Heavy Lifting, No Rest, Candy, Steroids: the Bulgarian Method.
Original Link: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304070104576397543601842556.html
The concept of “old” is mutable in many of the sports we follow. The swimmer Michael Phelps, perhaps the greatest U.S. Olympian ever, climbed out of the water after a race a couple of months ago and said to reporters, “I feel like an old man coming out of the pool sometimes.” Phelps, who turns 26 at the end of the month, is indeed past his prime, but mainly because of the course he and his coach set. Phelps trained six consecutive years over one period without taking a single day off, a regimen that produced 16 medals at the last two summer Olympics, including eight golds in 2008 in Beijing. He is stronger than he has ever been and just about as lean — 197 pounds as opposed to the 193 he weighed at his first Olympics, when he was 15. If all it took was physical attributes, Phelps could probably match his accomplishments from Beijing. But he can no longer summon the focus and motivation to train like he did. Phelps plans to swim in London in 2012, but in fewer events. “There’s a volitional and psychological window,” Phelps’s coach, Bob Bowman, told me. “It closes. A lot of it has to do with the effort you put in up to that point.”
A version of the same syndrome — in the vernacular, “burnout” — may be afflicting Tiger Woods, who looks like a very old 35-year-old in a sport in which 35 isn’t that old. Yes, Woods has suffered numerous injuries as well as an incalculable impact on his performance from chaos in his personal life. But it is also true that he has been hyperfocused on golf for an unusually long time — in essence, a professional since he was 2, when he carried a tiny golf bag onto the set of “The Mike Douglas Show” and, with Bob Hope looking over his shoulder, demonstrated his swing. Lots of things are no doubt troubling Woods, but 33 years of high-intensity golf in 35 years of life is quite likely part of the problem.
Just thought I would post this.
Crazy.
From NYT:QuoteThe concept of “old” is mutable in many of the sports we follow. The swimmer Michael Phelps, perhaps the greatest U.S. Olympian ever, climbed out of the water after a race a couple of months ago and said to reporters, “I feel like an old man coming out of the pool sometimes.” Phelps, who turns 26 at the end of the month, is indeed past his prime, but mainly because of the course he and his coach set. Phelps trained six consecutive years over one period without taking a single day off, a regimen that produced 16 medals at the last two summer Olympics, including eight golds in 2008 in Beijing. He is stronger than he has ever been and just about as lean — 197 pounds as opposed to the 193 he weighed at his first Olympics, when he was 15. If all it took was physical attributes, Phelps could probably match his accomplishments from Beijing. But he can no longer summon the focus and motivation to train like he did. Phelps plans to swim in London in 2012, but in fewer events. “There’s a volitional and psychological window,” Phelps’s coach, Bob Bowman, told me. “It closes. A lot of it has to do with the effort you put in up to that point.”
A version of the same syndrome — in the vernacular, “burnout” — may be afflicting Tiger Woods, who looks like a very old 35-year-old in a sport in which 35 isn’t that old. Yes, Woods has suffered numerous injuries as well as an incalculable impact on his performance from chaos in his personal life. But it is also true that he has been hyperfocused on golf for an unusually long time — in essence, a professional since he was 2, when he carried a tiny golf bag onto the set of “The Mike Douglas Show” and, with Bob Hope looking over his shoulder, demonstrated his swing. Lots of things are no doubt troubling Woods, but 33 years of high-intensity golf in 35 years of life is quite likely part of the problem.
Just thought I would post this.
Crazy.
From NYT:QuoteThe concept of “old” is mutable in many of the sports we follow. The swimmer Michael Phelps, perhaps the greatest U.S. Olympian ever, climbed out of the water after a race a couple of months ago and said to reporters, “I feel like an old man coming out of the pool sometimes.” Phelps, who turns 26 at the end of the month, is indeed past his prime, but mainly because of the course he and his coach set. Phelps trained six consecutive years over one period without taking a single day off, a regimen that produced 16 medals at the last two summer Olympics, including eight golds in 2008 in Beijing. He is stronger than he has ever been and just about as lean — 197 pounds as opposed to the 193 he weighed at his first Olympics, when he was 15. If all it took was physical attributes, Phelps could probably match his accomplishments from Beijing. But he can no longer summon the focus and motivation to train like he did. Phelps plans to swim in London in 2012, but in fewer events. “There’s a volitional and psychological window,” Phelps’s coach, Bob Bowman, told me. “It closes. A lot of it has to do with the effort you put in up to that point.”
A version of the same syndrome — in the vernacular, “burnout” — may be afflicting Tiger Woods, who looks like a very old 35-year-old in a sport in which 35 isn’t that old. Yes, Woods has suffered numerous injuries as well as an incalculable impact on his performance from chaos in his personal life. But it is also true that he has been hyperfocused on golf for an unusually long time — in essence, a professional since he was 2, when he carried a tiny golf bag onto the set of “The Mike Douglas Show” and, with Bob Hope looking over his shoulder, demonstrated his swing. Lots of things are no doubt troubling Woods, but 33 years of high-intensity golf in 35 years of life is quite likely part of the problem.
ya of course intense training over such a long period can shorten your athletic lifespan, but, in regards to burnout, alot of it is just mental.. i mean when you are so successful, winning so many gold medals/championships etc, it's hard to maintain that drive you had prior to winning - i imagine.. takes a very special athlete to keep winning, year after year, and approaching the game/event with the same intensity as they did when they were "hungry" and thirsting for respect/becoming a champion..
federer and jordan come to mind.. even though they had their setbacks/obstacles, their drive to win every single time they go out, puts them on that next level..
if you want to become great at basketball, you practice every day.. if you want to achieve peak potential at distance running, you run every day.. if you want to become great at producing force, you practice it every day in some form or another. Sure you can utilize less frequent strength training ideologies but, at some point, in order to take that next step, you'll have to dabble in the high frequency realm, it separates the men from the boys.