The Real Science of Sport Podcast

Climbing makes its debut at the Tokyo Olympics and the format is both controversial and fascinating. Here's all you need to know about one of the four new sports being showcased in 2022 from UK-based climbing specialist Ollie Torr.Ollie is one of the founders of Lattice Training, and also works as a coach within the company. With an extensive list of qualifications and experience to his name, Ollie’s knowledge within the field of coaching, training and sports science is extensive. He has an undergrad degree in Sports Science (First Class Honours), a Masters degree in Strength and Conditioning (Distinction), holds a Personal Training Level 3 qualification and is a Mountain Training Development coach. Alongside that, he has worked as a Personal Trainer for a variety of athletes over many years, deciding to specialise as a climbing coach around 10 years ago. Ollie has coached numerous junior and senior athletes, including the GB National Youth Climbing Team.Ollie’s own climbing repertoire is varied and impressive. With 12 years of climbing under his belt, Ollie has climbed Fat Lip V13, Mecca Extension 8c, and has some memorable experiences on the North Face of the Eiger. One of his major goals is to climb some hard Alpine multi-pitch routes and Action Direct 9a at Frankenjura. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Stuart McMillan is one of the world's most respected sprint coaches. Currently in his 25th year of professional coaching, McMillan has worked with professional and amateur athletes in a variety of sports - with the focus being on power and speed development. He is an accredited S&C and Sprints Coach and has personally coached over 70 Olympians at 7 Olympic Games; over 30 of whom have won Olympic medals. The team take an in-depth look at the science and technique of track sprinting, how the fast train, what motivates them and the psychology that helps them win at the top level. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The team are joined by gymnastics coach, biomechanist and former competitor Dr Helen Bayne to talk through the scoring systems, debate the controversies and pick the favourites for this year's Tokyo Games. PLUS: Is Simone Biles really the greatest gymnast of all time? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

SOS Podcast co-host Prof. Ross Tucker took on the challenge of riding half the distance of each 2021 Tour de France stage to see how he would cope. This is what he discovered about himself, his body and his mind after over 60 hours of riding in three weeks. PLUS the team wrap up the 2021 Tour de France, look at the top performers and ask the questions on everyone's lips. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Slovenian Tadej Pogačar has dominated the 2021 Tour de France but questions about his performance remain given cycling's doping history. How much do we know? What can cycling do to become more transparent and is seeing really believing? The team also catch up with all the latest Olympic news including the recent State of Emergency announced in Tokyo, new confirmed doping violations and two teenage athletes who will be forced to change events after being confirmed as having a DSD condition.SHOW NOTES:For more in-depth cycling analysis follow https://twitter.com/ammattipyorailySUPPORT US ON PATREONhttps://www.patreon.com/thescienceofsport Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The 2021 Tour de France has highlighted the spread of ages among the leading contenders from 41-year-old Alejandro Valverde to defending champion Tadej Pogacar: How normal is this and how do riders extend their careers? The team also investigate the crash-prone first week and look at whether there is any such thing as perfect cycling genetics. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The 2021 Tour de France is set to be a battle of the all-rounders with less climbing and more time trialling: The team look at the form book and the course, discuss the different training strategies of the favourites and pick the contenders. PLUS... Olympic organisers set to allow non-cheering spectators while the controversy over New Zealand's transgender weightlifter, Laurel Hubbard, rages on Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When Danish football star Christian Eriksen collapsed on the field during a Euro 2020 clash it raised the question of sudden cardiac arrest in world-class sportsmen and women: But how often does it happen, who is at risk and what could have caused it? The team also discuss the positive dope test of American track star Shelby Houlihan and how super spikes may be distorting track records. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Whether it's endurance, strength or agility, defining 'fit' is a complex subject. The team talk through definitions, how fitness depends on your discipline or lifestyle, how to know if you're fit and when fitness goes too far. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When it comes to fitness it's a case of use it... or lose it! But how fast do we lose fitness, how can we limit the damage when we take time off and is there such a thing as muscle memory?SHOW NOTES AND LINKS:Kramer et al 2017 - an amazing study where people were given bed rest for 60 days, and various physiological measures were assessed before and after. This study found that even 3 min of hopping six days a week cut these changes enormously: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-13659-8Chi et al 1983 - this is the study we discuss where 6 to 12 weeks off causes the oxidative enzymes to drop significantly, but they still remain well above the levels of never-trained people: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/6829750/Maldonado-Martin 2017 - this is the study on elite cyclists who stopped for the 4 week off season, and VO2max, RBC, Skinfolds and peak power were among the variables measured: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27476326/Garcia-Palleres 2009 - the kayaking study, where some elite kayakers stopped training entirely, others did about 20% to 30% of their normal training and cut their losses in half: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19997013/Houmard et al 1990 - a study on runners where keeping the intensity of training the same allowed for certain performances to be defended even though volume was cut down significantly: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/2318562/Madsen et al 1993 - another runner study, this one showing how high intensity training defends high intensity physiology, but the fat oxidation and endurance capacity drops off significantly: https://journals.physiology.org/doi/abs/10.1152/jappl.1993.75.4.1444Henwood et al 2008 - one of the two strength training studies we discuss, where detraining and then retraining is able to return strength to pre-detraining levels within about half the time it took to lose it: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18693231/Blocquiaux et al 2020 - the other strength study, which also found a drop in strength that could be regained in about half the time it took to lose it: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32017951/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.