Who we are
We are established sport scientists with practical and research experience of enhancing sport performance. Our staff are already working with Welsh and England Athletics, Welsh Triathlon and in football; now you too can access our expertise to enhance your own sport performance.
Our Physiology team will provide testing, monitoring and advice to help you to improve performance for the more prolonged sports.
We can provide standardised or bespoke tests and advice to enhance most aspects of sport performance.
Michael Hughes, Sport Physiologist
- Former sport physiologist to the British Olympic Association (focusing on athletics, rowing, racket sports, winter sports)
- Consultancy work for FIFA, Badminton World Federation, English and Welsh Badminton, Subaru World Rally Team
- Research collaborations with Welsh Athletics, Welsh Triathlon, Sport Wales
- Focus on field-based and laboratory-based fitness testing
- PhD in the physiology of repeated sprint sports (football, hockey, racket sports, rugby, basketball)
Dan Nash, Sport Physiologist
- Current sport physiologist for Welsh Athletics and Welsh Triathlon
- Previous work with Sport Wales and Welsh Rowing, as well as experience with rugby and football
- PhD in fatigue and health status biomarkers in highly trained endurance runners
- Welsh and GB international runner with a marathon best of 2:15 and the current UK 50km record holder
How do we do it?
Through the University’s ‘Open Campus’ and ‘Civic Mission’ initiatives we can offer our services to governing bodies, clubs, coaching groups and individual members of the public.
Physiology test procedures
V̇O2max testing (£75)
This value shows your upper limit for aerobic activity and is a crucial component of fitness in most sports (especially endurance). You will exercise in our laboratory to the point of exhaustion (easier options can be arranged but are less precise) and we will assess how your heart and lungs respond to the challenge. You can also establish your maximal heart rate – a valuable result for setting training zones.
V̇O2max shows the metabolic foundation for most sports and we can use results to guide your training and preparation.
- V̇O2max
- Speed or power at V̇O2max
- Maximal heart rate
Submaximal exercise testing (£90, or £140 when combined with a V̇O2max test)
Although V̇O2max shows the ‘ceiling’ for aerobic activity, the body’s responses to exercise at lower intensities are equally important for endurance sport. We will test how your heart and lungs respond to the intensities that you will encounter in training and competition. We can also measure the blood lactate response to exercise – this is probably the most helpful variable to know for setting training zones and evaluating your endurance fitness. Lastly, we can assess your economy/efficiency as well as the rate at which you use carbohydrates and fat.
- Lactate thresholds
- Training zones
- Running economy / cycling efficiency
- Fat and carbohydrate oxidation rates
Finding your perfect racing shoe (£75)
The arrival of carbon-plated shoes has had a global impact on the PBs or runners across the globe. These shoes work by improving your running economy, allowing you to run faster for the same amount of energy expenditure. However, there is now vast choice when it comes to “super shoes” and the degree to which each helps the individual runner is quite variable. We can assess your running economy in a variety of shoes (provided by yourself) in order to find which is going to give you the biggest boost come race day.
Field tests and team-sport testing
Groups of team sport players may need alternatives to laboratory testing so field-tests may be ideal for you. For example we can evaluate fitness in a more typical training environment – on a football pitch, for example.
Endurance athletes could also adopt field-based alternatives to laboratory tests.
In either of these cases you should contact us for further details. Examples of variables we can measure include:
- Maximal sprint speed
- Repeated sprint ability
- Yo-Yo test
- 30-15 test
- Monitoring of training
Our laboratory tests are standardised procedures which are used to evaluate fitness and to help guide your training but we can also test the appropriateness of your training sessions following on from laboratory testing. With this knowledge you can further refine your training and establish whether you are training correctly.
Other procedures
With our facilities, knowledge and other colleagues we can create a wide range of other procedures or activities to help your preparation. Please get in touch if you have any sport performance issues that you think we can help with.
Please use the email address below to make a booking.
Email:
sportphysiologyhub@cardiffmet.ac.uk