Rate My Professor John Whitting

Dr. John Whitting is a Senior Lecturer in Sport and Exercise Science in the Faculty of Health at Southern Cross University. He began his career in sport and exercise science at the University of Wollongong, completing his Bachelor of Science with First Class Honours in 2005, PhD in applied biomechanics in 2010, and also holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the same university. Following his doctorate, Whitting served as a Research Fellow at the Human Performance Laboratory at the University of Calgary in 2011. In 2013, he returned to Australia to take up a continuing academic position at Southern Cross University, where he has progressed to Senior Lecturer.

Whitting's main research focus lies in applied biomechanics during highly dynamic movements and activities, alongside interests in in-vivo tissue mechanics, muscle contraction mechanisms, and their practical applications. His work contributes to UN Sustainable Development Goals and spans topics such as surfing performance, combat sports impacts, strength training kinematics, and residual force enhancement. Key publications include 'Concussion Knowledge, Attitudes and Behaviours Among Australian Taekwondo Athletes: A Cross-Sectional Exploratory Study' (2025), 'A Qualitative Analysis to Determine the Critical Features of a Frontside Bottom Turn in Professional Surfing' (2024), 'Impact Force and Velocities for Kicking Strikes in Combat Sports: A Literature Review' (2024), 'Bench, Bar, and Ring Dips: Do Kinematics and Muscle Activity Differ?' (2022), 'Fatigue Increases Muscle Activations but Does Not Change Maximal Joint Angles during the Bar Dip' (2022), 'Poststretch Isometric Contractions of the Hamstrings: Just a Brief Stretch to Achieve Supramaximal Isometric Force' (2021), 'Residual Force Enhancement Is Present in Consecutive Post-Stretch Isometric Contractions of the Hamstrings during a Training Simulation' (2021), and 'Residual force enhancement in humans: a systematic review' (2018). Whitting has co-supervised PhD theses on neuromechanical investigations of dips and force enhancement in hamstrings.