Science
The research the BLOCKS assistant answers from: 1,148 studies and 82 guides, each graded for how strong the evidence is and who it was measured on, with a link to the original paper.
1,148 entries
B+Across 888 athletes from recreational to world class, V̇O₂max explained 65–76% of the between-athlete differences in power or speed at the lactate thresholds, economy 20–24%, and fractional utilisation only 4–11%Mougin 2026B+During a 30-min wait after a 15-min warm-up, electrically heated pants kept thigh muscle temperature elevated and raised 30-s sprint peak power by 9.6% versus ordinary tracksuit pants; insulated pants without heating did notThe warm-up's benefit is lost in the gap before the start, and active heating keeps itFaulkner SH 2013BElite cyclists who stopped strength training for the first 8 weeks of the competition season, after 25 weeks of heavy lifting, lost squat-jump height, peak aerobic power (Wmax) and 30-s Wingate power relative to controls (ES 0.49–0.84)The gains of a whole preparation period decayed within two monthsRønnestad BR 2016AMeta-analysis of 17 controlled trials (262 cyclists, 60 women): heavy strength training (≥80% 1RM, 5–25 weeks, 1–3 sessions/week) improves cycling performance (ES 0.46), anaerobic power (ES 0.56) and cycling efficiency (ES 0.35) without changing VO₂max, power at VO₂max, maximal metabolic steady state or anaerobic capacityLlanos-Lagos C 2025ASystematic review of 53 studies: contemporary Olympic cross-country MTB is an intermittent race at ~90% HRmax with about a quarter of the time above MAP in surges of ~3–10 s at 130–140% MAP, 15–20 per lap; Tier-5 men profile at VO₂max 82, MAP 6.6 W/kg and anaerobic peak 18 W/kg, and HIIT, SIT and strength training all raised race-relevant markersProtzen G 2026BA modern Olympic cross-country MTB race is run at 87% VO₂max with 37% of the time above VT2 and 25% above maximal aerobic power, delivered as bursts of 5–30 sAnd time-in-zone by heart rate or power does not track time-in-zone by oxygen uptakeHays A 2018C+A cyclocross race is ridden almost entirely in the high-lactate zone93.6% of race time above the heart rate of 4 mmol/L, mean HR 171 bpm against a race maximum of 178, post-race lactate 8.3 mmol/L — with no low-intensity time at allCarmichael RD 2017BEvenness of power around the crankNot how "effectively" force is aimed — was the only predictor of gross efficiency, and it accounted for 56% of the difference between cyclistsLeirdal & Ettema 2011BWith protein and training held equal, a moderate energy deficit built the same fat-free mass as eating at maintenance and lost twice the fatIn people who started at BMI 26, which is the condition, not a footnoteVargas-Molina 2026B+Cold water works by cooling an overheated athlete, not by flushing metabolitesAnd the parasympathetic rebound that helps tomorrow can hurt a hard effort performed shortly afterwardsIhsan 2016B+Heat training raises haemoglobin mass reliably and performance only slightlySo it is a plausible substitute for an altitude camp, chosen per athlete by what they tolerate, and it belongs late in the priority list rather than earlyLundby & Robach 2025B+Six 30-second sprints changed a quarter of the measurable plasma proteome; 90 minutes of moderate cycling changed seven proteinsAnd the ones sprint raised are those linked, in 53,026 people, to lower cardiometabolic riskOlsen 2026B+Adding fructose to maltodextrin during a 4-hour recovery gave a 33% longer second run to exhaustion the same dayThe point at which faster liver glycogen repletion stops being a mechanism and becomes a performance resultMaunder 2018BThe 1% treadmill grade is a speed-dependent correction, not a universal settingIt starts mattering at about 12 km/h, and below that 0% and 1% are indistinguishable from the roadJones & Doust 1996B+Critical power and lactate-threshold markers agree strongly on average and disagree widely on the individual: correlations r = 0.81-0.98, but limits of agreement of ±22 to ±52 WValenzuela 2021BIn 187 female endurance athletes aged 40-60, the menopausal symptoms perceived to hurt training most were not hot flushes but joint and muscular discomfort, weight gain, sleep problems and exhaustionAnd more severe symptoms went with a greater perceived impactHamilton 2025BChronic pill use impairs the sweating response in the heatThe sudomotor threshold and thermosensitivity are both blunted versus naturally cycling athletes, so an athlete on the pill is not simply "a cycle that got standardised"Lei 2019A-The pill does not blunt resistance-training adaptation: no significant effect on hypertrophy, strength or power across 8 studiesA tight null for hypertrophy, a less tight one for strength, an uninformative one for powerNolan 2024A-Pelvic floor muscle training works in athletes: significantly less leakage and measurably stronger contractionThe condition is trainable, not something to be worked aroundRodríguez-Longobardo 2024B+36% of female athletes leak urine, and athletes carry a 177% higher risk than sedentary womenThe most under-asked question in coaching womenTeixeira 2018BTraining with low carbohydrate availability RAISES the protein requirementThe train-low session that buys the adaptation also raises the amino-acid billGillen 2019B+Endurance athletes need ~1.85 g/kg/day after trainingAnd the requirement is the SAME for women and men (1.61 vs 1.60 g/kg/day breakpoint, p = 0.94)Williamson 2023C+The injury question is open, not answered: AFT shifts several biomechanical variables associated with bone stress injury, but this study did not measure whether injuries actually increaseBruneau 2026BSuper shoes are not only for fast runners: at 7.5-12 km/h the metabolic saving was present and independent of speedBolliger 2026B+Super-shoe savings on a +/-3° treadmill: 3.83% level, 2.82% uphill (significantly less than level), 2.70% downhill (not significantly different)A hilly course likely returns slightly lessWhiting 2022B+In actual world-class marathon racing the gain is 1.0%, about 79 secondsA quarter of the laboratory figureLangley 2024APooled across 14 trials the effect is ~2-3%, not 4%And the plate alone cannot be credited for itKobayashi 2026B+The founding "4%" study: with shoe mass matched, prototype plated-foam shoes lowered the energetic cost of running in all 18 athletes testedThe effect is the midsole and plate, not the weightHoogkamer 2018B+Populations that have been barefoot their whole lives have wider feet, smaller hallux angles and less ankle dorsiflexion at footstrikeAnd no difference in injury ratesHollander 2017A-What minimalist shoes actually deliver: a modest gain in toe strength, conflicting evidence on muscle size, and low to very low certaintyMuch less than the marketing, and not nothingPeters-Dickie 2025ACochrane review, 12 trials and 11,240 runners: no shoe type reliably reduces running injuriesIncluding cushioned versus minimalist — and prescribing shoes by foot posture does not workRelph 2022B+Ten weeks of gradual transition to Vibram FiveFingers put bone marrow edema into the feet of half the groupThe specific shoe, the specific timeline, and a measured costRidge 2013BThe paper that started the barefoot movement measured collision forces, NOT injuries: habitually barefoot forefoot strikers generate a smaller impact peak than shod rearfoot strikersThe injury claim attached to it was never tested hereLieberman 2010BIn 6812 exercising women, a higher menstrual-symptom burden was associated with missing or changing training: ask what she feels, not only where she is in the cycleBruinvels 2021BSex differences in sweating appear only above a high heat-loss requirement, come from sweat gland OUTPUT rather than gland recruitmentAnd there is no sex difference in skin blood flowGagnon & Kenny 2012BIn well-trained women, cycle phase did NOT affect performance in the heatHumidity did, costing 7% of work doneLei 2017BMenstrual cycle phase cost endurance performance in hot, humid conditions but not in temperate onesThe environment decides whether the cycle shows up at allJanse de Jonge 2012B+The luteal phase raises core temperature before and throughout exercise in the heatBut sweat rate, skin temperature and exercise heart rate do not differ between cycle phasesGiersch 2020BThe spread in altitude losses is not random: the higher the sea-level VO₂max and lactate threshold, the LARGER the decline at a simulated 3000 mThe fittest athletes lose the mostKoistinen 1995BIn well-trained cyclists, effort-matched intervals with BFR gave similar performance gains at 42% lower powerBFR is a tool for substituting mechanical load, not for amplifying adaptationZambolin 2026