08.07.2026, 13:30 - 14:45, Lecture room: Auditorium A (STCC)
Insufficient physical activity is a global pandemic with enormous health and economic consequences for society. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that ~ 500 million people will develop diseases attributable to physical inactivity in the next ten years if urgent action is not undertaken to get more people moving. However, while the problem is clear, the most effective solutions to combat the pandemic of inactivity-related health problems continue to be hotly debated and will be the topic of this provocative plenary session that will appeal to most ECSS members. Dr Fiona Bull (Switzerland), leader of the WHO’s global work on physical inactivity, healthy eating and the prevention of obesity, and immediate past President of the International Society of Physical Activity, will present evidence in support of the need to “just do it”; that is, the greatest gains in population health will come from public-health interventions that persuade people to do more of any physical activity. Prof. David Bishop (Australia), past president of Exercise and Sports Science Australia (ESSA), will argue that while promoting any physical activity is important, greater health benefits will be obtained from specific, prescribed, “exercise as medicine” interventions; that is, it is more important to “do it right” than to “just do it”. This multi-disciplinary topic, by two leaders in their respective fields, will be of broad interest to all ECSS delegates interested in the health benefits.
09.07.2026, 11:30 - 12:45, Lecture room: Auditorium A (STCC)
Scientific reports (State of the Climate 2025, Lancet Countdown, Planetary Health Check) warn that climate-related health risks are unprecedented and seven of nine planetary boundaries are crossed. This plenary will synthesize evidence of planetary ill-health and explore its implications for sport, serving as a wake-up call for scientists to confront environmental breakdown. Keynote 1 – Dr. Kim van Daalen (Cambridge, UK): Environmental epidemiologist, co-led the Lancet Countdown in Europe for four years, first author of the 2022 and 2024 Lancet Countdown in Europe reports. She will present evidence on climate change’s impact on health, physical activity and sport, and outline collective actions needed. Keynote 2 – Prof. Paquito Bernard (INSERM, France): Specialist in planetary health and sport. He will summarize social science evidence on links between physical activity and climate change, and present research on behavior change interventions, especially for vulnerable populations. Chair – Dr. Karim Abu-Omar (FAU, Germany): Senior lecturer, WHO Collaborating Centre Co-Director, researcher on climate and sport. Also activist with Extinction Rebellion. He will introduce the session by reflecting on denial psychology and why society avoids confronting planetary health despite overwhelming evidence.
10.07.2026, 16:45 - 18:00, Lecture room: Auditorium A (STCC)
There is accumulating evidence over the last 40 years that a healthy respiratory system can play a substantial limiting role in exercise performance in endurance athletes. There is at least one in four young athletes who experiences exercise-related respiratory problems, and approximately 15% of Olympic endurance athletes suffer from asthma and exercise-induced laryngeal obstruction (EILO). This plenary session aims to provide the ECSS community with a ‘state of the art’ update on the respiratory system limitation in elite endurance athletes and how to tackle respiratory problems in athletic individuals by world experts Profs. Jerome Dempsey and Hege Clemm. This session is very relevant to ECSS's vision of disseminating innovative science in sport, exercise, and health. It will target the broad ECSS community, including sport scientists, researchers, physiologists, and physiotherapists. The attendees of the congress will have a broad understanding of the pulmonary system responses during exercise and a comprehensive overview of respiratory limitations in elite athletes. They will become familiar with the best way to investigate pulmonary issues in athletes and the main differential diagnoses between asthma and EILO, and their clinical management in young athletes. The attendees will also improve their knowledge about the non-medicinal therapeutic options to optimise athlete respiratory care and how to help athletes with respiratory issues to safely engage in and enjoy sport.
07.07.2026, 12:00 - 13:15, Lecture room: Auditorium A (STCC)
Human performance arises from the continuous interaction among mechanical, physiological, and cognitive systems; yet, most assessment tools still treat these domains separately. This fragmentation limits our ability to understand how movement quality, metabolism, recovery, and decision-making co-regulate performance and adaptation. This symposium proposes an integrated perspective on performance science combining conceptual modeling, multimodal sensing, and applied translation. Talk 1 redefines performance through systems thinking, showing that variability and coordination among biomechanical, metabolic, and cognitive processes reflect an athlete’s adaptive capacity. Talk 2 presents a work in progress on a novel intra-oral, clip-on platform that captures mechanical, ventilatory, and metabolic couplings directly from the body’s most stable structure, providing a field-ready tool for holistic monitoring of training, recovery, and nutrition. Talk 3 bridges research and application, illustrating how integrated data and systems approaches can inform evidence-based coaching, athlete development, and policy decisions. Together, these contributions aim to transition from fragmented metrics to unified, data-driven evaluation, building a foundation for more adaptive, personalized, and sustainable performance systems across various sport contexts.
08.07.2026, 08:00 - 09:15, Lecture room: Auditorium A (STCC)
Sleep is a cornerstone of cognitive and physical functioning and is consistently ranked as the most important recovery strategy. Yet research shows that elite athletes often experience reduced sleep duration and quality. Emerging data suggest that although women may exhibit better objective sleep patterns, female athletes report poorer subjective sleep quality and a higher prevalence of sleep disturbances. In parallel, diurnal variations in performance have long been recognized, with evening performance generally surpassing morning levels. Individual differences in circadian phenotype further modulate these patterns, influencing physiological markers. This invited session explores the intersection of chronobiology and sport science. The first presentation offers an overview of human chronobiology and its implications in athletic performance. The second highlights emerging research on sleep in female athletes, addressing the potential need for sex-specific considerations. The final presentation focuses on practical interventions to manage sleep deprivation, with direct applications for athletes and sport practitioners. The session provide san interdisciplinary perspective on optimizing recovery and performance through sleep and biological timing. Overall, the session is relevant for sport scientists, and practitioners seeking evidence-based strategies to optimize recovery and performance through chronobiological and sleep-related interventions.
08.07.2026, 11:00 - 12:15, Lecture room: Auditorium A (STCC)
Research examining the unique performance considerations for female athletes is (finally) increasing. Much of this work has focused on how fluctuating female sex hormones across the menstrual cycle may influence different aspects of performance and training adaptations. However, many female athletes use hormonal contraceptives (HC), which suppress these natural hormone fluctuations, yet sport science research on the different HC formulations and doses is very limited. Reducing menstrual symptoms like pain, cramps, and heavy bleeding is one of the main reasons female athletes report for using HC. Despite this, research has only recently started exploring how menstrual- and HC-related symptoms may interact with training and performance. This symposium will synthesise all this information to provide an overview of current knowledge on the effect of natural and synthetic female sex hormone profiles on the main components of sports performance combined with the latest research on symptomology. The first presentation will focus on strength and adaptations to resistance training. The second presentation will address endurance performance and training adaptations. The third presentation will focus on symptomology of the menstrual cycle and HC. This symposium will present the latest research, as well as evidence-based practical suggestions, and is therefore relevant for sport scientists, coaches and everyone interested in optimising performance in female athletes.
09.07.2026, 10:00 - 11:15, Lecture room: Auditorium A (STCC)
Resistance training (RT) acute responses and longitudinal adaptations are notoriously unpredictable, limiting its application in both high-performance and clinical settings. This symposium tackles this central challenge, arguing that response variability stems from a fundamental confusion between external training exposure (the programme) and the internal training dose that truly drives adaptation. This session provides a cohesive framework to quantify and personalise this dose, moving beyond traditional prescription. We first outline the methodological and conceptual framework for understanding RT variability, focusing on the distinction between external exposure and internal dose. We then explore practical strategies, such as cluster and rest-redistribution structures, as powerful tools to manage fatigue, preserve neuromuscular performance, and precisely target adaptations in athletic and clinical populations. Finally, we integrate these concepts into a novel, personalised RT prescription method: Autoregulation Rest-Redistribution Training (ARRT). ARRT uses real-time feedback (e.g., velocity loss or repetitions in reserve) to dynamically adjust set structures, personalising the training dose with greater precision. Presenting some already published, preliminary data, this symposium provides a complete pathway—from foundational problem to practical application—equipping practitioners to move RT prescription from a one-size-fits-all model toward a new standard of precision.
09.07.2026, 08:30 - 09:45, Lecture room: Auditorium A (STCC)
The role of the sports scientist encompasses the collection, analysis, interpretation, presentation and protection of data. Modeling provides the most in-depth understanding of the phenomena, although biomechanical and physiological modeling applications in sports science remain underexplored. Recently, the substantial growth of AI-based models in sports science has opened unprecedented opportunities, making cutting-edge analytics available to researchers, analysts, and practitioners. Yet the human contribution gives meaning and value to analyses and models. The use of AI-based analytics through systematic frameworks provide interpretable metrics that inform decision-making for athletes, coaches, medical staff, and front offices, thereby yielding benefits in prediction of sports match outcomes, talent scouting, tactical analysis, injury risk reduction, and optimisation of sports performance. In team sports, advanced methods include counterfactual estimating and comparing observed behavior to computed optima. There have been efforts made to make advanced tools available. Despite the proceedings, concerns persist regarding accessibility, transparency and design for both academic studies and real-world applications. This symposium is designed to serve as a nexus between academic research and real-world sports applications with the aim of establishing a complete framework for creating and applying AI-based analytical models in sports science.
10.07.2026, 09:30 - 10:45, Lecture room: Auditorium A (STCC)
Placebo effects are a desirable outcome resulting from a person’s expected and/or learned response to an intervention (e.g., altitude, dietary supplements, imagery). Over two decades of evidence highlights the significant influence placebo effects can have across several sport performance outcomes, including endurance, speed and strength. However, placebo effects are often misunderstood, which can lead to for example, flawed study designs, misattribution of mechanisms and difficulties in translating to applied practice. As such, there can often be confusion related to 1) measuring and controlling for placebo effects in research, 2) underpinning neural correlates modulating placebo effects, and 3) translating placebo effect research to applied practice. In this symposium, the three speakers will address these issues. The first talk will provide a critical insight into the measurement of placebo effects in sport science and what should be considered to ensure more accurate inferences of sport science interventions. Second, an explanation of the underpinning neural correlates will be given, whereby both subcortical and cortical brain regions that are activated during placebo effects modulating sport performance will be discussed. Finally, an in-depth examination about the ethical and practical application of placebo effect research will be given that illustrates how knowledge can be harnessed to benefit applied practice and in turn, an athlete’s performance.
10.07.2026, 11:00 - 12:15, Lecture room: Auditorium A (STCC)
In his landmark paper "Statistical Modeling: The Two Cultures" Leo Breiman [1], the father of tree-based machine learning (ML), argued that modeling should focus more on predictive algorithmic modeling rather than classical statistical modeling. Twenty-five years later, sport science is being introduced to new ML approaches for training scheduling, injury prevention, and talent identification. The pendulum seems to have swung in Breiman's favor, especially with explainable ML (XAI) options that combine ML's predictive power with statistical modeling insights. However, interpretation methods like feature importance analysis offer insights into what models learn only when variables are interpretable and uncorrelated. When features are correlated, these techniques become unreliable. This highlights a critical issue: although approaches may be labeled as explainable ML, explanations often don't make sense or lack sufficient detail to understand the black box's operations. This invited symposium aims to guide sports scientists and practitioners in adopting explainable ML for their research questions and determining when statistical modeling might be more appropriate. The first two talks will examine this topic from both a statistician's and machine learner's perspective, while the final talk will provide practical advice and examples of using both approaches effectively.
08.07.2026, 15:00 - 16:15, Lecture room: SG 1138 (EPFL)
Human movement results from a complex chain of events triggered by supraspinal signals that generate muscle forces exerted on bones, producing segment rotations. Ultrafast ultrasound imaging has made movements of the muscle-tendon machinery that produce and transmit forces an observable phenomenon. Its use has revealed that tendinous tissues uncouple muscle and whole muscle-tendon unit length changes during various locomotor tasks and muscle contractions. This differentiated behavior modulates the strain sustained by contractile versus passive tissues, influencing mechanical output and functional consequences of various motor tasks on muscle and tendon. Extensive research has explored how muscle-tendon interactions influence athletic performance, showing that muscle and tendon properties are highly sensitive to fatigue, training, aging and pathologies, raising the question of what extent muscle-tendon interactions adapt to such contexts and interventions. This symposium presents the latest data (i) muscle-tendon interactions during various motor tasks from signal-joint contractions to complex movements and how muscle-tendon properties influence athletic performance; (ii) the role of muscle fascicles and tendinous tissues in muscle damage amplitude and injury exposure risk in vivo; and (iii) how interventions such as thermal stress may alter muscle-tendon adaptations for recovery and health purposes.
10.07.2026, 09:30 - 10:45, Lecture room: Auditorium B (STCC)
Running is a fundamental form of human locomotion, a very popular physical activity and the most ubiquitous movement pattern in sports. Clearly skeletal muscle plays a critical role in generating the propulsive forces needed to run, and this symposium will address the interactions between skeletal muscle mass and function with how individuals run (i.e. biomechanics), and how fast they run (i.e. performance). Sprint running involves the expression of neuromuscular power and thus elite sprinters may have stronger, larger muscles than sub-elite athletes, but with little rigorous evidence or consideration of specific muscles or muscle groups. The first presentation will consider recent evidence examining the muscle morphology and function of elite vs sub-elite sprinters. The second presentation, titled 'The Interplay of Lower-Limb Strength and Running Gait Biomechanics Across Development' explores how hamstring, quadriceps, and hip strength relate to running mechanics across adolescence and adulthood, highlighting developmental and sex-related effects on the interaction between strength and running biomechanics. The third presentation will discuss increasing evidence that strength training can enhance distance running performance, with an emphasis on the effects of maximal and explosive strength and plyometric training on running economy, durability (i.e., resistance to fatigue-related alterations during prolonged exercise), and distance capacity above critical speed (D').
07.07.2026, 12:00 - 13:15, Lecture room: Auditorium C (STCC)
Today’s challenge is breaking stereotypes and empowering pregnant and postpartum populations to embrace regular physical activity as a powerful tool for lifelong promotion of wellbeing and prevention of chronic diseases. In this session, we will present groundbreaking scientific research and development work, featuring innovative exercise interventions, advanced research methodologies, and broad international expert knowledge on pregnancy and postpartum physical activity. We will discuss maternal health benefits of participating in novel, high intensity interval training (HIIT) programs during pregnancy - at the physiological, biochemical, and proteomic levels, as well as in the context of psychosocial functioning. Further, we will explore changes in infant whole-body outcomes as well as cellular mechanisms, using umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), of how maternal exercise improves the metabolism of infants. We will highlight maternal exercise as a viable strategy to offset the intergenerational risk of obesity. Finally, we will present the world's first guideline on physical activity, sedentary behavior and sleep throughout the first year postpartum, based on seven systematic reviews and meta-analyses, as well as on an international Delphi study on contraindications to postpartum physical activity. The target audience are researchers in the field of health-promoting physical activity in the reproductive age, as well as exercise and health professionals.
08.07.2026, 11:00 - 12:15, Lecture room: SG 1138 (EPFL)
Coordinated physiological responses across brain, skeletal muscle, and heart are central to the widespread health benefits of exercise. Developing an integrative understanding of how these tissues adapt, or fail to adapt, is critical for optimising strategies to enhance human health, performance, and recovery. Advances in magnetic resonance (MR) techniques have transformed our ability to non-invasively, and dynamically, assess metabolic, functional, and structural changes across tissues. This symposium brings together leading researchers applying state-of-the-art MR methods to examine exercise-induced responses in-vivo. Dr Pratt will discuss the value of multi-nuclear MRS and functional MRI for assessing responses of brain energy metabolism, connectivity, and neurovascular function. Dr Hooijmans will highlight the use of phosphorus MR-spectroscopy (³¹P-MRS) to characterise skeletal muscle energetic and functional responses to exercise. Dr Willems will discuss how real-time exercise cardiac MRI, has broad applications for assessing cardiac health across athletic and clinical cohorts. These talks will demonstrate how MR can capture integrated physiological responses to exercise, identify early signs of dysfunction, and inform interventions to enhance performance and support public health. By showcasing complementary MR methods, this symposium will provide valuable insights for researchers and clinicians aiming to better understand and optimise exercise adaptation.
07.07.2026, 13:30 - 14:45, Lecture room: Auditorium C (STCC)
Metabolic health is profoundly influenced by the timing and coordination of entrained behaviours (e.g., meal timing, physical activity, and sleep/wake cycles), with endogenous circadian rhythms. This session explores how temporal alignment of lifestyle factors across the life course can optimise whole-body metabolism and reduce the risk of many chronic diseases. The first presentation discusses how circadian regulation governs skeletal muscle metabolism and the emerging field of chrono-nutrition, highlighting opportunities to enhance metabolic health through synchronised nutrient timing. The second presentation focuses on the critical time-window from preconception to postpartum, presenting new findings from randomised, controlled trials on exercise training and time-restricted eating in pregnancy and whether exercise training can improve breastmilk composition. The final presentation integrates evidence on how the interaction between the timing of meals and exercise influences circadian entrainment and metabolic regulation, proposing strategies to optimise their coordination for improved physiological outcomes. Together, these talks will reveal novel, time-based exercise and nutrition interventions that target metabolism from early development through adulthood, bridging mechanistic insight with translational outcomes for preventing metabolic disease.
08.07.2026, 08:00 - 09:15, Lecture room: Auditorium B (STCC)
Neuromuscular dysfunction is traditionally attributed to both central and peripheral mechanisms, with joint swelling, pain, and mechanoreceptor damage often highlighted as key contributors. However, emerging evidence suggests that central factors—particularly those governing neural drive and cortical activation—play a more dominant role in the persistence of these deficits. This shift in understanding calls for targeted interventions addressing central neural dysfunction to optimize musculoskeletal rehabilitation. In this symposium, the three presenting researchers will delve into the brain-muscle interface, exploring the neurological impact of injuries and the potential for novel treatments, such as electrical stimulation, eccentric exercise, and non-invasive brain stimulation techniques to restore function. This session will synthesize the latest advances in neuromuscular dysfunction, covering both foundational research and clinical applications, and present innovative, evidence-based therapies with the potential to significantly improve rehabilitation outcomes. While the neuromuscular dysfunction will be focused on traumatic joint injuries, insights from disuse will also be discussed. This symposium is highly applicable to scientists who study and clinicians who deal with neuromuscular dysfunction.
09.07.2026, 10:00 - 11:15, Lecture room: SG 1138 (EPFL)
Inspiratory Muscle Training (IMT) is increasingly recognised as a way to enhance functional capacity across clinical, ageing and performance contexts. However, its use is often approached in isolation within rehabilitation, exercise or athletic conditioning, limiting appreciation of its shared physiological basis. This symposium integrates physiological, clinical and applied sport science perspectives to show how strengthening the inspiratory muscles promotes functional resilience across the lifespan. The first presentation examines the dual respiratory–postural role of the diaphragm and its contribution to balance, trunk stability and mobility in older adults, highlighting IMT as a strategy to support autonomy and reduce fall risk. The second presentation focuses on clinical outcomes in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and exercise-induced respiratory disorders, showing how IMT improves inspiratory muscle strength, ventilatory efficiency, dyspnoea and exercise tolerance. The final presentation bridges ageing and performance contexts, illustrating how IMT reduces respiratory muscle fatigue, lowers perceived exertion and supports sustainable physical engagement in active and athletic individuals. By positioning respiratory muscle function as a shared physiological foundation for independence in daily life and sustained performance under load, this session presents IMT as a scalable, accessible intervention that promotes lifelong functional resilience.
09.07.2026, 14:00 - 15:15, Lecture room: Auditorium B (STCC)
The latest guidelines worldwide including from the World Health Organization emphasize that any amount of physical activity is better than none. The health effects of each time unit of physical activity are intensity dependent. For a given volume of physical activity, higher amounts performed at vigorous intensity are associated with additional mortality risk reduction. This is likely due in part to greater improvements in cardiorespiratory fitness and protection against the main non-communicable diseases. Brief, intermittent, vigorous physical activity describes a ‘micropattern’ of habitual movement involving sporadic bouts lasting up to one to two minutes and performed either in a planned and structured manner (i.e. “exercise snacks”) or as part of daily living (i.e. “vigorous intermittent lifestyle physical activity”; VILPA). The approach may be more feasible than traditional longer continuous bouts of physical activity for many adults. It requires minimal time commitment and many applications of the method such as stairclimbing, fast walking while commuting, or bodyweight exercises involve little or no preparation, equipment, or access to facilities. This symposium will consider current evidence regarding brief, intermittent vigorous physical activity for health from a physiological, behavioural, and applied perspective. The presenters are at the forefront of research in each of the areas and will emphasize interdisciplinary collaboration to advance the field.
09.07.2026, 17:00 - 18:15, Lecture room: SG 1138 (EPFL)
Exercise immunology research has over the last >40 years provided insight into how factors relating to athletes’ training, competition and lifestyle can affect their immune status and risk of illness, with a particular focus on upper respiratory infection risk. However, despite decades of research, the field is still grappling with methodological constraints and questions of biomarker interpretation and real-world applicability. By integrating clinical perspectives, methodological innovation, and nutritional and sex-specific considerations, this session aims to address some of the barriers to high-quality research in exercise immunology, and highlight the need for continued research efforts to inform evidence-based application of immunology in sport science.
08.07.2026, 16:45 - 18:00, Lecture room: SG 1138 (EPFL)
Health promotion, disease prevention, and sports performance are often treated as distinct disciplines, yet the biology of muscle fibers offers a unifying framework that connects them. Recent advances in single-cell profiling now allow unprecedented resolution in defining muscle fiber phenotype, revealing mechanisms that simultaneously shape athletic performance and metabolic health. This symposium leverages these developments to illuminate how differences in muscle fiber composition influence performance capacity, adaptability, fatigue resistance, while also contributing to susceptibility to obesity, diabetes, and sarcopenia. By integrating perspectives from advanced experimental methodologies, sports science, physiology, and medical research, the session exemplifies the interdisciplinary mission of ECSS and highlights how fiber-type biology can guide personalized training, targeted recovery strategies, and evidence-based approaches to maintaining or improve muscle health across diverse populations. The symposium is crafted for sports scientists, exercise physiologists, academic researchers and clinicians, with the goal of fostering meaningful cross-disciplinary dialogue and advancing innovative strategies to optimize muscle metabolism and function in sports, health, and disease.
09.07.2026, 17:00 - 18:15, Lecture room: Auditorium C (STCC)
Incretin-based pharmacotherapies have rapidly reshaped the management of obesity and type 2 diabetes by inducing profound weight loss and improving glycometabolic control. In contrast to other drugs targeting chronic disease modulation (e.g., statins, ACEI), incretin agonists achieve their effects at least partly through appetite regulation and behaviour modification. At the same time, it is now recognised that the distribution of incretin receptors is ubiquitous, and beneficial pleitropic effects are emerging alongside new challenges, such reductions in lean mass, altered energy availability, appropriate nutrition in the context of appetite suppression, and shifts in physical activity. The impacts of drug cycling and the biological implications of deprescribing are also germane. Acknowledging the rapid, enthusiastic and largely unregulated acceleration in the use of incretin agonists, this symposium will use a combination of randomised controlled trial evidence, case insights, and consumer perspectives to describe how the benefits of these new pharmacotherapies can be combined with personalised lifestyle interventions to optimise chronic disease prevention and prolong human healthspan.
10.07.2026, 08:00 - 09:15, Lecture room: Auditorium B (STCC)
Pain is “an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with, or resembling that associated with, actual or potential tissue damage.” Pain is commonly experienced during physical activity (PA), whether for leisure, rehabilitation, or sport, and it affects motivation, engagement, adherence, and performance. Emotion, motivation and cognition also shape pain, contributing to substantial variability in pain experience between and within individuals. Pain is a subjective experience, whereas nociception refers to the neural encoding of noxious stimuli. In this context, a multidisciplinary approach integrating exercise physiology, neuroscience, and psychology is needed to understand how pain impacts PA and performance. This symposium is grounded in such an approach, aiming to explore how pain affects performance from the muscles to the brain, considering both nociceptive processing and the subjective experience of pain. Dr. Aboodarda will review how muscle pain alters neurophysiological and perceptual responses to exercise, leading to impaired performance. Dr. Pageaux will discuss how pain increases task difficulty and how greater effort can compensate, allowing performance to be maintained. Dr. Becker will examine how motivation modulates pain perception and how chronic pain in turn affect motivation. This symposium will benefit researchers and applied sport scientists interested in understanding pain’s role in regulating performance and promoting sustained PA.
10.07.2026, 11:00 - 12:15, Lecture room: Auditorium B (STCC)
Emerging evidence suggests that timing and patterning of behaviors (e.g. eating, sleep, and physical activity) impact cardiometabolic and vascular health outcomes, with implications for implementation in real-world routines. For example, physical activity is a cornerstone of health promotion and disease prevention, yet current recommendations rarely address two underused levers: when we move (i.e. timing of activity bouts) and how we accumulate it (i.e. frequency and duration of activity bouts). This symposium will integrate mechanistic, translational, and population perspectives to build a practical “precision daily activity” framework for different populations.
09.07.2026, 08:30 - 09:45, Lecture room: SG 1138 (EPFL)
Exercise and multi-omics research provide a powerful framework for understanding how physical activity influences human health at a systems level across the lifespan. By integrating genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics, and epigenomics, we can capture the complex molecular responses in different tissues and organs during and after exercise. Recent cutting-edge research from our collective groups leveraged large-scale studies (e.g. MoTrPAC Study Group & Gene SMART Study) and multi-omics approaches to uncovered new genes and molecular drivers of exercise responses across multiple-tissues (Nature 2024; Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol 2023; Aging Cell 2024; Cell Reports 2025). This research will enable us to develop a set of exercise-related biomarkers in males and females to predict the response to exercise training across the lifespan, essential for the development and future delivery of targeted exercise programs. In this symposium, the speakers will update on recent research developments in the field of exercise multi-omics & mitigation strategies for healthy ageing. The speakers are international leaders in the field with diverse and complementary expertise in the areas of muscle exercise physiology, multi-omics, bioinformatics & healthy ageing. The proposed symposia include 2 males (Prof Eynon, A/Prof Murach) and a female speaker (Dr Lindholm) at different career stages (ECR, MCR, Senior academics), from 3 different institution and 2 different countries.
07.07.2026, 13:30 - 14:45, Lecture room: Auditorium A (STCC)
From a sport nutrition perspective, the primary need state for athletic populations is to ensure sufficient carbohydrate (CHO) before, during and after exercise. Nonetheless, despite over 100 years of research, considerable controversy exists on the optimal dose, blend and frequency of CHO intake that is required before, during and after exercise in order to promote training adaptations and performance. Indeed, whilst the r period of 2005-2020 was characterised by research recommending athletes practice carefully scheduled periods of “low CHO availability” in order to stimulate molecular pathways that regulate oxidative adaptations, the last 5 years have seen a marked rise in research in evaluating the pitfalls of such under-fuelling i.e. as related to relative energy deficiency in sport (REDS). Furthermore, anecdotal reports from endurance athletes are suggestive of fuelling above and beyond current sport nutrition recommendations (of 90 g.h-1) with intakes of 120-200 g.h-1 reported. In this regard, this presentation will review contemporary issues and recent research on fuelling, under-fuelling and re-fuelling. Data will be presented from the authors’ laboratories as will practical insights from their experiences of supporting some of the world’s best endurance athletes. This presentation will be highly relevant for sport scientists, practitioners, athletes and coaches.
08.07.2026, 09:30 - 10:45, Lecture room: Auditorium C (STCC)
Supplementation with exogenous ketones elevates circulating ketone concentrations in the absence of energy or carbohydrate restriction providing an alternative metabolic substrate and signaling molecule that may influence physical and cognitive performance, recovery, and health. Early studies suggested performance improved via altered substrate use and glycogen sparing, however findings over the past decade have been inconsistent, reflecting variations in formulation, dose, and exercise protocols. In parallel, research has examined effects on metabolism, cellular stress resistance, biology of ageing, and resilience in extreme environments. Consequently, the efficacy of ketone supplementation across performance and health domains remains unclear but highly topical. This symposium will examine current and emerging evidence for the use of exogenous ketones across the continuum of health. Associate Professor Brendan Egan (Dublin City University, Ireland) will address metabolic effects during exercise and performance outcomes; Dr Jamie Whitfield (Australian Catholic University, Australia) will explore post-exercise recovery and adaptation; and Research Assistant Professor Brianna Stubbs (Buck Institute, USA) will discuss implications for metabolic health, ageing, and longevity. Collectively, these presentations will integrate mechanistic and applied perspectives to clarify when, how, and for whom exogenous ketones may offer physiological benefit and where evidence gaps remain.
08.07.2026, 15:00 - 16:15, Lecture room: Auditorium C (STCC)
Despite decades of research, female participants have been historically underrepresented in the fields of exercise and sport science. As a result, much of what we know about exercise responses is based on male-only or mixed cohorts. However, biological sex influences anatomy, physiology, and hormone profiles, and our understanding of its impact on exercise responses is constrained by a lack of research. This knowledge gap compromises the validity and accuracy of training recommendations and limits our understanding of disease outcomes in females, particularly in relation to skeletal muscle metabolism. Advances in high-throughput 'omics' technologies and stable isotope methodologies, when combined with integrative physiology, provide unprecedented opportunities to explore sex-specific responses to exercise to investigate the relationship between sex, metabolism, performance, and overall health. One emerging area of interest is sex-specific differences in skeletal muscle mitochondria, key regulators of metabolism and cellular health. This symposium will highlight recent and emerging advances on sex differences in metabolism, covering health and performance outcomes, exercise responses, mitochondrial biology, protein homeostasis across the female reproductive lifespan. As a result, this topic will resonate with ECSS delegates across disciplines, including sport scientists, sociologists, and public health experts.
08.07.2026, 08:00 - 09:15, Lecture room: Auditorium C (STCC)
Glycolytic power is a key determinant of athletic performance but to date there is no universally accepted test to measure it. In 1984, Alois Mader introduced the maximal rate of lactate synthesis (vLamaxmuscle) as a variable for his metabolic model and, in 1994, Mader critically reviewed contemporary glycolytic tests and proposed a vLamaxblood test. However, vLamaxblood tests have several limitations, and new protocols have been developed to overcome some of them. For example, the vLapeak has recently been introduced as an estimate of the peak rate of whole-body lactate synthesis during an all-out 10-15 s test without correction for phosphocreatine or lactate clearance. In our symposium, Henning Wackerhage will first introduce the history of the vLamax and vLapeak, review its predicted effect on performance and summarise research topics and groups active in this field. In the second talk, Katharina Dunst will introduce practical vLamax tests for cycling, rowing, running and swimming followed by the use of vLamax data for performance modelling. In the last talk, Andy Jones will compare the vLamax to related concepts such as the Wingate test, maximal accumulated oxygen deficit and the W’ (curvature constant derived from the power-duration relationship), discuss limitations and highlight future directions such as vLamax trainability and validation of the vLamax by muscle biopsy. Our symposium targets sport and exercise scientists, applied physiologists, coaches, and researchers
09.07.2026, 14:00 - 15:15, Lecture room: Auditorium C (STCC)
As extreme heat events and female participation in high-level sport increase globally, understanding hormonal modulation of heat tolerance is essential for athlete safety and performance. This symposium explores how hormonal regulation influences physiological responses to heat stress and exercise performance across experimental models. It integrates molecular, integrative, and applied perspectives to understand how endocrine and thermoregulatory systems interact during acute and chronic heat exposure. By linking preclinical and human studies, the session identifies mechanistic pathways explaining individual variability in heat tolerance, recovery, and performance. Dr. Orlando Laitano (USA) will present preclinical evidence, highlighting molecular and cellular adaptations to severe heat stress under varying hormonal states. Dr. Daniel Gagnon (Canada) will follow with acute human data, illustrating how biological sex modulates temperature regulation during exercise heat stress. Dr. Jessica Mee (UK) will conclude with chronic adaptation studies, discussing how biological sex and ovarian hormones modulate thermoregulatory adaptation. Unlike previous ECSS symposia on heat stress, this session provides a uniquely integrated mechanistic-to-applied perspective focused specifically on endocrine modulation across preclinical and human models, with dedicated emphasis on female physiology—a topic of growing scientific and societal relevance.
10.07.2026, 08:00 - 09:15, Lecture room: Auditorium C (STCC)
The 2-parameter CP model is a simple mathematical description of the curvilinear power-duration relationship within the severe intensity domain i.e. at workrates above the maximum metabolic steady state (MMSS), yet below near maximal exercise intensities in which neuromuscular factors set the upper limit of sustainable performance (the so-called ‘extreme’ intensity domain). Within the severe domain, corresponding to maximal efforts of approximately 2-15 min in duration, performance is determined by a combination of CP, which is now known to be a reliable estimate of MMSS, and the work-capacity that can be performed above CP until exhaustion occurs (denoted as Wꞌ). The parameter Wꞌ is assumed to act akin to a battery which can be depleted and reconstituted, however the 2-parameter CP model is limited in scope since it does not include terms which describe these kinetics, and therefore cannot be applied to high-intensity interval exercise (HIIE). The introduction of the Work-Balance model overcomes this limitation, however questions remain over its validity when applied to various forms of HIIE. The first presentation will provide an overview of the validity and reliability of CP and Wꞌ estimation. This will lead into an update of Work-Balance modeling approaches and associated challenges in the second presentation. And lastly, the practical application of work-balance modeling will be discussed with special attention to HIIE in acute hypoxia.
10.07.2026, 11:00 - 12:15, Lecture room: Auditorium C (STCC)
The adaptability of the neuromuscular system to its environment is truly remarkable, yet its complexity presents major challenges for research and clinical practice. Age-related decline in neuromuscular function contributes to frailty, loss of independence, and increased healthcare burden. These changes are not uniform across sexes; females, despite longer lifespans, often experience greater neuromuscular deterioration and spend more years in poor health, highlighting the need for sex-specific interventions. Exercise plays a central role in enhancing neuromuscular function across the lifespan, while also serving as a cornerstone for rehabilitation in clinical populations, yet prescriptions are rarely defined according to sex. In people with motor impairment, neuromuscular adaptations are critical for functional recovery, and while some interventions improve physical function, underlying mechanisms are poorly understood. This symposium will examine neuromuscular adjustments in response to age, sex, and exercise modalities such as neuromuscular electrical stimulation, as well as in people with motor impairment aiming to clarify the mechanisms underlying these adaptations. By integrating multidisciplinary evidence and addressing critical gaps, this symposium will provide novel insights into neuromuscular plasticity and inform the design of targeted, mechanism-based interventions with the potential to transform clinical practice and improve population health.
07.07.2026, 12:00 - 13:15, Lecture room: SG 1138 (EPFL)
How do our bodies, minds, and subjective experiences interact when we push our limits, whether in sport or daily life? This symposium explores these questions by combining insights from neuroscience, psychology, and sports science, showing how effort connects the physical and cognitive domains of human performance. First, we will discover how athletes’ lived experiences can now be captured using a novel technique called Temporal Experience Tracing (TET). This method transforms momentary subjective states into continuous data, bridging the gap between inner experience and objective performance. Next, we will delve into the neural mechanisms of sustained effort, exploring how the brain regulates persistence and fatigue across both physical and cognitive challenges. Through advanced EEG recordings and psychological profiling, new evidence suggests that a shared brain network may underlie our ability to stay engaged, whether we’re exercising or solving complex problems. Finally, we turn to the mental benefits of physical exercise. Can a short cycling session before work boost concentration and resilience during demanding mental tasks? By combining physiological and experiential measures, such as pupil responses and subjective feeling trajectories, we will uncover how exercise might extend mental endurance and enhance well-being. Together, these studies highlight a new perspective in understanding human effort: one that integrates body, brain, and subjective experience.
08.07.2026, 09:30 - 10:45, Lecture room: SG 1138 (EPFL)
This session employs a biopsychosocial framework to elaborate on the complex challenges impacting the health, nutritional behaviors, and sustained participation of young female athletes. The first presentation addresses the concerning decline in organized sport participation among young female athletes. It identifies key risk factors for dropout, including injuries, lack of competence, and poor coach/peer relationships, stressing the fundamental role of enjoyment in continued engagement. The second presentation details how puberty, hormonal shifts, and intense training intersect with body image pressures to create a critical period for insufficient energy availability and restrictive eating. This jeopardizes bone health, increases injury risk, and compromises psychological well-being. The final presentation argues that these problems constitute a systemic failure driven by a ‘male model’ of sport and gender-blind coaching. The proposed solution involves a decisive shift toward gender-transformative coaching and a need-supportive motivational climate. This includes replacing detrimental coaching behaviors with supportive actions, such as focusing on peer relatedness support to boost retention. The session concludes with an urgent call for interdisciplinary action to address the knowledge needs of athletes, coaches, and other key stakeholders, ultimately safeguarding health and maximizing the developmental potential and sustainable participation of young female athletes.
09.07.2026, 08:30 - 09:45, Lecture room: 1ABC (STCC)
Creativity is increasingly recognised as a key component of human adaptability, performance and well-being, yet it remains underexplored in sport and movement sciences. Rather than a purely mental skill, creativity is a complex and embodied phenomenon that emerges from the interaction between individuals and their environments. Far from being an innate gift reserved for a select few or geniuses, creativity can, like any motor skill, be systematically trained and cultivated. Although sport training has traditionally focused on physical, technical and tactical skills, the past decade has witnessed a slow paradigm shift in the literature, starting to recognise the significant impact of creativity on performance. This invited session brings empirical and theoretical contributions examining how motor creativity can enhance learning, performance, and health. The speakers will present research addressing these issues from complementary perspectives: the assessment of movement creativity and adaptability in children (James Rudd), the framework Creativity in Motion to enrich training environments with creativity-supportive tasks and movement prompts (Veronique Richard), and studies exploring creative movement practices to enhance well-being (Carlota Torrents). Together, these works provide converging evidence that nurturing motor creativity promotes motivation, resilience, adherence to physical activity, performance and holistic well-being.
10.07.2026, 09:30 - 10:45, Lecture room: SG 1138 (EPFL)
This invited symposium explores how sport can be used intentionally to promote socio-emotional development, wellbeing, and sustainable career pathways among vulnerable youth and young athletes. Drawing on multi-country qualitative and intervention data, the first presentation examines how adolescents in institutional care or low socioeconomic contexts experience sport as an emotionally charged space, and shows how mentoring by former elite athletes can reduce conduct problems while strengthening emotional skills, social support, and wellbeing. The second presentation introduces self-transcendence goals as a novel lens on motivation in adolescent and adult athletes, demonstrating that ethically led climates which emphasise contributing to others uniquely predict vitality and prosocial intentions beyond traditional mastery and performance goals. The third presentation focuses on young biathletes’ dual careers, detailing patterns of dual-career strain, emotional and academic challenges, and the design of digital educational tools that enhance self-management and emotional regulation. Together, the symposium offers an integrated perspective on how carefully designed sport environments and leadership can promote socio-emotional competence, prosocial behaviour, and long-term development in at-risk and performance-focused youth. It speaks to sport psychology experts and youth sport coaches.
08.07.2026, 11:00 - 12:15, Lecture room: Auditorium B (STCC)
Physical fitness is a powerful indicator of current health and a robust predictor of future health. However, global evidence indicates significant declines in children’s physical fitness—particularly cardiorespiratory fitness—over the past two decades. This decline has been largely driven by reduced physical activity and increased sedentary behaviour, further accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, environmental changes associated with climate change, including more frequent and intense heatwaves, increasingly restrict children’s opportunities for physical activity—particularly during the extremely hot summers in Japan. To clarify how these societal changes affect children’s fitness, nationwide surveillance systems are essential. Yet, only a few countries, like Japan and Slovenia, maintain long-term, population-level fitness surveillance programs. This symposium will highlight how national fitness data are used to track health trends, inform policy decisions, and design effective interventions. By integrating epidemiological evidence with physiological perspectives, the symposium aims to identify strategies to sustain and enhance children’s fitness in our changing world. Collaboration between countries with world-leading child fitness datasets will help establish a global framework for fitness surveillance, paving the way toward internationally coordinated monitoring of children’s fitness worldwide.
07.07.2026, 13:30 - 14:45, Lecture room: SG 1138 (EPFL)
The global decline in physical activity among children and adolescents represents a critical public health challenge with profound implications for current and future health outcomes. This symposium will provide insights in epidemiological data from Europe and Asia, both reveal a persistent and worsening trend in fulfilling the World Health Organization’s recommendation of 60 minutes of daily moderate-to-vigorous physical activity. Concurrently, rising rates of overweight and obesity have led to earlier onset of non-communicable diseases such as type 2 diabetes, hypertension, and cardiovascular risk factors. Despite numerous policy initiatives, effective, scalable interventions remain elusive. Emerging evidence highlights physical literacy—encompassing motor skills, motivation, self-efficacy, and knowledge—as a promising framework for fostering lifelong physical activity. Integrating physical literacy into school curricula and community programs offers a holistic, sustainable approach to health promotion. However, lasting change requires coordinated, cross-sectoral strategies that address physical activity in conjunction with lifestyle changes. This symposium presents a data-driven synthesis of current trends, challenges, and innovative strategies for improving youth health, emphasizing the urgent need for evidence-based, systemic action to safeguard the health of future generations all over the world.
08.07.2026, 16:45 - 18:00, Lecture room: Auditorium C (STCC)
High altitude is characterized by progressive environmental changes that can be a challenge for the human body. The key point is the progressive decrease in barometric pressure and the consequent reduction in Po2 all along the oxygen transport chain. The resulting hypoxia induces a series of physiological responses, referred to as acclimatization, aimed to improve the tissue oxygenation. Despite the adaptive responses, everyone at altitude experiences a decline in exercise capacity, which depends on the altitude, the duration of hypoxic exposure, and the type and intensity of exercise. Maladaptive responses can also occur, leading to acute altitude illness or adverse clinical consequences for patients with pre-existing cardiovascular disease. The first part of the session will be dedicated to strategies to promote acclimatization and to non-pharmacological and pharmacological modalities to prevent and treat acute mountain sickness. The second part will discuss the risks/consequences of altitude exposure for patients with cardiovascular disease and present the latest guidelines from American and European societies regarding patients at altitude. Conversely, epidemiological data will be presented regarding the potential advantages of living at altitude on cardiovascular and all-cause mortality. Finally, some novel data regarding the ability of severe hypoxia, equivalent to the summit of Mt. Everest to induce myocardial regeneration after cardiac injury will be presented.