For athletes to become world-class in their sport, there needs to be an optimal balance between talent, commitment and devotion, and training. Indeed, exercise physiologists and nutritionists alike would agree that the physiological, structural and functional adaptation to (specific) training represents the key factor in the development of a gifted junior athlete toward an adult elite champion. However, in allowing the body to optimally adapt to a specific training regimen, proper nutrition is also essential. As such, this course is centered on training adaptation and how nutrition can support and enhance training adaptation. The course contains three cases in which it will be discussed how the body (with skeletal muscle as main tissue) adapts to different sports/training programs and how nutrition is more than just a performance fuel; i.e., how can nutrition be used to augment the adaptive response to exercise training, with a focus on protein nutrition. Thus, the course builds on the knowledge gained in course HMS4601. Topics that will be addressed in this course are muscle mass, structure and function, basic principles of training, nutrition to augment the adaptive training response, and nutrition during weight loss and injuries. Furthermore, different recovery strategies will be discussed and a practical experiment on cooling strategies will be performed. 

Knowledge&understanding

-The basic principles of training, and the adaptive response to training.

-How nutrition can modulate the adaptive response to training.

-The use of protein in training adaptations.

-The role of post-exercise recovery in training adaptations.

-Methodological/statistical methods commonly used in relation to assessing training adaptations and the effects of nutrition on exercise adaptation, including (amino acid) tracer methodology, muscle tissue analyses, data processing , and repeated measures analyses.

Applying knowledge&understanding

-Design and interpret acute and long-term studies that assess training adaptation, as well as nutritional means to augment training adaptation.

-Design and conduct studies to evaluate the effect of recovery strategies.

-Apply academic skills like: formulating a hypothesis, writing.

-Interpret the pros and cons of data processing steps to reduce data load (e.g. selection of time points, nr of subsequent measures needed, etc).

Making judgements

-Critically evaluate training programs and judge the applicability (pros/cons, limitations) of measurements and instruments used.

-Critically evaluate nutritional interventions and their effectiveness to augment training adaptations.

-Critically evaluate recovery strategies and their effectiveness to augment training adaptations.

-Identify opportunities to improve sports performance through an optimal balance between training and nutrition, with a focus on nutrition to support and/or augment training adaptations.

Communication

-Write scientific reports and give scientific presentations.

-Effectively and professionally communicate in project and tutorial groups.

Learning skills