Original subtitles

Hi, Welcome to this online course Nutrition, Exercise and Sports.

And great that you are joining us!

We will be your teachers during this journey.

In this video we will briefly introduce ourselves.

I’m Marco Mensink, and next to me are Rieneke Terink and Pol Grootswagers.

We all work at the Division of Human Nutrition and Health,

Wageningen University and Research.

We love to do exercise and sports.

We like to talk about it.

And the three of us learned a lot from doing scientific research on this topic.

So you can imagine we feel excited to share this with you.

But Rieneke, I know about your professional career before you started

at the university, but for the ones who don’t,

can you introduce yourself a little bit more?

Yes. Well, hi, I’m Rieneke Terink, and as Marco already said,

I also love to do sports.

I used to swim professionally, competing at European and world championships

and world cups.

This is a picture of me at the 200m freestyle at the European championships.

Nowadays, I like to do triathlon, just for fun.

I can’t sit still anyways.

Swimming professionally was a lot of fun, I learned a lot!

One thing I learned is how much energy it costs to train that much,

and that good nutrition is essential!

I also learned that it is easy to get lost in what people tell you about sports

and nutrition.

As I wanted to be sure about that and to contribute to more critical knowledge

regarding sports nutrition, I started doing a PhD at Wageningen University.

It is interesting to see how many nutritional hypes are followed in sports,

even without real scientific proof.

I think that athletes and the team around an athlete should make good,

informed decisions when it comes to sports nutrition.

I feel that this MOOC will help you to look critically at nutritional advices

that are given to athletes, either by coaches, by sport nutrition producers,

the news, anywhere.

And Pol, sometimes during lunch breaks or after work we cycle or we run together,

but what inspires you for this MOOC?

Well, thank you Rieneke.

My name is Pol Grootswagers and I'm passionate about cycling.

I love the feeling of conquering a hill, and I even enjoy the meditative struggle

of the climb itself.

Cycling and nutrition go hand in hand.

If you don't think about your nutrition before, during or after the cycling trip,

you will be punished for that.

I like to use my knowledge on nutrition to gain advantage over my cycling mates.

Because if you understand how nutrition works, you can use it for your own benefit:

to increase your performance, to feel better, or even to age healthier.

The latter is the core of my research at the university.

At one moment in all of our lives, we’ll feel that the years start to count

and performing on a high level is not feasible anymore.

I'm devoting my time into finding ways to maintain

and improve physical performance during the process of ageing,

so that we can all live a long, happy, active and independent life.

But Marco, what do you like to do, and what made you decide

to start this course?

Yeah, thanks Pol.

I started running as a kid.

I was Inspired by a Dutch famous marathon runner, Gerard Nijboer,

he did win the silver medal at the Olympic games in Moscow in 1980.

And I like to do endurance sports.

Running, orienteering and cycling.

Just being out there - off the beaten track.

Not necessarily to compete.

But I also like to talk about sports, I love the stories.

In this picture you see me as a young guy on a very famous section

of the col the Izoard in the French Alps, la casse déserte.

There are iconic pictures from Tour de France cyclists taken in that area,

full of beautiful stories.

Such stories of suffering, and cyclist stepping down always make me wonder

what happened, and how we can understand this.

When I went to university I started studying movement sciences,

and later on nutrition.

In my professional career as a researcher I not only want to know

whether something does work, but also how it works.

For me, there should always be a solid scientific explanation

for a certain strategy, also in Sports and Nutrition.

But, on the other hand, I know that many athletes already practice or try

nutritional strategies, before we scientists come to solid conclusions.

That is why we put together this course that will teach you

about the important role that nutrition plays in exercise and sports.

We will not tell you exactly what to eat.

Instead, we will learn how to make your own informed decisions.

Rieneke, what is your expertise, and when do we see you during this course?

My research focuses on micronutrients and exercise stress markers in athletes.

And that’s why you will see me in module 5 about micronutrients

and ergogenic supplements.

Ok, so module 5.

Pol?

My expertise is on nutrition and muscle quality during ageing.

You will be surprised how much knowledge of exercise nutrition

you can use to improve the way we age.

And you will see me at the end of this course, in module 6.

Module 6.

Now, you know who we are, what we do, and why we love to be your teachers.

But what about you?

What makes you joining this course,

and what sports do you like to do or to talk about?