Mysportscience was created to help convert the complexities of sports science and sports nutrition into practical implications for athletes, coaches, practitioners, and anyone else interested in such topics. The blogs are written to break down common myths in sports science and leave you with practical, easy to understand take-home messages. Simplify without oversimplifying.
With that, below are the top 10 most popular blogs on Mysportscience in the past year. The links will take you to the blog page, so you can start reading them straight away.
In this blog, Asker discuses HMB, a supplement carrying very little evidence to support its popularity. The blog synthesises evidence from a review by Jakubowski et al. (2020) to highlight the effect of HMB (or lack of) on body composition and strength adaptations with resistance training.
With the increasing attention paid to fuelling a marathon, this blog outlines what can nutritionally go wrong, and what you can do to help prevent it, both before and during the 26.2 miles. Whether you’re aiming to break the world record, or running your first marathon, this blog provides the fundamental strategies to aid your preparation.
Creatine monohydrate is a very popular supplement among athletes, and rightly so with decades of evidence behind its use to improve athletic performance. This blog describes the role of creatine in the body, and outlines specific sports and athletes that could benefit from supplementation.
Muscle cramping during exercise is a common problem among athletes that involves sudden, involuntary and painful muscle contractions during or after exercise. Here, two mechanisms of muscle cramping are discussed, along with risk factors and possible countermeasures to the incidence and severity.
Following the release of the Netflix documentary ‘Game changers’ in 2018, this blog was written to provide a more holistic view on vegetarian or vegan diets for athletes. In one of the most extensive blogs on Mysportscience, this one systematically debunks the pseudoscience and scare mongering in the documentary, shedding light on the science behind a plant-based diet.
Everybody loves caffeine, right? But how exactly does caffeine work to improve athletic and cognitive performance? In this blog, we take a look into 3 proposed mechanisms to explain the ergogenic effects of caffeine.
Another popular blog on creatine monohydrate, this one addressing the potential role of creatine in improving cognitive function and protecting against the negative effects of concussion in sport. The effect of creatine on brain health and function is an emerging area of interest for researchers and practitioners, and this blog summarises what is known at present, and highlights possible avenues for future research.
Now an older, classic blog on Mysportscience, this one outlines the recommendations for carbohydrate intake during exercise. From shorter (<30 minutes) to medium (45-75 minutes) and longer duration events (≥2.5 hours), this blog highlights the fundamentals of carbohydrate fuelling for the endurance athlete.
This blog tackles a common question among athletes and regular gym-goers: Can you gain muscle and lose fat simultaneously? Here, Karsten and Chaise eloquently summarise the findings from their recent review, outlining the effect of an energy deficit on resistance exercise adaptations.
Last, but certainly not least, a tribute to Prof. Kevin Tipton. Kev was an expert in protein metabolism, a brilliant scientist, and a fantastic friend. His work in sport science will continue to inform athletic practise and inspire students and researchers to further advance the field.
