Exercise Physiology

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Exercise Physiology

Exercise physiology focuses on assessing athlete’s health and fitness and developing bespoke training programmes to return to full fitness and/or prepare for performance. A key function of the Physiology service at Aspetar is to provide physiological assessment in the laboratory and on the field, provide altitude training services and advice on training for sporting events and/or returning to full fitness following an injury.

The Physiology department offers various services including:

  • Determine fitness status with bespoke laboratory tests with treadmills and cycle ergometers
  • Assess the progress of training programmes and/or rehabilitation programmes
  • Altitude Training
  • Training in environmental chambers (heat and cold environments)
  • Virtual reality training and assessment
  • Advising organisations on enhancing the performance of athletes using various physiological interventions
  • Laboratory testing like VO2Max, Lactate Threshold, Resting Metabolic Rate

These tests are conducted to assess the cardiovascular fitness and the safety to take part in intense physical activities. All our testing is conducted with start of the art metabolic carts and electrocardiogram to assess cardiac function.

Key parameters like heart rate and power/speed training zones as well as specific training intensities (e.g. Fat Max Zone) are provided in extensive reports.

The resting metabolic rate assessment is the gold standard to measure the energy requirements at rest to better inform nutritional interventions. Also thanks to the use of advanced metabolic carts we can analyze fat and carbohydrates oxidation rates during exercise to provide more specific guidance on competition and training nutritional strategies.

The experts in the Physiology department work with the medical and rehabilitation teams as well as coaches and athletes, to assess athletes and patients and provide guidance for improving their fitness and accelerate the return to play. The expertise in Aspetar is also available to support professional teams/athletes’ groups in preparing for events in challenging environments (e.g. heat, cold, altitude) and/or preparing for specific races.

 

 

A new addition has been the virtual reality suite, developed to provide cognitive training activities and assessments following injury and for athletes completing their rehabilitation progress.

 

 

As part of Aspetar’s performance laboratories, the Physiology department has a purpose-built normobaric hypoxic facility that is used for altitude training, a heat chamber for simulating various environmental conditions. Aspetar has also available an altitude dormitory to provide a live-high option for athletes willing to benefit from altitude exposure. A bespoke exercise physiology testing laboratory is also available for regular testing with treadmill and cycle ergometers.