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Dr Phil Hayes

Assistant Professor

Department: Sport, Exercise and Rehabilitation

Phil is the longest serving member of the sport science staff having joined the University in 1991 during which time he has fulfilled a number of senior roles, including 14 years as Programme Leader and currently as admissions tutor. His main teaching areas encompass fitness testing, the physiology of training, particularly aerobic training, and the physiology of endurance exercise.

Phil is a BASES accredited Sport and Exercise Scientist, a Chartered Scientist and has, in the past, been an accredited anthropometrist with ISAK. His PhD was titled ‘Physiological factors affecting running performance’ and his current research falls broadly under the banner of enhancing athlete performance. Within this Phil’s main interests are: how fatigue effects running gait, in particular the role of muscular strength; aerobic interval training, quantifying training and the relative age effect. In addition, Phil has provided sport science support for Premier League football teams, a professional cricket team, and international runners, including the local athletes who were involved in Dame Kelly Holmes ‘On Camp with Kelly’ scheme.

The practical application of his work also fuels some of Phil’s interests outside of work. Phil is a UK Athletics Level 4 middle-distance running coach, coaching for a local athletics club. He has coached GB U23, GB Students, GB U20, and GB U18 runners, along with Inter-Counties, British Universities and England Schools medallists. Previously, he has been UK Athletics Regional Coach for Endurance Events. Phil is one of the few BASES Accredited Physiologists and Level 4 coaches in the UK.

Phil Hayes

My research interests fall broadly under the banner of enhancing sport performance. Currently most of my work is focused upon middle and long-distance running, with projects looking at aerobic interval training. One PhD student (Sherveen Riazati) is looking at how fatigue effects running gait, in particular the role of muscle strength. A second PhD student (Arran Parmar) is investigating the acute responses to, and recovery from, aerobic interval training. In addition to this I'm interested in the relative age effect and quantifying training loads.

  • Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
  • Coaching in the shadows: critically examining the unintended (non)influence of pedagogical practice, Nichol, A., Potrac, P., Hayes, P., Boocock, E., Vickery, W., Morgan, C., Hall, E. 4 Jul 2023, In: Physical Education and Sport Pedagogy
  • Estimating Knee Movement Patterns of Recreational Runners Across Training Sessions Using Multilevel Functional Regression Models, Matabuena, M., Karas, M., Riazati, S., Caplan, N., Hayes, P. 3 Apr 2023, In: American Statistician
  • Gait and Neuromuscular Changes Are Evident in Some Masters Club Level Runners 24-h After Interval Training Run, Riazati, S., Caplan, N., Matabuena, M., Hayes, P. 2 Jun 2022, In: Frontiers in Sports and Active Living
  • Athletes as ‘sites of normative intersectionality’: Critically exploring the ontology of influence in sport coaching., Nichol, A., Hayes, P., Vickery, W., Boocock, E., Potrac, P., Hall, E. 1 Sep 2021, In: Sociology of Sport Journal
  • Inter-limb strength asymmetry in adolescent distance runners: Test-retest reliability and relationships with performance and running economy, Blagrove, R., Bishop, C., Howatson, G., Hayes, P. 1 Feb 2021, In: Journal of Sports Sciences
  • The dose-response relationship between interval-training and VO2max in well-trained endurance runners: A systematic review, Parmar, A., Jones, T., Hayes, P. 18 Jun 2021, In: Journal of Sports Sciences
  • The Prevalence and Consequences of Within-Sport Specialization in Track and Field Athletics, Kearney, P., Comyns, T., Hayes, P. 2 Oct 2021, In: Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport
  • The reliability of potential fatigue monitoring measures in elite youth soccer players, Fitzpatrick, J., Hicks, K., Russell, M., Hayes, P. 1 Dec 2021, In: Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research
  • The science and practice of middle and long distance running, Blagrove, R., Hayes, P. 30 Mar 2021
  • The use of interval-training methods by coaches of well-trained middle- to long-distance runners, Parmar, A., Jones, T., Hayes, P. 15 Sep 2021, In: International Journal of Strength and Conditioning

  • Adam Nichol Critically Investigating the Complex, Emergent (Non) Influence of Sport Coaching Practice Start Date: 01/10/2016 End Date: 25/06/2020
  • Gary Hall What effect does fatigue during high-intensity running have on Hip abductors and running gait? Can resistance training offset these effects? Start Date: 01/10/2021
  • Madelaine Hill ‘Can Physiotherapist’s make ‘Smart’er Return to Sport decisions with Wearable Technology?’ Start Date: 10/02/2021
  • Steven Horsburgh An Investigation into Exercise-Induced Modifications to DNA Methylation-Regulatory Enzymes in Human Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells Start Date: 29/04/2016 End Date: 20/04/2017
  • Karen Johns More than meets the (rationalistic) eye: The planning practices of high performance track and field coaches. Start Date: 01/09/2014 End Date: 29/04/2022
  • Richard Blagrove The Utility of Strength-Based Exercise for Middle- and Long-Distance Runners Start Date: 01/02/2016 End Date: 10/10/2018
  • John Fitzpatrick An Individual Approach to Monitoring and Prescribing Training in Elite Youth Football Players Start Date: 01/12/2014 End Date: 06/11/2019
  • Sherveen Riazati The effects of typical training runs on overuse running-related injury risk factors in recreational runners Start Date: 01/10/2016 End Date: 21/09/2020

  • Sports Science PhD October 09 2015
  • Sports Science (Education) MSc August 31 1989
  • Accredited Member British Association of Sport and Exercise Sciences (BASES) 1992


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