How Conor Mc.Gregor compares in terms of performance and fitness to other athletes!

In Ireland, There has always been a huge amount of national pride brought about by the performance of our boxing teams at the Olympic Games and on the world stage! Being such a small country, there is little other disciplines that we can continually pick up medals in year in year out, however boxing has always provided up to five medals at each Olympics for our small country to celebrate and be proud of! Katie Taylor in 2012 picking up Olympic gold and being on of the first women ever to do so will forever be in ever Irish persons memory as the whole country tuned in to view the event! Along with Katie, other boxers such as Paddy Barnes and John Joe Nevan also picked up medals!
However in the past year a new star has arisen for the country to get behind, this being MMA fighter Conor Mc. Gregor. Not only has he taken the sport by storm, he has also completely revolutionised the competition with his confidence, determination and outspoken manner! He truly has brought new levels of broadcasting and acclaim to an upcoming and controversial sport! Conor has established a new level of confidence and belief among the 4.5 million people of Ireland as he continues to rile his way up the leaderboards. As he so wisely puts ‘we are not here to take part, we’re here to take over!’, his passion for the sport and for his country makes makes all he is involved in extremely compelling!
Recently Conor was put through his paces by sports science expert, Professor Greg Whyte, working with Sky Sports to examine from a scientific view just how he compares to other athletes from different disciplines. Being on 5″8 in height and weighing 145lbs, Conor’s strength was found to go far beyond his frame in terms of a power to size ratio! Greg Whyte described Conor as ” a jack of all trades and a master of one which is fighting”. He found Conor to be “the complete package” as his training made him work on all areas of the body and to ensure each area is tuned to optimum performance! Unlike other athletes, he must ensure that every area is equally built as any sign of weakness may be caught and utilised by the opponent! Conor focuses on movement and constantly strides to perfect every possible movement of the human body in order to gain any extra advantage possible. And so his training in corporates all areas where other athletes will mainly focus on cardiovascular exercises or strength training.
Conor’s VO2 max (the maximum amount of oxygen which can be utilised by his body during a bout of exercise, reflecting his endurance capacity) could only be compared to that of a Premier league soccer players! However while soccer players compete for 90 minutes and can cover 10-12km in the stop start physical environment while performing complex mechanical movements to adapt to the game. Conor can utilise the same amount of energy within a 25 minute match which is the usual duration for his profession!

While having this incredible aerobic capability allows him to endure long fights, he also has acquire an incredible anaerobic capacity through training! This capacity being compared to that of an Olympic cyclist allows him to perform high intensity activities with power for a longer time than many other athletes.

This is why he can be seen as a jack of all trades, he has the performance capability of many sports to allow him to finely tune himself for his sport. One thing which sport science cannot measure however is an athlete psychological mind state and this is where Mc Gregor believes he has the main advantage,on many occasions he has stated that the fight was own before he had even entered the ring simply because he could see the fear of the opponent. Although this May or may not be true, this shows a competitive edge as confidence and self belief is sky high. He remains true to his personal ethos ‘”Stay Ready So You Don’t Have To Get Ready”. Next up is his bout in the MGM arena, Las Vegas vs Dustin Poirier on the 27th of September! No doubt, whether they love him or hate him half of the country will be on the edge of their seats for that showcase!

Argentine left back ‘demands’ to be transfer listed due to speculation over £15m link with Manchester United!

In one of the more unexpected bits of transfer news over the past few days, it now appears 24 year old Marcos Rojo could be on his way out of Lisbon. Manchester United have made a reported bid of £15m for the young argentine centre back, who allegedly has handed in a transfer request in a bid to join the premier league club!
Rojo had an impressive campaign for Argentina at the World Cup, having played in every match of the tournament for Argentina and scoring against Nigeria in the final game of group F. He was a rock at the back for Argentina throughout the tournament, highlighted by his 9.51 rating in the castrol Index for the World Cup. Making him ninth highest rated player in the whole tournament and fourth highest rated defender! Rojo has so far made 49 appearances for sporting Lisbon scoring 5 goals.
It now appears that he will be on his way out of the Portuguese club and on his way to Manchester after reports suggest that he has told the club of his desire to move to the English outfit! Man United have recently been linked with players such as Hummels, blind and Vlaar to plug the gap at the back, I believe Rojo’s strength, age and fitness would be ideally suited to the club.

The energy systems which are utilized by the body during exercise – teach yourself the basics of sport science!

Here I will discuss the three main systems of energy release which are used by the body. In order to do this I will use a graph which I will then explain for their use in each sport.

 three main energy systems used by the body are-

1. ATP-PCr system (phosphagen system) – This system is non oxidative in nature and only lasts for around 7-14 seconds depending on how trained the individual is. As you can see on the graph, the light blue curve peaks at just before 10seconds. This is where it is at its maximum capacity and performance of this system will be best. After the peak % of energy production, the system begins to drop off and performance quickly decreases! 1 mole of ATP is produced per 1 mole of phosphocreatine (PCr). ATP (adenosine tri-phosphate) is the main source of energy to the body, in this system, there is a small amount stored next to fibrils, this is stored as CP (creatine phosphate). 

 To develop this energy system, sessions involving repeats of up to 10-15 seconds of maximum intensity activity/work are required, with approximately two minutes rest between repeats to allow the system to replenish. 

 The athletes which use this system are short distance sprinters (-100m), heavy weight lifters (using max power to lift 1-3 reps), shot putter, goalkeepers in soccer and any athletes which use a short burst of energy which needs quick 7-14seconds of sharp energy.

2. Glycolytic system – Anaerobic Glycolysis: breakdown glucose with limited O2-rapid formation but limited to approx 50 seconds. This system is seen by the red curve on the graph! Through this process glucose is used and broken down from its 6carbon compound to 2X pyruvic acid, this process releases energy (ATP). Energy release is used to form ATP (4x) (net gain 2x). The rest of the energy is lost through the body by heat! However this ATP is then used to service this glycolytic system. Glucose can continue to be broken down to provide energy for up to around 50 seconds. This system is inefficient but fast. It builds up an O2 debt- which is the amount of oxygen needed to clear the lactic acid. Prolonged use will lead to cramping and muscle pain due to this build up of lactic acid.

 Training of this system is aimed at increasing the bodies tolerance to lactic acid, removing the lactate and improving the rate at which glycolysis produces ATP. This requires changing the ratio of work to rest and pushing the system, we will get to this later in my blog!

 The athletes which would use this system are short distance runners or swimmers who travel around 200-400 meters, crossfit trainers, gym classes where participants move from machine to machine in sections of 30-45 seconds, soccer players and circuit trainers. This system can be dangerous for marathon and long distance runners as if they put in a stronger burst than their set pace, it could lead to the build up of lactate and a more difficult run!
3. Oxidative system – This system is seen on the graph as the green line! Using O2 creates large amounts of energy ‘unlimited’. This system can provide unlimited supplies of energy though the use of oxygen. This system uses about 30% of glucose to produce the ATP needed, and 70% use of fatty acids, this is the main method for weight loss as these fatty acids are being burned to create energy! This system can utilize fats, carbs and proteins to produce the needed energy however! This system can produce large quantities of energy, however it does so quite slowly so cannot service intense exercise! It uses three advanced systems to produce this energy, however for now we will stick to the basic physiology side of the energy systems and their uses!

 Training this system can be done through interval training with a very low ratio of rest to exercise 1:1 or 1:2, continual training can be done which involved constant movement at a set pace for over 15 minutes (long distance running!). Fartlek training is another way of training this system which is a type of interval training whereby the exerciser varies the speed and effort throughout the training session according to how they feel ensuring that they can continue to exercise at all times (i.e. no rest intervals).

 Athletes who use this system are long distance runners requiring a slow but constant supply of energy! Cyclists, swimmers and joggers also use this system!

 

As an added point, I would like to add that Carbohydrates and Proteins contain 4 calories per 1g and Fat contains 9 calories per 1g. These calories add to energy supplies however it is something to take into mind for someone trying to lose weight! I feel people would benefit from looking at fat contents more so than calories, saturated fats are the main issue and in my opinion calories are not a good way of measuring intake. Some foods provide valuable calories while others have empty calories, this is something food guidelines wont highlight!

 

An interesting theory on why Tiger Woods keeps picking up injuries!

Now, I am far from a golf fanatic although I do enjoy keeping up with recent news in the Sport. I did however read an article the other day that I feel would interest any sports fan, one which made me develop my own opinion on the matter!

A few days ago, I was watching an interesting interview from Fox sports where Robert Lusetich outlined his theory as to why Tiger Woods still continues to reguarly pick up injuries. This coming after recent news that Tiger was to withdraw from the WGC Firestone on Sunday. Robert’s theory stems from the book ‘The Big Miss’ which was written by Tigers old swing coach Hank Haney. In ‘The Big Miss’, Hank states that Tiger was continually trying to fight against the stereotype that golfers ‘aren’t real athletes’ due to the game being largely based on technique and skill over physique and fitness.

In order to do away with this stereotype, Tiger from a young age began getting himself into outstanding shape, above the required standards of an ‘athlete’. He worked hard training in areas which were previously unrelated to golf and would be more suited to the training of an american football player! Tiger seemed to take a great deal of pleasure from the hardship that he made himself endure as it made him closer to being the overall ‘athlete’.

An extract from Haneys book states:

“Of course, Tiger still could have worsened his knee with heavy workouts or Navy SEALs activities. But Tiger preferred that people see his injuries related to his sport, so that he could wear them as a badge of honor. To him, injuries were a way of being accepted into the fraternity of superstars who played more physical sports than golf. For example, a couple of times when I knew he’d just gotten off the phone with Derek Jeter, I’d asked what they had talked about. Both times Tiger said the conversation was about injuries they were each dealing with. Once in the clubhouse at Isleworth, Shaquille O’Neal came by the lunch table and exchanged pleasantries with Tiger. When Tiger asked him how he was doing, Shaq said, ‘Trying to get through this thing with my knee,’ and Tiger had nodded knowingly.”

Hearing all this really interested me as a sport fan, it almost seems as though Tiger’s main aim after an injury is to return as quickly as possible as a show of strength (much like Conor Mc Gregor, an upcoming Irish champion). This leads me onto the main thing that I felt after hearing these extracts from Haney’s book. Tiger has been at the top of golf for 20 years now and has developed himself as one of the greatest of all times, even though he is still relatively young for a professional golfer and on paper should have many years left at the top, he has still won more than any other professional golfer! However, I feel that these years of intense and unrelenting training are now coming back on the former world number one as he has not listened to his body and has gone above and beyond the training of a golfer.

Tiger is now at 38 years of age, as stated this is quite young for a golfer to start dropping performance especially for a champion like Tiger. Yet 38 is the age that most professional soccer players have retired by due to injury and age taking its toll on their body after many years of tough  cardiovascular training. I believe that this is what is happening to Tiger, his training has set him onto the career clock of a professional footballer and will not allow him to continue as a golfer without injury as he has over done it and peaked at such a speed. Without this outstanding training, I do not believe Tiger would be the champion he was as it surely gave him the psychological and physical edge to be no.1 yet I do feel this training is holding him back now!