About 

Mysportscience is your destination for objective and evidence based advice across a wide range of sports science topics including endurance sports and sports nutrition. The site keeps you up to date with the latest research and turns the complicated science into easy to understand, practical applications. My ambition is to help you achieve your personal performance goals or support practitioners and teams to raise the bar!

                  Asker the Applied Scientist

My work as an applied scientist commenced at the age of 11 when I started recording my own training and progress. I began to work with elite athletes during my PhD and since worked alongside athletes in many sports including cycling, marathon running speed skating, triathlon, swimming and tennis. I also worked as a consultant with a number of teams and organisations including US speedskating, Celtic, Birmingham City and Aston Villa. 

During the 20 years of working in elite sport I learnt to translate detailed and often complex scientific findings into practical advice helping coaches and athletes achieve their goals. My approach worked with some of the best athletes in the world including Chrissie Wellington and Haile Gebrselassie.

This site should give you the foundation and help to optimise performance. If you are serious about performance and need personalised nutrition plan and tailored advice for you or your team feel free to get in touch.

                 Asker the Athlete

I grew up as a cyclist after trying football and white water kayaking. I got hooked on triathlon at an early age. Although I have moved up a few age groups since, I am still a keen triathlete today with over 21 Ironman races completed including 6 times at the World Championship in Hawaii (2006-2011).

I was a National Champion duathlon in my age group and won the hilly off-road Golden Gate Headlands Marathon (3:22:48) in 2006. I also competed at European and World Championships duathlons. In 2013 I ran three of the major marathons (Boston, Berlin and New York) and finished all of them between 3:07 and 3:09.

                  Asker the Researcher

My research interests have always been the metabolic responses to exercise, especially endurance exercise, the interaction between nutrition and exercise, sports nutrition, gastro-intestinal complaints during exercise, training and overtraining.

I have my findings published in over 200 peer reviewed publications and book chapters including 126 original papers, 51 review articles and 14 book chapters. I authored several books inclucing “High Performance Cycling” a textbook on sports nutrition in collaboration with Prof Michael Gleeson and a popular book “Sports Nutrition: From lab to kitchen”.

I was Editor-in-Chief of the European Journal of Sport Science, and member of the editorial board of the International Journal of Sports Medicine, Medicine and Science in Sport and Exercise and the Journal of Sports Sciences. I am also a referee for more than 35 peer reviewed journals and a member of the IOC sports nutrition advisory board.

Many of my studies received attention from the media. I was involved in the making of numerous TV programmes and have substantial media experience. I share my views on social media regularly.

                 Brief Bio

Following an MSc in Human Movement Sciences at Maastricht University in the Netherlands I completed my PhD in 1997 exploring the “Aspects of carbohydrate and fat metabolism during exercise”. Over the years I developed experience in measuring metabolism using stable isotopic tracer techniques and mass spectrometr. My research focussed on the interaction between nutrition and exercise.

I started as a lecturer at that School of Sport and Exercise Sciences of the University of Birmingham UK in 1998 and became a Professor in Exercise Metabolism in 2005. I was the academic Director of the Human Performance Laboratory and managing the research in this lab for the department. I managed a mass spectrometry lab, as well as being Director of Research for the School of Sport and Exercise Sciences.

In 2011 I become the Global Senior Director of Exercise Physiology in PepsiCo. In this role I headed up the Gatorade Sports Science Institute based in Barrington, Illinois, USA directing a global operation with labs in the USA, UK and Mexico.

I am currently a visiting Professor at Loughborough University, UK and the Director of mysportscience.