For decades lactate was one of the most misunderstood molecules in exercise physiology. It became the villain of high-intensity exercise. Coaches blamed it for fatigue. Athletes blamed it for the burning sensation in their legs. Textbooks described it as a waste product that accumulated when oxygen delivery could no longer meet demand. That narrative was outdated 30 years ago but it still persists an is still passionately pursued by many coaches today. Now we hear about lacta

Vitamin D remains a recurring topic in sport because low vitamin D status is common in athletic populations, particularly during winter at higher latitudes, and because vitamin D has well-established roles in calcium–phosphate homeostasis and skeletal health. Interest has expanded beyond bone, driven by mechanistic evidence that vitamin D receptors are expressed in multiple tissues (including skeletal muscle and immune cells) and by observational reports linking low vitamin D

Supplements are a multi-billion-dollar industry, with the majority of athletes using supplements to support training performance and recovery. However, it is also clear that many supplements are based on wishful thinking rather than evidence, and some supplements on the market have quality issues. Supplements may not contain what you expect, they may also contain ingredients you don’t expect. The label doesn’t always describe accurately what a supplement contains (or the cont

Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, or NSAIDs, are a class of drug that is commonly used (worldwide) to reduce inflammation and pain. As we will see in the next blog by Dr Nick Tiller, NSAIDs are also used in sport for performance reasons. To understand what NSAIDs are and how they work, we need to have a basic understanding of the inflammatory response. This blog outlines what NSAIDs are, how they work, and provides the basis of their use in sport. Prostaglandin formatio