ISCA Trimester One 2019 High Performance Wrap Up

With the first trimester at ISCA coming to an end, the high performance unit saw some great development within the student cohort. The ISCA staff along with an abundance of guest lecturers and elite level practitioners assisted to not only expand the students’ knowledge in the academic context, but also had the opportunity to put this knowledge into practice, and to develop their physical literacy at the same time.

With the help of the Sydney Academy of Sport Science team, the students began the trimester with a series of tests and screening processes that were used to measure their base level of fitness and assess their risk to injury. Their results from the testing were then applied to the students programming which was tailored to each individual to ensure a maximum potential for improvement in athletic performance.

Over the course of the trimester as students began to gain a greater understanding of the basic concepts of high performance in sport, they were also required to log their daily wellness and training load data. This was to ensure that they were training at the appropriate intensity to promote positive adaptation while maintaining a reduced risk of injury.

The students also had the opportunity to participate in Wingate and VO₂ max testing to apply some practical context to exercise physiology and different energy systems that can contribute to athletic performance within sports. The Wingate test measured the students’ lower body anaerobic power while the VO₂ max examined their cardiovascular fitness and aerobic endurance.

Over the 12 weeks of trimester, all of our students at ISCA managed to make significant improvements in their athletic performance while increasing their knowledge and understanding of high performance and its application to sport.

On average throughout the cohort we saw increases of :

• Vertical jump by 12%
• 10m by 2%
• 40m by 1.4%
• Yoyo by 4.3%
• Bench press by 20.6%
• Back Squat by 49.1%
• Chinup Hold by 155.8%