allows us to better understand which types of exercise can be effective. And this, in turn, often filters down to non-athletes. We can therefore use the findings from sports science research to not only make better training plans for everyone, but identify risk factors

How research in sports science affects the general public

Exercise is a highly effective treatment or risk-reducer for a number of diseases and conditions, including obesity, type-II diabetes, depression, and ageing. By understanding which exercises and exercise-types are most effective, we can better enhance the public’s health.

Let’s look at HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) for example. HIIT was historically used by endurance athletes as a means to improve their aerobic and anaerobic fitness. However, more recently it has been explored in terms of disease-risk reduction and treatment, primarily because it is very time efficient. A famous bit of research from Japan on Tabata, showed that eight twenty-second sprints with 10 seconds of recovery between sprints over a four minute period enhanced aerobic fitness to a greater extent then longer duration, lower intensity, exercise.

Another good example of how research in sports science filters down to the general public is that of Achilles tendon treatment. While most of this research was conducted in athletes, many non-athletes also suffer from Achilles tendon injuries and the research percolates down to them.

DNAFit’s commitment to research and furthering the field of sports science

Prenetics and DNAFit are committed to ongoing research into genetics, nutrigenomics and sport science. We were the first genetics company to perform a peer-reviewed study into a genetic based algorithm for personalised resistance training.

Craig and his research team are currently working on some interesting research awaiting peer-review, including:

• A two-year study comparing the use of a nutrigenetic diet with a ketogenic diet for weight loss and improvements in cardiometabolic health.
• A study showing that, when a group of women do the same training programme, the rates of weight loss are different between them, with some even gaining weight.
• A study showing genes that are associated with sprint speed and acceleration in soccer players.
• A study showing that a specific genetic variant is associated with aerobic capacity. This could be important in understanding how people might best be able to increase their aerobic capacity.

I look forward to sharing more of Craig’s research findings during the course of 2019. These are exciting times in the health and fitness industry — we are discovering more and more about the human body in rapid leaps and bounds.

Watch this space!

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