COULD YOU TRAIN LIKE A CHAMPION?

by James Skitt 15.09.08

UK Sport has announced the launch of ‘Train Like Champions’, a scheme to find volunteers to take part in cutting edge research projects who are willing and able to push themselves to their limits - all in the name of British sporting success.

Much attention has been paid in recent weeks to the contribution that Research and Innovation (R&I) has played in supporting our elite athletes in Beijing. However, before British athletes had even touched down in China, the R&I team were hard at work preparing the foundation for success over the next Olympiad.

The initiative, driven by UK Sport with the support of the Training Science Panel, who will identify suitable candidates and drive the project forward, aims to discover and test novel training strategies and methods that seek cutting edge knowledge to enhance the performance of Britain’s top athletes.

English Institute of Sport (EIS) Lead Physiologist Ken van Someren, who is one of three EIS experts on the panel alongside Lead Nutritionist Sam Stear and Lead Strength & Conditioning Coach Harry Brennan, explained; “A lot of high level research is done within university settings and therefore participants are often drawn from the students.”

“Whilst this is convenient, it can pose problems in that their age, physical capabilities and lifestyle trends do not always closely reflect those of our elite athlete.”

“The purpose of this scheme is to find a range of participants who we can closely relate to our elite athletes and therefore benefit from much more applied and effective research” he says.

In return for their commitment to structured training programmes, the ‘elite subjects’ will have access to free performance assessments and training plans, and benefit from innovative training interventions under the guidance of world class coaches and sport scientists, enabling them to train like a champion.

Dr Scott Drawer, Head of Research and Innovation at UK Sport, explained the need for help from Britain’s sport and fitness enthusiasts in this process:

“For work in this area to be applicable to elite athletes, we need to involve participants in our projects who are capable of training like our best athletes – with the utmost dedication and determination.

“The overall performance level is not the only factor which will determine whether individuals can contribute – it is just as important that we find participants who, like many of our athletes, are at the perceived limit of their individual capabilities, whether that be their best bench press score or their personal best for a 40km cycling time trial.

“We need people who have reached a “plateau” in their training. Every dedicated sportsperson knows this feeling - you train for years and, at some point, you stop becoming better. Our top athletes experience the same problem, where the investment in training time and effort leads to smaller and smaller gains.

“The ability to assess novel training methods will provide us with a unique opportunity to challenge our knowledge of training principles and explore ways to make a significant impact on our elite athletes’ performance.”

The Research and Innovation Team are hoping to recruit male and female volunteers with a variety of training backgrounds; from endurance runners to weightlifters and those with experience in combat sports. To find out more information or register your interest in the scheme, click here 

Article adapted from UK Sport Press Release