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It’s unfortunate the athletes have to suffer from the societal influence when it comes to broadcasting and coverage. I have become much more interested in individual sports since I started strength training. Watching the skiing is pretty exciting and cross country skiing seems like something that would be fun to compete in. I understand however the angle of the OP, with each individual sport having their own events it’s kinda pointless. Like the World Cup, it only means something to those who never watch the sport on a regular basis.
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Obviously, you can't tell a word class athlete how to improve his game unless you are at that level. No one can tell the best football player in the world how to be better unless he is also the best football player. As soon as the athlete becomes better than his coach, he has learned everything there is to know from that coach and should find a new one. Once you're "the best," there is no one left who can coach you.
It is known.
Member
Well Karate has already been ruined and it didn't even make it to the olympics, so I'm not entirely sure the olympics are what ruined TKD.Originally Posted by Mark Rippetoe
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What I don't understand, and maybe announcers are just making crap up, but the announcers on the Canadian ski broadcasts talk about "this is why these guys are squatting 500 lbs in the offseason." So unless they are just BSing, there some guys actually thinking in terms of being somewhat heavy. There could be crappy form, of course, but at least it would seem to be on the right path.
My only caveat could be that this guy has had nearly every injury imaginable. There could be a bit of protection going on, although one would think he would want to be as strong as possible in that case.
TMPHBITEU
What are the chances that these guys are even close to parallel with 500? We know they can be trained to that level, but in today's S&C climate, what are the chances that they are?
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From my experience alpine and Backcountry snowboarding/splitboarding, I don’t imagine very many skiers obtaining 500 lbs backsquats. That number is obtained by a handful of sprint/track cyclists, but there aren’t really pure “sprinting” events in ski racing. It’s difficult to hold onto muscle when you’re putting in that kind of training on skis. XC skiers and ski mountaineer racers carry much more upper body muscle than Downhill racers and are generally more prone to embrace traditional, full body strength training, however.
Even though I do not compete in snowboarding, it is one of the principal reasons that I strength train year around. I am bigger and heavier (and stronger) than anyone else that I do these things with. My empirical conclusion is that, at some point, pure strength training is going to give you diminishing returns. You do a lot of skinning up a mountain and blasting back down it (3 hours climbing/ 20 minutes back down) and your body will lean out considerably. I don’t formally compete in this stuff and generally being strong is a priority as well (in addition to other athletic pursuits), but if I were competing, I think I’d perform better 20-30 lbs lighter at 170-180 pounds. As is, I can get through a season of snowboarding and XC bike racing while maintaining a backsquat of 350-375. If I optimized my body composition for those sports, I feel certain that number would be drastically reduced. A pro athlete with more resources could probably strike a more ideal balance between strength and weight though they would also be working on their skills and conditioning with much more volume and frequency, but, with regards to the video, 315 x10 seems “pretty strong” by ski racer standards.
The plus side to being comparatively stronger? I find myself with comparatively less injuries and relatively fast recovery times when I do get them. I also seem to be comparatively less physically taxed by difficult days, better yet, difficult consecutive days, than people who exhibit comparatively better aerobic output (but comparatively weaker) on those difficult days. I’m tired when they are wasted. For me, it works, but I’m not specialized for one sport or racing against a clock.
TMPHBITEU
Absolutely. This is especially true if they don't train to do so.
Member
I was curious and scanned through some news articles looking for actual numbers. I get the impression they love squats and value strength. As Svindal states in the Redbull promo video, his 140kg squat is for sets of 10s. I found another article stating 100 kilo squat as a milestone for him while retraining after a major knee injury, and per the article that was half-way to his old 1rm of 190-200 kilos. Aleksander Kilde, another skier on the Norwegian national team, is widely regarded as the strongest on the team, beating all previous records (in the alpine team), earning him the nickname “The Hulk”, and he has a 1rm of 220 kilos (and a weak BP of around half that, obviously not prioritized). His coach really emphasized what he called the “acid test”, where Kilde squatted 35 reps of 135 kilos, maybe more relevant than a 1rm for simulating strength needed for a race. So it seems a squat 1rm well north of 2x bodyweight and 30+ reps of 1,5 bodyweight is the norm in the Norwegian alpine skiing team.
No real point to this post, just thought the numbers I found in Norwegian news articles might be worth sharing, even if not verified in any way. My uneducated opinion is that if looking for successful Olympic athletes that are massively missing out on strength training to increase their performance, the alpine downhill skiers should probably be pretty far down on the list, looks like they already got the memo.
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Finn Aamodt is/was the coach for the alpine-team, and is pwidely regarded as the biggest expert on alpine skiing in Norway. He shows up halfway into this video:
I'll translate what he is saying:
He is asked this question: Could you explain what the purpose to this iron-man competition is?
Finn Aamodt: "As a matter of fact it is a very simple explanation. Alpine-skiing is a very physical sport and you need to be very strong to... the faster you go the more stronger (sic) you need to be. And then this... is put together by a few exercises that... well qualities... that an alpine skier needs. And well... we see a direct correlation between those who perform the best here are also the ones that are the fastest skiers, most often. And that is why we have this test."
So they got the memo as you say to a certain extent, I think they just lack the knowledge to be efficient about their strength training. This is the main guy over there saying this, you will not see an opinion more respected over here on anything alpine-skiing than him, and he is being absolutely clear here that stronger = better. He didn't say anything in here that indicates they have had some guy that got too strong for his own good in there yet.
Member
About the only event I enjoy watching anymore is the biathlon, and that is usually not televised at a convenient time (dark side of the moon usually). Imagine my surprise last week, while out at lunch with the family at the local burger chain (Island's), when I looked up to see the biathlon on one of the multitude of monitors across the place. I also wish they'd bring back the running boar event, but those days are gone. How dare anyone even SIMULATE someone shooting down a running animal! And yet we can happily watch yet another zombie apocalypse episode without blinking an eye...
I'd really like to see something akin to PRS or NRL as event. 20+lb rifle, all your gear in a pack, humping from stage to stage and shooting under pressure at long range. Now (to me) that would be a true modern day display of martial prowess (hell, even three gun would be fun to watch as an Olympic event). Then again, you'd probably scare half the population of what a single, well trained, and well equipped person could do with a firearm. Never mind, I retract my idea.
But as Rip laments, the lineage of military prowess and strength is no longer part of (or even desired to be apart of) the Olympics games these days. It's all kum-bye-ya, and let's all be civilized, tolerant and understanding contestants. Sad. (And the ratings appear to show that.)
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