Core 2: Factors Affecting Performance
8 dot points across 4 inquiry questions, in syllabus order. Each dot point has a focused answer, with exam-style questions and worked answers where available.
How can nutrition and recovery strategies affect performance?
Sports nutrition. Pre-performance (carbohydrate loading), during performance (fluid and carbohydrate), post-performance (the recovery window, protein and carbohydrate), and the four supplement categories.
Recovery. Physiological recovery (cool-down, hydration), neural recovery (hydrotherapy, massage), tissue damage recovery (cryotherapy), and psychological recovery (relaxation, sleep). What each does and when it works.
How does training affect performance?
Physiological adaptations. Resting heart rate, stroke volume, cardiac output, oxygen uptake, lung capacity, haemoglobin, muscle hypertrophy, and the differential adaptation of slow- and fast-twitch fibres.
Seven principles of training. Progressive overload, specificity, reversibility, variety, training thresholds, warm-up and cool-down explained with sport-specific examples.
Training methods. Aerobic (continuous, fartlek, interval, circuit), anaerobic interval, flexibility (static, ballistic, PNF, dynamic), and strength training (isotonic, isometric, isokinetic) - what each is, who uses it, and why.
Energy systems. The ATP-PC, lactic acid, and aerobic systems compared on fuel source, ATP yield, duration, fatigue cause, by-products, and recovery rate. With worked HSC past exam questions.