Surrey Human Performance Institute projects

The INTERVAL project is a multi-centre global research project that targets prostate cancer patients with metastases to the bone. Two years of meticulously planned HIIT and weight training will be delivered to a group of patients with the aim of improving survival. Look out for our Movember T-shirts in the gym at Surrey Sports Park!

This project aims to help people with oesophageal cancer get fit for surgery. During the 15-week intervention, patients will be receiving neo-adjuvant chemotherapy for nine weeks, so exercise hopes to reduce treatment-related decline in fitness. For the final six weeks, the aim is to build fitness up to make patients resiliant to the stress of surgery. This project is in partnership with the Royal Surrey County Hospital and the Fountain Centre.

Working alongside the South East Coast Ambulance Service and Surrey Fire and Rescue, we have developed a pilot occupational assessment for ambulance personnel. We will be testing it out on a small scale, with hopes to roll out a larger study in the future.

We run a clinic at pre-surgery cardiopulmonary exercise test (CPET) clinic at St Peter's Hospital in Chertsey. This involves colo-rectal cancer patients completing an exercise test prior to their surgery. Information gathered from this test is used to predict risk for surgery, as with less-fit individuals, risk of surgery complications is greater.

This is a research project looking at the supplementation of New Zealand Blackcurrants and its effects on health and performance.  Previous studies have shown blackcurrants to improve cardiovascular health as well as increasing fat oxidation in elite cyclists.  However, this study aims to prove the ability of blackcurrants to increase fat oxidation in untrained individuals.  Subjects take the supplement for 7 days, completing exercise tests before and after.  If the supplement is able to increase the ability to burn more fat and calories, this could prove to be beneficial for weight loss.

This study is investigating the effect of an oxygen-encapsulated drink on sub-maximal and maximal cycling performance, as well as the ability to recover from bouts of exercise.

We are conducting the testing on high level cyclists (Category 3 or 4), who have an extensive competitive background.

This study is researching the ingestion of post-exercise sodium bicarbonate and whether it is able to improve recovery and therefore aid subsequent performance.

We are currently recruiting healthy active males (18-45 years old), with an endurance training background. If you are interested in participating, please contact us at shpi@surrey.ac.uk for further information.

CurraNZ muscle damage – This study is investigating the effect of a New Zealand blackcurrant supplement on indices of muscle damage following strenuous exercise. We are currently recruiting non-resistance trained adults (18-45 years) with no history of musculoskeletal upper limb injuries. If you are interested in taking part, please contact either Daniel Rowland at dr00338@surrey.ac.uk or us at shpi@surrey.ac.uk for further information.