Performance Advantage Podcast

CORE's revolutionary body temperature sensor is the world's first non-invasive sensor to measure your core temperature when training and racing. Will and Matt are joined by Chris Blomfield-Brown to talk about how the pros are training and racing to beat the heat. They also discuss their experience with the more invasive ways to measure core temperature, such as probes and e-pills. For all of you w...

Rohan Martin is an embedded and mobile software engineer who has worked on some of the raddest tech in the sports we love. Alongside his passion for coaching and extreme sports, he is also the CTO of BrakeAce, the world's first brake sensor and app combo for mountain bikers. Today Rohan shares his insights from behind the curtain, and we begin the discussion of how the world of sports tech is fari...

There are 4 things slowing you down when you start your ride: gravity, aerodynamic drag, rolling resistance and braking. Some of these are trade-off, where improving one problem will make the other worse. Some can’t be fixed at all. Some problems are bigger than others. Listen in as we discuss how you can reduce external forces and improve your performance. TrainingPeaks Introduction to Exercise S...

Following on from the Six Spokes of Planning Training, we have five training phases to help you plan your best training plan. Whether you're training for a marathon, an ultramarathon, an enduro MTB, or a cycling stage race, our five training phases will ensure you're in peak shape on race day. Start with Base Training, then move to the Event-Specific Phase. After that, it’s all about Tapering, Rac...

Using the Six Spokes of Planning Training from our TrainingPeaks University Introduction to Exercise Science course, we work through how you can plan the best training for yourself. We use these same steps ourselves to plan training for our own athletes - from a whole season right down to individual workouts. If you’re up in the air on whether you should go hard or train easy, of you should add in...

Do you find yourself validating a good training session with average pace, power or peak heart rate? Do you find that even though you’re pushing yourself harder and harder, you don’t seem to be getting any faster? If you spend a lot of time in the 'grey zone', the truth is that you’re likely doing more harm than good. Training in the grey zone means you’re pushing too hard too often, and not train...

A study by Matt's PhD supervisor, Dr Paul Macdermid, showed that heavier bikes were slower up hills—no surprise! A bike 21% heavier was 3.3% slower for a 95kg rider. This same study indicated that a dropper post will lose you only 1 second up a steep climb of 11 minutes! Once a bike is up to speed, it wants to stay at speed. Heavier bikes will want to stay at speed more, but they will be harder to...

Nike Vaporfly, Nike Alphafly, Asics Metaspeed, and Adidas Adios Pro are the running shoes with the most buzz around them, but who's the fastest? And how do the likes of Brooks, Hoka, and New Balance stack up? Dr Dustin Joubert ( @labratrundown ) has done the study every runner has been waiting for - the Super Shoe Study.  Dr Dustin tested twelve runners using seven carbon plated "super shoes"...

Nathan Heaney is an experienced Strength and Conditioning Coach, High-Performance Specialist, Lecturer and highly sought Mentor and Consultant. Today we discuss maximal aerobic power and how Nathan has used this in team sports like AFL, hockey and netball. We draw parallels  between critical power and threshold power with maximal aerobic power, and Nathan helps to differentiate the metrics. L...

Mary-Ann Moller is a sports scientist focusing on female athlete health. She competes as an elite XCO and cyclocross racer herself, and is especially interested in investigating female athlete health in the MTB community. Throughout this episode, we approach the extremely difficult topic of creating a dialogue between female athletes and the often male staff or coaches around female athlete health...

Data is everywhere in training, and everywhere in our lives. AI has led to better YouTube recommendations and self-driving cars, but will those new coaching apps ever help real endurance athletes? A few software companies have been popping up that use AI and machine learning to give you a personalized, computer-generated training plan, so we dig in and discuss when coaches will be totally obsolete...

Are carbs your enemy or your friend? Are carbs always good for some athletes and always bad for others? Do you really burn muscle if you train before breakfast? We get asked these kinds of questions a lot. Join in on this candid discussion on how we approach carbohydrates to get the most out of ourselves and our athletes. ------ Visit our new website on PerformanceAdvantagePodcast.com for a 30% di...

There is a special technology that all the world's fastest running shoes share - Pebax. Pebax foam is able to return more energy than other shoe materials, and it weighs less, too. This adds up to faster running times. But where does this technology come from? And how does Pebax get into all these sneakers? Listen in as we get an exclusive first chat with the team at Arkema who are responsible for...

James Wilson has helped athletes get stronger and live healthier lives for the last 16 years. We talk about the whole gamut of strength training, and agree that the best workout you do is the one you do consistently. James has a number of free isometric exercises on his site, and we talk about them today. Would you believe they only take 15 minutes 2-3 times per week? Visit MTB Strength Training S...

We all want to get faster. It's everyone's reason for training. How do you know you're doing the right training, and how do you know why something isn't working? This week, we talk through the three processes we use to ensure our athletes are always training appropriately to get faster. Those three processes are;  1. Plan 2. Consistency 3. Review ------ Visit our new website on PerformanceAdv...

Bryn Dickerson is one of the top DH racers in New Zealand and the world, having once won the Elite Oceania Continental Championships, and earning a top 20 finish in the World Cup. Bryn is an amazing storyteller and has had some incredible experiences around the world riding his bike. Bryn talks us through how hard it is to race on the World Cup when you're putting your life on the line every weeke...

If you're still on the fence of whether strength training will help your mountain biking, check this episode out! Derek has amassed a wealth of knowledge on strength training for cyclists, and is a testament that adding in a weight routine won't make you 'bulky', but will make you faster! Visit our new website on PerformanceAdvantagePodcast.com for a 30% off early bird discount on our two newest c...

Today we talked about the internet and power meters with Run Power Coach Nathan Fenton. Nathan is a running power guru, and it was great to chat with him about how he helps athletes at different levels to improve their performance and optimize their limited training time with power meters. Learn more about Nathan at RunPowerCoach.com Visit our new website on PerformanceAdvantagePodcast.com for a 3...

There is so much information about exercise on the internet - and a lot of it is WRONG! We think that in sports, this information is shared with the best of intentions, so we talk over some of the pitfalls and potential safeguards to make sure we are getting the right stuff to be our better selves. Visit our new website on PerformanceAdvantagePodcast.com for a 30% off early bird discount on our tw...

Not every day is going to be a gold medal, but there are still plenty of things to learn. here we pick apart Will's failed ultramarathon when he had to be carried off the course with 5km to go!  Visit our new website on PerformanceAdvantagePodcast.com for a 30% off early bird discount on our two newest courses: Fundamentals of Running with a Power Meter and Fundamentals of Mountain Biking wit...

Once you've done your FTP test, you can set your zones and properly analyze training. In this final part of Power Meters 101, we talk about what zones are and how to set them , and work through the best way to train and race with our power meters. Listen to 53 | Training Zones: Science Simplicity and Effectiveness HERE Visit our new website on PerformanceAdvantagePodcast.com for a 30% off early bi...

In part 2 of 3, we talk about what FTP is and what it really means for you. How can a steady-state test be important for HARD racing? Let's deep dive into that and get you rolling with power data you can collect on every ride! Visit our new website on PerformanceAdvantagePodcast.com for a 30% off early bird discount on our two newest courses: Fundamentals of Running with a Power Meter and Fundamen...

Anyone who rides should check this out! So you know a power meter is the best way to train, but which device should you buy? In this first of a 3-part series, we go over what power actually is, what it means for you and your bike, and the first things to do once you have a power meter on your bike. Included is the science of how different power meters get to the same number. Link to the research s...

Running power is quickly becoming the new way to train and improve in running. Currently, runners are relying on GPS - a measurement from space - and heart rate, the dial-up broadband of training metrics. Both pace and heart rate serve their purpose as useful metrics, but when GPS signal is poor, or you’re HR isn’t reading correctly, you’re left guessing. In this episode, Dr Will talks about how r...

American enduro racers will see less of factory rider, Seamus Powell in 2021. In this episode, the 5x USA National Champion opens up about the struggles of racing professionally, how COVID impacted his 2020 season and why he has decided to walk away from a salary and factory ride. Find out more about Seamus' new career and how he will approach MTB riding in 2021.  Visit our new website on Per...