Ergogenic aids Flashcards
Name three pharmacological aids
Anabolic steroids, RhEPO injections and HGH
Describe anabolic steroids
- Synthetic hormone resembling testosterone
- Promotes protein synthesis
- Can be used medically
What are the benefits of anabolic steroids?
- Increase muscle mass
- Decrease recovery time
What are the problems caused by anabolic steroids?
- Aggression
- Risk of permanent liver damage, cancer and CV disease
- Baldness and low sperm count
- Facial hair and deep voice
Describe RhEPO
- Naturally produced by the kidneys
- ‘Rh’ means synthetic
- Produce more red blood cells and haemoglobin
What are the benefits of RhEPO?
- Increase RBC count from 45% - 65%
- Increase aerobic capacity and duration of exercise before fatigue
What are the problems caused by RhEPO?
- Increase blood viscosity
- Decrease HR
- Risk of stroke
- Decreases natural EPO production
Describe HGH
- Human Growth Hormone
- Naturally produced in the pituitary gland
- Stimulate bone cartilage and muscle growth
- Decreases body fat
- Protein synthesis
What are the benefits of HGH?
Increases lean body mass and recovery of soft tissue
What are the problems caused by HGH?
Hypertrophy of internal organs causing multi-organ failure
Deformity
Cancer
Diabetes
Describe blood doping
Transfusion to increase RBC count
What are the benefits of blood doping?
Increases aerobic capacity
What are the problems caused by blood doping?
Polycythemia increases blood viscosity
Death
Describe IHT
- Intermittent hypoxic training
- Training with low PpO2
- Body produces more EPO in hypoxic conditions and increases cappiliarisation
What are the benefits of IHT?
Legal
Can live in conditions for up to 16 hours
What are the problems caused by blood doping?
Benefits quickly lost
Decreases immune function causes risk of infection
Describe cooling aids
Decreases core temperature to decrease thermal strain, cold air exposure, ice packs, immersion, removes lactic acid by constricting capillaries
What are the benefits of cooling aids?
Decreases DOMS and treats pain and injury
What are the problems caused by cooling aids?
Can cause ice burn, angina if coronary, capillaries constrict doesn’t treat injury only masks the pain
Name three physiological aids
IHT, cooling aids and blood doping
What nutritional aids would a performer use for pre-competition for an endurance event?
1-2hrs before: High GI e.g. energy bar
- glucose supplement may cause rebound hypoglycaemia causing fatigue and dizziness
1-4g of complex or low glycemic index to maximise glycogen stores
How much should an endurance athlete eat every day?
Moderate intensity for an hour: 5-7g of carbs per kg
Intense exercise for 4 or more hours: 10-12g/kg
Describe the calorie content and carb content of an apple and 100g of rice
Apple: 47KCal / 12g
Rice: 366KCal / 81g
What should an endurance athlete eat during a competition?
- If activity is less than 45 mins: little benefit from carb intake
- glucose tablets to prevent dehydration (tennis/ team)
- If activity is 1hr+ 30-60g of fast digesting carbs to preserve muscle glycogen
What should an endurance athlete eat after a competition?
- 1-1.5g/kg per hour
- Repeat in two hour intervals for up to 6 hours
- Consume within half an hour
- Moderate to fast digesting
What should an athlete training their strength eat every day?
- 5-6 small meals
- 30% lean protein e.g. tuna
- complex carbs e.g. oatmeal
- limited fat intake e.g. flaxseeds
What should an Olympic weightlifter eat before a competition?
- Small meal 30-60 mins before
- Fast digesting carbs and protein in equal quantity
What should an Olympic weightlifter east after a competition?
- Meal within two hours to replace glycogen
- Protein shakes and liquids to aid digestion
Describe the timescale for glycogen loading
Day 1: glycogen depletion by endurance exercise
Day 2/3: high protein and fat
Day 4: glycogen depletion
Day 5/7: high carb diet
What are the benefits of glycogen loading?
- 90 mins comp time (increase time to exhaustion by 30%)
- legal
- up to 50% higher glycogen
What are the problems caused by glycogen loading?
- hypoglycaemia during glycogen depletion phase
- poor recovery rate
- increased risk of injury
- affects mental prep
Describe gene doping
- Aims to improve future generation in all physiological and metabolic functions
- Risks are mostly unknown as the research is done in infancy but predicted to be less than HGH/ RhEPO and anabolic steroids
- Can be used for potentially all performers
- Illegal
What happens to the body as a result of dehydration?
- Loss of electrolytes causes cramps and fatigue
- Loss of 25% of body weight in sweat can cause a 20% decrease in performance due to:
- less heart regulation
- increased blood viscosity
- heart rate increases
- fatigue
- low cognitive function and skill level
What are the three solutions to dehydration?
- Hypertonic
- Isotonic
- Hypertonic
Describe hypotonic solutions
- Lower concentration of glucose than blood (approx. 4%)
- Replaces lost and excess for energy
- Jockeys and gymnasts
Describe isotonic solutions
- Equal concentration of glucose to blood (5-8%)
- Absorbed at same rate to water for fast hydration
- Runners and team players
- Supply for energy
Describe hypertonic solutions
- Higher concentrations of glucose than blood (15%)
- Absorbed slower than water
- Can cause dehydration so water needed
- Not used during exercise
- Ultra-distance athletes
Name four supplements?
Nitrate, caffeine, creatine and bicarbonate
Describe creatine
- May cause water retention due to increasing water in muscle cell for protein synthesis
- Produced naturally by amino acids and eating meat
- Stored as PC
- Legal
- Creatine monohydrate bought in health food shops as tablets or powder
- Increases PC stores by 50%
What are the benefits of creatine?
- Increases PC stores
- Increases maximum and explosive strength
- Increases intensity and duration of training before fatigue
What are the problems of taking creatine supplements?
- Weight gain
- Water retention
- Muscle cramps
- Gastro-intestinal problems
- Long term effects unclear
Describe caffeine
- Stimulant to heighten nervous system
- Legal but monitored for misuse
- Increases use of fats to preserve glycogen and delay fatigue
- Little evidence to prove benefit to anaerobic performers
- Consumption of 3-6mg/kg one hour before event increases aerobic capacity
What are the benefits of caffeine?
- Increases nervous stimulation
- Increases mobilisation of fat
- Increases aerobic performance
What are the problems of taking caffeine supplements?
- Dehydration, anxiety and insomnia
- Gastro-intestinal problems
Describe bicarbonate
- ‘soda loading’
- alkaline buffers the neutralisation of acids in blood
- 0.3g/kg of sodium bicarbonate one hour before increases tolerance to lactic acid
- Events between 1-7 minutes
What are the benefits of bicarbonate?
- Increases buffering capacity
- Increases tolerance to LA
- Delays OBLA
- Increases intensity and duration of performance before fatigue
What are the problems of taking bicarbonate supplements?
- Unpleasant taste
- May cause nausea
- Gastro-intestinal problems
Describe nitrate
- Inorganic compounds
- Root vegetables
- Stored in the body as nitrates
- 5-30m comp duration
- Converted to nitric oxide during exercise when conditions in the body are acidic and low O2, vascular and metabolic control, dilates blood vessels
- 6-12mg/kg/day for 6 days prior
What are the benefits of nitrate supplements?
- Lower blood pressure
- Increase blood flow
- Increases intensity of performance before fatigue
What are the problems of taking nitrate supplements?
- Headaches and dizziness
- Long term effects are unclear
- Possible carcinogenic risk
