Nutrition, Exercise and Sports

Wageningen University via edX

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Details

Go to class

Provider

edX
Pricing

Free Online Course (Audit)
Languages

English
Certificate

$209.00 Certificate Available
Duration & workload

6 weeks, 4-8 hours a week
Sessions

On-Demand
Level

Intermediate
Subtitles

English

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Overview

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:

Sport- and health coaches, Physiotherapists and Dietitians
People working in the (sport) food industry
Athletes and professional sporters
Everyone with a healthy appetite for knowledge about nutrition, exercise and sports

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.

Syllabus

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

Taught by

Dr. Marco Mensink, Rieneke Terink MSc and Pol Grootswagers MSc

Reviews

4.7 rating, based on 1,216 Class Central reviews

4.5 rating at edX based on 31 ratings

Start your review of Nutrition, Exercise and Sports

Anonymous

I am a retired male (age 60) who loss a lot of weight 8 years ago. I am not an athlete and have never participated in any sports. However, for the past 8 years, I've engage in regular intense exercise sessions at my local gym, about 7 hours per week…

I am a retired male (age 60) who loss a lot of weight 8 years ago. I am not an athlete and have never participated in any sports. However, for the past 8 years, I've engage in regular intense exercise sessions at my local gym, about 7 hours per week, to maintain my health, fitness, and wellness.

Over the years, I've developed a keen interested in nutrition and exercise, and so this course was perfect for me. It provided an opportunity to formally learn about many topics of interest spanning exercise and nutrition. I've a science background, so the course's evidence-based approach was gratifying to me, shedding light on many "myths" and misconceptions that I continually encounter in social media or bouncing around the gym "echo chambed."

The course provides an excellent balance between theory (scientific research, physiology, metabolism, etc.) and practical application of the concepts, even for myself as a non-athlete. It's increased my interest in the covered topics even more than when I started, and I actually purchased a sports nutrition and physiology textbook to read further.

The content was well presented: clear and understandable, with its mix of videos and text. I found the practice exercises to be very helpful for my learning.

All in all, a very nice course for anyone interested in the specifics and details of exercise, nutrition, and sports.
Jay Ustruck @jku713

Excellent presentation of the information. Well designed and properly paced. Although the vegetarian and vegan athlete was acknowledged, I was surprised, and a little disappointed, that not more time and attention was allotted to vegan and vegetarian diet alternatives. Still 5 stars overall!
Pat Buckley

I find the course made me sit down and review my own intakes. I'm enjoying the part on aging, too, as I am 65+ though still working and getting fitter right now. I believe I lost some fitness due to a injury a couple years ago. Through this course,…

I find the course made me sit down and review my own intakes. I'm enjoying the part on aging, too, as I am 65+ though still working and getting fitter right now. I believe I lost some fitness due to a injury a couple years ago. Through this course, I'm seeing the importance of nutrition and additives. Looks like I also switched from a daily vitamin that contained a small amount of iron about a year ago, or 2 years ago. I've since switched back since this little bit of iron probably made me not hit the maximum or a bit more, every day, given the varieties in my diet. I am continuing to take BCAA daily as your patients in ProMO trial, but I may try protein supplements as well. Looks to me that BCAA helps one use up all one's nutrients better rather than discarding them or saving as fat??? But this is not stated anywhere. right now with work-at-home due to COVID times, I'm exercising twice most days, sometimes 3 times if you include casual morning wake-up exercises that sometimes have light weights. Today is a day of rest since I think seniors, like others, will be found to only gain muscle by having periods of rest as well as periods of intensive exercise. Anyways, overall, this course has made me think about these things. I'm going back through it and reading some more to decide exactly what to do. It's necessary sometimes to be one's own coach or hire a coach as in public medicine, the medical staff are often just happy if one is surviving rather than thriving so I'm taking this course and I took a course earlier this year on Physical conditioning which has led me to do tabata HIIT exercises twice a week - I was doing 3 times a week at first, but now I'm doing longer tabata sessions so twice a week is all I can take, so far, or my fitness actually goes backwards. I also bicycle and run during COVID times. I was swimming some, but when will COVID end so I can do this again? So, this has been a great course, as it made me slow down and think about micro-nutrients. I sort of knew about macronutrients already. I also know now why I should continue to eat a lot at breakfast or in the morning as I have for many years - I eat twice as much as many people that I have discussed breakfast with, but this is really only 25 to 30 grams of protein.
Kin Tsui

The course is well rounded to provide information across a wide area of topics. This allows student to see a broad view of the topic of Nutrition, Exercise and Sport, and enable the student to decide on a topic of focus in particular for their conti…

The course is well rounded to provide information across a wide area of topics. This allows student to see a broad view of the topic of Nutrition, Exercise and Sport, and enable the student to decide on a topic of focus in particular for their continuing education journey.
I had a keen interest in ageing athletes (as I am one now) and I found the information very helpful. I am a healthcare provider (chiropractor) and interested in treating this population as a focus in the future, and this is a good start for me.
For a beginner, it is a good springboard point to see what is learning paths are available to delve into. For someone like me who is already a healthcare provider, it is a nice refresher for info I already knew, (and grateful some things have not changed) and provided in small video segments with pertinent quizes to make sure you were paying attention. I personally learned the most from the information provided for the older population, and I appreciate the new-found knowledge.
David A. Shanks @DavoShanks

Great insight into athletic performance improvement through nutritional strategies. It will be very valuable to my personal journey in developing better nutritional habits and mountain biking performance.
Anonymous

This course is really fantastic.I came to know in details the importance of exercise and having healthy food enriched with vitamins,minerals and proteins. I never knew in details as to why it is important to ingest a correct quantity and the time to…

This course is really fantastic.I came to know in details the importance of exercise and having healthy food enriched with vitamins,minerals and proteins. I never knew in details as to why it is important to ingest a correct quantity and the time to consume the vitamins,minerals and proteins.
Further as the course shows videos of different personalities,I had an idea as to what is going on in the world regarding sports and nutrition.I myself is an athlete I now know what percentage of protein I should have and how much exercise should I do.It is also a fact that the course has given many important clips to read .By reading the clips,my overall knowledge of the subject is increased.Especially the MET values,TEE etc.
So overall I am very happy with the course which has given me very good guidelines to improve and maintain my overall health.
I thank all the team for bringing such a good course
I would also like to to do any further course on this subject.
Anonymous

I recently completed the "Nutrition, Exercise and Sports" course and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The course content was comprehensive and well-structured, covering all the essential topics related to nutrition and exercise science. The instructors were knowledgeable and engaging, making complex concepts easy to understand. The practical applications and real-life examples provided valuable insights into how nutrition impacts athletic performance. Overall, this course has significantly enhanced my understanding of the interplay between diet and exercise, and I would highly recommend it to anyone interested in sports nutrition or improving their fitness regime.
Anonymous

I just completed the sports nutrition and exercise course, and I can say that it has been an excellent experience. The content is very well-structured, and the information is clear, comprehensive, and easy to understand, even for those without a deep prior knowledge of the subject. The instructors demonstrated great knowledge and passion for the topic, which made the learning process even more engaging and motivating. Additionally, the materials and resources provided were very helpful in better understanding the concepts. I would definitely recommend this course to anyone interested in improving their athletic performance.
Anonymous

I loved this course.
It goes deep enough to keep me interested.
The subjects are all backed up with evidence and good explanation.
I knw this sounds like something every course should have.... but unfortunately a lot of course don't have that evidence / science back-up.

Next to that the subject is very interesting told by good teachers withc nice examples. The question at the end of each chapter made me clear where my knowledge still lacked a bit.

As the videos are not that long it is easy to watch a video , read a page and answer a few questions in a lunchbreak when you do not have much time.
Anonymous

This course comprehensively overviews the complex relationship between nutrition, exercise, and sports performance. I found the content well-structured and engaging, with clear explanations of key concepts and practical examples. The instructors were knowledgeable and enthusiastic, making the learning experience enjoyable. I particularly appreciated the opportunity to apply the course material to my own fitness goals. I highly recommend this course to anyone interested in improving their overall health and well-being through nutrition and exercise.
Anonymous

Good Course. Useful information. For practising people good inputs and examples.
Thank you.
You can add more MCQ in the modules and more pictorial teaching material.
More question to be included to solve at the end of each Video.

Video quality can be better.
More downloads should be there.
Overall a good Course
Anonymous

This was a great and very informative course! It is one of the best I've taken in an online self-paced format. I really enjoyed all the modules, the videos, and the practical exercises. I feel I've gained a lot of knowledge that is directly applicable to my daily life, leading to improved outcomes in exercise and a healthy lifestyle. I would highly recommend this course to anyone interested in learning more about the role of macronutrients and micronutrients and how they interact with sports, exercise and overall health.
Anonymous

I learned more than I expected in this course. It was very detail-oriented with a lot of math/calculations, which I did not expect. I enjoyed this course, and learned a lot. I was particularly interested in the nutrition in aging information in module 6. As I am considered a "master" runner, due to my age (54), I realized I am probably not consuming near enough protein to prevent future muscle mass and strength loss in the next few decades, as I hope to continue to run that long!
Anonymous

I'm runner and doing bodyweight. I workout 1-2 hrs per session, 5-7 session a week. I was struggle from feeling tired, no improvement in performance for a while. I joined this course because I think know to little about nutrition. My weight always up and down about 3-5 kg every weeks.

This course help me to understand mechanic of exercises and fuel we use. I tested with myself by calculate carb intake before exercise. It help a lot!
Anonymous

Personally found it very enlightening. The information was presented in chunks in an easy to understand format. The presenters did an excellent job in the way the information was provided. The content was excellent and covered all aspects in a very…

Personally found it very enlightening. The information was presented in chunks in an easy to understand format. The presenters did an excellent job in the way the information was provided. The content was excellent and covered all aspects in a very methodical manner. The quizzes and questions were thought provoking and challenged me to use the information provided in a practical manner.
Only issue is the inability to get a certificate of completion despite having done the course minus the verified exam. The certificate is needed for continuing professional development points. Unfortunately some of us do not have money lying around to pay for the graded certificate, especially during these trying times.
Thanks for offering this course that helped me understand the importance of nutrition and physical activity and how to practically use it in my life.
Anonymous

The MOOC's was highly informative and needs much effort and concentration to learn all the aspects. the calculations part is complex and require practise to be perfect. Nutrition for exercise and sports is a current trending topic many are much eager to earn. this ia very beneficial to the sports & gym trainers and also to those pursuing and interested to pursue carers as registered dietitians
Anonymous

I have learnt so much from this course and very grateful for all the scientifically researched information. As an older endurance athlete (cycling, running and walking) I have a clearer idea about how to keep my performance levels and overall fitness at a high level. I feel like I can continue running confidently into older age!
Anonymous

This is a great source in the domain of nutrition in sports and exercise-related activities. I have gained much knowledge that other ordinary courses do not provide. Also, the course uses the insider's and athlete's points of view and expertise, which is a trustworthy resource.
Thank you.
Anonymous

Thanks a lot, Scientists!

I have gained a good knowledge in Sports Nutrition as a student in this Course, and as I am an undergraduate physiotherapy student and calisthenics athlete, this knowledge will improve me in both fields.
Anonymous

the course was so good, I really enjoy it and got a good knowledge regarding sport nutrition.
but I think it will be ways better with more entertainment, or exercises.
Thank you .