The Ultra Sports Science Foundation Podcast

In this USSF podcast, Dr. Karen Birkenhead, dietitian and recent graduate from School of Health and Sport Sciences at the University of the Sunshine Coast in Maroochydore, Australia, speaks on her novel study examining physical activity levels in ultra sport athletes across the lifespan. The study brings interesting and provocative insights into not only when these athletes started ultra sports but how their activity levels have varied across their lives.

Glycerol as well as salt capsules are employed to help conserve body fluids during exercise in hot climates. In this podcast Dr. Eric Goulet from the University of Sherbrook in Quebec expands on his novel study examining the independent and combined effects of salt and glycerol on human hyperhydration. Since WADA lifted the ban on the use of glycerol in Jan 2018, Dr. Goulet’s study gives both a timely and thorough look at the use of this ergogenic aid.

In this USSF podcast, as a follow up to our previous podcast on low carbohydrate ketogenic diet influence on performance and body composition, Dr. Jonathan Little from the School of Health and Exercise Sciences at the University of British Columbia Okanagan expands on this topic and gives his insights on a study from his laboratory that showed keto-salt supplements increased fat oxidation but impaired high intensity exercise performance in recreational athletes.

In one of the longest ketogenic diet studies to date, exercise performance and body composition responses are compared in endurance athletes fed either a low carbohydrate ketogenic diet or a high carbohydrate diet. The provocative and novel outcomes from this study shed new light on the purported performance benefits of this ketogenic dietary strategy for ultra-endurance athletes.

Riboflavin supplementation improves during-race muscle soreness and post-race functional recovery from a 161-km ultramarathon.

Is body mass change a valid index of hydration status in ultramarathon runners? To avoid dehydration and hyponatremia during an ultramarathon run, what rehydration strategies can be taken? In this first USSF podcast, Dr. Marty Hoffman responds to these and other questions related to body mass changes and hydration status in ultramarathon runners.