Registration is at 8 a.m., and the conference begins at 9 a.m. One theme of the conference is that to reach peak performance, athletes need a training formula especially designed for their individual physiology, according to Jeffrey Aaron Potteiger, director of KU's exercise physiology laboratory. Exercise science includes the physiology, nutrition, conditioning and sports psychology of training. Common injuries, chronic fatigue, overtraining, nutrition for athletes, sports psychology and special training concerns for female endurance athletes will be covered in the one-day conference.
Young women are particularly vulnerable.
Losing too much body fat can force the body to respond abnormally. The human body is just phenomenal, but it responds to exercise as it does to any other stress. Coaches often read about training practices of an Olympic winner and decide to apply those practices to their athletes, says Greg Haff, Randolph, N.J., doctoral student in exercise science and a weight-lifter training for the 2000 Olympic trials. Haff recommends that coaches design training regimens to suit each team member's physiological and psychological needs. Studies being conducted at KU exercise-science lab show that athletes can suffer chronic fatigue trying to reach peak performance.