Staff Profiles

I am actively involved in promoting our Study Abroad program and support both incoming students to study at Oxford Brookes as well as helping students from Oxford Brookes to spend part of their academic program overseas.

Modules taught

U76224 - Applied Sport and Exercise Physiology (undergraduate)

U76270 - Sport and Exercise Nutrition (undergraduate)

P16507 - Sport and Exercise Nutrition in Practice (postgraduate)

P16509 - Research Project (postgraduate)

Supervision

MSc Applied Sport and Exercise Nutrition projects

My main interests are in sport and exercise nutrition/applied physiology with an interest in the importance of fluid and carbohydrate provision. I am especially interested in physiology and nutrition for the sport of rowing as well as the effects of diet and training on stroke technique. We use instrumented rowing ergometers and wearable technology to help explore the effects of training, diet and lifestyle on athletes and recreational exercisers to improve performance and health outcomes.   

Research group membership

Member of SEPARG - research group of the academic sport programmes

Human performance enhancement

Journal articles

• El-Chab A, Simpson C, Lightowler H, 'The Effect of Consuming a Liquid Diet vs a Solid Diet 24-hr Preexperimental Trials on Adherence in Athletes'
  International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism 29 (5) (2019) pp.493-497
  ISSN: 1526-484X eISSN: 1543-2742
  Abstract

  Discrepancies in energy and macronutrient intakes between tests are apparent even when a solid prepackaged diet (Sdiet) is used to standardize dietary intake for preexperimental trials. It is unknown whether a liquid prepackaged diet (Ldiet) leads to improved adherence, resulting in lower variability in energy and macronutrient intakes. This study assesses the ability of athletes to replicate a diet when an Ldiet or Sdiet was used as a dietary standardization technique. In a cross-over design, 30 athletes were randomly assigned to either Sdiet or Ldiet. Each diet was consumed for two nonconsecutive days. Participants were instructed to consume all the meals provided and to return any leftovers. The coefficient of variation (CV) was calculated for each nutrient for the two methods and reported as the average CV. The Bland–Altman plots show that differences between Days 1 and 2 in energy and macronutrient intakes for both diets were close to zero, with the exception of some outliers. The %CV for Sdiet was higher than Ldiet (5% and 3% for energy, 5% and 3% for carbohydrate, 5% and 2% for protein, and 5% and 3% for fat, respectively). There was a strong positive correlation for energy and all macronutrients between Days 1 and 2 for both methods (r > .80; p < .05). Ldiet is an effective technique to standardize diet preexperimental trials and could be used as an alternative to Sdiet. Furthermore, Ldiet may lead to additional improvements in the compliance of participants to the diet and also decrease the cost and time of preparation.
  

  Website 
• El-Chab A, Simpson C, Lightowler H, 'The reproducibility of a diet using three different dietary standardisation techniques in athletes'
  European Journal of Clinical Nutrition 70 (August 2016) (2016) pp.954-958
  ISSN: 0954-3007
  Abstract Background/Objectives:
   
  Participants are often asked to replicate their diet before each trial to control dietary intake. However, little is known about the reproducibility of the diet using different approaches. The aim was to assess the reproducibility of a diet when a controlled diet (C_diet), food record (F_record) and 24-h dietary recall (D_recall) were used as dietary standardisation techniques.
   
  Subjects/Methods:
   
  Thirty athletes completed six visits to the laboratory. On the first occasion, a D_recall was performed and subjects were asked to replicate exactly the same diet on the day before visit 2, when another D_recall was performed. The day before the third visit, subjects completed a F_record, which was presented at visit 3 and assessed using D_recall to ensure comparability between methods. Subjects were asked to replicate this Frecord before visit 4, which was assessed using D_recall. Finally, subjects were provided with a C_diet of known composition, which they consumed for 24 h before visits 5 and 6. For each method, the difference in energy and macronutrient intakes between both occasions was measured.
   
  Results:
   
  Despite finding no differences in mean energy and macronutrient intakes between visits for any technique, important within-subject differences were apparent. The range of percentage coefficient of variation for all variables was between 2.7 and 5.8% for C_diet, 10.1 and 18.6% for F_record and 7.1 and 11.7% for D_recall.
   
  Conclusions:
   
  This study has shown that C_diet is the best approach to standardise dietary intake, especially when the expected effect of an intervention is small and an enhanced reliability is required.
  Website 

Flood, J., Simpson, C. (2012) “The Complete Guide to Indoor Rowing.” London, UK, AC Black Publishing.  

Simpson, C., Flood J. (2017) “Advanced rowing: International Perspectives on High Performance Rowing.” Bloomsbury Publishing

Areas of expertise

Rowing performance; monitoring and development of endurance performance; use of technology in sport and teaching 

Consultancy

I provide ongoing physiological and nutrition support to various schools and sports clubs across the UK, especially in the sport of rowing. 

Membership of professional bodies

British Dietetic Association

SENr (Academic Associate) 

Other experience

I have extensive experience as a rowing coach in the United States, Australia and United Kingdom. I am a former recipient of British Rowing's Coach of the Year award.