Sports Nutrition: The Missing Ingredient?

This week in the world of sports science, here’s what happened…

• Are cooking skills the missing ingredient in sports nutrition?
• New research challenges osteoarthritis exercise advice
• New research on HYROX injuries

Are cooking skills the missing ingredient in sports nutrition?

Sports nutrition has advanced considerably in recent years, and athletes now routinely receive expert guidance to support training and performance. However, a new review highlights an often-overlooked question: do athletes know how to prepare and cook their food?

The review examined previous interventions designed to improve athletes’ food preparation and cooking skills. Despite extensive research on sports nutrition, the researchers found only 10 studies that combined hands-on food preparation with nutrition education. None measured whether athletes’ practical cooking skills improved.

The review therefore highlights a gap between sports nutrition knowledge and practical application. For example, a field-sport athlete may know to consume sufficient carbohydrate before training and combine carbohydrate with high-quality protein post-training. Yet this knowledge has limited value if they lack the confidence or skills to shop for, prepare, and cook suitable meals.

The review raises an important question for coaches and sports nutritionists: are we spending too much time telling athletes what to eat and too little teaching them how to prepare it?

New research challenges osteoarthritis exercise advice

A massive longitudinal study has challenged conventional medical advice for people with knee or hip osteoarthritis. Traditionally, these patients have been encouraged to choose low-impact activities such as cycling or swimming to help protect their joints. However, this large-scale longitudinal study analysed more than 17,000 patients and produced some very interesting findings.

The researchers found that participating in high-impact activities was not associated with an increased risk of knee replacement. In fact, those who regularly engaged in high-impact activities had a substantially lower risk of requiring a knee replacement than those who did not. Therefore, if an individual’s capacity allows, people with knee or hip osteoarthritis should not fear high-impact activities. Instead, they should embrace them, as this longitudinal study suggests they may help support long-term joint health.

New research on HYROX injuries

As HYROX continues to grow rapidly in popularity, the first prospective study tracking injuries and health problems among HYROX athletes has now been published. The study followed 89 athletes over a 12-week period, providing new insight into the types of injuries occurring and the areas of the body most commonly affected.

The researchers recorded 14.4 injuries per 1,000 hours of training and competition. Notably, 73% of injuries were classified as overuse rather than acute injuries, while the knee was the most commonly affected area, accounting for 22% of all injuries. Running was also the most frequently reported injury mechanism. Interestingly, shoulder injuries were almost non-existent, despite shoulder problems being relatively common in other high-intensity training environments.

While considerably more research is needed, these early findings highlight the substantial running demands associated with HYROX and suggest that managing running load may be particularly important. For coaches and athletes, gradually building running capacity and carefully monitoring training load could therefore help reduce the risk of overuse injuries.

From us this week:

>> New course: Micronutrients for Athletes
>> New podcast: Can a Playing Surface Change How an Athlete Moves?
>> New infographic: Basic Movement Patterns
>> New article: Hydrotherapy

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