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Sheppard - Lab rat for a day

Jack under goes pioneering physical examination

The Buckingham New University ‘Human Performance Laboratory’ donned its white coats and clip boards to assess the physical fitness of the Ipswich youngster Jack Sheppard through state-of-the-art tests used by Olympic athletes and professional footballers.

Leading the examination of Jack was Doctor Maria Konstantaki, a published author in the field and senior course lecturer in Sports Science at Bucks, and it was her students on a Motorsport degree course at the university who were keen to analyse Jack’s physical condition.

Despite being only seventeen years-old Jack displayed a great deal of confidence and professionalism when confronted with the degree students in what to all intents and purposes was a laboratory situation. Jack the ‘Lab Rat’ had to complete three physical tests, a hand grip test, a body fat analysis and a physical endurance test. The aim of each is to provide a broad view of his overall fitness before honing in on areas specific to him and trials as a sport.

Designed to push Jack to exhaustion the endurance test consisted of ever-increasing levels of resistance for Jack to pedal against on a static exercise bike. Plugged in to computers and having his physical condition assessed every three minutes, the test showed just how fit the Ipswich youngster is when he went well beyond expectations and peddled-out to end off Doctor Konstantaki’s test.

For Jack it was a relatively easy workout after last weekend’s Scott trial but a real positive, “It’s all new to me and I’ve never done anything much like this. Trials riders generally don’t do much in the way of training compared to other sports, other than spend hours on the bike, so it is great to be able to look at a new way to improve myself. Trials itself is progressing and becoming more professional all the time and this is a whole new area."

"I’m really pleased to be part of the course and be at the cutting edge in my sport. The better you get as a rider the smaller and smaller the areas of improvement become. At the end of the day a trial can be won or lost by a single mark on the last section so trying to gain an extra one or two per cent could make a huge difference.”

Jack was in very good company at the cutting edge laboratory at Bucks New University which runs the facility for sports men and women from all disciplines including English athletes building up to the 2012 Olympics, WASPs premiership rugby team and local League 2 football team Wycombe Wanderers amongst others.

The Human Performance Lab at Bucks New University is accredited by the British Association of Sport and Exercise Sciences (BASES) and is equipped to record and assess many human physiological responses in athletes like Jack. Used for a variety of purposes from the assessment of fitness, to the search for optimum athletic performance. The lab provides a sports science support service to any athlete looking for physiological assessments, advice on appropriate training methods, and preparation for competition, nutritional and dietary analysis or sports psychology support.

Course tutor Lionel Cox, a long time off-road rider himself across several disciplines including trials, said “Jack is an incredibly interesting choice of athlete for the students to study and well done to him today for not only completing the endurance test but beating it!"

"It will put Jack in a very strong position for progressing physically in his riding because it will help provide him with a complete package as a professional sportsman. It will help him look at how his body works and how he can train to improve his physical condition and give himself an advantage over his rivals. It’s a leading-edge facility we have here but this is ground-breaking for the sport of trials.”

The next step for Jack is to await the results of the tests from Doctor Konstantaki and he will also do a practice riding session for the Sports Scientists + Motorsport students, who will be evaluating his ‘motion system’ (muscle groups used, biomechanics), energy and nervous systems used within the sport of trials at a world level. The students will also use video and photograph analysis to assess just how Jack uses his body whilst riding, with the view to helping him improve his fitness levels and produce a fitness plan that Jack can use.