The Biochemical Basis of Sports Performance

Some understanding of the biochemistry of exercise is fundamental to any study of the factors that contribute to sports performance. It is the physical, chemical and biochemical properties of cells and tissues that determine the physiological responses to exercise, and yet the teaching of exercise biochemistry is poorly developed compared with its focus on thermodynamics, chemical structures and metabolic pathways. Many students find the subject difficult, when it should not be so. The aim of this book is to introduce the student of sports science or exercise physiology to the biochemical processes that underpin exercise performance and the adaptations that occur with training. The focus is on skeletal muscle metabolism and the provision of energy for working muscles. We have tried in this book to introduce the principles of exercise biochemistry in a context that is immediately relevant to the student of sports science. This has meant abandoning the traditional approach of working through the main classes of biomolecules and the major metabolic pathways. Instead, we have tackled the subject by considering the biochemical processes involved in energy provision for different sports events and the way in which limitations in the energy supply can cause fatigue and thus limit performance. Recovery from exercise is important for athletes who train and compete with only a limited rest period, and the biochemical processes that fuel the different activities that contribute to sport are the focus of this book, together with the changes that occur with training and the role of diet in providing the necessary fuels. Sporting talent is a rare gift inherited by the elite athlete from his or her parents, and a brief description of the basis of heredity is included.

Michael Gleeson is Professor of Exercise Biochemistry, and Ronald Maughan is Professor of Human Physiology, both at the School of Sport and Exercise Sciences, Loughborough University, UK.