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Official web site for Dr. Edward F. Coyle

Edward F. Coyle, Ph.D.; Professor
Director, Human Performance Laboratory

Noteworthy Discoveries from the Human Performance Lab

  • Carbohydrate ingestion during prolonged exercise delays fatigue because blood glucose can be oxidized at approximately 1 gram/min. This finding stimulated development of sport drink and energy bars by others.

  • The flow of glucose 'energy' into and out of the blood stream after eating food was studied for the first time using stable isotope techniques, establishing criteria for 'functional foods'. Limitations of classifying food according to 'glycemic index' were highlighted.
  • When healthy and active people increase daily dietary fat intake, they progressively store more triglyceride within muscle fibers. This does not impair glucose metabolism unless the ability to oxidize fat for muscle energy is impaired. This finding has relevance to athletic performance as well as diabetes.

  • Dehydration during exercise causes cardiovascular failure and severe hyperthermia by reducing skin blood flow as a result of a catecholamine surge from reduced arterial blood pressure.
  • Cardiovascular drift and stroke volume decline during exercise is simply due to heart rate elevation rather than pooling of blood volume in veins.

  • Slow twitch muscle fibers are more mechanically efficient than fast twitch. Significant improvements in bicycling performance beyond the first years of competitive training and due to increased efficiency. Studies of Lance Armstrong's physiological maturation over years support Coyle's model of endurance performance.
  • Maximal power during cycling for 2-4 seconds can be measured accurately (±2%) and safely using novel methods that can judge the progression of training and tapering to achieve peak performance.

 

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