aw basics

Secrets of the STARS

Tricks of the trade used by the world’s top athletes can easily be repeated by newcomers to the sport

► Ice baths to prevent injuries – Paula Radcliffe

For many years athletes have spent the moments following tough training sessions or competitive events standing in huge plastic bins full of iced water. But this behind-the-scenes practise was brought into the public spotlight by Paula Radcliffe, who intrigued fans and the media by explaining that she often knelt in a bath full of iced water after training sessions.

Why? Because the cold water helps reduce inflammation and also improves the circulation, thus both reducing the likelihood of injuries and also speeding up recovery.

AW Basics tip: Make your lower legs the priority. The idea in an iced bath sounds terrifyingly cold – and it is – so use one of Radcliffe’s secret ploys by wearing a warm top and drinking something hot while you literally ‘chill’ out.

► Never neglect speed and strength – Seb Coe

While it is tempting, especially for older distance runners, to plod through steady mileage day after day, Seb Coe says that completing at least one speed session and at least one or two strength workouts per week will help to keep you fast and fluid.

Athletes lose speed and strength with age too, so this means there is even more reason for aging athletes to work on these areas. At his peak, Coe emphasised quality over quantity and regularly carried out countless sessions of sprint drills, speed efforts on the track and up hills and strength workouts in the gym and weights room.

AW Basics tip: If running fast doesn’t appeal to you, then try to squeeze in half a dozen to a dozen fast strides on grass or up hill over 80-100 metres at the end of a steady run. If you hate weights work, then get in the habit of doing press ups, sit ups and other circuit training-style exercises – again after one of your daily runs.

► Dedication is the key – Daley Thompson

According to legend, the world’s greatest decathlete trained three times on Christmas Day. It was a routine that paid off because while his rivals were probably enjoying an easy day and eating more than usual, Thompson was gaining that extra necessary percentage of an advantage that could often make the difference between gold and silver.

AW Basics tip: Unless you’re a full-time athlete aiming to break the world decathlon record, don’t train three times a day – any day, let alone Christmas Day. But you can learn a lot from Thompson’s dedication and when you are next tempted to have an unnecessary day off due to plain laziness, then stop and think again.

► Work on your core strength – Kelly Holmes

Everyone has been impressed by the abdominal muscles owned by the likes of Kelly Holmes, Denise Lewis and Colin Jackson. But building such a physique did not come easily and they have a purpose too – giving the athlete a strong core to help the overall competitive performance.

When in full training, Holmes was known to complete hundreds of sits ups in one session and these rock-hard abs armed her with a cast-iron core that her legs and arms worked as pistons from.

AW Basics tip: Don’t just do standard sit ups as they will only affect one area of your core. Choose a variety of core exercises and try to make it a daily habit to perform a few.

► Train with the best – Steve Backley

Britain’s best-ever javelin thrower had already broken the world record, but in a never-ending quest for improvement he realised he needed to travel to eastern Europe to train with a Czech athlete who was his biggest rival, Jan Zelezny. Backley was determined to find out what made Zelezny so good and soon became a friend and training partner of the Czech.

AW Basics tip: We all have rivals, whether they are in our club, area or school. And sometimes it’s not a bad thing to follow the old cliché: if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.

► Stretching is over-rated – Carl Lewis

This is a controversial slice of advice, but one of the greatest Olympians in history, Carl Lewis, has told AW in the past that athletes should not focus
too much on stretching. Instead, he says, they should warm up with light jogging, limbering, mobility exercises and some strides – starting slow and getting progressively quicker.
Lewis is not alone in this view either, for Kenyan distance runners are also known not to emphasise stretching. Like Lewis, they warm up with very slow jogging and prefer mobility exercises (carefully swinging your arms, legs and torso) as opposed to traditional static stretches.

AW Basics tip: Never stretch when cold. Wait until you are fully warmed up before attempting some stretching exercises. While Lewis and the Kenyans do not focus on stretching, many of the world’s top athletes have – with success. AW Basics recommends seeking the advice of a qualified coach to oversee you stretch – preferably at the end of a training session.
 

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