Dear all, Please find attached an open, funded PhD position at the University of Nice Sophia Antipolis in France to investigate fatigue in master athletes.
TOPIC : Physiological and psychological factors in fatigue and the conservation of physical performance in master athletes CONTEXT : Aging is invariably associated with a reduction of physical capacity which leads to reduced mobility and can impede life quality. It has been demonstrated though, that individuals who adopt an active physical training regime, so called "master athletes", can limit the decline of motor performance, especially in endurance exercise. This was detailed in an article of Tanaka and Seals published in the Journal of Physiology (2008) investigating age-related performance decline in long duration exercise. An age-induced decline in marathon performance was identified from 30-35 years of age onward in both males and females, yet a sustained training regime resulted in a conservation of performance until around 65 years of age. According to Tanaka and Seals (2008), the performance decline is mainly caused by metabolic factors such as a progressive reduction of the V O2max and the lactate threshold. Paradoxically, there are only few studies investigating muscle characteristics in master athletes, although muscular function is known to decline with age (Brisswalter and Nosaka, 2013). Equal lack of elucidation is present concerning the psychological component of fatigue in studies investigating master athletes (Knechtle, 2012). The master athlete represents an interesting model of successful aging which enables, among other things, to examine the effects of a sedentary lifestyle and associated pathologies on age-related physical performance decline. The topic of this thesis therefore is to analyse, from a pluridisciplinary perspective, the physiological and psychological factors implicated in fatigue development and performance maintenance in well-trained, elderly subjects. GOALS : The general objective of the thesis is to investigate the relationship between physiological and psychological aspects of fatigue during exercise in master athletes. REQUIREMENTS : As the investigations will comport components of multiple disciplines, basic knowledge in both muscle physiology and exercise psychology is a prerequisite. Additionally the candidate will be expected to exhibit enthusiasm for learning about integrated fatigue models. PREREQUISITES : The candidate will be expected to have a Master of Research or equivalent, a good command of the English language, and be a confident user of computer systems. MODALITIES : The successful candidate will be based at the University of Nice Sophia Antipolis in the Laboratoire Motricité Humaine Education Sport Santé (EA 6309 : http://www.unice.fr/ufrstaps/lamhes/). A cotutelle scheme may be possible, depending on the profile of the candidate. The successful candidate will be enroled in the doctorate school post-graduate course program at the l’Ecole Doctorale Sciences du Mouvement Humain (ED 463 : http://www.edsmh.univ-mrs.fr/). TO APPLY : Send a CV, letter of motivation and relevant grades to : Pr J Brisswalter UNIVERSITE DE NICE SOPHIA ANTIPOLIS UFR STAPS | 261, Rte de Grenoble | BP 3259 | 06205 Nice Cedex 03 | France T +33 4 89 83 66 18 | [email protected] Pr S Colson UNIVERSITE DE NICE SOPHIA ANTIPOLIS UFR STAPS | 261, Rte de Grenoble | BP 3259 | 06205 Nice Cedex 03 | France [email protected] Pr F D-Arripe-Longueville UNIVERSITE DE NICE SOPHIA ANTIPOLIS UFR STAPS | 261, Rte de Grenoble | BP 3259 | 06205 Nice Cedex 03 | France [email protected] REFERENCES Brisswalter J, Nosaka K. Neuromuscular factors associated with decline in long-distance running performance in master athletes. Sports Med. 2013 Jan;43(1):51-63. Hawkins SA, Wiswell RA, Marcell TJ. Exercise and the master athlete--a model of successful aging? J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci. 2003 Nov;58(11):1009-11 Knechtle B. Ultramarathon runners: nature or nurture? Int J Sports Physiol Perform. 2012 Dec;7(4):310-2 Marcora SM, Staiano W, Manning V. Mental fatigue impairs physical performance in humans. J Appl Physiol. 2009 Noakes TD, St Clair Gibson A, Lambert EV. From catastrophe to complexity: a novel model of integrative central neural regulation of effort and fatigue during exercise in humans. Br J Sports Med. 2004 Aug;38(4):511-4 Tanaka H, Seals DR. Endurance exercise performance in Masters athletes: age-associated changes and underlying physiological mechanisms. J Physiol. 2008 Jan 1;586(1):55-63. _________________________________ *Christopher Easthope Schmidt* | PhD Candidate LAMHESS | Faculté des Sciences du Sport Exercise & Sport Science | Faculty of Health Sciences *UNIVERSITE DE NICE SOPHIA ANTIPOLIS** *UFR STAPS | 261, Rte de Grenoble | BP 3259 | 06205 Nice Cedex 03 | France *T* +33 9229 6500 | *F* +33 9229 6549 *E *[email protected] | *W* http://unice.fr/ufrstaps EA 6309 *THE UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY** *K121, Cumberland Campus | PO Box 170, Lidcombe | NSW | 1825 | Australia *T* +61 2 9351 9403 | *F* +61 2 9351 9204 *E *[email protected] | *W* http://sydney.edu.au<http://sydney.edu.au/health-sciences> CRICOS 00026A This email plus any attachments to it are confidential. Any unauthorised use is strictly prohibited
