Matthew Rhea and Mark Peterson, students in the exercise and wellness program at ASU East, have been invited to present their groundbreaking research on "quantified dose response for the trained and untrained population" at the seventh annual International Olympic Committee Olympic World Congress on Sports Sciences in Athens, Greece, next week.
The IOC program committee also nominated them as finalists for the Prince Alexandre de Merode Award, which would entitle them to 2,500 euros and a plaque. Rhea will be doing an oral presentation, and Peterson is presenting a poster on his follow-up meta-analysis.
According to Brent Alvar, professor in the exercise and wellness department at ASU East, Rhea had submitted an article on his research of strength building to the national journal Medicine and Science in Sport and Exercise, which was published this year.
Vladimir Zatsiorsky, expert in sport biomechanics and training athletes, read the article and nominated Rhea to present at the Olympic World Congress.
Peterson, whose background is in sport performance and who is also a sport conditioning coach for the Chandler Gilbert Community College sports teams, submitted a follow-up meta-analysis on Rhea's research data.
Alvar said he thought it was ironic that he was able to mentor Rhea and Peterson for the past few years after looking up to Zatsiorsky.
"I feel like things have come full circle because I used Zatsiorsky's book for my dissertation," he said.
Alvar will be attending, but not presenting, in Greece as a mentor to the students.
Lee Burkett, acting department head of the exercise and wellness program, said, "It is a great achievement ... this has never happened before at East. Now we're becoming rapidly and internationally known for research in strength."
According to Peterson, he and Rhea spent up to four years "compiling and collecting every research project done in [their] field. [They] looked at the amount of strength training that elicits optimal strength in the trained and untrained population."
Rhea started his research because he "wanted more research-based programs in exercise science."
"Until now, there was no hard data," Peterson said.
When asked what surprised him the most about the research, Peterson said he did not expect to find that "the untrained population requires a higher-than-expected dose to optimize results of maximum strength."
Rhea and Peterson agreed that their different backgrounds, a doctoral focus in exercise prescription and Peterson's graduate work in sport performance have given them the chance to see different perspectives, which strengthened their analysis.
Peterson is confident about their work and is excited to "engage in debate with someone who doesn't agree with what our research shows," he said.
"We've laid the groundwork for more work than we'll probably be ever able to finish," said Rhea.
Burkett said, "We [the department of exercise and wellness] have supported them monetarily, but they did not get any credit hours for this; all work was done on their own time."
Expenses for the trip were covered by various departments at ASU East, as well as by the Chandler Gilbert Community College.
Reach the reporter at erika.camardella@asu.edu.
