Ten Myths
 
 
Ten Myths About Cross Country Ski Training
 
It’s North America. If we get children the best equipment, push them to race from an early age, and encourage them to work extremely hard, then they will make the Podium. Masters athletes simply need to work harder and longer to get back to where they used to be.
It is not so. It won’t work. The results are clear. Failure, either now or later.
Let’s take a look at ten common Myths about fitness and training, and why they don’t work.
 
 
Myth #1
He/She must be really good – they’re really fast
(or strong, or flexible …)
 
For peak performances, athletes need to be balanced in ALL core areas (see below). They must pay attention to their overall athletic balance – and it pays to spend the time to correct specific weaknesses to achieve that overall balance.
  1.     Coordination – skills – rhythm
  2.     Endurance
  3.     Speed
  4.     Strength
  5.     Flexibility
  6.     Balance
 
 
The longer it takes to address imbalances, the harder it will be to improve competitive performances. Overall athletic balance is most readily acquired by children (see Myth #2). In this modern world of sitting and driving, athletic balance is one of the first things to go.
 
 
Myth #2
You’ve Got to Focus On One Sport
(or you will never get anywhere)
 
In exercise general fitness is most important, and the younger the athlete, the more important is to emphasize GENERAL FITNESS training. Other sports can be used for active rest, to recover from overuse injuries, and to develop other physical capacities. There is no reason to be competitive in everything that you do.  
The reason why most athletes burn out between the ages of 16 – 20:
  1.     Underdeveloped general fitness before entering phases of specific training (see Myth #1)
  2.     When athletes are not prepared through general fitness, Specific Training results in overuse injuries – often at the point where an athlete really begins to think they are on the verge of big improvements.
  3.     When athletes burnout (see Burnout), it is exceedingly difficult to recover – it takes years.
 
Myth #3
Training plans don’t really work
(they are a waste of time)
 
Too often athletes simply ‘just do it’, following the advice of friends, teachers, and parents. Triathlons, soccer, skiing, badminton, race-walking, cycling, whatever – it’s all training.
 
Training Plans WORK. In fact they are MANDATORY for success, but they need to be built properly, tailored to the athlete, the athlete’s history, the developmental stage, and the athlete’s goals.
 
They promote:
  1.     Regular, structured training, and planned progressions;
  2.     Ongoing monitoring and revision by the coach (email coaching is a guaranteed failure – the plan must be reviewed through ongoing, DIRECT coaching contact)
  3.     Safe training – where other sports are also done (see Myth # 2) having a training plan will avoid the burnout that often comes through premature, successive ‘peaking’ under different coaching regimes.
 
Of course, the coach needs to understand and recognize age-specific issues, and the plan must follow the most basic principles:
  1.     From simple to complicated
  2.     From light to heavy
  3.     From slow to fast
  4.     From easy to hard
 
Above all, the plan needs to build sustainably over time.
 
Increasingly, kids and parents are happy because they think that when training is hard the training must be good. Children and youth are trying to develop speed by working AGAINST the most basic physiological rule “ the younger the athlete, the more difficult is to metabolize lactic acid”. These days it is normal to see children doing interval training sessions in September, as young as 10 years old – WRONG. They rarely pay attention to time and the need for active recovery. They need a plan – a year-round plan.
 
In most ski clubs scheduled training programs only start in September. Training must be systematic, planned, age-dependent, AND year-round. Coaches need to become involved with coaching between May & August if they are ever going to influence competitive performances without athlete burnout.
 
Do you know athletes accumulate fatigue when they practice intensive training without proper preparation? Many studies show that the majority of athletes and coaches do not pay attention to:
  1.     Proper nutrition
  2.     Monitored recovery time
  3.     Active rest activities
 
As a result athletes are experiencing over-training, overuse injuries, no improvement, and losing interest in their own sport and physical activities.
They need a plan.  A Year-round Plan.  And the plan needs to be monitored – by a professional, not a parent (see Myth #7).
 
 
Myth #4
It’s Too Bad You Didn’t Win
 
It’s NOT too bad they didn’t win because winning now means nothing later. Absolutely NOTHING: Jv Boy/Girl, Jr boy/Girl, Jr Man/Woman – Nothing.
 
What is ‘winning’ when children compete in narrow calendar-age groups populated by children who may be biologically five years  ahead in growth, who may have skied twice as many years, or who simply had a better breakfast. For children (<18 years) race results mean little – nothing in fact.
Competition is about testing performance. And for little children that means performance in little things – did they want to go that morning; did they choose to eat the right food; did they put their own skis on; were they smiling in a turn; were they balanced and having fun in the bumps at the bottom of the hill – whatever. Just one little thing at a time that originates with them. That’s how to measure performance.
 
For older children, little things get a little bigger – the quality of transitions, the quality of downhill control, the pacing in a particular section – but still, not the complete race. A complete race is still nothing (see Myth #5).
 
The myth about ‘winning’ discourages biologically younger children/youth from ever getting into a sport routine because they think it will be impossible to become better than so-called “ TALENTED” ones. WRONG.
Developed routines and good training habits can bring every individual to a very high competitive level.
 
Athletic talent can only be estimated AFTER 5 years of systematic, organized training, focusing on individual improvements, not race results.
 
A misplaced focus on results is also true for adults. Most Masters ‘athletes’ think only about improving their results while ignoring the fact that their aerobic abilities are underdeveloped and that their athletic balance (see Myth #1) is compromised by overuse injuries.
 
Myth #5
Fast training makes faster skiers
(I simply don’t know how to go slow)
 
How can you do a fast motion, if you cannot do the same motion slowly?
 
How can you do a fast motion correctly and reliably in changing race conditions if your muscles can’t do them correctly and reliably in simple, slow training?
 
Fast training simply means ‘no change’ in the quality of the fast motions - muscles need to time learn how to coordinate at speed. You have no chance to perform without doing many hours of aerobic-level training using ‘perfect’ technique – that means that it needs to be done under the supervision of a qualified coach.
 
Low intensity physical activities are the most basic training options – that is where MOST TIME needs to be spent (see Training Pyramid, and Learn to Listen).
 
Aerobic training is the oldest physical fitness training. It was known in the era of gladiators. Low intensity preparation is also known in the movie ‘Karate Kid’ – “ wax on – wax off”. It is the most important form of biomechanical and physiological training. Aerobic training has huge benefits due to the development of important routines and habits.
 
High-volume, aerobic training is too important an activity to undertake WITHOUT the supervision of a qualified coach. Only a coach can recognize weaknesses in technique and the need for change.
 
Myth #6
Strength workouts are the key
(Check my abs)
 
Despite all the hype about fancy, trendy exercise facilities and routines, it is not true that your performance depends mostly on strength training – strength is simply ONE ELEMENT of overall athletic balance (see Myth #1).
The actual balance needed is determined by the sport.
 
You will see more “bodybuilders” on skis in North America than anywhere else, but not in European competition. Curious.
 
Myth #7
The Coach is OK – he uses a manual
(we follow a book)
 
No coaching manual can work if the coach does not know how to make a balanced training session where athletes can feel comfortable to learn, enjoy, and improve. Many people can read a music score, but few - very few, can conduct an orchestra.
 
The manual is useless where the age-dependency of motor skills in children cannot be recognized and accommodated. Gymnastic training is a most visible example.
 
Children and athletes of all ages like to play – to expand their limits naturally. That is why all serious athletes have training partners.
 
Let the children to play on skis with the guidance of knowledgeable coaches:
 
  1.     Ski behind the child or group of children, never in front of them
  2.     Keep simple order in the group of children
  3.     Introduce games – then let the children be creative
  4.     Do not let children to feel cold standing around chatty coaches, the children want to move on skis, not freeze  
  5.     Do not allow fun training for children to become an interesting babysitting service for parents
 
Myth #8
To get better, work harder
(why do I fall apart every year?)
 
Masters skiers are generally not patient people. Master skiers need to recognize Myths #1, #2 and #3, otherwise their skiing will be characterized by steady regression and lots of overuse injuries.
 
Some important facts for healthy masters training;
  1.     Potential for improvements in physical abilities is limited and it can be readily achieved through qualified coaching.
 
Technique improvements, however, are practically unlimited:
 
  1.     Frequency and rhythm
  2.     Vigorous double poling or one kick double poling
  3.     Accuracy & dynamic motion of  
  4.     Kick (classic technique)
  5.     Push of (skating technique)
  6.     Choice of right technique in variety of terrains
 
The typical North American masters philosophy “most possible suffering per 1$ spent” is wrong, and very unhealthy.
 
 
Myth #9
Nothing works
(therefore something is wrong!)
 
This is not just a myth but also a very bad idea. It is easy to get skeptical and critical if you don't see immediate results. Performances and improvements vary from one individual to the other, as well as the rate at which they occur. They reflect a large complex of physical, psychological, technical, tactical abilities, and skills. So when you are on a training plan, remember your goal is long term, with short term performance improvements mostly due to:
 
  1.     Right training at home and on training camps
  2.     Team partners and cooperation
  3.     Nutrition
  4.     Recovery
  5.     Go easy when you need to go easy
  6.     Go hard when it is the time to go hard (to figure out when it is time, see Myths # 3, 5, 6 - and get a full-time coach).
 
 
Myth #10
I made the cut
(I’m on the team – I’m on the way up).
 
Many athletes measure success by meeting a particular selection criteria or team. They do not understand that a new team jacket has nothing to do with becoming a better athlete. Maintain your focus on what it takes to become better, not the jacket.
 
Progression is marked by successive, new levels of athletic responsibility and attitude.
 
New teams and associations demand higher standards – make sure you understand what needs to change, and why!
 
Good athletes improve by:
  1.     Training discipline
  2.     Work ethics within the new team
  3.     Responding to new challenges with better performances
 
 
Blow Up the Myths – Find Simple Truths that Work
 
It is a difficult thing to grow a human body to achieve its peak athletic potential. To do it right takes lots of childhood preparation, and at least 15 years of planned, systematic training after age 10. There are pitfalls everywhere, but it can be done.
Start with the right professional coach.
Develop patience and a big – a very big, time horizon.
Focus on the little things and value the systematic progressions (see the Training Pyramid).
Never look at ‘results’.
The longest and toughest battle in training is to recognize the need for TIME and PATIENCE.
It takes time and patience to develop athletic balance through coordination – skills – rhythm, endurance, speed, strength, flexibility, and balance.
It takes time and patience to develop the capacity for work (see the Training Pyramid).
 
 
Recognize the core truths. Then learn to live them.
 
 
To recognize the truths about training - take a look at the myths.
We all need time to grow - it is important to do it right.
Thursday, April 12, 2007
Chapter 4:  Ten Myths