Archive

What do M&S Percy Pigs, fruit jelly, sesame brittle and bone broth have in common and why should you be interested ? A couple of years ago I noticed that many sports nutritionists, particularly those working elite endurance athletes were including M&S Percy Pig jelly sweets within their diet and provision sheets. The reason for […]

Allium ursinum also known as ramson or wild garlic has a long tradition of medicinal use in many different countries, with reported anti fungal, antimicrobial, antiseptic, anti inflammatory, cytotoxic, antioxidant, expectorant, vasodilatory and cardio-protective effects. It is also used as a tonic for digestion; easing colic, treating loss of appetite and curing indigestion.  However, despite […]

In 1998 the Nobel Prize for medicine was given to three American pharmacologists for their discovery, that inside the body the  gas nitric oxide (NO) is an important mediator of a wide variety of vital bodily functions. At the time this was an amazing discovery and their initial work, done in the 1980s resulted in a […]

Matthew Syed is a British journalist and broadcaster, who has worked for The Times newspaper since 1999. Before this he was an English table tennis international, England’s number one and competed at two Olympic Games. He is a wonderful public speaker and for the last decade has studied, written and talked about the relationship between talent and training in the creation of elite sports […]

Dr Camilla Knight from Swansea University studies parents and their role in youth sport and this week I spent an afternoon listening to her talking about her research. Parents of elite child athletes are generally represented in the media as pushy and competitive but Dr Knights research suggests that actually, the majority of parents “get […]

Professor Greg Whyte is a former olympian and sports scientist, who has been the main motivator behind Comic Relief and Sport Reliefs momentous sporting challenges. Described as a “motivational god” by Comic Reliefs CEO Kevin Cahill and “the best mentor ever” by Davina McCall, Greg Whyte’s new book ‘Achieve the Impossible’ published March 2015, encourages us […]

What can we learn from Sports Science ? Mark McClusky’s new book, Faster, Higher, Stronger, which was published at the end of last year, is the best book I have come across at answering the question “what we can learn from sports science?”. A really good review of the latest research and technology, written in […]

Remember these ? The Fig Roll….   Fig Rolls are not a new idea, thought to have been invented by the early Egyptians, they have been mass produced and sold as a biscuit since 1891. Initially sold in America as Fig Newtons, they now come in a variety of shapes and sizes and are sold all over […]

Almost every list of New Years Resolutions has “getting into shape” at number one, a resolution to be fitter, more toned or have a different body. Historically this would have meant being smaller or thinner but now it is just as likely, particularly in boys, to mean a desire to bulk up, build muscle, get a […]

Chris Hoy winning a life time achievement award at last nights BBC Sports Personality Awards, reminded me how much I had enjoyed Richard Moore’s book – Heroes, Villains and Velodromes. First published in 2008 and primarily focusing on Chris Hoy, it gives an unprecedented insight in to the secret worlds of track cycling at a time when everything was […]