Optimizing athletic performance through research and Vitamin D
One of the hottest trends in fitness right now is High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT). There are a lot of different ways you can do HIIT. That is why researchers at the Avera Sports Institute want to see if specific approaches deliver better results for athletes.“If they’re going to train, you want to make sure that what you’re doing is effective and giving them results,” said Dr. Derek Ferley, Director of Sports Science Research at Avera Sports Institute.
Dr. Ferley is looking at perfecting training methods for athletes, specifically soccer players, on the off season. He conducted an eight week study with high school athletes.
“We took two groups and one group did all of their HIIT on a level-grade versus another group that did all of their HIIT uphill, so on an incline. This is definitely the first of its kind looking at the effects of incline training. The previous investigations have looked at the effects of level-grade training,” said Dr. Ferley.
The level-grade group ran 30 second spurts at intensities of about 130 to 135% of their maximum capacity. For the incline group, their intensity was slightly less – at about 100%. However, they were running at 20 to 30% grades for 10 second spurts.
“At the end of the day, everybody was doing the same amount of running during each training session. So we’re just interested to see if there’s a difference in the way that you deliver these high intensity interval training programs,” said Dr. Ferley.
“I think it’s really important for athletes because it shows us how to train and how different ways we can train to become better athletes,” said Alexis Bannwarth, a Brandon Valley High School freshman and soccer player who participated in the study.
Alexis was part of the flat-grade group.
“Throughout the study, I could see improvement through all of it and especially testing from the beginning and end – I had longer times on running and I could lift more. There was a lot of improvement,” said Alexis.
“Everybody did the exact same agility sessions, so it didn’t matter what group you were in there. It was only in the approach to the treadmill workouts that there was a difference. So we’ll be able to flush out whether or not the incline had more of an effect or if the faster speeds on a level-grade had a bigger effect,” said Dr. Ferley.
“Dr. Ferley and I were talking a while back and he was doing a research study on soccer players and we got to talking and thought ‘hey, we should check out the Vitamin D status of these soccer players’ because Vitamin D status is known to be correlated with athletic performance. And it seemed reasonable because we’re doing the research study in the winter time when Vitamin D status is typically the lowest and we would probably find any deficiencies at that point amongst soccer players,” said Dr. Scholten, Augustana University Asst. Professor of Exercise and Sports Science.
Like Dr. Ferley, optimizing athletic performance for high school athletes is Dr. Scholten’s goal.
“So an improvement in Vitamin D status will likely only improve athletic performance a small amount, if it does. However, that small amount in athletics is so important,” said Dr. Scholten.
That small amount could mean the difference between first and second place.
“If we can find just a small improvement in athletic performance, especially due to something that’s inhibiting our athletes because they might have low Vitamin D status which is inhibiting muscle performance, we want to let those athletes know what’s going on and what they might be able to do to restore their optimal performance,” said Dr. Scholten.
“We’re on some cutting edge stuff that we’re leading the way in and it’s fun to be a part of,” said Dr. Ferley.
Both of these studies have been completed. Now the results must be calculated and then published which could take upwards of one year. These could pave the way for future studies as well as helping athletes to achieve optimal performance.
http://www.ksfy.com/content/news/Avera-Medical-Minute-AMcK-Optimizing-athletic-performance-through-research-417125643.html
Dr. Ferley is looking at perfecting training methods for athletes, specifically soccer players, on the off season. He conducted an eight week study with high school athletes.
“We took two groups and one group did all of their HIIT on a level-grade versus another group that did all of their HIIT uphill, so on an incline. This is definitely the first of its kind looking at the effects of incline training. The previous investigations have looked at the effects of level-grade training,” said Dr. Ferley.
The level-grade group ran 30 second spurts at intensities of about 130 to 135% of their maximum capacity. For the incline group, their intensity was slightly less – at about 100%. However, they were running at 20 to 30% grades for 10 second spurts.
“At the end of the day, everybody was doing the same amount of running during each training session. So we’re just interested to see if there’s a difference in the way that you deliver these high intensity interval training programs,” said Dr. Ferley.
“I think it’s really important for athletes because it shows us how to train and how different ways we can train to become better athletes,” said Alexis Bannwarth, a Brandon Valley High School freshman and soccer player who participated in the study.
Alexis was part of the flat-grade group.
“Throughout the study, I could see improvement through all of it and especially testing from the beginning and end – I had longer times on running and I could lift more. There was a lot of improvement,” said Alexis.
“Everybody did the exact same agility sessions, so it didn’t matter what group you were in there. It was only in the approach to the treadmill workouts that there was a difference. So we’ll be able to flush out whether or not the incline had more of an effect or if the faster speeds on a level-grade had a bigger effect,” said Dr. Ferley.
“Dr. Ferley and I were talking a while back and he was doing a research study on soccer players and we got to talking and thought ‘hey, we should check out the Vitamin D status of these soccer players’ because Vitamin D status is known to be correlated with athletic performance. And it seemed reasonable because we’re doing the research study in the winter time when Vitamin D status is typically the lowest and we would probably find any deficiencies at that point amongst soccer players,” said Dr. Scholten, Augustana University Asst. Professor of Exercise and Sports Science.
Like Dr. Ferley, optimizing athletic performance for high school athletes is Dr. Scholten’s goal.
“So an improvement in Vitamin D status will likely only improve athletic performance a small amount, if it does. However, that small amount in athletics is so important,” said Dr. Scholten.
That small amount could mean the difference between first and second place.
“If we can find just a small improvement in athletic performance, especially due to something that’s inhibiting our athletes because they might have low Vitamin D status which is inhibiting muscle performance, we want to let those athletes know what’s going on and what they might be able to do to restore their optimal performance,” said Dr. Scholten.
“We’re on some cutting edge stuff that we’re leading the way in and it’s fun to be a part of,” said Dr. Ferley.
Both of these studies have been completed. Now the results must be calculated and then published which could take upwards of one year. These could pave the way for future studies as well as helping athletes to achieve optimal performance.
http://www.ksfy.com/content/news/Avera-Medical-Minute-AMcK-Optimizing-athletic-performance-through-research-417125643.html
