83: How Cold And Heat Exposure Can Fast-Track Your Recovery – And How To Do It Safely

In episode 83, the Performance Scientist and Coach, Robin Thorpe, joins us on the show.

Specifically, Robin will be discussing:

• Does cold & heat exposure improve recovery
• Physiology underpinning these methods
• How to implement these methods
• Case study: recovery in football

“Dr. Robin Thorpe spent a decade (2009-2019) working as a Senior Performance Scientist and Conditioning Coach at Manchester United Football Club of the English Premier League. Robin worked with the First Team (under managers’ Sir Alex Ferguson, David Moyes, Ryan Giggs, Louis van Gaal, Jose Mourinho and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer) delivering performance and conditioning support to players whilst overseeing and managing fatigue, training load, recovery and regeneration practices throughout the Club as Head of Recovery and Regeneration. During this time Dr. Thorpe was part of a winning team achieving 10 national and international titles. Robin completed an applied PhD with Liverpool John Moores University investigating methods of fatigue and performance-monitoring, which has led to a number of original articles published in peer reviewed journals. Much of his work to date has centered around a model of monitoring the player response to stress in order to maximize athlete availability, training load prescription, performance and recovery and the reduction of injury and illness risk. Dr Thorpe also holds a position of Visiting Research Fellow at Liverpool John Moores Universtiy and Adjunct Professor at Arizona State University and has worked with many high-profile individual athletes in professional Golf and Boxing. Dr. Thorpe also assisted in the preparation of the Mexican national football team in the lead-up to the 2018 FIFA World Cup. In May of 2019, Dr. Thorpe accepted a position as Director of Performance & Innovation working with World Class Track and Field athletes including Olympic Gold Medalists and World Record Holders in the lead up to the Olympic Games (Tokyo 2020). As part of Dr. Thorpe’s role, he managed and directed an integrated performance framework which covers sports science, strength & conditioning and medical processes. Dr Thorpe was the Director of a novel performance lab which is an applied, contemporary performance & innovation hub involving applied and academic sports performance research in attempt to push the boundaries of sports innovation-science and knowledge to athletes, coaches and the industry as a whole. Most recently Dr. Thorpe has accepted consultancy roles in the NBA, MLB, MLS & PGA Tour as well as the tech giant Intel. Dr. Thorpe continues to conduct contemporary applied sports science & conditioning research and provides sports performance sleep science consultancies to a range of athletes and organisations.”

Instagram: @dr.robinthorpe
Twitter: @DrRobinThorpe

Link to Robin’s latest paper on recovery: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fspor.2021.707503/full

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