Armchair Olympian
I am not a die-hard sports enthusiast, but confess I enjoyed watching the winter Olympics held in Turino Italy. It was nice to watch something positive and motivational for a change and to delight in some truly amazing and generous acts. I find the wide variety of sports showcased fascinating, proving there is a lot one can do in cold climates of winter!
Consider the spectrum of sports. There are the many varieties of skiing. The downhill event has skiers reaching speeds of 140 kilometres per hour (87 mph), you get speeding tickets for going that fast in a car! Imagine what it takes to be a ski jumper as you attempt to imitate flight and defy gravity the longest once you are airborne. Picture the freestyle skiers who twist and turn in the air so fast I don't know how the commentators can describe their incredible aerial feats. The cross-country skiers have tremendous endurance, and some stop to shoot rifles while trying to manage their beating hearts and gasping lungs.
We were witness to a newer Olympic event that debuted in Nagano in 1998, snowboarding. I think the snowboarders had the most fun creating their lexicon when they speak of a McTwist, Fakie, Duckfoot, an Ollie or a Nollie! Didn't it just used to be Narly ... or was that suffer speak and I've just dated myself?
There are those flashy speed skaters in their skin-tight outfits who fly around an oval ice surface at up to 60 kph (37 mph) battling G forces in the turns. The figure skaters entertained us with their dance routines and inspiring jumps. They also showed tremendous grit when Zhang Dan a Chinese pairs figure skater had a spectacular fall which made anyone watching cringe. To our disbelief, this 20 year old got up, completed the routine, and won the silver medal. Awesome.
We can't forget the curlers. A sport many find strange, but appreciate the accuracy involved in curling your rock down a 44 meter (49 yard) ice surface and trying to hit a bulls eye with two sweepers helping control speed and direction of a heavy stone, while you opponent is attempting to block you or knock you on every throw. Lots of yelling and physics accompany this sport! Imagine four Newfoundlanders winning the gold - talk about a party when they get home!
There is the luge where, depending on the event, one or two people lie on their backs on a sled going down a tight twisty run ... feet first. You might think that is scary enough until you see those in the skeleton event, maybe appropriately named. These athletes go down a steep ice track, on a sled, that has no brakes, headfirst. Hmmm ... where do they find people to do this?
Then there is ice hockey. Grown men and women strap on boots with blades on the bottom, use curved sticks to shoot a hard rubber disk in the opponents net. This happens as they skate at up to 50 km per hour (30 mph) and shoot the puck at over 150 kph (95 mph) while maneuvering around on ice. A shame both the NHL laden U.S.A and Canadian teams didn't even make it to the semi-finals. Perhaps too much talent, not enough "team".
Over the 17-day period, 2,500 athletes from 85 nations competed for 84 medals in seven sports. We shared the pride of those on the podium as they smiled or cried as their national anthem played before the world. Two single acts at this twentieth Olympic Games stand out in my mind and will for many years.
I applaud gold medalist Joey Cheek, the USA speed skater for donating his $25,000 bonus to Right to Play, an organization of former Olympic, Paralympic and professional athletes worldwide who support using sport for development, health and peace. Good for you Joey, you are an inspiration to many.
Perhaps the defining moment of the Games was when Sara Renner, a Canadian broke her ski pole in a cross-country team sprint event. A Norwegian coach gave her a pole to finish the race. She and teammate Beckie Scott went on to win the silver medal. To me this unselfish act defines sportsmanship and is hard evidence the true Olympic spirit lives on. See you in Vancouver in 2010.
Clayton Shold's mission is to help sales reps make more money. He is a supporter of Salesopedia.com "The World of Sales from A to Z". Learn more at www.salesopedia.com
Maximizing Game Day Bat Speed
If you're a hitter - baseball, slow pitch, or fastpitch softball, you'll definitely find this to your liking!
As you know, I'm a big proponent of appropriate strength & conditioning as a way of increasing GAME TIME performance. This includes generating maximal bat speed. Unfortunately, science says what most of you are doing in the on-deck circle just prior to stepping to the plate is hindering your bat speed and quickness right when you need it most.
What are most of you doing in the on-deck circle? Swinging some type of heavy implement. Why is this wrong? I've summarized below the results of a study done in 1991 by Dr. Coop Derenne of the University of Hawaii. Results are ranked fastest to slowest by implement used. Bat velocity was measured by use of a photosensing computer timer. Players were college age; game bat weight was 30 oz:
1) Wooden overloaded bat (34 oz)
2) 27 oz underloaded bat
3) Standard 30 oz game bat
4) 25 oz underloaded bat
5) Power swing (adds 32 oz to bat)
6) 23 oz underloaded bat
7) Donut ring (adds 28 oz to bat)
Notice that the WORST item was the standard heavy batting donut. Also, using UNDERload (light) bats produced better readings than heavier implements. Just swinging your game bat with no weight attached produced better readings than any of the heavier tools!
The question you may be asking is WHY? Why, when you grab two or three bats or another heavy device, swing them vigorously, then grab your game bat (which now feels light as a feather) does this slow you down? You feel so much faster with your game bat after this, don't you?
What happens is simple fatigue of the fast twitch muscles you're depending on to perform at your best. At an imperceptible, neuromuscular level, all of this heavy work just before performing actually tires you out! So, right at the time you need to be your fastest, you've just slowed yourself down. It's sort of like a sprinter running a bunch of sprints or laps minutes before a race. Yes, he's warmed up, but he has also depleted too much of his energy, so he cannot perform at his peak.
Notice that the two best times were with weights that were about 10% above & 10% below the game bat weight. Just enough weight (the 34 oz bat) for you to get warmed up and ready, but light enough to not affect swing mechanics. The underload bat (27 oz) is noticeably lighter, allowing for an effective warm-up and priming the body to swing faster - overSPEED training.
Don't confuse this on-deck performance with a regular workout using heavy implements to develop strength and power. During such a workout, you're not appearing at the plate facing perhaps a 90 mph fastball. Tiring the muscles during a workout is the point.
However, this data underscores the fact that bat speed is most effectively developed by a combination of both heavy and light training. DO NOT NEGLECT OVERSPEED/UNDERLOAD TRAINING! If you only train slow and heavy, mechanics will be negatively affected (a real problem with a refined 'power skill' such as hitting) and you'll perform slow as well.
So put down that heavy device in the on-deck circle and go light! Especially when you're facing serious gas! And slow pitch hitters who are not facing 'gas,' you too need to generate maximal bat speed to drive the ball hard/deep.
FYI, you can find 4 oz donuts in our web site store that will fit baseball, softball, and youth bats.
(C) 2004 Baseball Fit, LLC. All Rights Reserved. Quotations with attribution permitted. Cite source as Steve Zawrotny's BASEBALL FIT Hitting & Pitching Academy - www.BaseballFit.com
The information contained herein is the opinion of the author
based on his personal observations and years of experience.
Neither Steve Zawrotny or Baseball Fit assume any liability
whatsoever for the use of or inability to use any or all of the
information presented on this website.
How to Eliminate Your Golf Slice Quickly and Easily
Here's a really good tip that may help you to get rid of your slice. Best of all, it's really pretty simple once you get the hang of it, and understand why it's being used.
Chances are that you have battled with a slice at some point in your golfing days. To be completely direct with you, dealing with a slice really sucks. It hurts your golf game in many more ways than one.
Luckily, it's fairly easy to fix. I cannot claim that this small tip will completely cure your slice, but there's a good chance that it will. I hope it does.
First off, please understand that when you come into the impact zone, there are really only 2 factors that can determine the "shape" of ball flight.
1. The angle of the club face at impact.
2. The Path the club is taking at impact.
So, here's a few things you should concentrate on.
Try to keep your leading shoulder "down" on the ball through impact. This is called staying strong through impact. Many times the leading shoulder (left shoulder if right handed) flies up before impact. Now just for a minute, think about what that does to the club head when it's in the impact zone.
Get up from the computer and actually go though the motions slowly. Let your leading shoulder fly up as you approach impact and you'll actually be able feel and see the clubface coming from an outside-in path. That's the cause of the slice you are battling.
See, golf is all about thinking and analyzing your shots to get better. A huge part of this game is understanding "why" you're getting a certain result, and the physics behind that result. Thinking through your golf swing will provide huge dividends if you're willing to invest the time it takes.
So what can you do to correct that flying shoulder? Well, for starters, try to learn to keep your leading shoulder strong. Keep that shoulder "Down" on the ball all the way through impact, even after the ball is gone and flying straight down the fairway.
So, after impact the leading shoulder is still down. The triangle between your shoulders and chest is still present. Most importantly, the body has NOT gotten ahead of the hands. This is a HUGE distinction. As you may notice, the left shoulder is actually higher than the right shoulder. So what do I mean when I say "leading shoulder down"?
You have to envision yourself from the back looking down on the ball. When I say "down", I mean that the leading shoulder and chest is still facing the ball through impact.
So even though it may seem like the leading shoulder is higher than the trailing shoulder, it's still facing the ball at impact. NOT TOWARDS THIRD BASE in comparison to the ball. If your leading shoulder was facing towards third base at impact, which would mean that you have let the leading shoulder fly up.
Furthermore, hand action is huge in this game. You must learn to release your hands correctly through the ball. This means that you release the hands while the leading shoulder is still "down", or facing the ball.
The key is to let your arms release through the ball, while your left shoulder is "Down" on the ball. To do this you will need to rotate your forearms correctly, and use your leading ELBOW (not shoulder) as a hinge. So another way to explain this movement would be that your hands are still moving towards the target, but your leading elbow has almost stopped.
Keep the leading shoulder down and let your arms and hands release through the ball and you will see the ball go farther and higher. This will take a while to get used to, but once it clicks, the results will be outstanding.
Carl is a pro golfer. Get discounts when buying golf equipment and purchase from cheap online stores:
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