The Real Science of Sport Podcast

The science of recovery is more complex than you may think. When do you know you have recovered? What does recovery look like? How much do you need to recover? Mike and Ross delve into the subject to discuss the physiology of recovery, the most effective researched recovery methods, what science reveals about the numerous recovery products on the market, and how to utilise the right recovery proto...

Join Discourse The Spotlight is inspired and informed by our Discourse community. If you want to be part of that, sharing insights and inspiration with listeners, you can become a Patron of the Podcast here, make a monthly pledge , and the VIP room is yours to explore! It won't cost you even 2% of what the Enhanced Games are charging, and our advice actually works, and is safe! Show notes At 1:09....

Join Discourse Gareth Davies, Mayor of The Real Science of Sport, is ready to welcome you as a citizen of our VIP community! To join the conversation, make a monthly pledge at Patreon.com and get access to the shared expertise and passion of fellow listeners Show notes In this week’s Spotlight, we tackle an intriguing training question from a listener in our Discourse community: do short surges du...

The Cocodona 250-mile (402 km) trail run is one of the toughest endurance challenges in the world, as athletes battle the extreme distance, sleep deprivation, nutritional challenges, muddy trails and 12,500 m of elevation. Trail legend Ryan Sandes finished second in 2025 and talks to host Mike Finch and guest co-host Sean Robson about his motivation for competing, his training regimen and his own...

Join Discourse Nutrition tips, training insight, performance debates, sports opinions — if you’re into it, we’re talking about it. Become part of the “Science of Sport” Discourse community via Patreon . Show notes This week on Spotlight, we take a tour through some of the big stories in sport and sports science right now—from race tactics and concussion protocols to doping ethics, expert credibili...

Become a Discourse member Enjoy the pod? Support us with a small monthly donation on Patreon and unlock access to our exclusive Discourse community—deep dives, hot takes, and smarter sport talk await! In this week’s Spotlight , we dive into the science behind an eye-watering nutrition number: 200 grams of carbohydrate per hour. That’s what elite Ironman Cameron Wurf reportedly consumed during a re...

Join The Discourse Community If you enjoy the podcast, you’ll love our Discourse community. Become a member of “The Science of Sport” community by joining with a small monthly pledge on Patreon — and be part of the conversation behind the conversation. Show notes In this week’s Spotlight , we open with a brisk roundup of major stories from the world of sport and policy. We look at new developments...

In this round-up of the two big spring marathons—Boston and London—Mike and Ross rate the performances of the top athletes while debating whether pacesetters should be used in major marathon events. The team then delve into the ultra-competitive world of shoe tech, where Mike gets to do a running economy test in a pair being touted as the world's fastest running shoes. SHOW NOTES: Results of the t...

Join our Discourse Community The Science of Sport is more than a podcast — it’s a growing community of curious, thoughtful people in sport and sports science. Join our Discourse by pledging on Patreon and tap into the deeper conversations. Show Notes Where do scientific papers come from? In this week’s Spotlight , our main focus is a “birds and bees” conversation of the scientific world. Ross walk...

We’ve got a blockbuster episode of Spotlight for you today. We kick things off with an important discussion around women’s sport and transgender athlete policies, following a landmark ruling from the UK Supreme Court on the legal definition of “woman” in the Equality Act. We know this topic won’t be for everyone, so if you'd prefer to skip ahead to the sports performance and race insights, you can...

In this Spotlight episode, Ross and Gareth tackle a provocative question: should sports embrace fatigue to make the show better? We kick off with rugby union, where fresh legs off the bench and player welfare are fuelling debates about injury risks. But things quickly get philosophical. Some sports are basically designed to test how much fatigue you can take. Others are compromised when fatigue cr...

Join the team as they dive into the complex world of event sports medicine with guest Dr Darren Green. The team talk about the complexity of setting up a medical facility for major sporting events while tackling the challenges of extreme weather, hydration, injuries and cardiac incidences. Dr Green explains how medical teams work with event organisers to ensure competitor safety and gives practica...

It's a heart-to-heart on Spotlight today, as Gareth and Ross kick off by discussing a Discourse question about whether running marathons is bad for your heart? Ross describes five cardiac "risks" that have been documented, giving context and a bit of reassurance in response to theory that excessive endurance training is damaging to heart tissue. We then talk about maximum heart rate, and why it's...

It's a bumper Spotlight in a bumper week of big sports news. To cover it comprehensively, Ross & Gareth are joined by Sean Ingle of The Guardian to discuss the election of Kirsty Coventry to lead the International Olympic Committee. We explore her path to victory, enabled by Thomas Bach's support, and how she might lead the organization through looming challenges, including the integrity of th...

In this Spotlight, Gareth and Ross kick off by looking back at teen sprint phenom Gout Gout's latest performances, which continue to project a spectacular yet unknowable future. Across the Ocean, a young South African put down a teen-sprint marker of his own with a sub-10s performance, and we use those performances to discuss the nuanced, fluid and undefinable element of super-talents in sport. Wh...

In this week's Spotlight, we swing the light from cycling to doping, via trans news updates and some success stories from our Discourse members. We kick off with a chat about whether we've been too obsessed with power numbers, and not talking enough about speed, as pointed out by Christoph Roodhooft of Alpecin's pro-cycling team. We discuss what it means to be an "economic cyclist", which allows G...

On today's Spotlight, we ask why runners are racing faster than ever? The same could also be said of cyclists, and we use an intriguing article by Amby Burfoot to explore and discuss the possible contributors, ranging from super shoes to the "Bannister effect". It leads us back to ground we've covered before (shoe tech, carbs), some areas we have yet to cover in detail (bicarbonate), and down some...

In this Spotlight, Ross and Gareth become "bros" to discuss and critique a recent paper that forecasts a sub-4 min mile in women (specifically, Faith Kipyegon) if drafting strategies were improved. Ross explains his skepticism and reaction to straw man arguments in media about the paper, and the framing of the seven second improvement required as a "mental barrier". This ushers in a new segment fo...

Dr. Stephen Seiler is arguably the world authority on endurance training, and popularized the concept of polarized training. But a new paper has revealed some fresh insights into training polarization which suggest that the training structure may only be suitable for certain types of athletes. Enjoy this deep dive into one of the most-discussed endurance topics as we break down the theory, look at...

This week's spotlight turns to the indoor tracks and roads of the world, as we discuss the continuing recalibration of running performance. Every USA Men's Indoor distance record was broken in the course of a week, with two world records among the performances. One of those world records didn't last the week, as Jakob Ingebrigtsen broke it in France. Then on the roads, Jacob Kiplimo took the half...

Dr Joe Warne is a former international athlete and the key instigator of the Sports Science Replication Centre at the Technological University in Dublin. Having also worked as a performance coach Warne has spent hours both testing and working with modern tech devices with a key interest in finding out how reliable and trustworthy the data is. In this interview, the team discusses the metrics you c...

Tennis star Janik Sinner has accepted an immediate three-month suspension for his 2024 clostebol positives. In this emergency Spotlight, Gareth and Ross discuss the agreement between Sinner and the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), and explain why both parties would have been incentivized to reach a settlement rather than go to arbitration at CAS in mid-April. We offer insights and early thoughts o...

In this Spotlight, we address some noteworthy recent developments in the regulation and protection of women's sport. In the most significant of these, World Athletics have announced proposals, still in consultation, that would compel elite female participants to undergo a screening test that looks for the SRY gene as an eligibility requirement. Ross explains why this step, inevitable and necessary...

From international cricket to chess, boxing and hockey, Paddy Upton has helped the best sportspeople in the world achieve through his role as a performance coach. The team dig into how Upton has helped create the right performance mindset and explains how the best in the world handle mental pressure. Along the way Upton shares some remarkable success stories, explains how he went from a fitness in...

We have a news-heavy Spotlight for you this week, with stories from athletics, cycling and Rugby League to discuss. Shelby Houlihan's return from a doping ban has Gareth wondering about second-chances and forgiveness for dopers? Cycling's authorities met at the Cyclocross World Champs in Lievin and agreed to regulate the use of carbon monoxide and to prevent its misuse for performance enhancement....