Nutrition, Exercise and Sports

Wageningen University via edX

Go to class Write review

Details

Go to class

Provider

edX
Pricing

Free Online Course (Audit)
Languages

English
Certificate

$169.00 Certificate Available
Duration & workload

6 weeks long, 4-8 hours a week
Sessions
Level

Intermediate
Subtitles

English

A Best Course of All Time

Found in

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

Charts

#1 in Subjects / Humanities / Sports
#1 in Subjects / Nutrition & Wellness / Fitness

Reviews

4.7 rating, based on 1,084 Class Central reviews

Start your review of Nutrition, Exercise and Sports

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

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...

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.
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'm...

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.
Anonymous

Anonymous completed this course.

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.
Anonymous

The structure of the course meets the expectations I had at the beginning. Moreover, the structure even surpassed more topics that I was not aware of. For example, although I have read about the difference between “recreational athlete” and “professional...

The structure of the course meets the expectations I had at the beginning. Moreover, the structure even surpassed more topics that I was not aware of. For example, although I have read about the difference between “recreational athlete” and “professional athlete”, I enjoyed reading about the difference between “exercise, sports, and physical activity” mentioned at the beginning of the course. The content pertaining to the structure of the course required several days of engagement with the ideas, as the current state of research is dominated by concepts related to nutrition. I bookmarked some sections that I did not have enough time to respond to all the exercises. I came back at the end of the course with the intention of catching up on some of these assignments – in this way, while answering some questions, I got stuck reading the feedback that the creators of the course had prepared. Great job! I can only congratulate the team for this great achievement. Sincerely, Dr. des. Gerónimo Cid
Anonymous

Anonymous completed this course.

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...

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

Thanks a lot, I'm a 21 year old nutrition student and really eager to know about sport nutrition, my university classes can help me but this course made me soooo informative and super conscious about critical rew

quirements, dangerous of overloads, crucial effect of exercise and maro and micro nutrients and....

So now, I'm more professional in nutrition and exercise field which results in this fact that I can help my future clients and the people surrouding me . What is better than it?

Big thank you for all this science-based information you gave us, more courses are useful too without any doubt.

I wish all you love ,laugh and success.
Anonymous

This course was very interesting. Me as an athlete, I enjoyed gaining knowledge about the different types of sports from an academic perspective. The course begins by covering the basics of muscle contraction and the different body parts involved. This forms a good base for succesfully understanding the rest of the information in this course. The videos were a good way of delivering the information on an appealing way and kept me focussed. The exams were an accesible way to test yourself. I would recommend this course to others.
Anonymous

Anonymous completed this course.

The course was great. I liked the practical quests very much but I would have liked to see more measurements / experiments which can be done by a non-gym goer. I mean, I can't measure my max strength on 1 repetition of lifting if I don't have weights...

The course was great. I liked the practical quests very much but I would have liked to see more measurements / experiments which can be done by a non-gym goer. I mean, I can't measure my max strength on 1 repetition of lifting if I don't have weights and I don't know my VO2max as many others. Perhaps at least an adaptation of how to do it at home or a heart rate comparison instead would have been a more accessible measurement.
In general, I would have liked a bigger course, meaning, more detailed and diging deeper. In particular, the last section was extremely interesting but relatively small.
The discussion forums I didn't like because no one was engaging. I tried writing under a few posts but didn't spark interaction. Additionally, all the questions I had were met by "great question, does anyone have an answer" from the moderator and then silence... So I didn't get an answer to any of them.
Manuel Wills

I really cannot put into words how amazing this course is! It's been a wonderful journey or adventure I'd say. It laid bare everything in the most simple manner the Presenters. Wow! the presentation was a discovery journey that change my Dumbass into...

I really cannot put into words how amazing this course is! It's been a wonderful journey or adventure I'd say. It laid bare everything in the most simple manner the Presenters. Wow! the presentation was a discovery journey that change my Dumbass into a smartAss in exercise and nutrition.
I had always loved everything about fitness, healthy living, and all that, but wasn't sure if I have what it takes, I mean enough information and skills, but this course has really helped me uncover my innate desire and calling to become a fitness/exercise professional. Thanks to everyone from the creators and presenters and all the experts who made this course a reality for helping me find my true passion. You all have to help me have clarity of mind and equip me with the willpower to pursue my long desire for the fitness profession.
The best part of this course is that it's absolutely affordable compared to the content!
I recommend it for everyone actually, whether you're a fitness pundit or whoever. A course like this will help you to protect yourself from the mumbo jumbo articles and wannabes on social media platforms who spread fake facts about fitness/exercise and healthy living.
Taking this course is one of the best choices I have made lately!
Anonymous

I have a great benefit from this course, my comment is on the first part about searches was somthing boring to put it first at the start
Thanks alot for your efforts
Anonymous

Thank you very much for this course that helped me understand much better how important is to have a healthy lifestyle. With the knowledge that I got through this course I am sure that I will be able to have a healthier lifestyle than before and help the people surrounding me understand better how important is for our health to have a healthy lifestyle both with the help of nutrition and exercise.
Harbans Singh

Nutrition, exercise & performances are interrelated with each other. The performance of an athlete depends upon the level of exercises in particular sport / event and the proper nutrition provides energy requirement , the performance will be satisfactory....

Nutrition, exercise & performances are interrelated with each other. The performance of an athlete depends upon the level of exercises in particular sport / event and the proper nutrition provides energy requirement , the performance will be satisfactory.

The nutrition as per the demand or the requirements of the body of an athlete to get the sufficient calories to maintain will definite grow his muscle fibers / tissues for its recovery & kerp him ready for further training session. This chain of nutrition , exercises & performance will work together. The valium of exercise the supply of calories determine the level of performance of an athlete/ sports person.

The quality of nutrition is very important for its early digestion. The quality & quality of nutrition plays vital roll in the body weight category sports like weightlifting, Judo, boxing etc.
Anonymous

Excellent course. Congratulations on the quality of the presentations and materials. It is evident that a great deal of work has gone into the course. I have downloaded the text material and have over 200 pages of content. I enjoyed the course and the range of presenters. As well as the research findings, the application in Olympic training and care of the aged were particularly interesting.
Anonymous

A very extensive course which covers each and every possible aspect of nutrition for an athlete, for a basic learner. The content provided was evidence based which was an attractive point of the whole course. All the reading material was handy, easy to read and easy to approach, in addition, the quizzes were much helpful to assess one's ownself that hw much we have gained through the course.
Anonymous

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
Anonymous

This course is much more than what I expected.
Very interesting and useful.
I enjoyed so much also the format of short videos with valuable explanations.
I would just have liked a bit more of time to complete the course because I could only spend 2-3h/week.
I will defenitely keep an eye on the MOOCS of this university.
Anonymous

Hello, this was one of the best decisions i made this year, As a strength coach from a developing country where fitness and nutrition education is not enough , this will help me to effectively do my work with enough skills that will benefit my clients and everyone in my industry as i will be sharing my skills and spreading the news to my fellow coaches. Thank you!
Anonymous

I truly enjoy this study because I am already living in a fitness and wellness lifestyle. With just having a bit of background if what to consume and how the human body works on a daily basis.
This is really helpful with self-taught and to utilize this knowledge and share with others.

I do hope to continue with other studies such as these. Thank you!
Anonymous

I liked this course as it gives you basic concepts about nutrition and exercise. If you're looking for a more specialized course on nutrition and exercise, then this is not for you. If you already have higher level nutrition education then this is not for you. If you don't have formal education in nutrition this course will help you a lot.

Go to class

Online Learning Deals: Coursera, edX, Codecademy, and more!

Taught by

Charts

Science of Exercise

Nutrition and Health: Macronutrients and Overnutrition

Nutrition: vitamins and minerals

Nutrition in the Health Sector

Managing Your Health: The Role of Physical Therapy and Exercise

Fitness Management

100 Top FREE edX Courses of All Time

Massive List of MOOC-based Microcredentials

Never Stop Learning.