How to Improve Performance in Sport – a Review

The physiology of exercise is the body’s response and adaptation to exercise. The physiological mechanisms that underpin performance are based on three interacting factors. Firstly, the tripartite nature of oxygen uptake (Fick’s principle); secondly, the physiological basis of training which may improve the baseline function (over-reaching) or cause underperformance (overtraining), and thirdly, acclimatization to heat or cold environment. Heat acclimatization occurs relatively quickly and enhances the athlete’s ability to perform well under heat stress. Sport and exercise science applies to both those for whom improvements in performance have the primary aim of success in competition and those whose interests are health orientated for whom exercise is recreational. With Fick’s principle there are some similarities between the processes use in improving performance in sport and the optimization processes use for the critically-ill patient in the intensive care unit.