Endurance athletes, from weekend warriors to the elite, seek nutritional post-exercise products to enhance training and speed recovery. But for athletes, the challenge of negotiating the massive range…
In light of the Australian Crime Commission report into doping, we need to look at how sport scientists are taught.
Drugs in sport image from www.shutterstock.com
The report recently released by the Australian Crime Commission sent shock waves through the sporting world, implicating sport scientists and other support personnel in unethical doping practices.
The…
Serge Pauwels (left) rode conservatively during stage 4 of the Tour Down Under.
AAP Image/Benjamin Macmahon
If you’ve ever watched a professional bike race such as the Tour de France on TV, you might have thought to yourself: “Just how good are the professionals?” And if you do a bit of cycling yourself, you…
Are displays of emotion from sportspeople about convincing us that it’s not just about the money?
fox2mike/flickr
Any major sporting triumph without euphoric emotion or a serious opening of the floodgates would seem strange. Commentators tell us that tears show “passion”. Fans seem to demand them. It wasn’t always…
Could a variable workload have contributed to Ben Hilfenhaus’s side strain?
AAP Image/Chris Crerar
Cricket Australia has come under fire in recent years for their contentious “rotation policy” – the method by which players are “rested” despite being injury-free and often in good form.
Representatives…
If Serena Williams didn’t play tennis, would her sheer athleticism ensure an elite career in another sport?
AAP
Ever wondered how elite tennis players compare to their contemporaries in other sports?
Does Rafael Nadal have the same leg power as world 100m sprint champion Usain Bolt? Would Australian Sam Groth’s…
There are many links between training on clay and hard courts success.
EPA/Yoan Valat
Every year Melbourne plays host to the first major hard court tennis championship of the year – the Australian Open.
The blue court surfaces of Melbourne Park are now a familiar part of the Australian…
How good will Bernard Tomic turn out to be? We can look to science for (some of) the answers.
AAP Image/David Crosling
The Australian Open is upon us for another year, and the best tennis players in the world have assembled in Melbourne to compete for the right to call themselves “champion”.
Much of the focus will be…
Heart rate provides real-time measurements of cardiovascular responses to exercise.
samwebster
Whether the intent is to increase athletic performance or enhance fitness in the face of an ever-expanding chronic disease epidemic, a structured exercise program is essential.
The ability to monitor…
The shoulder-charge ban will encourage tackles rather than ‘big-hit’ collisions.
AAP
The Australian Rugby League (ARL) Commission’s decision last week to ban the shoulder charge from all competitions from 2013 has divided fans. Some applaud the decision in the name of improving player…
Swimming isn’t the best way to settle that full stomach but it’s unlikely to cause you to drown.
Jaypeg
The old saying that you should wait at least 30 minutes after eating before you swim is based on the idea that after a big meal, blood will be diverted away from your arms and legs, towards your stomach…
If you don’t have time for hours of exercise every week, short, intense efforts might work instead.
Michael Lokner
Less than 40% of Australians achieve the minimum amount of physical activity recommended by government and professional organisations. This contributes to the fact 60% of Australians are overweight or…
There is currently no evidence to show helmets help prevent concussion or more serious head injury.
AAP
We’ve heard a lot about concussion this AFL season, with claims that too many knocks to the head can cause mental illness, calls for more research into the possible link between football concussions and…
Emotional intelligence is the order of the day, it seems, for trainee referees.
Colin Whelan/AAP Image
It was encouraging to read recently that promising young rugby league referees are being offered the opportunity and time to invest in the development of their mental skills prior to taking on the pressure…
The Australian Steelers celebrate a gold medal after beating Canada in the men’s wheelchair rugby final.
Kerim Okten/EPA
As the bright lights of the London 2012 Paralympic Games begin to dim, and as the media focus diverts back to everyday life, we’re left with a pertinent question: where to now for disability sport in Australia…
Sometimes having no legs is better than having one.
EPA/Jonathan Brady
There has been a considerable amount of media coverage surrounding South African amputee sprinter Oscar Pistorius who competed at the London Olympics and is now competing at the London Paralympics.
The…
Oilveira’s come-from-behind victory raises questions about the advantages provided by prosthetic legs.
Julian Stratenschulte/EPA
In a major upset, Alan Oliveira of Brazil beat Oscar Pistorius to win an extraordinary T43/44 200 metre race today. But did Oliveira have an unfair advantage?
The 20-year-old Brazilian finished ahead…
More than 30 years have passed since the AFL last looked at the specifications and standards for making Australian footballs.
puuikibeach
In the game of Australian Rules Football (as with other football codes), few pieces of equipment are more important than the football itself.
And yet the relative attention paid to the ball by the AFL…
When it comes to design and performance, all wheelchairs are not created equally.
April Fonti/AAP
Equipment such as wheelchairs or prosthesis is fundamental in allowing some people with disabilities to carry out the tasks of daily living. But in the endeavour to go higher, faster and longer, athletes…
Team Australia will be aiming to reach higher in 2016.
AAP Image/Tracey Nearmy
With the London Games fading into memory it’s time now for us to focus on Rio 2016. One of the questions on many people’s lips is one of whether Australia will do better on the medal tally in Rio than…
Sprinter Brendan Cole (left) and swimmer Tomasso D'Orsogna enjoy the recovery facilities at the Australian Institute of Sport’s (AIS) Recovery Centre in Canberra.
Australian Sports Commission
It’s no secret – Australia underperformed at the 2012 London Olympics. But was the criticism directed at our Olympians unfair on the athletes, coaches, and support staff who worked so hard, and gave up…
Understanding the mechanics of breast movement feeds into better design for sports bras.
mikebaird
If you’re female and exercise, a certain amount of breast movement is inevitable. But bosom movement extends beyond bouncing up and down – it also involves moving side to side, which impacts on breast…
Pasta and other carbohydrate-rich foods can boost muscle glycogen stores.
chrismar
During the London Olympics, and beyond, many endurance athletes will attempt to increase their muscle glycogen stores by carbohydrate loading. This is because, despite its importance, glycogen is a fuel…
Introduced into the Sydney Olympics in 2000, triathlon has become one of the most popular Olympic sports. For Australia, it’s one of our most successful, with our women claiming one gold, two silvers and…
Scientists are looking for ever-more-sophisticated ways to find and optimise athletes.
Steven Johnson
For more than 50 years, sport scientists have used a variety of physical tests to try and identify those exceptional athletes who walk among us. Despite most countries having some sort of athlete talent…
There’s more to conquering hills than dropping a few kilos.
As the Tour de France enters its final week, riders have already negotiated some of the toughest climbs in Europe, and have some major climbs still to go. So what makes some of those riders successful…
Ceilings on physical ability are there – sometimes – to be broken.
EPA/Hannibal
We once thought no-one could run a mile in less than four minutes – and yet the current world record stands at three minutes, 43 seconds. So will records keep tumbling as people get fitter and technology…
It’s obvious: better referee performance is better for players and better for spectators. Right?
AAP Image/Joe Castro
Late last week football (soccer) website football365.com reported that FIFA, the international governing body for the world game, is considering forcing referees to pass fitness tests prior to games…
Shane Perkins is just one of the Australians going for gold at the world championships.
AAP Image/David Crosling
Today in Melbourne the 2012 UCI Track Cycling World Championships get underway. Results from the five-day competition will determine which riders represent the various national track cycling teams at the…
You might feel great after going for a jog, but is the “high” purely psychological?
Tobyotter
A new study is tapping into a phenomenon most of us have heard about and some of us might claim to have experienced at some point – “runner’s high”.
In doing so, this study touches on something fundamentally…
Where Collingwood lead, others seemingly follow.
AAP Image/Julian Smith
Tomorrow evening in Sydney, the ball will be bounced, marking the start of the first match in the 2012 AFL season. For the 18 clubs taking the field this year, it marks the culmination of months of gruelling…
Heavy hands might not always make light work in finals.
Vivek Prakash/ Reuters Pool
With the Australian Open into its final few days, we’re starting to see the best tennis players in the world come to the fore. And to be the best in the world, you need a well-rounded game, including…
Last year’s Australian Open women’s runner-up Li Na in action at the Sydney International this week.
Australia’s summer of tennis is a great opportunity to see the world’s best players up close, hitting hard and serving big. Many elite players hit first serves at over 200km/h with great precision and…
Wallabies player Drew Mitchell is taken from the field after an injury during Rugby World Cup match between Australia and Russia.
AAP Image/Dave Hunt
RUGBY WORLD CUP – The Cup has already taken its toll on many players – finalists New Zealand have lost star player, Dan Carter and Australia goes into its battle for third place against Wales four men…
Diving is an embarrassment to the world game.
seriouslysilly
The year is 1990. For 85 grueling minutes, Italian crowds have watched West Germany battle Argentina in the World Cup Final.
The score is tied, 0-0. The collective breath is held.
Suddenly, the Germans…
Players don’t realise it, but the finals bring out the best in them.
AAP Image/Joe Castro
Anyone with a passing interest in Australian football will know the AFL Grand Final is unlike any other game of the season.
There’s more hype, more expectation, more emotional investment from players…
New Zealand defeated Tonga in the opening game of the 2011 Rugby World Cup.
AFP Photo/Franck Fife
RUGBY WORLD CUP – In the latest of The Conversation’s series on the Rugby World Cup, former Wallabies player, James Holbeck and Professor of Sport Science at Victoria University, Damian Farrow, discuss…
Some AFL teams spend the off season at high altitude.
kangaroos.com.au
You might have heard about athletes and other sportspeople absconding to high-altitude locations for training.
Indeed altitude training has become the training-method-du-jour for sporting codes around…
The time trial is critical to Evans' chances in the 2011 Tour de France.
AFP/Pascal Pavani
Following the 18th stage of the 2011 Tour de France last night, the top six riders are within less than four minutes of one another: Cadel Evans, Andy Schleck, Frank Schleck, Ivan Basso, Damian Cunego…
Climbing mountains is all about fighting gravity.
Nicolas Bouvy/EPA
This is the second in a two-part series about the science of Le Tour de France. Part one is here.
After 1,916 kilometres of the 2011 Tour de France we’re starting to see some of the favourites make their…
With more than 3,000 kilometres to cover, technique is only part of the equation.
Nicolas Bouvy/EPA
This weekend, approximately 200 of the world’s best cyclists will begin competing in one of the most challenging sporting events in the world: Le Tour de France.
Le Tour is widely regarded as the most…
Olympic athletes – among others – will benefit from the new technology.
Tracey Nearmy/AAP Image
For Olympic swimmers, the blink of an eye can be the difference between first and forgotten. Everyone wants an edge, which is why elite athletes train relentlessly and why coaches push them hard. Alongside…
It’s important to change your running style to adapt to running without shoes.
There’s a growing interest in barefoot running, especially in relation to running long distances. Research articles, opinion pieces, and websites have argued both for and against the efficacy of running…
The AFL set-shot is as much about consistency as it is about the right technique.
AAP/Martin Philbey
When the AFL has a weekend of inaccurate goal-kicking, media attention invariably turns to why set-shot goal-kicking hasn’t improved while other areas of footy have.
As a footy fan, I have an interest…
