Applied Sports Science newsletter – November 30, 2020

Applied Sports Science news articles, blog posts and research papers for November 30, 2020

 

Alex Smith Is the NFL’s Most Terrifying Miracle

The Ringer, Rodger Sherman from

The Washington QB is poised to be Comeback Player of Year after recovering from an injury that could have killed him. His return is the league’s most inspiring story—and a reminder of everything it fears.


Never mind the “rookie wall,” Jeremy Chinn feels ready for more

Charlotte Panthers, Darin Gantt from

As the Panthers prepare to enter the final month of the regular season, they have a host of guys who have literally never played (or coached) this much football in their lives.

So while the many rookies on this team have the benefit of young legs, they’re about to learn how much harder the last month of a season can be, and how an extra four or five games can tax those fresh bodies.

“I haven’t felt like I’ve slowed down or anything like that,” linebacker Jeremy Chinn said. “It is Week 12, and I don’t think I played 12 games in college. But I don’t feel, … I feel like I could play 10 more games, I feel good.


Sam Mewis talks USWNT, life at Manchester City, and celebrating Thanksgiving abroad

CBSSports.com, Luis Miguel Echegaray from

As the United States Women’s National Team prepares to wrap up 2020 with a friendly against the Netherlands, an encore of the 2019 Women’s World Cup final, I sat down with one of the most important players for the U.S, the ever-likeable, hard-working midfielder and World Cup champion Sam Mewis.

Sam is one of a handful of Americans who have also started a new life in England as she joined Manchester City and the WSL earlier this year.

In the episode, we break down her time thus far with City, her year and of course reuniting with her compatriots with the USWNT. “It literally is back with the family as my sister is here too,” says Mewis on ¡Qué Golazo! speaking of Kristie Mewis, who plays for the Houston Dash. “It’s been great to be on the field with them and obviously we have some pretty strict protocols for safety so we can’t hang out too much outside of the field but it’s just been awesome to get reacquainted and to get to play with everybody again.”


The Man Who Taught Cristiano Ronaldo How To Sleep

Football Whispers from

He has been dubbed as the man who taught Cristiano Ronaldo how to sleep, but in truth Nick Littlehales’ influence on football and sport in general spans further than the Real Madrid star.

He is the world’s leading sports sleep coach and his work over the past two decades has been nothing short of transformative.

At the top end of football every club and player is looking for marginal gains, that small difference that can give them the edge over an opponent.

Few would suspect sleep would be an untapped area but, as Littlehales explains, it is a subject people know remarkably little about.


Fitness: What makes a two-hour marathoner tick?

Montreal Gazette, Jill Barker from

… “The requirements of running a two-hour marathon have been extensively debated, but the actual physiological demands of running at 21.1 km/h have never been reported,” said Andrew Jones from the University of Exeter in the U.K.

Jones assessed, in a lab and on a track, what are considered the three most important measures of a distance runner: VO2 max (the maximum amount of oxygen a runner can consume and use), running economy (the energy needed to run at a given pace) and critical speed (the fastest pace a runner can sustain over a long distance before hitting the wall). By any measure, the stats posted by all 16 runners proved their excellence over 42 kilometres. But there were some surprises, including their VO2 max, which was impressive but not as remarkable as expected.


Supersets save time in the gym – which may help you reach fitness goals faster

The Conversation; David R Clark, Carl Langan-Evans, Robert M. Erskine from

… Based on current research, it appears that supersets can be a time-efficient way to develop muscle size and strength in the short-term when done properly.

Researchers have compared the effect of performing exercises in a traditional sequence (for example, completing four sets of bench presses before moving onto the next exercise) and as supersets. They found superset workouts are faster (completed in 31 minutes as opposed to 40) because the superset exercises were done in pairs, instead of pausing after each individual exercise.

They also found supersets required the body to use more stored energy (such as fat and carbohydrates) during exercise and for an hour afterwards. This could ultimately increase fat burning, and may even lead to more muscle gain as supersets mean more work is performed.


Los Angeles Rams create virtual combine for high school student-athletes

Los Angeles Rams, Chase Isaacs from

The Los Angeles Rams have launched a Virtual Combine for aspiring college student-athletes who are looking for an opportunity to showcase their skills and character for college scouts and coaches.

Through the Rams’ Virtual Combine, high school student-athletes can upload videos of themselves participating in a variety of combine drills and challenges to display their skills and abilities. All participants are required to create a personal profile that lists their height, weight, position, current school, graduation year and other information.


Representations of common event structure in medial temporal lobe and frontoparietal cortex support efficient inference

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences; Neal W Morton, Margaret L. Schlichting, and Alison R. Preston from

Prior work has shown that the brain represents memories within a cognitive map that supports inference about connections between individual related events. Real-world adaptive behavior is also supported by recognizing common structure among numerous distinct contexts; for example, based on prior experience with restaurants, when visiting a new restaurant one can expect to first get a table, then order, eat, and finally pay the bill. We used a neurocomputational approach to examine how the brain extracts and uses abstract representations of common structure to support novel decisions. Participants learned image pairs (AB, BC) drawn from distinct triads (ABC) that shared the same internal structure and were then tested on their ability to infer indirect (AC) associations. We found that hippocampal and frontoparietal regions formed abstract representations that coded cross-triad relationships with a common geometric structure. Critically, such common representational geometries were formed despite the lack of explicit reinforcement to do so. Furthermore, we found that representations in parahippocampal cortex are hierarchical, reflecting both cross-triad relationships and distinctions between triads. We propose that representations with common geometric structure provide a vector space that codes inferred item relationships with a direction vector that is consistent across triads, thus supporting faster inference. Using computational modeling of response time data, we found evidence for dissociable vector-based retrieval and pattern-completion processes that contribute to successful inference. Moreover, we found evidence that these processes are mediated by distinct regions, with pattern completion supported by hippocampus and vector-based retrieval supported by parahippocampal cortex and lateral parietal cortex. [full text]


The Benefits of Having a Sense of Purpose

Cornell University, Cornell Research from

… A sense of purpose is integral to the human experience, says Anthony L. Burrow, Human Development. “Purpose is a forward-looking directionality, an intention to do something in the world,” he says. “It’s different than a goal, which can be accomplished. Wanting to be a father is a goal because it is achievable. But to be a great father is more of an intention than an achievement. On some days, one might come closer to the ideal than others, but it is never a completed task.”

Having a sense of purpose brings lifelong benefits, Burrow explains. He points to research by others that has shown that purposeful people actually tend to live longer and are less sick. “The findings are mind-blowing,” he says. “The question I am asking is, why? What is purpose actually doing for people?”


NBA outlines COVID-19 safety protocols in 134-page guide

ESPN NBA, Tim Bontemps from

Ahead of training camps opening up across the NBA next week, the league has compiled a comprehensive health and safety protocol for the 2020-21 NBA season and sent it to its teams.

The document, which was obtained by ESPN, is 134 pages long, and is similar to the one the league created to govern everything that happened inside the bubble it created at the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida, this summer.

This time, however, the league will be attempting to combat the coronavirus without the benefit of being inside a bubble where it was able to be successfully sealed away from the outside world.


WOA study a start but more must be done to protect athletes’ long-term health

Inside the Games blog, Joel Bouzou from

Olympians often link their current pain to past sporting injuries and high-performance training practices and techniques. Prior to the World Olympians Association (WOA) Olympians Health Study there had been limited credible research into the long-term health of retired elite athletes and no global studies.

From personal experience, and those of my Olympian friends and colleagues, I know that prioritising health, in particular long-term health, is an important issue. Many of us around the world feel passionately about seeing meaningful changes so that there is improved protection and support for long-term health, as this impacts us all.


The New Rules of Protein

Podium Runner, Matthew Kadey from

… Sure, it won’t provide much fuel for your runs, but protein is of particular importance to runners, who need it to optimize performance and recovery. Consider protein vital for pretty much every cellular function including moving oxygen throughout your body, bolstering immunity and forming new muscle, which is literally made from the stuff.

If you’re wondering how much is enough and what the best sources are, start with these protein eating rules to make it work better for you.

Rule 1: Aim High


Leeds United’s Premier League return: Bielsa, Bamford & Co. taking club into modern era

ESPN FC, James Olley from

… This third act in the club’s history formed the inspiration for a mural unveiled in the city last week, featuring Kalvin Phillips, lifelong Leeds fan and homegrown midfielder, Albert Johanneson, the first black player to feature in an FA Cup Final (in 1965), and Lucas Radebe, captain for almost a decade in the 1990s and 2000s.

“To finally be here in the Premier League, we are living our dream,” striker Patrick Bamford told ESPN. “It’s unfortunate that we have come [up] when no fans are here. People watching on TV around the world will realise if fans were there. People don’t realise the size of Leeds as a club. Everyone here is humble, nobody is the main man: we’re a collective.”

“We’re ambitious,” winger Jack Harrison told ESPN. “If we can get the results, we can maybe reach Europe next year. It’s up to us to take the opportunity.”


Doppelgängers: Finding Similar Players

StatsBomb from

Among the tools currently in IQ is one that can act as a useful starting point for any scouting process: Similar Player Search.


Klopp furious as VAR, injuries and TV schedule darken Liverpool’s mood at Brighton

Goal.com, Neil Jones from

… “You picked the 12:30 kick-off, didn’t you?” he continued, pointing out that Liverpool face a similar situation in three weeks’ time, when they take on Tottenham on a Wednesday night (December 16) before travelling to Crystal Palace for the early televised slot three days later.

“It is really, really dangerous for the players,” Klopp insisted, before aiming a dig at Chris Wilder, the Sheffield United manager who has opposed calls for the Premier League to permit five substitutions per game for the remainder of this campaign.

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