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Coaching, jumps, sprints & more
Everything about jumping and sprinting and how to improve your performance
ALWAYS LEARNING European Horizontal Jumps and Sprints Symposium Karlstaad Sweden RELEVANT YOUTUBE PLAYLISTS BELOW:
Falun: Karlstaad It's important for all of us to continually learn and evaluate as coaches and athletes. Last year I was very privileged to journey to Sweden for the bi-annual jumps and sprints get together organised by Swedish Athletics and European Athletics. In 2017 I'd also been to the event in Falun. Although the majority of coaches were Scandinavian there were coaches from all over Europe – I met some from Portugal, France and The Netherlands. To say that the symposium was packed full of theory and practicals is a bit of an understatement, rather it would be truer to say that it was over-flowing with sessions. There was, for example, a practical on the Sunday morning before we left for home at midday which kicked off at 7.45am! The team of speakers included, regular on the coaching lecture circuit, Dan Pfaff, Sweden's Yannick Tregaro (former coach to Christian Olsson and currently Tobias Montler) and Serbia's Goran Obradovic coach to Ivana Spanovic. Highlights I always like practical sessions as you can really see what the coaches are trying to get across and how they coach an event - however, I will say that some of the theory lectures in Karlstaad were equally gripping. As a coach, it's important that you digest and think about what’s being said by the expert coaches and don't just follow exactly what they do - that's to say incorporate their ideas into your training without knowing why you should. It would be really easy to mimic certain drills, for example, or give Ivana Spanovic's weights programmes to your athletes (Obradovic was very open with what he shared). Obviously training programmes are designed for specific athletes and cater for what a particular athlete needs. A session that I really appreciated was taken by Tregaro – he’s one of Sweden's most profile coaches in terms of turning out great athletes. A look at the PBs of the athletes he has coached tells you much (HJ 2.30m/2.08m, TJ 17.83m, LJ 8.22m/6.41m etc). The Swede's session was all about specific warm-ups and the take-off for the long jump. He showed some new to me drills and I was engrossed in thinking how I could apply these to those I coach back in the UK. I was particularly reflective on his thoughts on the arm action at take-off. He advocated a lifting of the shoulders and arms after the arms had passed into the more normal take-off position (with the front hand's arm roughly parallel to the eye and the rear upper arm around parallel to the ground). He showed via athlete demonstrators a number of drills where the arms continue to lift (to almost a shrug of the shoulders). Doing this is seen to create more vertical force and lift on take-off. This is something that I have seen numerous continental jumpers do and I could now see why it could work. Some other unique to me drills pertained to the penultimate step set-up, where there was a very dynamic emphasis on the step placement before the transition into the jump. Look out for more on Pfaff and Obradvoic's presentations in another post and you can checkout some of the sessions from Karlstaad and Falun on the channel. Check out the relevant playlists LINKS above. Below me in Falun with Sweden's all-time jumper Michel Torneus (8.44PB) sort of!
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coaching I'm writing this about an hour before I go off to my first coaching session back this 'winter' with the 'senior' group. There will be a couple of new squad members and some of the younger ones have been graduated to this group. Look out for the new guys - they add an international flavour! Of course the present COVID situation is taking its toll. It's become more difficult to use the local track what with complex booking systems and a very small limit on the numbers who cab train. Hopefully in the light of constructive comments from coaches and a response from the track management this will change. However. it's because of this that I have had to (and no doubt will have to) adapt my training. We start today with that first session with a hills and drills one and not our usually track one. Latest video Friday's video (see below) addressed 'basic' drills and how they are far from basic in developing an athlete. I believe they can correct technical faults and make the athlete aware of what they need to work on and importantly how they can correct any issues. You'll see what I mean in the video with a bit of a focus on para-athlete Karim. And of course they serve a strengthening and pre-conditioning role too. Look out for a further video on how to use drills for 'quality volume' at the start of the season. Better to me than endless tempo. Join the jumps squad Oh, and do consider becoming a channel member (see previous post and the other video below). I have had a few sign-ups already and have produced a video that delves into how I approach my training plan in overview. I hope to be able to create a community of coaches and athletes who can develop together and share their thoughts and ideas through this part of my YouTube channel. I think that because I coach at all levels this perhaps gives me an advantage over coaches who work at the elite level only. After all the majority of us work with school and club athletes. I have had quite a bit of success developing this type of athlete and many have reached elite levels for their age group and beyond. Right, I'd better get a move on as I've got a session to do ... and unfortunately I have to run to the hill with them. Look out for more on this session too. Happy coaching!
Do you want to increase your coach educatIon?
Perhaps find the current set-up for educating coaches lacking? Perhaps you think that coach education (and much produced by organisations around the world) is too elitist and produced for those who only coach top athletes??? Perhaps you find it more about health and safety (vital issues of course) and not about what you really signed up for i.e. coach. Or maybe you've found that coach education actually doesn't prepare you to coach ... to answer such very "useful" questions as: What technique can I teach a 13-year-old long jumper? How can I plan my weekly training in a way that will produce better performances and not waste time??? WELL I MAY HAVE AN ANSWER! Since setting up my YouTube channel I've tried to answer these questions and many more from coaches and athletes from all around the world. The channel is nearing 20k subs and ha had 2 million plus views with an average view time of 2.5min, with viewers watching on average 2.5 videos a time. When I started making YT videos I didn't think that the momentum would build to such an extent ... so, perhaps there is the demand for answers to the questions I began with. JOIN A LIKE-MINDED COMMUNITY OF COACHES Recently I have had numerous requests from coaches in particular wanting more information, specific questions answered and longer format videos. This coincided with YT enabling memberships on my channel. So, I have taken the plunge and have set-up memberships (link to left) on the channel. THERE ARE TWO LEVELS OF MEMBERSHIP Channel Supporter: £1.99 (or dollar equivalent) This level is really there should you care support the channel. However, from time to time I will release exclusive content which you won't get on the channel and occasionally I'll preview other content first with channel supporters. Coach Member: £22.99 (or dollar equivalent) This level will allow us to go into greater detail about the types of questions coaches clamour for answers to as posed at the beginning of this post i.e. how do I plan a typical week's training for a young jumper? I will upload at least one exclusive video a month which addresses such a key subject. We can also more easily communicate via the Coach Members' comments section and community posts. In time I also hope to be able to offer live streams where we can really delve into the key coaching issues that you and I face. So, if you are interested and want to find out more please take a look via this LINK to MEMBERSHIPS You can watch a clip from my first exclusive video below - please note I will still be posting free videos most Fridays too.
A while back I posted about the Nurokor MiTouch bioelectrical device. It uses three different electrical currents called apps on the device (to put it simply) to treat and train muscles. The phone-size device enables four pads to be connected to work various body parts. I've been using the device since around April.
Initially I spent time researching the performance benefits of EMS (the catch-all term) - there's actually quite a lot which indicates that strong, short circa 10-sec x 10 bursts of EMS using a very strong intensity can increase muscle power very rapidly on individually treated muscle groups. Famed or infamous coach, Charlie Francis used EMS back in the eighties with success and indeed his protocols are still advocated today. I discovered contemporary research that vindicates a similar application. I really need to drill down on the performance use aspects of the Nurokor MiTouch and provide the older athletes who have the device with a real programme for them to follow this season. MY EXPERIENCE Myself, I've been using the device regularly and have now reached a stage where I can more fully appreciate my own experiences especially for injury and aches and pain treatment. In short the overall results are more than favourable. For example, where the MiTouch has really worked for me is in treating sore Achilles tendons. Hots sore spots and Achilles tendonosis (degradation of the tendon's tissue) are common in sprinters. I've found that regular treatment with the MiTouch has alleviated the sore to the touch symptoms virtually immediately enabling me to carry on sprinting and running. I'll use the Pain+ function (designed to reduce pain and kick-start cellular recovery processes) for 20min on the tendon (see pics) and will then switch to using the MCS (miscrocurrent app) for 30-40min. The former uses a specific pulse and waveform and therefore you feel the constant ebb and flow of the current working the area, with the MCS you don't feel it working although it is. Incidentally MCS has a long medical history of use for wound healing through specially designed bandages. On a sore hip my pain has decreased using similar protocols to the Achilles whilst treating around the hip and the ITB. I've yet to work out the reasons for why this area became sore although, it erks me to to say this, it could be age (!) or a mattress needing replacing! All in all I'd recommend the Nurokor MiTouch as a way to alleviate pain and to keep on moving freely. WANT TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT THE NUROKOR MITOUCH AND GET A 10% DISCOUNT CLICK HERE |
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