Applied Sports Science newsletter – May 1, 2015

The keys to success for the Warriors: the Splash Brothers, an energetic coach, and the fans in Oracle, right?

What about sleep? It may not score or rebound, but the Warriors believe better sleep is key to unlocking their full potential.

During sleep, protein synthesis rates are normally very low. Professor Luc van Loon from Maastricht University in the Netherlands argued that sleep is a period of 7-10 hours that is normally not utilized to adapt to training. Peter Res in van Loon’s research group performed a study a few years ago that showed that providing protein before bed time increased protein synthesis during the night. This week, the same reserach group published a new paper in the Journal of Nutrition that demonstrated that this can also result in strength gains over time. This is potentially very important and exciting news for serious athletes who are looking to optimize training adaptation. Lets have a look at some of the details of the study and see what practical recommendations come out of this.

… Freelap USA — You have a wealth of knowledge on muscle physiology, specifically fiber typing with sprinters. When you work with athletes over years you are likely trying to manage adaptations that can elicit favorable changes without compromising higher fiber types. While this is a volume and program design question, how do you look at tempo running, jump training, weight training, and the sprints as ways to improve steadily without digging yourself into a hole? What should we look at 100 m athletes to get them to improve each year without ruining long term potential?

Coach Andersson — Even though I’m very interested in muscle physiology I’m a definitely just a layman with pretty humble attitude towards my own knowledge and understanding. After 30 years of private studies in combination with plentiful exchange of information by fellow coaches and sport scientist I’m a firm believer there are still many areas in sport to explore and understand. In this regard science with application to sprinting is rather sparse even if our understandings in some aspects are much greater today than when I started coaching more than tree decades ago.

Scientific information is extremely accessible for everybody today and more or less free, but there are also risks for disinformation.

Quarterbacks Jameis Winston and Marcus Mariota shared a common bond in preparation for the National Football League draft: a physical trainer who uses quantitative data analysis to boost performance.

Ryan Flaherty once wanted to play professional football himself, but multiple knee injuries ended that dream and set the former Utah State receiver on a different path.

… MuscleSound has announced that Oregon State, University of Colorado and University of South Carolina will start to use MuscleSound to measure and analyze the glycogen levels of their athletes.

MuscleSound allows team directors and nutritionists to measure their athletes’ nutritional levels, making it easier and more efficient to develop proper nutrition plans that can improve performance, while decreasing the risk of soft tissue injury. While always important, this has become something critical to teams, especially since the NCAA deregulation of the feeding of student athletes.

… A new era begins Monday for Mizuno in the city. That’s the first day for Todd Lewis, Mizuno’s new Global Director of Performance Running. Lewis’ first task will be establishing a Running Center of Excellence, charged with designing footwear for the entire Mizuno line, not just shoes for North America.

… Within five years, wearables, such as the Apple Watch, could be overtaken by hearables – devices with tiny chips and sensors that can fit inside your ear. They, in turn, could be superseded by disappearables – technology tucked inside your clothing, or even inside your body.

“In five years, when we look back, everything we see (now) will absolutely be classified as toys, as the first very basic steps of getting this right,” says Nikolaj Hviid, the man behind smart earbuds, called The Dash.

… Deans’ Innovations in Sports Challenge

The Deans’ Innovation in Sports Challenge, another first-time contest, named Nix, a real-time, in-field, dehydration biosensor sweat patch as the winner and awarded the team $40,000. EuMotus, a venture that develops innovative biomechanical technologies to help optimize physical fitness and human body performance, was named runner-up and received $15,000. Nohria and Nichols Family Director of Athletics Bob Scalise are co-chairs.

… With five student athletic trainers there before the soccer match to service the team, all the athletes were treated and taken care of.

This was of the many reasons that the Director of Athletic Training Services at UCLA, Tony Spino, decided that UCSB’s program was going to be one of the models for the new club sports athletic training room in the John Wooden Center.

Spino said he knew that he needed to go to look at a successful program that had a relatively smaller budget compared to an NCAA facility. USCB fit the bill, and more.

It was no surprise that when Minnesota Vikings general manager Rick Spielman stepped to the lectern at this year’s combine, nearly every question he faced concerned Adrian Peterson. The future of the most visible Viking of the past decade was in question, with doubts about both his status with the league and the shrewdness of a 30-year-old running back chewing up more than 10 percent of Minnesota’s salary cap this fall. For any average back, there wouldn’t be much hemming and hawing. Most players with Peterson’s burdensome baggage — aging, accused of child abuse, and in possession of an onerous contract — would be gone without a second thought. But we’re talking about Adrian Peterson, which makes it a different matter entirely. Spielman reminded all in attendance of that more than once. He referred to Peterson as “unique” five times in less than 10 minutes.

That same word came up again when Spielman was asked about another subject: this year’s crop of running backs. “I know there are some pretty unique running backs coming out in this draft class,” Spielman told reporters. “I’d be surprised if a couple of these guys may not go in the first round, but we’ll see how this whole process goes through.” His response was to an inquiry about the lack of running backs taken in the first round in recent years. And although it’s an answer caked with personnel-man banality, the subtle message was similar to the one he gave about Peterson — sometimes there are exceptions. As the draft creeps closer, a central question has emerged: Does Todd Gurley deserve to be one of them?

… The NFL is one of the few industries that finds perfect candidates for their jobs and then makes them change everything. Mariota will be drafted high on Thursday night—possibly as high as the second overall selection. Then comes the hard part: making him an “NFL” quarterback. That means huddling, taking a snap directly from the center and running less with the football. None of those are Mariota’s strengths.

And this is the NFL’s problem. The draft, its great spectacle and arbiter of parity and fairness, is hurting the sport’s innovation.

After sweeping the New Orleans Pelicans out of the first round of the playoffs and generally dominating the NBA all season long, it is no surprise ESPN’s Basketball Power Index gives the Golden State Warriors the best odds of winning the NBA Finals at 38 percent.

What is surprising, however, is that the the San Antonio Spurs have the next-best odds at 29 percent despite having yet to emerge from the first round.

… I believe the difference between half way up the table and the bottom three could be a tackle or two.

More worryingly, the difference between Premier League and Championship could be one goal, one save or one block at any given time in the season.