Training Science Podcast

Can Running Marathons Help You Age Better? Insights from Multi Marathoners with Leo Lundy and Prof Paul Laursen 12.06.2026 1sa

What happens when you study people who have spent decades consistently running marathons? In this episode, we sit down with researcher and multi marathoner Leo Lundy to explore what endurance athletes can teach us about healthy aging, longevity, and lifelong performance. Drawing from his PhD research on multi marathoners around the world, Leo shares insights into cardiovascular fitness, VO₂ max, all cause mortality, cognitive performance, mental health, and the long term effects of sustained ...

What Elite Football Teams Get Right About Speed, Power, and Performance with Christian Clarup and Dr Martin Buchheit 05.06.2026 1sa 13dk

What does it take to build a high performance culture inside elite European football? In this episode, Martin sits down with Christian Clarup to discuss his journey from academy football in Denmark to leadership roles at FC Midtjylland, Sparta Prague, the Danish National Team, and the Bundesliga. Christian shares lessons learned from working across different countries, cultures, and football environments, including title winning campaigns, Champions League football, and the realities of opera...

Nutrition Myths, Fasted Training, and Individual Responses with Dr Jeff Rothschild and Prof Paul Laursen 29.05.2026 59dk

What should endurance athletes actually eat before training? Does fasted training improve adaptation? And why do some athletes thrive on high carbohydrate intake while others perform better with less? In this episode, Dr Jeff Rothschild joins the podcast to unpack the complexity behind endurance nutrition, recovery, and training adaptation. Drawing from his work as a sports dietitian, researcher, and performance analyst, Jeff shares insights from years of research exploring carbohydrate pract...

Top Episode Replay: Desolving the Fat Mystery – Are Carbs History? - With Dr Phil Maffetone, Prof Tim Noakes & Prof Paul Laursen 22.05.2026 1sa 25dk

🥑 RETHINKING NUTRITION in ENDURANCE PERFORMANCE 💥🧠 Tim Noakes & Phil Maffetone aren’t afraid to challenge the status quo — especially when it comes to CARBS, FAT, and FUELING the brain 🧬 In this thought-provoking episode of The Training Science Podcast, Paul, Tim & Phil dig into what REALLY fuels performance: 🔥 How FAT OXIDATION supports endurance when carbs run low 🧠 Why the BRAIN—not the body—often decides your limits 📉 The trouble with INSULIN and sugar addiction in mod...

The Norwegian Method Applied: From Threshold Training to Muscular Status, with Dr Marius Bakken and Prof Paul Laursen 15.05.2026 58dk

What if endurance performance is not so much about VO2max, lactate threshold, or running economy… but more about the muscular system itself? In this episode, Dr Marius Bakken shares the thinking behind his latest book The Norwegian Method Applied and the decades of experimentation that shaped his approach to endurance training. From double threshold training and lactate controlled intensity to muscle tone, elasticity, and stiffness, this conversation explores performance through a very differ...

We Built the HIIT Science Taxonomy on Logic. Now We Have the Data. With Dr Martin Buchheit and Prof Paul Laursen 08.05.2026 1sa 15dk

What really happens to your neuromuscular system after different types of HIIT — and how do we know? This episode does something we've been building toward for years: puts real data behind the HIIT Science taxonomy. Using low-frequency fatigue measurements from Myocene technology, Martin Buchheit tested the taxonomy on himself — mapping how different interval types load and recover the neuromuscular system in ways we previously could only infer. The conversation covers why some sessions crush...

From Screening to Reality What Asymmetry Really Tells Us with Dr Chris Bishop and Dr Martin Buchheit 01.05.2026 1sa 15dk

Are asymmetries something we should actually be fixing… or just better understanding? Dr Chris Bishop is an Associate Professor of Strength and Conditioning and one of the leading researchers in interlimb asymmetry, bringing years of work across performance, rehab, and applied sport science. In this conversation, Chris breaks down one of the most misunderstood topics in sports performance. From how asymmetries are calculated to whether they even matter, this episode challenges common practic...

The Future of Training with Breathing Data with Arnar Larusson and Prof Paul Laursen 24.04.2026 57dk

What if you could bring lab level physiology into every training session? Arnar Larusson is the founder of Tymewear and is working to make breathing data accessible outside the lab, giving athletes real time insight into how their body is actually responding to training. Coming from a background in mechanical engineering and prosthetics, Arnar saw the gap between what we can measure in controlled environments and what athletes can access in the real world. This conversation explores how venti...

Building a Global High Performance Career with Jon Bartlett and Dr Martin Buchheit 17.04.2026 1sa 16dk

What does it take to build a career across the highest levels of sport and keep evolving along the way? Jon Bartlett has worked across football AFL the NBA and Olympic cycling building a career shaped by curiosity adaptability and a constant drive to learn. Rather than staying in one system Jon chose to explore different sports and environments to understand how high performance actually works in practice From hands on roles with athletes to leading global development systems and now working ...

Top Episode Replay: Strength or Not to Strength? Load or Not to Load? Monitor or Not to Monitor? A Worldwide Football Master Class - With Dr Darren Burgess and Martin Buchheit 10.04.2026 57dk

We all “love” 😍 STRENGTH & gym training 🏋🏻 to a certain degree - but that does not mean that you CANNOT develop SPEED & STRENGTH without it! Dr Darren Burgess want you to understand that WHOLE sport CULTURES ⚽ 🏀 🏈 have been developed over decades without having very much strength or speed specific training AT ALL. Many footballers in Europe for example barely do any gym work. Obviously that does not mean it is useless, but it is important to understand that apparently you can get good...

How Math, Power Data, and Aerodynamics Changed Racing Strategy with Ryan Cooper & Prof Paul Laursen 04.04.2026 1sa 6dk

What if you could predict your race before you even start? In this episode, Ryan Cooper shares the story behind one of endurance sport’s most influential tools, Best Bike Split. With a background in electrical engineering and aerospace, Ryan saw early on that the same physics used in aviation could be applied to cycling and triathlon performance. We dive into how power meters and modeling unlocked a new way to race, why normalized power became a game changer for long course athletes, and how ...

You’re Training Hard—But Moving Poorly: The Missing Layer of Performance with Lawrence van Lingen & Prof Paul Laursen 27.03.2026 1sa

What if your biggest performance limiter isn’t your fitness, but your nervous system? In this episode, Lawrence van Lingen shares a radically different lens on endurance performance, one that shifts the focus from traditional training metrics to fascia, breath, and vagal tone. Drawing from years of work with elite athletes like Andi Böcherer and Jan Frodeno, Lawrence explains how movement efficiency, recovery, and performance breakthroughs often come from restoring internal balance rather tha...

The Science of Cycling: Marginal Gains, Talent ID, and What Actually Drives Performance with Dr David Bailey & Prof Paul Laursen 20.03.2026 59dk

What actually drives performance in professional cycling, and how much of it is science versus experience? In this episode, Dr David Bailey joins us to unpack over two decades of work across Olympic sport and WorldTour cycling. From talent identification and training philosophy to nutrition, heat, altitude, and the evolving role of data, David shares what really matters when building high performance athletes. We dive into the concept of marginal gains and why most people misunderstand it, ho...

The Physiology of Consistency: Why Stable Sleep and HRV Predict Health and Performance, with Dr Greg Grosicki & Prof Paul Laursen 13.03.2026 1sa 1dk

What can heart rate variability actually tell us about training, recovery, and long term health, and where do most people still get it wrong? In this episode, Dr Greg Grosicki joins us to unpack the science and practical value of HRV, from what it really measures to why context matters so much when interpreting it. We explore how exercise intensity, sleep, alcohol, sickness, hydration, and metabolic health can all shape HRV, and why a single daily score often tells only part of the story. We ...

Masters Athlete Training: Strength, Recovery, and Longevity with Prof Peter Reaburn & Prof Paul Laursen 07.03.2026 1sa 7dk

What actually changes as we age as athletes, and how should training evolve if we want to keep performing while protecting long term health? In this episode, Professor Peter Reaburn joins us to explore the science and real world practice of training as a masters athlete. Drawing on decades of research and personal experience as an endurance athlete, Peter explains why resistance training becomes essential with age, how recovery changes, and why training the same way you did in your twenties n...

Top Episode Replay: Go Hard to Go Fast - New Age Sprint Training - With Prof. Dr. JB Morin & Dr Martin Buchheit 27.02.2026 1sa 10dk

TOP EPISODE REPLAY Profiling and training SPEED🏎️ individually might be 30% (!!!) of any SPRINTING performance - get ON IT! Prof. Dr. JB Morin would like you to consider that if you do not cover, train or assess the WHOLE SPECTRUM of what your athletes can or cannot do, then you are likely leaving BIG 💥💨 gains on the table. Does 30% matter to you? In the 115th episode of The Training Science Podcast, Martin and JB discuss: 📖 the Force-Velocity relationship in SPRINTING; ✅ training SPECIFIC fo...

Does Zone 1 Build a Stronger Heart Than HIIT? New MRI Data with Dr Guido Claessen & Prof Paul Laursen 20.02.2026 1sa 6dk

Does high intensity training really build the strongest heart, or is it time in Zone 1 and Zone 2 that truly drives cardiac adaptation? In this episode, Dr Guido Claessen joins us to unpack a landmark longitudinal MRI study on endurance athletes that challenges common assumptions about HIIT and heart remodeling. They explore what actually builds the “athletic heart,” why low intensity volume matters more than most think, and what this means for polarized training. They also tackle the harder ...

Fatigue, Durability, and Muscle Damage in Ultra Running with Prof Guillaume Millet and Prof Paul Laursen 13.02.2026 1sa 14dk

We sit down with Prof Guillaume Millet to get clear on what fatigue actually is, why durability became the new buzzword, and what really limits performance in ultra endurance events. We dig into central vs peripheral fatigue, why muscle damage matters so much in trail and mountain running, and how shock weekends can build the resilience you cannot fake on race day. We also talk heat, perceived exertion, field monitoring tools, and his new Zero to 100 project taking sedentary adults to a 100k ...

Episode 200 🎉 Eccentric Training, Muscle Soreness, and What Actually Drives Adaptation with Prof Ken Nosaka, Prof Paul Laursen & Dr Martin Buchheit 09.02.2026 1sa 9dk

Episode 200 marks a major milestone for us, and we celebrate it with someone who played a foundational role in our journey. Professor Ken Nosaka joins us to reflect on how eccentric training research shaped modern training practice and brought our paths together. We revisit the early ECU years, then dive deep into what Ken’s research has taught us about muscle soreness, muscle damage, the repeated bout effect, and how adaptation really works. This episode blends history, science, and real wo...

Respectful Disagreement in Sports Nutrition: What the Evidence Really Says With Dr Andrew Koutnik and Prof Paul Laursen 30.01.2026 1sa 37dk

In this episode, we sit down with Dr Andrew Koutnik to unpack one of the most discussed sports science reviews in recent years. Drawing on more than 100 years of research and a series of tightly controlled trials, we examine evidence that challenges the long-held belief that more carbohydrates automatically lead to better performance. We explore why muscle glycogen and carbohydrate oxidation do not consistently predict performance, how athletes can sustain high-intensity and endurance output ...