China Tour - Day 1 - Nanning Sport School - Part 2

After the all-too-brief visit to the Weightlifting gyms, I was whisked away to the Track & Field Track to ask for help with some hip problems the sprinters were having.  Again, just basic imbalances in hip strength.  The Chinese 100 & 200-m sprinters do large training volumes, more like the training of 800-m runners.  We watched one of the top sprinters and he definitely lost form going around the bend...they were well into their session, so fatigue has to come into play to a degree.  But again we did a quick clam shell assessment, isometric 5 x 6-secs and try to manually gauge the levels of strength in a L v R comparison.  Similar strength on both sides for the first two reps, but one side dropped off hideously in force on the third rep ~ equating to where (in length of time) he was hitting the bend.  Most likely this is due to a combination of training factors, but always going the same way around the bends with large volumes can precipitate the development of these imbalances in the hips between ER and IR/groin on opposite sides.  I just showed them some basic drills I have learned off Franz Bosch and Dean Benton.  Hopefully these recommendations can help. One thing about the Chinese athletes, they will do the work set!

The Sport School in Nanning is really scenic.

The lovely Naomi Li in the orange puffy jacket translating the conversation between a Womens T & F Coach and myself

Again Naomi translating.  The T & F set-up is pretty good.  They have a large rig with various bars behind the track for stretching, exercises and hanging ab work, astro-turf area and large blue gym matts for stretching and the building behind my right shoulder is a very large weight room gym.  The track is immediately to the right of the picture.  So it is all close together.  I believe the athletes live here as well. A great training environment.