I got up early and walked around the city for most of the morning, taking in the sights and sounds. Beijing is really a unique city with tons of culture and history. I know I’ll look back one day and realize how lucky I was to have had this incredible opportunity to have experienced it.
Until next time, all my best!
We had our meeting with Mr. Sun this morning; it was really more of a debriefing than anything else. He suggested that on our next trip, we would work with only Olympic champions. The problem that poses is that there are so many Olympic and World champions walking around this place. Its unbelievable! Our meeting lasted about two hours and when we finished the meeting, it was time for lunch and another meeting with the director of all the National teams. Today they took us to a Japanese steak house where they cooked on the table. I was excited at first until I saw some of the food coming out to be cooked.
They did serve us Kobe beef, which is very expensive. I believe the cost of the meat was around like 30 yen per ounce. It was really good and I enjoyed it. This lunch lasted a couple of hours and when we were through, I headed over to the training center for my 2:00 session with the high jumper. I started him off with a resistance dynamic warm up which consisted of me having him wear a belt and I hooked two cords to him to speed up the process. I then had him do the same exercises with the shackles that I had done with him a couple of days earlier. We then went into a lateral resistance movement drill, working on the push off and drive phase of his jumping. I then hooked him up with a make shift vertimax that I have developed to be taken on the road. I had him do different types of jumping, fast explosive jumps, quarter jumps, negatives, and fast bouncing and explosive jumps. We always finish with a set of contrast jumps. He LOVED it!
His coach and a couple of track athletes had come to watch and film. I asked them if it made sense to them and they all said, “absolutely!” Again, my problem can be adapted for any sport or movement in that sport.
His session lasted about an hour and a half and he was drenched. We finished his session with a long cool down stretch. Next time I’m back in China, his coach wants me to work with all his jumpers and throwers. I can’t wait!
I finished off my day by working with the men’s weightlifting team. I love all the athletes that I get to work with however, the weightlifters have a special place in my heart. I have been doing strength training since I was a very young man and have followed the strong men from Paul Anderson to the current world and Olympic champions. The Chinese head coach has trained more Olympic champions than any weightlifting coach alive today and it was really an honor to get to hang out and work with his team!
I showed him and some of his lifters some eccentric loading of the quads to strengthen and stabilize the hip region. Dr. Bob had identified some areas that needed to be addressed. The strength athletes were eager to add these exercises to their training regiments.
We spent about three hours working with multiple athletes and I had so much fun hanging out and interacting with the weightlifters. They reminded me of our NFL players with there pushing, shoving, flicking, joking, and generally having fun with each other. I felt right at home.
We had dinner and said our goodbyes to all the staff, I can’t believe it’s already time to go home. My flight will leave at 4:00 pm from Beijing and get into Chicago at 5:00 pm on the same day and then I’ve got a two hour flight back to Atlanta. I guess I’ll head off to bed. Good night!
This morning they picked me up at 8:30 to go and train one of the women’s badminton teams. The coaches liked what I had done with the Olympic and world champions and had asked if I was available to work with all the team members. Again, we broke down all the movements on the court and trained them with resistance. I also included some reaction drills that are relevant to their sport. I really enjoy working with female athletes for a number of reasons. One, they have so much passion for their sport. Two, they are just fun to work with and three, they are all so appreciative of anything you do for them.
We had a couple of hours training and they seemed to enjoy the work even though - work is work! It’s hard to believe that I only have one day left to train. The time flies when I’m here. I’m not looking forward to that flight home, however, I am looking forward to going home.
This afternoon we had a lecture and called it quits for the day around 4:30. Tonight we had a pleasant surprise when our meeting was held at TGIF’s. This was the first western food that I have ever eaten while here in Beijing and boy did I need it!
Tomorrow morning we have a meeting with the deputy director of the training bureau at 9:30 am. We then will have lunch and debriefing with the assistant deputy director and talk about the schedule for next year.
Dinner tomorrow night is with the doctor in charge of treatment for all the national teams. Well, it’s 10:30 pm and time to hit the sack.
This morning I woke at 5:30 am and decided to go out for a walk. You would think that the streets would be relatively quiet. Wrong! The streets were filled with hustle and bustle and people going to work, kids bicycling to school, old folks out for their exercise, shop owners getting ready for the day, street vendors displaying their wares, and this strange westerner walking by with an ipod, oblivious to the outside world. It occurred to me this morning that people around the world are just like us. They have the same wants and desires, same aspirations for their children, feel the same happiness and same pain as us.
Listening to one of my all time favorite bands, the Doobie Brothers, (I’m really dating myself now) I’m reminded of their lyrics, “What the people need is a way to make them smile, it ain’t so hard to do if you know how.” I realized that a smile and a “nihao” or hello as I walked the streets this morning might be the only smile or acknowledgement that that man, women, or child might have today. Life is too short not to enjoy every moment, every experience, every meal and every encounter with a stranger. It occurred to me this morning that I might be the only person from America to ever speak to that Chinese person. I’ve always used my travels to spread diplomacy in foreign countries and am always amazed to see the smiles reciprocated back to me.
As I walked by a group of middle school boys waiting for the bus, I high fived a couple of them and the surprised looks on their faces and giggles made my day! Today is going to be a GREAT day!
This morning I helped the rehab staff with some exercise questions. We take for granted our education system and what we have access to in the way of academia. This morning was pretty slow but I was told that I would be working with the women’s badminton team this early afternoon so I was taken over to their training complex and videoed some of their training. Later in the day I would be working with the women’s Gold medalist from the 2008 Beijing Olympic games. As it turned out, I worked with both the women’s Olympic champion and world champion. Both of these girls worked extremely hard and I had a blast training them. I’ve found women athletes work hard, are appreciative, and don’t have the attitudes that some of the elite level men athletes have.
I warmed them up with my ballistic dynamic warm-ups to get their core ready for work. I used the shackles to start the work. We did walking lunges, marches, step squat, backward diagonal steps, lateral slides, 3 step diagonal slides and finished with a suicide reaction drill. I then had the girls partner up and I started some resistance pattern reaction movements. I had watched video from the morning session and came up with specific movements that mimic the actual movements on the court without impeding the skills. They loved it and it made sense to them, train like you play! I did a couple of other different movement with the cords and punch belts and again both girls worked hard and both gave me a big hug when we were through. Oh, the benefits of my JOB!
Both champions asked if I would be in a photo with them and I was honored to be sandwiched between and Olympic and a world Champion! I knew it was going to be a great day today!
Tomorrow I have been told that I would be working with five Olympic Champions from men’s badminton: gold, silver, and bronze Olympians, plus gold and silver medalist from the World Games. It should be another great day.
I knew that I was going to crash last night. We got back to the hotel at 6:30 and by 7:00 I was out like a light. I awoke at 1:30am with all my clothes on and the light’s still on in my hotel room. It was nice to finally get caught up on some sleep. The Chinese decided they would give us Saturday off in exchange for us working on Sunday.
I had planned to visit a few famous places around Beijing and shoot some video. I have worked enough with Bob Sharrett, our video guy at CES, to know how to use the HD camera that he has loaned me. The director of the training center is picking me up at 9:30 am and has volunteered to drive me around. The first place he takes me is this giant outdoor park where hundreds of people are doing all kinds of exercise. He explained to me that belonging to a commercial gym is very expensive so all these people come to the park and do some form of exercise. Now, let me tell you, I mean all kinds of exercise! I saw Tai-Chi, swing dancing, calisthenics, fan dance, synchronized racquet forms, all types of people playing musical instruments, martial arts, gymnastics, checkers, carioca, and every other kind of exercise that you can and can’t even imagine. Old and young, in shape and not in shape, the Chinese definately know how to enjoy the outdoor environment and all their surroundings. One of the coolest things I saw was an old man using a big paint brush painting a poem on the sidewalk in Chinese characters using water. It was really beautiful and the old man told me he has done this for 20 years for his exercise. It’s pretty amazing how creative and ingenious these people are.
Next, Mr. Lee and Mr. Lou took me to Tiananmen Square. It’s a very famous place here in Beijing and a lot of history took place in the Square. I took some great video and enjoyed walking around watching people and haggling with the street vendors. I have traveled enough to know how to play that game.
They returned me to the hotel around 2:00 and we had lunch. We had deer, lamb, eel, and shark fin, just to name a few of the dishes that my host ordered for us. Needless to say, I’m not a fan of REAL CHINESE FOOD!
Tonight my host is taking us out for a dinner of spiced crab and scrimp. We are eating dinner at this very famous restaurant that serves seafood and where all the celebrities who visit Beijing come to eat. They have photos of Yao Ming and many, many, other famous athletes who have eaten crab here. The food was actually very, very, good and I really enjoyed tonight. We had a meeting back at the hotel around 9:00 with a Chinese businessman who wanted to visit with us about some opportunities here in China. I finally went to bed at 11:00 and I’m hoping for another good night’s sleep.
The cycle continues! I woke up at 3:30 am and could not go back to sleep. I waited until 5:00 am and then went downstairs and got a 45-minute workout on the treadmill. It’s raining outside and looks really dreary. I’ll grab a protein bar for breakfast and then head over to the training center. I have a couple of meeting with some companies about some sponsorship related to working with the Chinese Olympic Teams. I’m not at liberty to say which ones, however, these meetings could develop into something exciting for CES and me.
I had nothing to do this morning so I helped Dr. Bob Donatella and Dr. Lillian Chin with their lecture. I normally don’t feel to comfortable intruding on any Dr.’s lectures, however, this morning the lecture was on baseball pitching. I have had a ton of experience working with professional baseball players in particular, pitchers. I contributed when appropriable. I mostly interjected on training the throwing movements. This lecture lasted two hours and then we had lunch in the dinning hall where all the athletes eat.
After lunch, we went back to the rehab center and I worked with one of the girls on the synchronized swimming team who has had some problems with her hip. Dr. Bob worked with her first and then I took her back and did some rehab type training. I worked training the abduction/adduction, hip flexion, extensors, glutes, hamstrings, and some core.
Today brings back a lot of great memories of when I spent two years working as an exercise physiologist in a sports rehab center. It was one of the best things that I have ever done in my professional career. Knowing how to work with orthopedic doctors and physical therapists in rehabbing athletes was invaluable! Over the years, we have had the opportunity to work and rehab some great athletes. A few years ago, I did the rehab on Garrison Hearst, a running back with the 49er’s. Garrison was the NFL comeback player of the year that year and I got great satisfaction from working with him. This year we worked with Nolan Carroll who had broken both bones in his lower leg after his first game at the University of Maryland. Because of my background in rehab, we were able to convince he and his family to let us do his rehab and get him back and ready for the NFL draft. Nolan ran in the 4.3’s and was drafted in the 5th round and is the comeback story of this years NFL draft class.
One of the constants that I see with the Chinese athletes is overtraining syndrome. Most of their teams train anywhere from 6 to 8 hours per day with only one day off for rest. You just can’t push your body that hard for that long and not start to break down. I have seen the effects of overtraining with multiple teams and athletes. You need 24 to 48 hours between training sessions for recovery or you will start seeing negative side effects.
I just found out today that the teams that I have been working with are still at the Asian Games. The women’s volleyball and badminton teams are not back yet so I’ll just work teaching the rehab staff and some of the coaches. The one thing that you learn working with the Chinese, is being flexible!
We have worked today on a male field hockey player, soccer player, badminton player, and a couple of other sports. I’m really tired right now; not getting enough sleep is starting to catch up with me! I’m watching the clock right now and that’s so not like me. I’ve always had the attitude that as long as an athlete wants to get better I’ll say as long as needed. Unfortunately, today is not one of those days, I can’t wait to get back to the hotel!
Good Morning China!
Well, I was wrong about the good night’s rest. I woke up at 3:00 am. Since I was wide awake I tried to answer all my emails. I don’t have wi-fi in my room so I have to get on line through the TV. It takes 30 minutes to get hooked up just to get on.
I waited until 6:00 am and went down to the gym in the hotel and got in a little cardio work on the treadmill and some light weight work with the dumbbells. It’s good to break a sweat and hopefully I’ll be able to sleep better tonight.
We were given the morning off to relax and get settled. This afternoon I have to teach strength training to some coaches and PT’s. Bob Sharrett, our video guy, had helped me put together a training DVD of some of the lifts we do at CES. I will leave it for the coaches to have and use with their teams. The actual lifting programs are completely different and I don’t have enough time or space to go in depth with the periodization training that each team does throughout the year.
This afternoon I gave a three hour lecture. The first hour was a PowerPoint presentation broken down into different strength topics. It answered basic questions like: what is strength? what is the difference between absolute and dynamic strength, what are the component’s of muscle tissue? what is the SAID principle? how many muscles are in the body? (650 in case you didn’t know), what are the benefits of strength training? what are the steps in developing a beginner weight training program? what is the procedure for setting up a super circuit? and so on and so on!
My translator was not so good today only because the training words we use were foreign to her. I had about 10 coaches and PT’s in this class. Most of them are college graduates however, most have never studied strength and sports performance and don’t really have a grasp on how to train and use strength training for sports rehab.
The second part of the PowerPoint was general training principles: the principles of specificity and the SAID principles (specific adaptations to imposed demands (workload), the overload principles, 8 principles of resistance exercise training: exercise R.O.M, exercise speed, breathing, rest between sets, recommended sets, increasing weight load, exercise intensity, and muscle balance. I also went over basic lifts, what joints were used and what muscles are being developed with the movement. This section was a little harder for the Chinese to assimilate.
The last section was more training terminology with terms like: Delorme – Watkins system, the Berger system, progressive resistance, super sets, pyramid training, giant sets, periodization training models, speed – strength, circuit training and a few other systems. The classroom lecture was a little laborious for the coaches but not so much for the PT’s.
The classroom lecture was about one hour. The second phase of my presentation today was watching a 30 minute DVD of each exercise that we routinely do at CES in Atlanta. We had shot most of the lifts last week prior to me leaving for Beijing. Bob Sharrett had edited the DVD into more of an instructional video with different angles, slow motion, and some other side effects. It’s always better to see and demonstrate than to just read about it. This lasted about 45 minutes.
The last section for the day was a practical session. I took the group into the gym and started from the head to the toes showing exercises, techniques, proper hand placement, spotting, breathing, program design (sets, reps) dumbbell exercises, Olympic movements, cleans, snatchs, push – jerks, compound movements, and rehab exercises. This session took about one and a half hours. I think this session was really the most productive for the group. I finished around 5:30 pm and then headed back to the hotel for dinner and hopefully some much needed sleep.
