China Training Centers
So I worked at two of the National Training Centers during the trip. The first is near the City Center and they focus primarily on basketball, badminton, ping pong, gymnastics, Olympic weightlifting, and some track and field. The second was at Beijing Sport University and they have some track and field (we saw throwers and I believe they have jumpers, too) and rhythmic gymnastics and trampolining. The third I did not go to, but that is located near “The (Swimming) Cube.” It is very difficult to discern the true structure.
Quality
The athletes we worked with were truly the best of the best China has…and they are treated like National treasures. The government pays for them to train either at one of these three centers or they pay for them to train with a private coach in other countries like Germany and Australia.
Shot put
We worked with several shot putters, including some of the very best in the world. Just incredible watching them work and throw. They were some big athletes (up to 250 pounds for some of the females) who moved pretty gracefully for being so big. The bruising/marking on their cheeks were telltale signs of all their long hours of practice.
Crazy Exercise
Making the rounds on Facebook a few months ago was a crazy looking exercise that people ridiculed. Well . . . it turns out to be a staple of training for Chinese Olympic throwers. This is being performed by the athlete in all black. Note the javelin thrower performing the snatch exercise in the background.
Javelin Thrower
One of my favorite athletes to watch train was a javelin thrower. She had excellent technique with exercises, including some plyometrics box/depth jumps here.
Training philosophies
Two general observations:
- Don’t tell a coach that an athlete is weak in a certain muscle (like hip abductors, etc.); the response from the coach is to add more weight, not focus on proper training. Using terms like waking up a muscle is much better.
- Passive treatments (both modalities and manual techniques) are the preferred rehab tools. Therapeutic exercise to fix underlying issues is not commonly used. Whenever I would instruct an athlete to perform certain exercises, they were receptive, but always asked about machines to use (like ultrasound, diathermy). The throwers always liked quick fix manual therapies that likely (certainly?) won’t result in long term gains.
Fun while the coach is away
The primary throwing coach traveled to another country the last day I was there. The result? Music, games, socializing, fun. None of this happened while he was there supervising.