How was Liu Xiang made?

"Liu Xiang didn't come out of nowhere, I just saved some time than others." Sitting on the wooden bench beside the track and field in Xinzhuang, Shanghai, Sun Haiping was talking about Liu Xiang and the world's most successful people. Why is the fastest hurdler what he is today? This long bench has been with him for nearly twenty years. During his twenty-year coaching career, Sun Haiping has tasted failure and success, collected countless lessons, refined them into experience, and applied them to Liu Xiang until he Won the Olympic gold medal and ran 12.88 seconds.

Sun Haiping remembers that in the spring of 2005, when the whole of China was still savoring the joy of Liu Xiang’s Olympic victory, a professor from a certain university wrote him a letter with this sentence in the letter:

Guide Sun Haiping, hello! ...According to general rules, it takes 6-8 years for an athlete to become a successful athlete, but Liu Xiang only took a little more than 5 years to reach the top level in the world. Is this counterproductive?

Only true love and cherishment will give rise to worry. Sun Haiping was grateful for this kind words and care, and taught Liu Xiang almost all the secrets of his success.

Speed ??is not achieved by running on the track

“What we practice is hurdles, and all training must be carried out according to the characteristics of hurdles. And the principle of this project is actually very Simple." Sun Haiping said, "In my opinion, hurdles are actually sprinting with obstacles. Only by knowing and understanding this characteristic can we choose the best training method for those who practice this event. "Sun Haiping's training for Liu Xiang centered on "obstacle sprinting".

Hurdle is similar to sprinting and is a straight track event in track and field, so the pursuit of speed is the first priority. "But speed is not achieved on the runway." Sun Haiping said firmly. Over the years, many athletes have sprinted hard on the track over and over again, competing against cinders and plastic particles, but in fact, the Chinese sprinters have not made any significant progress. "I am an obvious example." Sun Haiping smiled distressedly, "At that time, I had to practice four classes a day. If the coach asked me to run 100 meters 10 times, I could finish it. If he asked me to run 100 times or even 200 times, it would be fine. You can run down, but this kind of training is completely mechanical and passive, rather than active training that can bring out and mobilize your best abilities, just like the assembly line worker played by Chaplin in the movie "Modern Times". , always completing the same actions mechanically and numbly, with no quality at all.”

“Sometimes, some athletes cannot perform running exercises due to injuries, and the coach is very anxious, so I am worried. Tell them: 'It doesn't matter, as long as you practice those other things well, you can still run fast in spike shoes once the injury is healed. '" The "other things" that Sun Haiping refers to are actually special abilities, in layman's terms. In other words, physical fitness. "Fast speed is just a result. A big factor depends on how you train, how you train for speed and strength."

When Liu Xiang was training, Sun Haiping was not just a bystander or the one giving orders. People often saw Sun Haiping pushing, lifting, pulling or pressing Liu Xiang's body. After several movements, both the master and the disciple were exhausted and panting. "Often for an action, you put a certain amount of pressure on it and ask it to rebound quickly. This is very helpful for our running events in improving the pace and range of motion. At the last moment when Liu Xiang simulated the obstacle course, By adding some appropriate resistance to my hands, Liu Xiang's passive muscles during muscle contraction will be converted into active force to resist my resistance. In this way, Liu Xiang's muscles can get elastic training with a wide range of movements, and they can also move quickly. The ground is retracted, which increases the cadence and the speed is refined. "So, Sun Haiping needs helpers around him. Sheng Yueming and the newly appointed Cao Jing are both assistant coaches in the hurdles team of Shanghai Track and Field Team. As Liu Xiang matures, his strength also increases. His ability to resist resistance is no longer the same as when he first joined the team. Lao Sun's strength alone is only enough to overcome Liu Xiang's body. As for the daily training of other team members, , but also rely on the assistance of assistants.

It was originally a theory in Sun Haiping's mind that he could create astonishing speeds even when leaving the runway, but reality gave him the opportunity to prove it. Liu Xiang stopped running for 70 days due to an ankle injury at the beginning of this year. During these 70 days, Sun Haiping took his time and quietly adjusted his plan, taking the opportunity to fully roll out special quality training and continuously strengthen it. He practiced until Liu Xiang's body became stronger and stronger, and he was so strong that he couldn't hold back and wanted to rush out to compete with others. After not being on the track for seventy days, the result can be the arrival of a new world record. In this case, we have to recall the words of Lao Sun: Speed ??is indeed not as simple as running on the track.

Strength training drives technological revolution

Sports training has always emphasized hard work. The harder it is, the more noble the sports spirit is. But in today’s view, Sun Haiping believes that this pursuit Not only is it blind, but sometimes it even fails to achieve the desired effect of improvement.

"When I was an athlete, I was well-known in the team for my hard-working spirit in training." Speaking of his days as an athlete, Lao Sun smiled shyly, "Generally. There are three or four classes a day, and more than 20 classes a week.

Sometimes I feel it’s not enough, so I practice more on Sundays when others are off. When the training was at its worst, the right thigh muscle was strained and the periosteum was pulled down, and the left ankle suffered a fatigue fracture. But even though I worked so hard, my grades still couldn't improve, and they dropped instead of rising. The more I practiced, the worse I got. ”

Because he had gone through this detour himself, Sun Haiping also realized the counter-effects of blindly practicing hard after becoming a coach. After Liu Xiang’s success, many coaches came here to seek advice from Sun Haiping in different projects. Even non-track and field sports teams came to ask for advice. After many requests, Sun Haiping was willing to summarize and share with others. He said that the reason is very simple, and all training methods are inseparable from two words: special. .

“What we practice is short-distance running, not middle-distance running. Running laps on the track all day is completely contrary to the requirements of short-distance events. "After years of research, Sun Haiping found that human body muscles will move into two different types under different intensity training conditions. Generally speaking, human body muscles are divided into two types: fast twitch muscles and slow twitch muscles, which is medically speaking. But in addition, there is a subtype of muscle, which is a kind of muscle between the two. The question of how to train it is that this part of the muscle has certain plasticity. If you do some strength training, it will transform to the fast-twitch muscle; conversely, if you do some low-load or endurance training, it will gradually lean towards the slow-twitch muscle. Fast-twitch muscles are required across projects, and will also have a great negative effect on training, because not only do you have to train the original fast-twitch muscles, but you also have to spend a lot of effort to retrain the muscles that have turned to slow-twitch muscles. Come back, otherwise this part of the muscle becomes resistance. "Because of this understanding, Sun Haiping pursues quality and intensity when it comes to Liu Xiang's training arrangements. Therefore, Liu Xiang's training is like what we see today, which is simpler than that of ordinary athletes, and the training time is shorter. It is relatively shorter.

It can be said that every muscle in Liu Xiang’s body is now serving the 110-meter hurdles, but before Sun Haiping discovered the subtle relationship between the nervous system and muscles, Liu Xiang’s body had not yet To achieve this level of coordination, “In the past, when we looked at foreign athletes and thought they were all very strong, we felt that our own athletes’ strength levels were too poor, so we worked hard to strengthen strength training. But in the past, I only knew how to train the lower limbs, thinking that running was all about training the legs. As a result, our sprinters can only "run while sitting" and exert all their efforts on the lower body. Later, I slowly discovered that the waist and hip area at the half-intersection point of the human body is the main source of force that drives the human body during running. "

However, sports training is not as simple as just running and jumping as people imagine. Although it has been found that using the hips as the engine is best for sprinting, the results of just training one part of the body are even weirder. " For a while, Liu Xiang was too strong in his waist and hips, and other parts of his body were weak. As a result, he had to rely on large swings of his arms to coordinate his body balance when crossing the hurdles. That kind of action is not only ugly, but also wastes a lot of energy and has a great impact on speed. "In order to correct Liu Xiang's posture, Sun Haiping put a lot of effort into adjusting strength training, and took this as an opportunity to discover a brand new concept in sports training: the multi-factor training method." Training of Chen Yanhao in previous years , although hip strength is also emphasized, each muscle is trained separately, and each is trained separately. When the muscles of the whole body are strengthened, it takes time to coordinate them and exert force again, which takes a lot of time. Moreover, in single-factor training, strength is strength and speed is speed. The final result is that the excitement points in the cerebral cortex are single and local, with no connection. Now, I propose a concept called ‘highly efficient comprehensive training’, or ‘multi-factor training method’. That is to say, a simple exercise can train both strength and speed. The training stimulation is not concentrated on a single point, but a group or an excited area formed in the cerebral cortex. This not only improves the training efficiency, but also It can avoid excessive fatigue. In the past, athletes who relied solely on a single factor to compete would see their performance plummet immediately once their condition was poor. But ‘multiple factors’ can be compensated by good conditions in other aspects, allowing athletes to always compete or train in a more exciting state. "Now, Liu Xiang's hurdle-clearing skills are not only world-class, but the coordination of technical movements is also praised by everyone in today's hurdles world. "In the past, Liu Xiang took about 0.36 seconds to cross a hurdle. Now his body strength is balanced and his technical movements have improved. , shortened to only 0.33 seconds, ten columns is 0.3 seconds, which is incredible in short span events! "And this is the effect of the coordinated exertion of the nervous system and muscles.

To summarize this training idea from the perspective of exercise physiology, Coach Sun believes that this is a method that follows the laws of the human body and revolves around the "nervous system" The article's training method, "Nervous System Training Method," not only brought a revolution to domestic short span technology, but also shortened the training period for athletes. "The 'over-recovery' that has always been recommended is a relatively risky improvement. Achievement training methods. "Sun Haiping talked about his motivation, stretched out his fingers and drew a curve with his nails on the wooden bench, "This method requires athletes to enter a state of severe fatigue after intense training, and then spend a lot of time to adjust, so that when the physical condition returns to normal, When you reach climax, you will feel better than before, just like bottoming out.

"However, in the past, this method has also encountered situations where athletes were overtired, adjusted improperly, and never recovered. And if they want to get back to a new peak, the adjustment time is often longer than training. "This is too time-consuming. Got it! "Sun Haiping said, "I just want to save time and improve efficiency, so we have improved the 'over-recovery' and adopted a training method called the 'special stimulation method'. "The basic principle of the two training methods is the same, but fatigue and adjustment are controlled within a certain range. If the starting point is based on 10, the highest point of 'super recovery' is 15, and the lowest point is 5, then 'Special stimulation' may be as high as 12 or 13, and as low as 7 or 8, so that the recovery and adjustment after fatigue does not take a long time, and there is no risk of failure.

"I'm here. The reply he wrote to the professor stated that Liu Xiang's training focused on efficiency. Although the time was short, the intensity was high, so high-performance training was the key to his rapid success. "

The final processing is still left for the Olympic Games

"Now the steel structure of the 'building' of Liu Xiang's body has been erected and the concrete has been poured. We only need to 'decorate' it before the Olympics. 'It can be delivered and completed in one go. "Sun Haiping joked easily. He and Liu Xiang should be completely relaxed and comfortable at this moment. There is still one gold medal in the Asian Games, and this year's entire season will come to a successful conclusion. All the worries about injuries at the beginning of the year have now been created. The pleasure of the record was replaced by the joy of the record, and in Sun Haiping's opinion, the last Asian Games competition was not as intense as the domestic competition, and the gold medal had already been booked by Liu Xiang.

However, due to the ups and downs in this year, Whether Liu Xiang will be in such good shape at the 2008 Beijing Olympics has become the most heated topic among people. "It is indeed too much to ask Liu Xiang to break the world record at the Olympics, but don't think that Liu Xiang is over if he breaks the world record this year. Yes, he actually still has a lot of potential that can be tapped, and there is still a lot of room for improvement. "

This summer, Sun Haiping said after Liu Xiang broke the world record: "Liu Xiang's platform has risen from 13.10 seconds at the Athens Olympics to 13 seconds. "Now for Lao Sun, maintaining the 13-second level and seeking breakthroughs on this new platform is his current task. "Actually, I still have many training methods that I have not fully used. Sun Haiping's words were reserved, "Many new training methods have not been tested on Liu Xiang, and we don't know whether the effect is good or bad." But in theory it should be helpful, but in practice it takes time to find coordination and balance. "Lao Sun gave an analogy. When Liu Xiang was doing strength training and squatting exercises, he could easily lift a weight of 180 kilograms. From the coach's perspective, it can be judged that Liu Xiang's abilities are definitely more than this, but Sun Haiping clearly knew that his apprentice had He has the ability to carry a weight of 190 to 200 kilograms, but in order to protect Liu Xiang from injury, Lao Sun never allowed him to push his body's limits. "If strength training is mentioned during preparation for the Olympics, let him reach 190 or 200 kilograms. Then Liu Xiang's ultimate strength can be increased by another level. This piece is a treasure that has not yet been unearthed. "

Liu Xiang, who stopped running for 70 days due to injury, has improved his special quality to an unprecedented level. In comparison, he spends much less time on special training. "Special training is also a period of time. There is room for potential. Sun Haiping explained, "Liu Xiang's current training level is like having one hand lifting on it. After all, lifting with special qualities is a bit strenuous." At this time, if there is another hand below to support him, then if both hands use force, the speed of improvement will be very different. "Sun Haiping believes that special training is just a hand that needs to be lifted up below. "Starting next year, I plan to strengthen his special training. Now I only have one or two classes a week. Next year I will increase the number to two classes. In this way, special qualities and special training are combined to keep the two moving forward simultaneously. In fact, the rules of our training are also based on the laws of development of things. It is a spiral upward process. At the same time, as Liu Xiang grows up, he will be 25 or 6 years old in the year of the Olympic Games. The gradual growth of physical strength and the gradual improvement of physical abilities will bring him to a peak competitive level. "

"By then, Liu Xiang will be a brand new high-rise building! "Sun Haiping smiled again. Although this amiable middle-aged man often has worries written on his face, he always has enough confidence in his sports training career to relax his brows.

Every Every pair of shoes tells a story about its owner.

Before the reporter went to the Nike headquarters in Beaverton, Oregon on October 31, to see the whole process of Nike designing running shoes for Liu Xiang, the ninth issue of this year’s United States. National Geographic magazine happened to publish a feature article on “Why Every Shoe Tells a Story.”

Chris Johns, editor-in-chief of National Geographic magazine, fondly recalled his feelings in witnessing the historic photo of Steve Prefontaine, Nike's first signed athlete, sprinting in the race in the opening line of the issue, " I seemed to hear the whole audience shouting, 'Prefontaine, Prefontaine! '" Johns has such a deep affection for Prefontaine. On the one hand, it was Prefontaine's sprint that created the American three-mile race. On the one hand, his hometown and Prefontaine's are 160 kilometers apart, and on the other hand, Prefontaine passed away in 1975 at the age of 24 due to a car accident during training...

The opening sentence of the feature article in "National Geographic" is, "Each pair of shoes tells the protagonist's living conditions, gender, ethnicity, race, religion, occupation and politics." And Nike is the flag-bearer of China's track and field events - —Liu Xiang, the running shoes he designed tell his story.

Nike started out by producing running shoes. Its founder, Phil Knight, was a good middle-distance runner when he was young, so Nike has a special affection for track and field athletes. As early as 2002, Nike saw his potential and signed him. The first step in the cooperation between Nike and Liu Xiang was to provide him with samples of Nike's latest running shoes, which he would gradually improve as Liu Xiang used them until he completed a personalized design. From 2002 to now, Liu Xiang's running shoes have gone through 6 versions, and the sixth version is Liu Xiang's new running shoes that will be displayed at the Doha Asian Games.

From a style point of view, all running shoes are very similar. They are nothing more than streamlined designs that look like sports cars, but only the athletes themselves know the true meaning.

Nike's first sports shoe designer, Bill Bowerman, is also one of the two founders of Nike. He is a track and field coach at the University of Oregon. He spends all his time helping players continue to surpass themselves. One of his main tasks is designing running shoes. In order to find adhesives and solvents for running shoes, Bowerman spent a long time in the laboratory, and students could always smell the smell of tar on Bowerman's body.

Nike’s current sports shoe design process is no longer a slash-and-burn stage. The first step for Nike to serve contracted athletes is to invite the athletes to the laboratory at Nike headquarters. A camera with eight lenses and ten dynamic sensors will detect all the data of the athlete's feet, including the length and width of the left and right feet, the width of the heel, the height of the arch, and the angle of the big toe and little toe. Wait, now you are ready to measure your feet and make shoes. Every year at the end of May, the Eugene Track and Field Classic is held in Oregon, which is when Nike-signed athletes enter the Nike lab. This year's Eugene Classic was held on May 28. After Liu Xiang won the championship in 13.21 seconds, he spent a day in Nike's laboratory on May 29 to complete the testing task of the latest running shoes.

As the director of NIKE brand innovation department, Michael Donaghu is also the commander-in-chief responsible for the research and development of NIKE footwear products for the 2008 Olympic Games. Tang Zhong himself is an athlete. While attending Dartmouth College, he was selected to the NCAA Ivy League's best middle-distance running team twice in 1987 and 1988. After joining Nike, he developed a number of U.S. patented technologies. Nike also has many athletes with a higher level than Tang Zhong, such as the American long-distance running superstar Alberto Salazar in the 1980s. After he retired, he took charge of marketing at Nike. Therefore, it is not surprising that there are many near-world record results at Nike's internal sports meets.

After mastering the basic data of Liu Xiang's feet, the scientific research team led by Tang Zhongdonahue will also carefully analyze Liu Xiang's game videos and analyze each of Liu Xiang's technical characteristics, which are most reflected in Liu Xiang's running shoes. The main feature is that the soles of Liu Xiang's running shoes are lighter and harder than similar running shoes. At the same time, the position of the spikes is also tailor-made based on Liu Xiang's hurdle landing habits and the landing point of his feet. Under the hardest shoe board, Nike only arranged 10 spikes for Liu Xiang's running shoes, which effectively reduced resistance, while Liu Xiang's competitor, Alan Johnson's running shoes, had more spikes than Liu Xiang. Regarding the choice of uppers, Liu Xiang's running shoes have always used artificial leather. Considering the dry and hot weather in Doha during the Asian Games, Nike arranged fiber mesh for Liu Xiang's running shoes to increase breathability. After completing the key design of soles, shoe panels, and uppers, the rest is the personalized treatment of running shoes. Liu Xiang likes to have an adhesive tape on the upper of the shoe. On the one hand, it helps to fix the top of the foot. On the other hand, it is a sign that Liu Xiang is mentally prepared before the game: "Tighten the adhesive tape, I am ready!" During the design process of Liu Xiang's running shoes, the position of the adhesive tape was changed the most, in order to make Liu Xiang comfortable. In addition, because Liu Xiang's Achilles tendon was injured, the heels of Liu Xiang's running shoes also underwent very targeted special treatment.

Liu Xiang’s running shoes, which will appear at the Doha Asian Games, will be red as the main color, with silver on the forefoot of the shoe, making it sparkling. On the upper of the shoe, Liu Xiang's running shoes will also appear with patterns of China's map, the Great Wall and Liu Xiang's special emblem, thus telling the complete story of Liu Xiang.

Of course, every component of Liu Xiang’s running shoes must be approved by Liu Xiang himself. In order to complete the design of Liu Xiang's running shoes, Nike appointed a project coordinator at Nike China's Shanghai headquarters to listen to Liu Xiang's opinions at all times.

Nike's philosophy is, "Help Liu Xiang win with the best equipment."

On the issue of research and development expenses for Liu Xiang's running shoes, Donahue remained tight-lipped. However, in the book "JUST DO IT" written by the famous American journalist Donald Cates in 1994, which disclosed the growth process of Nike, it was revealed that Nike's total expenditure on product development and testing for 12 weeks was US$22.6 million, equivalent to Nike spends $2 million a week on research and development. Now, 12 years have passed, and market competition will surely greatly increase Nike’s R&D expenses.

Prefontaine has a famous saying, "Many people run to see who can run the fastest, but I run to see who has the most ambition. When people ask me why I choose to run, I usually say this "Said." This famous saying is also very appropriate for Liu Xiang, because the next place where Liu Xiang will show his ambition is in Doha. This famous saying is equally appropriate for Nike. As for what kind of ambition, everyone knows.

Answer: limingzhou4 - Magic Apprentice Level 1 10-18 17:58

Nowadays, Liu Xiang, the Olympic champion of the 110-meter hurdles sprint, has already become famous all over the world. Someone asked, is his success because he is the genius of this project? According to research and analysis by relevant experts, this cannot be completely ruled out. Any outstanding sports performance is related to the innate qualities of the athlete's body. Without the basic point of good inner talent, you will not be able to become a talent just by training hard the day after tomorrow.

Liu Xiang has good inner qualities, which he cannot discover by himself. He must have Bole to "love him at first sight". But there are not many experts in Shanghai, China who have the discernment to spot Liu Xiang. The most important one is his current master Sun Haiping.

It is undeniable that Sun Haiping’s business is so high, otherwise why would so many top people want to seek advice from him and worship him as their teacher? But he did not accept them all as his disciples. The reason is simply that he does not have more time and energy to carefully cultivate a talented athlete. Once you make a commitment, you should be responsible for their future to the end.

The current world-wide sports competition is actually not only a competition of athlete talent, but also a high-quality competition of high technology and coaches who master high technology. The reason why Shanghai can produce world-class athletes such as Liu Xiang and Yao Ming is indeed closely related to the cultural environment of Shanghai. Not only is Sun Haiping's research on business world-class, what's more valuable is that his character is also top-notch. His requirements for athletes are to start teaching them by being human first. It can be said that what attracted him to Liu Xiang was not only his talent, but also the quality of this young man, who was a good piece of material worth cultivating. As expected, Liu Xiang finally became a flawless "jade" after his careful carving.

Liu Xiang calls Sun Haiping his master. The father-son love between them has long been a good talk in the sports world. Such a harmonious and harmonious relationship, I think, is the main "secret" of Liu Xiang's success. If you don’t believe it, please look at the relationship between another pair of athletes and their coach. That’s really chilling!

Not long ago, Chinese female track and field athlete Sun Yingjie sued the court for beating, scolding and corporal punishment by her coach Wang Dexian. It is said that this kind of beating and scolding is still very common in the current sports world. Relevant experts pointed out that this is related to the fact that most coaches have poor cultural foundation and lack of legal concepts. What they pursue is the practice of "bringing out filial sons under a stick, and talents out of fists and kicks", which is incompatible with modern society's people-oriented and humane education. Don't say that you can't get good results and you're lucky if you don't have any murders. When Sun Yingjie's collarbone was broken, what else could we expect from such an inhumane coach? We can't help but ask, what kind of responsibilities should the person in charge of the relevant parties bear?

While I was writing this manuscript, I got another touching story about Liu Xiang and his master Sun Haiping. It is said that Liu Xiang once had the idea of ????paying his own money to buy housing for his master several times, but he was declined by his master several times. Later, after Liu Xiang won the gold medal in the Athens Olympics, E, in Putuo District, Shanghai, gave him a house in a famous garden. Once at a celebration banquet for him to break the world record, the bosses of this famous garden were concerned about Sun Haiping's housing. When they learned that the house was not big, they offered to help solve the problem. To this end, Liu Xiang expressed his willingness to be a free spokesperson for the real estate project to show his goodwill to the bosses. Therefore, this opportunity to get the best of both worlds allowed Master Sun Haiping to accept a kind of gratitude from his disciple. He said, I am really happy that Liu Xiang did this, not because of the house, but because I think the apprentice I brought out is very sensible, and I am very proud of myself. And Liu Xiang said, let’s not talk about repaying gratitude, but at least respect your teacher. He also disclosed the ins and outs of the incident to the public, considering himself a public figure.

It is said that this matter was reported to the Field Management Center, which is responsible for Liu Xiang’s commercial development, in accordance with relevant procedures. The Field Management Center was very generous when they learned about it and said it was a good thing and immediately agreed.

The creation of a world champion requires care and support from all aspects. So far we have not heard any rumors about Liu Xiang. Everyone cares about him and loves him. This is also an indispensable step towards his success. The secret to getting it.