• Question: How will your work improve the lives and/or knowledge of sportsmen and sportswomen?

    Asked by chanenay to Helen, Jenni, Mark, Martin, Stu on 22 Jun 2011.
    • Photo: Martin Lindley

      Martin Lindley answered on 21 Jun 2011:

      I already advise atheltes on their diet and some of them have won olympic medals so I would like to take all the credit for that 🙂 …… but…..i think the years fo training and coaching may have something to do with it aswell 🙂

    • Photo: Mark Burnley

      Mark Burnley answered on 21 Jun 2011:

      I study fatigue mechanisms and the physiology of warm-up exercise, so my work has a direct and quantifiable effect on athletes. The warm-up exercise improves performance by 2-3% compared to doing nothing before exercise, and we have also shown that the physiological effect can last for up to 45 minutes after warm-up, which helps athletes decide when best to being their warm-up routine. I have been told some athletes used this information in Beijing and will use it in London too!

    • Photo: Helen O'Connor

      Helen O'Connor answered on 22 Jun 2011:

      One of my pieces of research has looked at why some athletes take performance enhancing drugs, and why some don’t. I would like to do more of this research as I think it will help us know how we can prevent young athletes from taking drugs, and this will possibly save lives, as many performance enhancers are dangerous. It will also help make sports more fair, as there will be less cheating.
      On a day to day basis, I work with individual athletes who want to improve their “mental game” – so that they can consistently perform well even under extreme pressure.

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