342: Moving Beyond Aerobic and Anaerobic Training Labels

Science for Sport — Mon, 19 Oct 2026 06:00:00 +0100

Does the way we talk about aerobic and anaerobic training help us prescribe better conditioning, or can it lead us towards the wrong sessions?

This week, Richard Graves welcomes James de Lacey back to the Science for Sport podcast to examine conditioning for high-intensity intermittent sports, including rugby, football and combat sports.

James challenges the assumption that improving recovery between hard efforts always requires more low-intensity training. He explains the distinction between delivering oxygen to the muscles and the muscles’ ability to use it, and why identifying what limits an individual athlete should guide the training you prescribe.

They discuss what repeated sprint tests, heart rate responses and muscle oxygenation measurements can reveal, including why two athletes can achieve the same performance score through very different physiological responses. James also makes his case for short sprint interval sessions and explains why conditioning needs to complement the technical and tactical work athletes already do.

For practitioners working with limited time, the conversation raises a useful question: are you targeting the adaptation the athlete needs, or simply adding more work?

In this episode you will learn

Why James questions the use of aerobic and anaerobic labels to prescribe conditioning.
How oxygen delivery and oxygen use influence performance and recovery between intense efforts.
Why peak speed, power and VO₂ max values provide only part of an athlete’s performance picture.
How heart rate recovery patterns and near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) can inform individual conditioning decisions.
Where James sees a role for sprint intervals, longer intervals and low-intensity training.
How to account for sport practice, training load and time constraints when planning conditioning.
Why James argues that improvements from sprint interval training can continue beyond an initial training block.

About James de Lacey
James de Lacey is a strength and conditioning coach with experience in professional and international rugby union and rugby league. He holds a master’s degree in Sport and Exercise Science and has published research in strength and conditioning. His work now includes coaching combat sports athletes and educating coaches through Sweet Science of Fighting. He is also a longstanding contributor to Science for Sport’s research reviews.

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336: How the NFL’s Best Practitioners Use Performance Data

Science for Sport — Mon, 07 Sep 2026 06:00:00 +0100

Elite teams have access to more performance data than ever. The real competitive advantage, however, comes from knowing which questions to ask, how to interpret the answers and when to act.

This week, Richard Graves is joined by Jamie Hepner, Director of Applied Sport Science – Football Performance at Catapult.

Drawing on almost 12 years of working with leading NFL and college football programmes, Jamie explains how applied sports science has progressed from simply monitoring athletes to actively shaping training and practice.

The conversation explores how performance teams can combine wearable data, video and practitioner judgement to manage player availability without leaving athletes underprepared. Jamie discusses why training load cannot be viewed in isolation, how deviations at individual and positional-group level require different responses, and why feeling tired after a demanding training block is not necessarily a negative outcome.

Jamie also explains how technology such as Vector 8 is connecting physical performance data with the tactical context of practice. This allows practitioners to examine the demands of particular plays, automate player participation and prescribe the type and number of repetitions an athlete may need during the week.

This is a practical discussion about moving beyond interesting information and using data to make decisions that improve preparation, availability and performance.

In this episode you will learn

What applied sports science looks like within NFL and college football
Why the quality of the question determines the value of the data
How player tracking and video can provide greater context around physical demands
Why minimising training load does not necessarily reduce injury risk
How performance teams balance player availability with adequate preparation
How wearable data can help prescribe practice rather than simply review it
Why individual and positional-group deviations require different responses
How subjective athlete feedback and objective performance data work together
Why fatigue and soreness can sometimes be an intended training response
How practitioners can turn performance information into decisions coaches can use
Why the next stage of athlete monitoring is likely to focus on context rather than data volume

About Jamie Hepner

Jamie is Director of Applied Sport Science – Football Performance at Catapult

He works with leading American football programmes to help practitioners and coaches apply athlete-monitoring data to training, preparation and player-availability decisions. During almost 12 years at Catapult, Jamie has helped the company respond to the evolving performance needs of NFL and college football teams.