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Learn about Nutrition, Exercise and Sports and understand how nutrition can support exercise and sports performance.
124,962 already enrolled!
Are you involved in sports or regular exercise and do you want to have a better understanding of the role of nutrition on performance and health? Do you want to learn whether certain nutritional strategies could be relevant for your own athletic performance and/or muscle growth? Are you a dietitian, personal trainer, physiotherapist or a health/sport coach and do you want to be able to provide proper nutritional advice for your clients? Or, are you none of the above but interested in nutrition, exercise and sports and do you want to make your own informed decisions about your daily food intake?
Then this online course Nutrition, Exercise and Sports is for you! Nutrition is crucial to live an active and healthy life, to support training, and to optimize performance. In this online course, researchers and teachers from Wageningen University & Research will familiarize you with the nutritional aspects of exercise and sports. What are the basic concepts in exercise physiology and sport nutrition science? How is exercise being fueled for the different types of sports like; power sports, sprinting and endurance exercise? And how does protein support skeletal muscle mass and performance? In this online course you will learn to estimate energy needs and understand thermoregulation and fluid balance. You will learn about the role of micronutrients and supplements in exercise performance. Moreover, you will be introduced to some health issues related to doing exercise.
This online course also touches upon how the lessons learned from nutrition and sports research can be applied during ageing. For example, what are the benefits of extra protein in vulnerable age groups?
Be aware that this course will not tell you exactly what to eat. Instead, you will learn and understand the nutritional aspects of exercise and sport, so you can make your own informed decisions and critically evaluate nutritional advices and claims.
For whom?
The online course Nutrition, Exercise and Sports is especially useful for:
Ready to join the MOOC Nutrition, Exercise and Sports? This online course contains several interesting and inspiring interviews with nutrition and sport professionals. It will provide basic understanding of Nutrition, Exercise and Sports, and contains challenging assignments that will give you insight in nutritional needs and performance benefits for (your) athletes, your clients or yourself.
Basis knowledge about nutrition.
If you have no basic knowledge about nutrition, we would recommend you to join the MOOC Nutrition and Health: Micronutrients and Malnutrition first. The MOOC Nutrition and Health: Macronutrients and Overnutrition could alsoserve as a valuable preparation.
Week 1 | Introduction to Sport Nutrition (Science)
Key topics:
An introduction into Sports, Exercise and Nutrition, including types of Sports, Sport Nutrition Pyramid. An introduction into Sport Nutrition Science - including empirical cycle, study designs, critical issues and performance measurements.
Week 2 | Skeletal Muscle, Exercise and Sports
Key topics:
An introduction into Skeletal muscle anatomy & physiology, including contraction and energy transfer. Exercise capacity: Power & Endurance. Cardiopulmonal system during Exercise
Week 3 | Energy and Fluid balance
Key topics:
Energy requirement, energy availability. Thermoregulation, Fluid balance, (de)hydration & rehydration strategies
Week 4 | Macronutrients
Key topics:
Carbohydrates & fats as energy source, nutritional strategies. Skeletal muscle protein metabolism and dietary protein intake.
Week 5 | Micronutrients and ergogenic supplements
Key topics:
Function of micronutrients and recommendations: Iron, Magnesium, calcium and Vitamins D and B. Ergogenic supplements and sports performance
Week 6 | Exercise and Nutrition during ageing
Key topics:
Skeletal muscle and ageing, Protein & Exercise in older adults, Intervention strategies
''I enjoyed having a global view of the topic, ranging from muscle physiology, to nutrients, to hydration etc. The teaching staff was also very pleasant and easy to understand.''
''Im so happy and satisfied about this course, becasuse futher give us really valuable information, this opened my mind to new knowledge, its so complete and i love the videos with drawins and examples.''
''Although I had an advantage of knowledge before starting the course, I’ve learned more details about food and exercise. Loved that! Also, this course was a good ‘refreshment’, of my knowledge.''
Assistant Professor Nutrition, Energy metabolism & Health • Wageningen University & Research
Scientific researcher at Sports Valley, the high performance medical centre of Hospital Gelderse Vallei, Ede, NL • Wageningen University & Research
Assistant Professor in Nutrition and Ageing • Wageningen University & Research
Do you have questions about the MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) and/or related online programmes of Wageningen University & Research? To help you find answers to your questions, we created a list with frequently asked questions about enrolling, participating in- and finishing a MOOC.