Andreas Molden Olympic Gold!!
Andreas Molden wins Olympic Gold!! The 18 year old cross country skier was undefeated in all qualifying races in this the first winter youth Olympics. Massive achievement for Norway. Andreas has been using the www.Eqology.no Life pack and sports anti-lactic drink for training and between races. Go to www.Eqology.no to buy using Sponsor ID 1145913
Andreas Molden Olympic Gold!!
These are the three basic drills required to train running technique. Ankle roll, heel pic up and high knees. In the video each of these are demonstrated for 5 meters with a transition into running over 10 meters. Each drill should be performed 3 times each, with a good technique including, straight arms in line with the shoulders, a straight body with the head directly above the shoulders and an upright body position while accelerating into the running. Each step should be no longer than about 30 cm with a high tempo that is maintained through out the transition running at the end of the drill. The ankle rolls should have a large range of movement at the ankle and the body weight to be controlled with the big toes. The heel pic ups should be done with a vertical motion of the foot, allowing the foot to contact with the butt. The toes need to be held up to give a flat foot contact on the floor. The high knees is the same as the heel pic up with no foot contact with the butt, allowing the knee to come high in front of the hips. The straight leg drills in video three are to be done with a quiet foot contact on the floor and an upright body. Good range of movement at the ankle is needed to keep the drill going. This requires strong calfs and develops the plyometric aspects of the running technique. The unilateral isolation of the leg actions in performing a heel pic up with one leg is an excellent way of developing the motor control required to run a good curve.
Sognsvann Ski Tur Overview
I´m skiing on a weekly basis now in the winter here in Oslo, making up for last year when I had a bad achilles. This Sunday Julia and I went to Sognsvann just 5 km from my front door. This is a lake and wooded area leading to Nordmarka, a large natural National Park just outside the city limits. The route was 10.6 km and was actually mainly up hill and was quite icy on the steep sections as it has not snowed for a few days. This was quite annoying and the downhill section was not lit and was icy in the dark. Anyway we had a good 90 min workout at least. Next week we will be going to Nordmarka from Tryvann as the runs are nicer with more fun corners.
Sognsvann Ski Tur Info Trace
Sognsvann Ski Tur Map
On Sunday I took a three hour high jump session for coaches taking the Ungdomstrenerkurs (Youth Coaching Course) at Norges Idretts Høyskolen NIH (Norwegian School of Sports Science) here in Oslo, Norway. The course was organised by the Norges Fri-idrettsforbund NFIF(Norwegian Athletics Association). After hours of theory
Stretching
it was time to put it into practice. First up was a comprehensive warm up, including 40 minutes of stretching from my Stretching Handbook. This is of major importance for any jumper and I think coaches should go through what they are asking their jumpers to do, so they know what it feels like and can demonstrate the techniques.
We moved on to jumping warm up running straight on to a high jump bed including, tuck jump, tuck jump & turn, scissor jump & turn. Then from a 45 degree angled run we scissor jumped off 2 and 3 strides from both sides.
Frosbury Flop Technique
Frosbury Flop Technique
Next we jumped backwards over a bar from a high box to practice the flop lay out and different head positions. Either to the side looking down the bar or straight back looking for the colour of the landing mat.
I then demonstrated how to mark out a predetermined high jump run up using a tape measure, chalk and masking tape. The dimensions I used we from a 16 year old male high jumper. The was a 3 meter shake zone before a 3 stride straight and a 5 stride curve. I also drew the curve on the floor with chalk to guide the jumpers to the correct take off position of 50 cm along and 80 cm away from the bar. All the coaches walked thought the run up visualising the approach of the athlete and placing the correct foot on the correct mark. First the coaches ran through over the landing mat for speed, then they scissor jumped from the full run up. A picture from my run up book can be FOUND HERE
Running the curve
Afterwards we went though some running technique drills for jumpers covering the basics, ankle roll, heel pic up, high knee and straight leg jogging. All were done with a transition into a running tuck jump onto the landing mat. These high intensity drills all last for 5 – 15 seconds and can really help train short distance sprinting fitness.
Finally some of us took some full run up jumps off a spring board to give the feeling of more air time and to easily practice the full Frobury Flop technique. This is great for young jumpers to get a sense of the timing of jumping high and is a LOT of fun which will keep your athletes coming back for more.
Simon Hunt - Coaching
Spring board jumping
Simon Hunt - Coaching
Frosbury Flop Technique
Frosbury Flop Technique
SImon Hunt - Coaching
SImon Hunt - Coaching
Junior High Jump Run Up
Sebastian´s first proper high jumping session in Sognsvann Hall Oslo, since his knee operation 18 months ago. He is 16 and growing towards 1.90m tall. We have trained a lot at Bislett Stadium, running and jumping in a straight line, all pain free. Bislett indoor section was rebuilt 2 years ago with a stupid low roof preventing proper high jumping on the only indoor Mondo surface in Oslo. So we have to high jump in Sognsvann, even though I dislike the floor surface.
High Jump Run Up - Sebastian
Last week we did some run up trials to calculate the best approach for Sebastian, using my Run Up Calculator. I chose an 8 stride approach, 3 straight and 5 on the curve. This will give a larger radius to his curve, keeping the twisting forces on his legs and knees low. I set his take off angle at 35 degrees to avoid any chance of pronation at take off, this will also keep the radius high. With a take off point of 50cm along the bar and 80cm out. I did this to encourage him to jump with speed from the beginning and to give him plenty of room to drive his knee over the bar.
Sorry about the focus on the video, my partner Julia is getting used to the Canon 550D for the first time, standard zoom objective used. The camera is placed at the centre of his curve and filmed in 1080p at 25 frames per second (1 frame is 0.04s). This is a good place to film from as the distance between the camera and the athlete remains the same. The length of curve, which is drawn out in calk on the floor, is 8.43m with a radius of 8.77m. The run up speed was calculated for each jump using the formula:
frames on curve / frames per sec e.g. 33/25 = 1.32 sec running the curve
curve distance / time on curve e.g. 8.43m/1.32 sec = 6.4 m per sec
We recored 17 jumps with run up speeds between 6.2 to 6.8 meters per second. My target for Sebastian is for him to be between 7.0 to 7.5 meters per second.
Below is a video from Tora Harris on his youtube channel, where he shows how the pro´s do it in training. Notice his progression of jumping with speed going from running over the bed to floping. A must see.
So most athletes will be about 5 – 6 weeks into their winter training, reaching the end of Phase 1. This phase usually revolves around general strength and conditioning for the event using circuit training and weightlifting. The weights are to increase muscle growth (hypertrophy) and to stimulate the hormonal system so the body will adapt to the high work loads in this phase. For many years I have traditionally used 3 x 10 reps @ 70% max for the olympic lifts. This year as I´m no longer a competing athlete so I fancied a change, and as you get older and more experienced the training needs to be different to give the same hormonal responses. I started training a few times with a guy call Khadam who is a coach to professional body builders. As coaches I asked if I could join in on his own leg workout which was MEGA!! Basically I did at lest half the weight he did. That may sound lame but considering he is about 125kg of pure muscle and can pump out 6 reps @ 600kg on the leg press, it was good going. Khadam moved to Oslo from Baghdad 3 years ago and looks like he eats US soldiers for breakfast! I have written below my work out that I have been doing on mondays for the last few weeks with great results. This work out requires 72 hours recovery (seriously it does!!) to be effective in building muscle. So I only do once a week at the moment due to my work schedual. I also have a Baghdad chest and back workouts that are really good to. Principally it is 4 x 15 reps but as always with body building there is a large element of repetition till failure and striping down the weight to carry on the reps. Warm up and cool down are done properly with some healthy walking at the end + steam room + sauna. The rest period is kept short except with leg press and squat. I use ´grasp´ knee wraps on leg press and squat that are really good and I highly recommend. I am recovering from a ruptured calf muscle (1 x 3 cm area on my left medial gastrocnemius) a few months ago, so the calf work is lighter that at full fitness. I was also stronger on all exercises before my injury, with up to 360 kg for 6 reps on the leg press. I weigh 76 kg and I´m 1.86 m tall.
I use this PDF work sheet to record my training, you can download and use it for free by clicking the link. Baghdad Leg Workout
Seated Hamstring Curls – 4 x 15 @ 30, 40, 50, 60 kg (also some of these and the lying sets should be single leg)
Lying Hamstring Curls – 4 x 15 @ 20, 30, 40, 45 kg
Single Leg Press (full range) – 1 x 15 @ 70 kg
Double leg Press (full range, knee wraps + belt) – 1 x 15 @ 150 kg, 1 x 12 @ 190 kg, 1 x 10 @ 230 kg, 1 x 6 or 8 @ 270 kg
Squat in Smith Rack (knee wraps + belt) – 1 x 10 @ 60 kg full range, next 3 sets thigh (femur) parallel to floor – 1 x 8 @ 100kg, 2 x 6 @ 120 kg
Leg Extension – 4 x 15 @ 25, 35, 40, 45 kg (slight pause at full extension)
Hack Squat – 4 x 15 (or failure) @ 40, 50, 60, 60 kg + 15 reps straight leg calf raise at the end of each set before rest.
Seated Calf Raise – 4 x 15 (or strip down) @ 35, 45, 45, 45 kg
This is a great short video about the technical aspects of the high jump approach. It is part of a DVD produced by my friend Goran Obradović, who is a coach for jumping and multi events at Vojvodina Athletics Club Novi Sad, Serbia. Goran has also worked with many international jumpers for the Serbian team. The video gives a concise explanation of the physics involved and the main characteristics of the top jumpers. Really worth seeing a few times if you need a deeper understanding of the event and how to coach it. You can view Goran Obradović YouTube channel and contact him via his Facebook Page. To calculate the approach curve radius and final angle you can use my High Jump Approach Calculator
This is a winter training session on the 26th September 2011 at Bislett Stadium Oslo, Norway. Winter training phase 1, so my focus is on fitness and conditioning. I am also working on Christiffer´s running and hurdling technique, so lots of drills and observing. Chris was also wearing the heart rate monitor Garmin Forerunner 305. Total calories burned 1,593 Kcal in 2 h 20m.
Winter Training Christoffer Adielsson Heart Rate Graph
1000m Jog and stretches 1 -25
Winter Training Christoffer Adielsson Heart Rate Data
Drills
Sprints
Hurdles, one stride quick legs + correct arms 5m run on
3 x 5 hurdles 10 feet apart
3 x 8 hurdles 10 feet apart
3 x 10 hurdles 10 feet apart
Shot Throwing
4kg over head throw x 4
4kg forward throw x 5
Pole Vault Bed Circuit
4 Sets 1min rest between sets
This is a quality leg workout for everyone, especially high jumpers and power athletes. It is a very good cardiovascular workout, as well as improving ankle and hip stability due to the uneven surface. Doing this on a large high jump or pole vault bed reduces stress and impact on the joints, and gives some soft resistance.
Fuss Ahmed is one of the top high jump coaches of all time. He teaches in a highly technical way and communicates this in terms of rhythm and feeling to his athletes. Fuzz has coached many great high jumpers including Olympians Tom Parsons and Brendan Reilly. After training, working and being friends with Fuzz Ahmed it was a real pleasure to see him in Oslo, Norway back in 2010. The first video is of the training conference, where he was a guest speaker, with some of the top Norwegian jumpers all currently coached by Hanne Haugland. The next two videos are examples of his training philosophy.
Chris, Martin and Patrick. This is a training session for sprinter and hurdlers at the start of the Winter phase. This phase is about general conditioning and fitness while training the mind to use 100% of the muscle fibres in functionally specific movements. This is fundamental to the development of the skill, to work to fatigue without loss of technique. E.g. the dips and narrow press-ups are to increase strength of the chest and shoulders (pectoralis and anterior deltoid) in the sagittal plane, not the horizontal. This should give my runners a better arm drive and more forward power in a month or two. I might make this into a video as well, until then, any questions of the exercise description just comment and I will clarify.
Winter Circuit Training
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