We are often asked for help in tracing an article or subject, and the purpose of this Back Issue Index is to help you do just that. The last index was published in our September 2003 issue (no 186), but from now on the index will appear annually in every January issue. Here, then, are the contents of the last 21 issues at a glance. You can order any of these issues at a cost of £5 each (inc p&p), reduced to £3 each for quantities of five or more. A complete set of all issues published to date would cost you £1,030. But, for a limited period, you can recieve all issues for £499. Please note, though, that some issues are sold out, so we can only supply high-quality photocopies of these. Please send orders, listing issue number(s) to Peak Performance, Freepost Lon7447, London, EC1P 1PD, with cheques made payable to Peak Performance, or credit card (Mastercard or Visa) details: number of the card, date of expiry and your name and address. Credit card orders can also be placed on our Hotline: 0845 450 4202. The complete set of back issues is available on CD, please indicate whether you would prefer to recieve the CD.

186: Tendon training – how to work on both parts of your muscle tendon units; Nutrition – can ALA and ALC reverse the ageing process? Exercise of the month – the single arm row; Injury risks of older runners; The truth about pre-competition tapering; Hill training for endurance; Zinc – do athletes really need supplements?

187: Strength or power – which matters most for peak performane? Fluid balance – are dehydration risks exaggerated? Exercise of the month – the straight arm pullover; Nutrition – why magnesium matters; Carbo-loading – when it works for women; Ankle sprains in footballers.

188: Drugs in sport – the risks of ‘harmless’ supplements; Pre-cooling – year-round tactics for boosting performance; Sports vision for that extra edge; Eating disorders – when athletes are too thin to win; Ergogenic effects of ephedrine; Performance and the Pill; Carbo-loading during recovery.

189 (Marathon Special): The London marathon – illness, injury and death; From couch potato to international marathoner – one man’s journey; Training programme for the non-specialist; Metabolic adaptations to endurance training; Risks for marathon ‘virgins’; Carbohydrate as ergogenic aid.

190: Essential fats – the answer to most athletes’ prayers; Exercise of the month – the single-legged Romanian deadlift; Speed development – tried and tested boosters; Exercise and the heart – what causes cardiac fatigue? Ethiopian runners – nature or nurture? Warm-ups in golfing; Sauna weight loss risks.

191: Psychology – develop the confidence of a winner; Human growth hormone – how to make your own; 10k performance – what elite Kenyan runners have to teach us; Performance effects of oral contraceptives; Exercise addiction; Drafting in triathlon swimming; Long-term detraining risks; How steroids raise blood pressure.

192 (Ageing and Performance Special): Speed – how sprinters can maintain it with age; Nutrition – foods and supplements to protect joints from degeneration; Detraining – its role in the ageing process; How fitness protects the ageing brain and improves memory; Power and endurance – which diminishes first?

193: Exercise-induced asthma – drug and other treatments; World consensus on sport nutrition; Cycling – biomechanics of safe and effective performance; Exercise of the month – ‘hamstrings of steel’; Creatine for vegetarians; Aero position for untrained cyclists; ADHD in sport.

194: Coaching – underperformance in young rugby players; Stereotype threat – an explanation for East African dominance of distance running; Nutritional medicine – strategies to boost immunity; Exercise in childhood – the key to adult fitness.

195: Psychology – raise your game through goalsetting; Exercise of the month – the ab curl-up; Weight and endurance training – how well do they work together? Inspiratory stridor – a new threat to athletes; Delayed menstruation in rhythmic gymnasts; How aerobic exercise controls blood pressure; Persistent fatigue and infection in athletes; Rapid weight loss in young wrestlers; Circulatory risk of steroids; Exercise-related sudden death.

196 (Football Special): Nutrition – the Premiership approach to science; Sudden cardiac death – assessing risk in young players; Hydration – why one size doesn’t fit all; Psychology – who’s there for the manager? Dehydration problems for refs; Personal fitness and team success; Hamstring strains – the commonest injury; Research void on injury prevention.

197: Psychology – how imagery can enhance performance; Speed training – rotational power for zippy turns; Nutrition – why ribose is not ‘the new creatine’; Chinese supplements don’t work for cyclists; Asthma in amateur athletes; Bodybuilding dependence – not just for men.

198: Periodisation – pace yourself to a peak; Respiratory problems – risks for 2004 Olympians; Exercise of the month – the side raise; Conditioning – sport specific agility boosters; GACIK – can it rival creatine? Stretching no help to footballers.

199: Perceptual training – gain an advantage through faster reactions; Periodisation – sport specific requirements; Antioxidants – could they do more harm than good? Recovery – the best strategy; Child protection in sport.

200 (200th Issue Special): Sport science – has the knowledge explosion improved performance? Drugs in sport – the ceaseless quest for the ‘magic bullet’; Distance running – the inexorable decline in Northern European performance; Nutrition – the growing sophistication of strategies in sport; Futurology – the two-hour marathon.

201: Muscle training – developing fast-twitch fibres for speed, power and strength; Iron deficiency – the risks for athletes; Rehabilitation – rotator cuff training for injured shoulders; Time zone travel and performance; Modafinil as ergogenic aid; Strength training in football.

202: Altitude training – is it a waste of time and money? Exercise of the month – standing stiff arm pull-down; Nutrition – the post-exercise ‘window of opportunity’; Muscle training – fast twitch fibres and endurance performance; Sodium bicarbonate for sprinters; Eating patterns and thermogenesis; Sperm changes in distance cyclists.

203: Olympic pressures – were GB swimmers mentally prepared for the 2004 Games? Strength training for endurance runners; Carbohydrates – still the best ergogenic aid on offer; Coaching – secrets of success with high-level athletes; Choking under pressure; Gender effects of exercise stress.

204 (Sports Injury Special): Prehabilitation – how to avoid shoulder injury; Psychology – does it contribute to injury risk? Rowing – crucial protection for the thoracic spine; Weight training – can it really enhance flexibility? Causes of groin pain; Painkillers and muscle injury; Stitch – a new explanation.

205: Glycerol – the secret of marathon success? Hydrotherapy as a recovery aid; Biomechanics – the role of foot faults in injury; Protection in the cold; ATP as ergogenic aid; Flexibility training in football.

206: Pre-conditioning – why you need to ‘train for training’; Caffeine – legal now, but does it work? Injury – the role of orthotics when conventional treatments fail; Exercise of the month – machine leg press; Runner’s high – a new theory; Football benefits for kids; Salbutamol – ergogenic effects.