What to improve your athletic ability? Then sports performance training can be the plan for you. Sports performance training is a great way to get in shape and increase your physical strength and endurance. I have interviewed Jason Wu is a sports performance trainer from Vacaville, California.
Tell me a little bit about yourself.
“I worked as a microbiologist, chemist and engineer in biotech and medical devices industries for about 14 years. I have degrees in Microbiology, Computer Science and certifications in Olympics lifting, running endurance and nutrition. I competed in Fencing for over 10 years. I started the Sport Training business in 2009 and am currently running a fitness class in Vacaville, CA. My clients mostly consist of weekend warriors and busy professionals from the biotech industry.”
What are some healthy ways an athlete can boost their sports performance?
“Athletes should get plenty of sleep, keep a nutritional/training log, and avoid training injuries, especially during plyometrics and weight training sessions. They also should learn the proper ways to execute training techniques i.e. maintain the lumbar curve during squats or dead lifts, and bend the knees during landing while performing jumping exercises.”
What are unhealthy ways athletes have used to improve their sports performance?
“Obsess with the over-the-counter supplements, meal replacement sports bars or drinks and be tempted with illegal or unproven chemical substances.”
“Neglecting injuries or play through injuries such as concussions. Pro-athletes are usually the worst offenders because the “money” side of the sport puts pressure on them to perform, they don’t give the body enough time to heal (by returning to the game too soon) and re-injuring themselves as a result.”
“Over-training. Another reason to keep a detailed training log is to ensure the training loads do not exceed the right limits.”
“Weight management. Some sports such as wrestling, gymnastics, and football have such an emphasis for athletes to be at a certain weight that athletes may be tempted to use unhealthy methods to keep their weight up or down. This could result in risky behaviors such as dehydrating or rehydrating too rapidly, intermittent fasting over too long periods of time, and over-dosing on over-the-counter medicine or supplements to gain or lose weight.”
“Most young athletes or weekend warriors should not copy everything the pros do. Pros are near (or already) maxing out in their physical abilities after decades of training. They deviate from the norm (which assumes much higher risks) just to gain that extra 1% of efficiency in their movements. Their workouts should not be modeled after and should only be viewed as for your reference only. For amateurs or weekend warriors, they should use the standardized guidelines to develop their athleticism to avoid an increased risk of training injuries.”
How are men and women different when it comes to sports performance training?
“Both genders need to pay close attention to their training techniques and volume to avoid any joint and ligament injuries. Young females should be extra cautious with their knees since adolescent females have a much higher risk with regards to knee injuries. Otherwise, the guidelines for both genders are pretty much the same. Adolescent females should spend extra time working on stabilizing their knee joints. It only takes about 20 minutes a day to work on these knee stability exercises (and they are easy to perform and most of the sports coaches can teach all the basic exercises in an hour).”
“For men, flexibility training tends to get neglected, so remember to stretch after every training session to improve your range of motion and the longevity of your competitive career.”
How does diet become an essential part of the sports performance training?
“It should be the first thing trainees’ look at, not the last. If you don’t know where to start, try the Zone diet, it’s been around for a long time and is well-tested by athletes at all levels.”
What advice would you like to leave for someone who wants to increase his or her level of sports performance?
Try this training strategy: Look at the 5 elements prioritized as follows:
“Nutrition”
“Cardiovascular/respiratory”
“Coordination, agility and speed”
“Strength”
“Sports-related skill sets”
“They are not mutually exclusive, look at these five areas and see where your proficiencies and weaknesses are and adjust the focus of your training accordingly.”
Thank you Jason for the interview. If you would like more information you can contact Jason Wu at his website http://jwsportstraining.com/.
