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Recent decades have witnessed a remarkable expansion of the applications of scientific
principles to sport and exercise. This has been associated with the emergence of sports
science as a recognized academic discipline. Developments are such that most
international teams now have a systematized scientific back-up as they prepare for major
competitions. Applications of science to sport are especially evident in the field of
physiology; indeed sports practitioners are quick to realize the importance of acquiring
basic physiological knowledge that can be put to good effect.
Exercise physiology has for many years been a respected field in its own right.
Exercise has conventionally been used as a medium for perturbing physiological systems
to ascertain how they behaved under stress. Thus much information has been acquired in
mainstream human physiology about acute physiological responses to exercise. Exercise
physiologists have taken this further in establishing the ceilings in human physiological
responses and in attempting to identify those factors that limit performance in various
conditions. There has also been progress in understanding how the upper limits of
physiological function can be pushed further by proper diet and nutritional manipulations.
This information is continually being integrated and updated in textbooks of exercise
physiology. These books have formed basic references not just for students of physiology
and sports science but also for sports practitioners eager for literature about the
physiological aspects of exercise and training.
The present text is unique in that it tries to spell out physiological implications for a
number of sports, taken in turn. Thus, far from being another book on exercise
physiology, it fits information about acute and chronic adaptations to exercise to the
peculiarities of each sport. The individual requirements of each sport are first outlined
before the demands of the sport, the fitness profiles of top performers and training
regimens are considered.
Part One has two chapters that provide a general physiological background from which
the physiology of particular sports may be approached. The principles outlined can be
applied broadly to exercise and sports physiology. The opening chapter presents a
detailed account of metabolic aspects of exercise. The other provides an analysis of
muscular adaptations to strength training, a topic of importance to a wide range of sports.
Part Two considers locomotive sports, starting with short-term exercise—in the form of
sprinting—and progressing to middle distance running, then to sustained endurance
exercise. This is illustrated in the form of marathon running and competitive racewalking.
Both shortterm and endurance exercise apply to cycling and their considerations
are integrated in the final chapter of the series of five.
In Part Three the physiology of sport on water and on ice is covered. The requirements
of the various swimming events are compared in the opening chapter as is the specificity
of exercise in the water. The sailor has entirely different demands (as has the rower) and
