With the Paris Olympics recently inspiring wonder about how athletes manage to achieve such a high level of success and skill, a new podcast series is serving up useful insights into what it takes to optimise performance in sports.
Created by sports scientists from the University of South Australia, the podcast – The Experts Behind the Athletes – Unpacking the Science of High Performance – is a five-part series featuring the latest insights from experts at the university’s Centre for the Alliance for Research in Exercise, Nutrition and Activity (ARENA).
UniSA’s Associate Professor Kade Davison says the podcast presents a guide to optimising nutrition, injury prevention and management, the psychology of high performance, and more.
“This new podcast series aims to highlight the science and expertise that underpins elite performance,” Davison says.
“Australia has performed well above its weight in sporting competition for many years. Some of this success is because Australia has world-leading sports scientists working with our athletes. And as sports scientists, we’re committed to sharing knowledge about the topics we research.”
The podcast series covers nutrition, psychology, training, recovery, injury prevention and adapting sport to different abilities, with each episode offering a snapshot into the ways all these areas have an influence on performance.
The series includes:
- The science of managing and preventing injury in sports: What risk factors contribute to injury? Which risk factors are modifiable? And, how to reduce the risk of injuries occurring?
- Recovery and wellbeing through exercise and sport: What is it about the power of exercise and sport that inspires recovery and well-being? How does that impact all of us?
- The psychology of high performance: Did you know that potential isn’t all about natural ability? Sports psychology is one way to help push our boundaries and develop performance potential.
- Factor heart rate measurements into your sports training: There’s a fine balance between training stress, fatigue, recovery, and performance. The right balance leads to positive adaptions in the body and increases in performance.
- Optimising nutrition for sports performance: Find out about the value of good nutrition for your training and note it doesn’t usually require dietary supplements.
Davison describes the podcast’s approach as delivering “easy-to-digest, bite size insights on the science behind sports performance”.
“Whether you are an elite athlete, a coach, or simply a sports lover, these episodes have something for everyone.”
