In the current sporting arena, we are surrounded by extreme practices: extreme training regimes, extreme dietary manipulations, and extreme lifestyle measures. These are intended to create a hormetic driver to stimulate a physiological response for the betterment of certain health parameters and sporting adaptations. And in many cases that’s exactly what happens.
But how much is too much? How many tough training sessions can your body handle before maladaptation, injury, illness, and overtraining ensue? How regularly can you exercise fasted before running out of the ‘fuel for the work required’? And just how often can you immerse yourself in cold water before your body stops adapting in a desirable manner? These are just some of the questions that Ian posed to his guests Paul Ehren and Alex Kirchin during this philosophical and applied discussion of sporting adaptations.
If we can assume that health is a requisite to sporting success, it will then be pertinent for sport and exercise practitioners to help their athletic clients find the sweet spot for physiological health and sporting adaptations. Not too hard, not too soft; not too hot, not too cold; and not too little, not too much.
About Paul and Alex
Paul K Ehren. Following a successful career in the City of London, Paul formed his own personal fitness consultancy based in Essex and East London, which he has now run for over 20 years. During this period, Paul competed as a Masters Bodybuilder and in a career that spanned some 20 years, became British Champion and also won various regional and international titles. The lack of competitions and the uncertainty surrounding the Covid pandemic forced Paul to retire from competition at the age of 62.
Paul’s current focus on ‘HealthSpan’ for practitioners and for clients has been prompted by observations he has made along the way in his career, together with reflections on his own life experience. Paul believes that individuals who work at the ‘coal face’ of practitioner-client interaction are best placed to navigate a path through the plethora of sometimes conflicting advice on healthy ageing, and to guide athletes to maintain optimal functional health throughout life stages. From extensive client experience he is well equipped to discuss sporting adaptations.
Website – www.paulkehren.co.uk
Twitter – @PaulEhren
Facebook – @pketraining
Alex Kirchin MSc is a nutritionist, lecturer, and product formulator. He began to explore the role of diet, health and performance in the 1980s when attending catering college and working as a professional vegetarian chef in London. He then entered the world of nutrition, completing his nutritional therapy studies at the Institute for Optimum Nutrition, an MSc in Nutritional Medicine from Surrey University, and a Herbal Medicine qualification at the University of Westminster. Since those formative years Alex enjoyed privileged positions as the technical director for prestigious global food supplement companies, but he always retained a keen interest in phytochemistry; examining how specific nutrients and botanical interventions could optimise physiological functioning and lead to improved health and performance.
Alex’s interest in phytochemistry led him to develop a range of nutrition products that are underpinned by phytonutrient-rich, micronutrient-dense formulations that support the demands of active lifestyles, reflecting the challenges of the Scandinavian outdoor lifestyle. This resulted in an award winning, contemporary food supplement range, NORDIQ Nutrition.
Website: www.nordiqnutrition.com
Email: alex@nordiqnutrition.com
Relevant research links for this podcast
Below are a list of research articles and areas of academic enquiry within the field of immunity, mentioned by Paul and Alex during their interview:
A review and discussion of hormesis and biological adaptation
Hormesis provides a generalized quantitative estimate of biological plasticity – Calabrese and Mattson, 2011
A discussion of a practitioner’s role in an athlete’s ‘ecosystem’
The nature of our role in an athlete’s ecosystem – Paul Ehren, 2020
A study of progressive volume load in training
Progression of volume load and muscular adaptation during resistance exercise – Peterson et al., 2011
A systemic review of allostatic load
Allostatic Load and Its Impact on Health: A Systematic Review – Guidi et al., 2020
An account of the Cell Danger Response in mitochondrial health
The new science that connects environmental health with mitochondria and the rising tide of chronic illness – Robert Naviaux, 2020
A definition and discussion of xenohormesis
What is Xenohormesis? – Baur and Sinclair, 2008
The Mediterranean pyramid
Fundación Dieta Mediterranea
A diagnostic review of overtraining syndrome
Diagnosing Overtraining Syndrome: A Scoping Review – Carrard et al., 2022
Intermittent living, a new concept of hormetic adaptation
The use of ancient challenges as a vaccine against the deleterious effects of modern life – Pruimboom and Muskiet, 2018
