Quiz time. How much do you know about training and what you should be doing to help your body?

Questions:

Sports Medicine

1. What is the primary cause of knee-trouble?
2. What is the primary cause of hamstring injury?
3. Sports doctors state that heat should never be applied initially to any thigh injury. Why is this?
4. What is the real cause of a stitch?
5. You feel a sudden sharp pain in your calf muscle and can no longer run. What first-aid measures would you take?
6. What is a simple way of checking that you are not dehydrating in hot weather?
7. What is an easy way of checking whether you are going into stress/overtraining?

Physiology

1. What is lactate threshold running?
2. One mile of steady state swimming is equal to what distance of running?
3. How much steady state cycling is equal to one mile of running?
4. Who discovered that coffee causes fatty acids to be burnt preferentially in a long-distance race, thus saving valuable glycogen until later?

Sports Nutrition

1. What is the main fuel used in most sporting activities?
2. What does iron in food contribute to in performance?
3. What foods help manufacture new red blood cells?
4. Potassium loss in sweat on successive hot days has a direct effect on heart efficiency. What food would you take to replace it?
5. Excessive consumption of cola-based and soft drinks can eventually harm what?
6. How does vitamin C aid muscular strength?
7. When is the best time to consume carbohydrates when in full training?
8. How can you calculate your own personal carbohydrate needs?
9. What are anti-stress and anti-infection foods?

Answers:

Sports Medicine

1. Weak quadriceps. The quadriceps are the main stabilisers of the knee. Also, poor vitamin C intake affects cartilage integrity.
2. Not being 60% as strong as the quadriceps.
3. Heat applied to the thigh (rectus femoris) within 48 hours of injury as a first-aid measure causes the coarse fibres to form bone nodules which will require surgical removal. NEVER APPLY HEAT TO A THIGH INJURY AS A FIRST-AID MEASURE!
4. 100 stitch sufferers from a multitude of sports in New Zealand took part in a comprehensive study of this condition, and included runners, jockeys, cyclists and motorcyclist trial riders. The cause was pinned down to the pulling of ligaments attached to the diaphragm caused by the jolting activity of the sport. The remedy was to reverse the procedure i.e. to stop the pulling down, stand on your head Yoga style! Difficult to do while competing! However, when this occurs during training it has always succeeded when the athlete is suspended head down.
5. Stop. Apply ice in a plastic bag for 5 minutes. Compress the injury with available material. Lie down and elevate the limb. If not allergic to aspirin, take one, it's anti-inflammatory.
6. 1. Drink when not feeling thirsty;
   2. weigh yourself first thing in the morning. Slight loss of weight on successive days may indicate dehydration;
   3. high-coloured urine instead of water-coloured.
7. Take your pulse first thing in the morning. Take it again on rising, and compare the difference. After a week you will get a mean average difference, e.g. 15 beats. When the average is considerably higher e.g. 20 beats, DO NOT TRAIN OR COMPETE.

Physiology

1. The lactate threshold is a point beyond which an activity causes a major increase in lactic acid. This is usually work beyond 90% of maximal heart rate. For fit runners this is travelling faster than 10k pace for 4 miles. Such running boosts fitness.
2. One mile of swimming equals 4 miles of running (Cooper).
3. Four miles of cycling equals one mile of running (Cooper).
4. David Costill of Ball State University, USA. Coffee will only work well if you abstain from it for 14 days before use. Carbohydrate loading will negate its effect. It should be taken 2 hours before competing.

Sports Nutrition

1. Carbohydrates (white flour, syrup, jam, bread, rice, oatmeal, raisins, dates)
2. Iron is the main consituent of haemoglobin. One gramme of haemoglobin conveys 1.34cc of oxygen and levels for males should be about 15g Hb per 100mls, and 13g Hb for females. Iron in meats is assimilated better than in vegetables.
3. Vitamin B12 and folic acid. Found in liver, kidney, meat, milk, fish, eggs, beans and lentils.
4. Pure orange juice.
5. The phosphorus in them makes calcium less available and in excess will undermine bone and dental status.
6. Vitamin C stimulates testosterone production (a tissue-building hormone).
7. Every 4 hours as part of regular meals. Also, within 30 minutes of finishing training and every hour thereafter. A liquid carbo-loader is more convenient for this.
8. Allocate one gram of carbohydrates for every pound bodyweight, or 2 grams for every kilogram bodyweight.
9. Anti-stress/anti-infection foods include: Vitamins B6,B5, C, E and folic acid and essential fatty acids, plus the mineral zinc.