TRAINING REAL ATHLETES -By Willie Engelbrecht

Very interesting article that we as pigeon fanciers can certainly learn from. Thank you Willie.

Introduction:
Currently I am reconed to be one of the top 3 athletic coaches in South Africa coaching school athletes. I am a ASA level 3 National coach(highest level in SA) and am blessed to coached my 75th SA national medal this year.

Racing pigeons were a great part and pasion off my life and am I verry exited to start racing this season again after a 10 year lay off. I will be racing in partnership with my brother Andre Engelbrecht (ARNO~S RACERS). Being a sucsesfull athletics coach I thought to share some of my experiances and as we all are coaches of our pigeons I am sure this will help a lot of fanciers to be better coaches.

Develop a philosophy

• What do we mean by Philosophy ?
• Philosophy is simply the way you see situations and experiences in your live
• The way you view people and develop relationships with them
• Your philosophy is always developing and will do so throughout your life
• What is coaching ?
• Means to help someone to prepare for something
• The organized provision  of assistance to an individual or group of athletes
• To help them develop and improve
• What is coaching about ?
• Teaching
• Training
• Instructing
• Recognizing
• Understanding
• Providing
• The roles of a coach
• Teacher - imparting new knowledge , skills and ideas
• Trainer – improving fitness
• Instructor – directing activities
• Motivator – positive and decisive approach
• Disciplinarian – determine rewards and punishments
• Manager – organizing and planning
• Administrator – dealing with paperwork and admin
• Publicity agent – dealing with the media
• Social worker – counseling and advising
• Friend – supporting
• Student – willing to listen , learn and search for knowledge
• The key to developing a coaching philosophy is knowledge. Knowledge of yourself and knowledge of what you want to achieve, your objectives .In the same way that it is difficult to make a journey if you don’t know the destination, it is unlikely you will reach your coaching objectives if they are not clearly known to you

• Comparison of the 3 major leadership styles

• OBJECTIVES OF A COACH
• Knowing what you want to achieve
• Why do you coach ? Winning – fun  athlete development
• Al 3 is important but witch is most ?
• An athletes development is affected by the importance placed on winning or losing.
• Striving to win is always important.
• A win at all costs attitude however ignores the development of the athlete.
• This attitude is used by coaches who judge themselves by how well their athletes finish.
• Successful and experienced coaches places the development as the single most important factor.
• Athletes first , winning second
• Athletics is seen as one aspect of a persons life not his whole life
• There is respect and appreciation of the coach and his work
• Athletes decide with the coach the importance of performance
• There is respect for the laws and spirit of fair competition
• Athletes reaching their potential is seen as success
• Respect for opponents and officials

ENERGY SYSTEMS

• So there are 3 energy systems operating in the bodies of our athletes. 2 are anaerobic (without oxygen) and 1 are aerobic. (with oxygen)
• 1. anaerobic alactic system
• The stored start up system which does not require oxygen and does not produce lactate
• 2. anaerobic lactic system
• The system which does not require oxygen but produces lactic acid
• 3. aerobic system
• The muscle energy system which requires oxygen but produces little or no lactic acid
• The athletes body is capable of using 1 or any combination of the 3 energy systems
• ATP- without ATP muscle can not contact
• ATP- is a high energy compound
• Adenosine triphosphate (ATP) is the source of energy for all muscle contractions. Energy is released when ATP is broken into ADP+Pi (adenosine diphosphate and phosphate group). Maintaining the availability of ATP for muscle contraction is the limiting factor, since ATP is not stored in large amounts in skeletal muscle. Viable sources of ATP come from both anaerobic (does not require O2) and aerobic (requires O2) means. The primary energy source for a given activity will primarily depend on the intensity of muscle contractions.
• Glycogen and fats to reproduce ATP in the presence of oxygen
• Takes place in the mitochondria of red muscle
• For lower intensity exercise longer duration
• 1 molecule glycogen makes 36 ATP
• No or very little lactic acid
• Heart and lungs are important as oxygen and fuel are carried to the muscle in the blood
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• What is fitness ?
• Fitness is how well a person is adapted to and capable of living a certain lifestyle
• What is training ?
• Training is a systematic process with the objective of improving an athlete's fitness in a selected activity
• It is a long term process that is progressive
• It can be planned because training follows certain principles
• Law of overload
• Law of reversibility
• Law of specificity

LAW OF OVERLOAD

• The human body is built up from millions of tiny cells and each one carries out a different job
• All cells have the ability to adapt
• A training load is the work or exercise that a athlete performs in a training session
• Loading is the process of applying training loads
• When the coach apply a new training load there is a response from the body
• This response is called an adaptation to the stimulus of the training load
• The initial response is fatigue
• When the loading stops there is a response of recovery from the fatigue and adaptation to the training load
• This recovery and adaptation results in a improved level of fitness
• This higher level of fitness is achieved as a result of the body overcompensating to the initial training load
• So overload causes fatigue and recovery and adaptation results in overcompensation and a new level of fitness
•  If you don’t use it u lose it !
• If the athlete is not exposed to regular training there is no loading and the body has no need to adapt
• The term progressive overload is used to explain that increasing levels of loading will lead to progressive adaptation and overcompensation to higher levels of fitness
• These increasing levels of loading will include:
• Higher number of repetitions , faster repetitions ,shorter recovery times and heavier weights
• If the coach continues to apply the same load there is a initial increase in the level of fitness and then it remains at that level
• Once the body adapts to a particular training load the adaptation ceases
• An excessive training load causes an incomplete adaptation and the athlete will have problems to recover
• This will result in overtraining
• The law of specificity states that the specific nature of a training load produces its own specific response and adaptations
• The load must be specific to both the individual and to the demands of the chosen event
• General training always before specific training
• The general training prepares the athlete to tolerate the loading of specific training
• The greater the volume in general training the greater the capacity for specific training
• NUTRITION
• Nutrition means all the food a person eats and drinks
• The human body is made from this food and all energy comes from his food
• This food act in the body as fuel providing energy and chemicals for movement , growth and to keep the body healthy
• What we need nutritionally is effected by our age, sex, body build, level of physical activity and state of health 
• PROTEINS
• CARBOHYDRATE
• FAT
• VITAMINS
• MINERALS
• WATER
• FIBRE

PROTEINS

• Growth and repair food
• Until the age of 18 the body makes new cells in order to grow
• Protein are the main body building nutrient
• Proteins are made up of building blocks called amino acids
• There are 21 types of amino acids
• Of the 21 amino acids all but 8 can be manufactured inside the human body
• The 8 that must come from food are called essential amino acids
• High quality protein is found in fish, meat, eggs, milk

 CARBOHYDRATES

• Energy food
• The body gets the major part of its energy from carbohydrate
• They break down quickly and is easily converted to glucose
• Rice, corn, potatoes, beans, and fruit are good quality carbs
• Concentrated or refined carbs – sugar, honey, soft drinks and chocolates are a poor source
• They also cause the body to produce large quantities of the hormone insulin which take the glucose out of the blood
• This makes the athlete feel very low in energy

FATS

• Slow energy food
• Fat is contained in many animal and vegetable foods
• Butter, margarine, plant oils and the fat of meats are all foods where the fat is visible
• Milk, cheese and nuts the fat is not visible
• Generally vegetable fats are better than animal fats
• Fats are a very concentrated source of energy
• But it is digested slowly and uses more oxygen to produce energy
• Fat is stored under the skin and inside muscles
• It’s a reserve energy source
• Only a small amount of fat is needed in the diet and too many can cause obesity, heart disease and cancer

VITAMINS

• Vitamins are needed daily in small amounts
• Play a important part in many chemical processes inside the body
• Even slightly low levels of vitamin can reduce athletic performance
• 2 types – water-soluble and fat-soluble
• Fat –soluble stored in the body
• Water-soluble must be taken and what is not used are passed out of the body

MINERALS

•  Needed in small daily amounts
• Include calcium, sodium, potassium, iron and iodine
• These minerals are essential for proper function of nerves, and muscles
• Help build body structures as bones, teeth and muscles

Iron is a mineral essential for the transport of oxygen

 WATER

• You can live for several weeks without food but you will die within a few days without water
• Athletic performance is affected almost immediately if he body's water requirements is not met
• The most important nutrient in the human body
• About two – thirds of your body is water
• An average person should drink a liter of water every day
• Fiber is a important part of the diet
• It is not absorbed by the body
• Grains, wheat, oats, and rice
• Fiber foods are natural laxatives
• They make you feel full without making you fat
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MUSCLES

• Muscle fiber types
• Fast twitch – white – anaerobic
• Produce high speed movements for short periods of time
• The chemical reactions in these muscles produce large amounts of waste product – Lactic acid
• Slow twitch – red – aerobic
• Produce less power and speed but can operate for much longer
• Important in endurance events
• Determined by birth by heredity and can not be changed by training
• How do muscles pull ?
• Work like engines by burning fuel to produce movement
• They are energy converters changing the chemical in the food we eat into energy
• The muscle fibers in the muscle contracts in order to exert force
• The greater the force you need to produce the more fibers you use
• 2 major types of contraction
• 1.Dynamic – when a contraction is results in a change in muscle length and movement is caused it is dynamic. Concentric – shortening of muscle and Eccentric- lengthening of muscle 
• 2.Static – also known as a isometric contraction. Develops tension but there is no lengthening or shortening of the muscles and no movement. Like when a attempt  is made to move a immovable object

There are 7 aspects that determine the success of a pigeon :

form , motivation , résistance , trapping , persistence , speed and oriantation

I really have a lot of principles that I would like to share and explain in detail to fanciers.

Feel free to contact me

Regards

Kobus (Willie) Engelbrecht

072 754 1391