October 23, 2025

Does Cardio Training Kill The "Gainz"? / Are Tennis Players Playing Too Much? / The True Prevalence of Doping? / Unlocking a New Performance Metric

1 hour 29 minutes

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In this week's show, we tackle intriguing physiological questions raised by listeners, explore whether different types of exercise interfere with one another to undermine training benefits, and run the Spotlight across stories from the sports world.

In Digest this week (10:02):

One of the great swimmers of the last decade, Ariane Titmus, has retired in her prime, leaving us to ponder the difference between athletes who go early and those who hang on. And cynically, those who switch to The Enhanced Games, which this week announced another former Olympian to its ranks. We discuss the carrot of the Enhanced Games, and how it capitalizes on incentives to entice athletes to join the movement
We wonder whether tennis players are playing too much, and whether the data support claims made by players like Taylor Fritz, who believe a combination of the calendar, courts and balls are threatening their welfare?
In doping, 21% of athletes competing for Great Britain at the Commonwealth Games admitted to doping in the previous twelve months. That's only slightly better than the results of the same survey in Spanish athletes, which put the figure at 36%. Ross and Gareth discuss why the true figure is likely higher, and what it means for doping and anti-doping's effectiveness

Our Center Stage topic (45:19) is a paper that explores a phenomenon called "the interference effect", where different types of exercise aimed at endurance or power/strength, have been thought to cancel each other out, undermining the adaptations from training. We explain the origins of that theory, and explore why things are not necessarily as simple as they seemed, with some practical advice for all those who like to mix their training types.

In Listener Lens (1:08:33), Ali Robinson showcases what Discourse has to offer, making a fantastic observation about our most recent guest, cyclist Andrew Feather, and his physiological capacity. He introduces us to concepts of anaerobic capacity, or the W prime, and Ross explains how we can all use this concept (runners too!) to understand our performance limits, and design effective interval training sessions, including a challenge to Gareth to test his capacity and design training.

And Finally, we introduce a paper on a metabolic ceiling that limits endurance athletes, with a promise to explore it in a future Spotlight edition

Show notes

Taylor Fritz shares views on load in tennis in an X exchange with fans
Tennis website with data on rally length and ace rate
Surveys reveal a minimum prevalence of doping in athletes
The original WADA investigation on doping prevalence, 2011
Our Center stage paper - the interference effect for power and endurance training

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By Professor Ross Tucker and Mike Finch

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