Sport Speed Revolution

BACK TO WHERE IT ALL BEGAN...

2011-03-13T07:12:00.007Z

Morning ALL!

Time for a lazy sunday, thought this would be of interest:

From IAAF website...
Saturday, 12 March 2011

EXCLUSIVE - Isinbayeva returns to her original coach
The management of Yelena Isinbayeva, the reigning 2-time Olympic champion and 27-time World record breaker in the women’s Pole Vault, has confirmed the news that the 28-year-old star has returned to her first coach Evgeniy Trofimov.

In an exclusive interview for the IAAF website given to Nickolai Dolgoplov, our Russian correspondent, Evgeniy Trofimov explains the events which led to Isinbayeva’s return to his tutelage.

“Yes the news is true," said Trofimov. "It all happened on (6 March 2011) Forgiveness Sunday (when Orthodox Christians traditionally forgive each other’s sins)…. At my apartment in Volgograd the phone rang. I picked- up and immediately heard the voice: ‘Evgeniy Vasilivitch. How do you do. Yelena is calling’.”

“She talked without any allusions: ‘It is necessary to meet each other’. I was all the time thinking. I saw clearly and distinctly what was going on with my former pupil. The former pain which had once boiled between us has now simmered but had still not disappeared completely. But it was the 6 March, Forgiveness Sunday.”

“Yelena was waiting for me in a little restaurant…And we had a one to one talk. The conversation was frank… the conversation was concrete.”

“She had talked the situation over with (her) coach (Vitaly) Petrov and he knew of her decision. And she would like to be coached by me again.”

“The talk was extremely good and friendly. And I promised to think it over. Believe me there were a lot of things to be weighed up carefully.”

“But on the 8 March…that is a Russian National Holiday called International Women’s Day the whole family of Yelena, her father and mother included, were sitting in my flat at the holiday table. And it turned out that a refusal was impossible… I gave my consent....”

“We have already had two practices in Volgograd. And they went well. Now at the moment Lena is in Donetsk where her poles are and they will be brought back to Volgograd soon. The distance between the two cities is not that long. She’ll bring the poles back.”

“Our first training sessions turned out to be incredible. They were, how can I explain it to you; full of tenderness and kindness, like they used to be before. And we did understand each other so well; like nothing had happened during those five years (since they parted).

"I have all Yelena’s (training) diaries with all her notes. And everything is clear for me. We should restore (prepare her for competition) calmly and steadily. And we’ll do it with Lena seriously, very seriously,” confirmed Evgeniy Trofimov.

Nickolai Dolgoplov (Rossiyskaya Gazeta) for the IAAF
----------------------------------------------------

Yours in Sport & Speed,

THE SPEED FREAK

WORLD SPEED PRESS CHAMPIONSHIPS 2009

2009-12-31T10:41:00.005Z

WSP 2009-12-27

On a cold crisp Sunday between Christmas & New Year a group of sports fans huddled together in LB1 in three bridges in the south of England for some festive fun. We ere there to raise money for charity and witness the birth of a new sport. The 1st WORLD SPEED PRESS Championships 2009!

The event had three main goals, raising money for Help For Hero’s, for Paralympics GB (more specifically the Sitting Volleyball Team) and finally to have as much FUN in the process.

A mix of individuals turned up to enjoy themselves. From an England Rugby player, An American over visiting family for xmas, Random Barney who walked in the Pub,
A Commonwealth gold medallist to the event organiser’s mum (roped in 5minutes before). Spectators, cousins, parents and friends all ended up getting involved with the fun atmosphere. This lead to an extra “LAST MAN STANDING” event that saw everyone involved on the floor wrapped round the bar in a mexican wave style press up until everyone dropped & the winner Eli Garrett (USA) was revealed!

The 2009 1st World Champions are:
Sam Twoomey (U/18 – 62)
Christina Walker (Women – 38)
Patricia Walker (50+ Women – 7)
Dave W.J.W. (50+ Men – 61)
Adam Walker (MEN – 103)

No world record this year, but everyone has a full year to get ready and next year the event will be bigger & better with a whole year as a run up to gain support.

Massive thanks go out to LB1 for hosting the event supplying prizes and they will also be donating a percentage of their sales to WSP 09. Thanks to Adrian Bailey who stepped in at short notice to MC the event, the ref, timekeepers, members of Crawley AC and friends & family who turned up to show their support.

If you did not manage to make it on the day, all competitors are still collecting sponsorship for the next week and with this money still to come in we are aiming to double the money raised so far! If you want to donate to the event please contact SportSpeedAcademy@googlemail.com we are also already looking for local businesses as sponsers for next years event WSP 2010!

The original idea for the event was born three months ago, inspired by some Irish lads in New Zeland and out of a local sports fanatics in-ability to run since a rubbish injury!

Think you know who I'm talkin about...

Hope you had a quality 2009!

Signing out for the year,

Yours in Sport & Speed,

SPEED FREAK

6 Degrees of Jumping - Stefan Holm

2009-11-19T08:53:00.001Z

INSPIRING TO ALL SPORTSPEOPLE...

BUSY BUSY BUSY!

2009-10-26T07:27:00.002Z

Morning!

Its a new week, time to crack on! Since my knee "issues" were classified perminant and I'm starting to accept it, things have been happening fast!

It goes back to my philosophy, EVERYONE has a talent. In what, I don't know, but its there somewhere! Most people don't spend enough time truely searching for it and if they do they don't fully develop or commit to it. Thats one of my pet hates...
WASTED TALENT! I see it every day & it stands out like a sore thumb to me as I know what to look for & have seen that top people in whatever field they choose are not superhuman, they just have belief, determination and have found their talent!

Whats yours???

Anyway, enough of my early rant, back to what I started to talk about, Busy, Busy, Busy.
Called in by my physio mate Stuart to work with the Surrey Development Squad for X-Country from 10am today. Why the SpeedFreak for X-contry you may ask? Because Speed is esential for ALL sports! Find me a X-Country runner with NO SPEED and you'll find a runner who gets all his/her hard work undone in the last few minutes of the race as everyone FLIES BY!!!
Not a fun experience (School X-Counrty team me '94, WooHoo).

Then onto 1st GB Volleyball (weekly session) in Central London, never a fun place to travel to around rush hour, great. But if this journey was easy, I wouldn't be interested and everyone would be doing it, not the point of elite level sport!
If I every make it to my destination tonight, it will not be wasted & I'll SMASH it as hard as I can and see what happens... wish me luck & I'll see you on the other side ;)

Whatever your doing, keep moving forward!

Let me know how your doing??
Leave your comments as I am genuinely interested..

GET FAST WIN MORE.

THE SPEED FREAK

Inside Sports - Sitting Volleyball

2009-10-22T07:18:00.001+01:00

MORNING!
I MADE THE GB SQUAD!
CHECK IT OOT!

PARALYMPIC POTENTIAL DAY (GB)

2009-10-17T07:40:00.001+01:00

Here is the day at Brunel University, acually welled up a bit 1st time I saw this. Don't know why? Guess I'm still in denial....

I'll accept it eventually.

It was a quality day.
2012 is not a crazy idea anymore!!!

Stefan Holm 2.40 slowmotion

2009-10-17T07:08:00.001+01:00

White men cant jump, huh!

PARALYMPICS 2012!

2009-10-02T05:29:00.002+01:00

MORNING!

If you've been following my adventures in rehab over the last 14 months you'l know my knee is mullered!

Anyway I love basketball, so decided to finallly bite the bullet and contact England Wheelchair basketball about my situation. Next thing I know I'm invited along to the Paralympic potential day @ Brunel to try out for all sports I qualify for!!?

Anyway, to cut a long story short, I had to go to each individual sport on the day & they assessed if my condition was deemed bad enough for their sport.

THIS WAS DEFINATELY A WIN WIN SITUATION AS IF I QUALIFY, COOL.
IF NOT, EVEN BETTER AS IT MEANS I'M NOT DISABLED ENOUGH, ALSO COOL!

I'll let you know how it went, soon.

THE SPEED FREAK

SO CLOSE...

2009-09-30T06:05:00.003+01:00

TIME: MONDAY 8am.
LOCATION: Matthews & Allen PHYSIO, Guildford, UK.

LEG STRENGTH TESTING !

*Gotta get quad dominant on my injured weak leg to be able to try to run!

Really optomistic about this testing session & since I returned from USA I am confident I could not have trained harder on my leg rehab to increase the strength. We'll see what the results say, fingers crossed!

It has been 4 weeks since my last test session where I had not improved my left quad muscle for 6 weeks.

Anyway gave it my all in the testing and got some new results:

LEFT LEG
*Hamstring (no work) IMPROVED/PLATEAU AS STRONG AS THE GOOD LEG FOR 1st TIME! Result.

*Quadracept (1/4 squats, HEAVY) STILLL WEAKER THAN THE HAMSTRING! Dammn.
I need a 3:2 ratio with the quads dominant.

This was a kick in the guts short term, but in the long term it is good news as my Quad had improved from my training by about 50% in 4 weeks! Thats over 10% a week! Gotta keep that habit going & the only reson its not dominant is due to the hamstring improving (which shouldn't happpen again).

Was told to check back in 4 weeks time for testing again (so I booked in for 3 weeks! ;))

Trying to grab the last bit of sun with maybe a little sprint/run on the track before its too late...

SO CLOSE...

Thanks for your continuing support.

THE SPEED FREAK

THE COMEBACK.

2009-08-24T11:31:00.005+01:00

Hi guys... Been a while!

Since we last spoke my injury has been about as bad as could have been expected (ie:WorseCaseScenario!)

After a few stagnant months where I had no strength gains/progression with my knee no matter howmuch or hard I rehabed it, the decision was made to operate on it for a second time. With months of getting nowhere, I pretty much "downed tools" with regard to keep you updated as I was stuggling myself just to try and stay possitive.

This was in May 09 and they were specifically worried about the meniscus cartilage they had repaired in the 1st operation. When the operation took place their fears were confirmed and the cartilage they had tried to save was again torn. I had been told that if this was the case they would just remove all my meniscus cartilage. This means initially, functionally my joint should be good, but with the two bone ends rubbing together with no shock absorbtion, arthritis is no far away. Anyway, lucky me, my top surgeon managed to only remove 1/2 my cartilage to save me something to help my knee, obviously I was pretty happy with this!

By this stage all timelines for my recovery where out the window and it not a question of when I recover, more if I recover. For the 1st time I asked my Physio is everything goes as well as possible (perfectCaseScenario) would I be able to vault again? I had avoided this question for long enough as I didn't really want to heaar the answer. In the past no matter how bad the situation he has always told me I would be back. This time the advice was "You could try to learn to vault of the other leg" bearing in mind this is like asking a top cricketer/pitcher to bowl with his other arm! And I'm no spring chicken these days!

Basically there is a chance I could vault again, but I have been advised it could be a very stupid decision as my knee is going to deteriorate early anyway without this extra stress from high level training/competing. Added to this the general risk of vaulting/re-injure and apparently I would be nuts to do it (I have considered it) and I should focus more on being able to be "recreationaly active" in later life.

I had to cut back my SSA work as everytime I risked damge to my knee as I could not just stand there and struggled not to be active in the sessions. It has been 3 months since the second operation and things (including my mood) have improved since. Strength gains pushed throught the previous plateau within a month and I have been allowed to start min-squats for the 1st time in a year, a treat! I will try not to put any deadlines on recovery as over the last year these have been getting put back and back.

For a large part of the year I had the anniversary of the accident August 9th as a goal to be running/jogging by this date and it helped keep me going. However is this date got closer it turned into a decision date. It came a week or two ago and I was not even close to being able to run, and on this date I decided to accept it and officially RETIRE FROM COMPETITIVE POLEVAULT. I'm sure this is not a big deal for anyone else and I know things could be worse, I'm more just getting it down in black and white so it is more real. I thought some people should know and if your one of the many who has supported me in this tough year I really do thank you for it (you know who you are).

Anyway on a lighter note I am going to try and work with what I've got, wheelchair basketball, volleyball(nojumping), swimming, snooker, FT top coach, underwear model ;) sniper are all potential options for me.

I have spent my usual athletics summer in the states this year and return at the end of this month...

we will see what happens??

Thnks again for all you support, I wil again try and support you in all your sporting and fitness goals

THE SPEED FREAK

2009 LETS ATTACK IT!

2009-01-02T10:12:00.006Z

Good morning!

Its been a while since my last post, but it was a busy month getting my knee sorted out (hopefully) with a full ACL reconstruction & cartilage repair in mid December. I was lucky to save the cartilage as 2/3rds of it was torn off and it was 50/50 wheather to just take it all out or try to repair it!

My surgon likened it to
"TRYING TO STICH WET SPAGETTI TOGETHER!" Nice.

Big thanks to him & his team though up at Windsor, he is the Top Knee guy & they were responsible for Michael Owens ACL after it went at the championships for all to see. He was back playing in 7 months.

Anyway, enough of whats gone on in this last month, lets look to the future, what is up for 2009???

MY GOALS:

0 - 3 MONTHS
*ACL Gym activities & SWIMMING at 6-12 weeks.
*ACL LIGHT JOGGING at 3 months
**SSA is known to the people who need it & given an opportunity to help aspiring Youth Sportspeople!
**SSA releases its 1st Youth Peformance DVD: Animal Acceleration to help a greater number of coaches/teachers/youth sportspeople!

3 - 6 MONTHS
*ACL Work on FITNESS LEVEL.
*ACL Non-contact Sports Training/RUNNING at 6 months.
**SSA continues to invest in performance research, going anywhere in the world to get the best & bring it to YOU.
**SSA directly/regularly helps over 100+ youth athletes.
**SSA is the known YOUTH CONDITIONING SPECIALISTS in the SOUTH OF ENGLAND.
**SSA releases its 2nd Youth Peformance DVD.

6 - 12 MONTHS
*ACL 9 months FULL Sprinting & other sports.
*ACL 10-12 months FULL RETURN TO POLEVAULT??
**SSA Youth conditioning Revolution has a strong, large, dedicated following, helping and supporting each other and pushing up the Youth Performance standards in the UK and Overseas.

Whoops! Now I've done it now, once there down in black & white, goals become a bit more real.

More obtainable.

You know what you want.

YOU CAN NOW MAKE STEPS TOWARDS YOUR GOAL

But more than anything else.... Be Happy.

Your success will come,

I will be FANATICALLLY dedicated to helping you reach your performance goals what ever you decide they are!

JUST POST THEM HERE,
DO IT TODAY.

IF YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT THEY ARE?
HOW CAN YOU ACHIEVE THEM!

I look forward to finding what your GOING to achieve in 2009...

Yours in Sport & Speed,

Adam Walker BSc PGCE CSCS
THE SPEED FREAK

STRONG MIND, STRONG BODY.

2008-12-02T14:40:00.007Z

Afternoon all,

Early start to the day, up and out by 6.30am, going early training? Early coaching? Nope, up to Windsor and the Princess Margret Hospital for an MRI on my lovely (slightly mis-shaped) knee.

An improtant day, well the results in a few days are more important!
Just another "Fun" outing since my freak accident on August 9th. The local newspaper ran an update on my knee this week (must be a slow week for news) and I thought I'd pass on the story and keep you guys updated. Here's a few bits...

Walker fights back from the brink

Dislocated kneecap, torn knee ligaments, season over. Adam Walker's athletics future was looking pretty bleak as he lay in agony on the pole vault runway at Eton.
Foremost in Walker's mind is trying to return his knee to full working order. A full 15 weeks after it happened, he is coming to terms with just how badly the joint is and is finding it as much a mental battle as it is physical.

"I have been having two to three hours a day rehab and now the injured leg is as strong as the other one. My quads are stronger than they were before the accident.

The injury has left Walker's knee severely weakened, and its vulnerability was highlighted last week when he slipped slightly on a wet floor and damaged his anterior cruciate ligament - the front ligament in the knee.

"I'm so gutted," he says. "I have been really careful but it looks like I have now overstretched or partially torn the ACL. It has put me back about three weeks to a month and my limp is back.

"You can't fix it quickly which is frustrating and there's no chance of me having an indoor season now. I'd be more upbeat if I thought I could be jumping by the time of the outdoor season. It's 15 weeks since I did it now. For 11 weeks it was improving so quickly, getting better day by day. But the thought has popped into my head: 'What if I don't get better?'"

Walker is keen to avoid the fate of one of his friends, who suffered a career-ending injury at the same venue eight years ago and still limps.

But he can at least see a silver lining.
"I didn't land on my head so I am happy about that but they thought I had broken my leg, that my tibia had snapped. I was happy to see there was no blood."

It was an unhappy end to what had been Walker's best season, setting a new personal best of 4.65m in Dublin and also becoming the Sussex senior champion. He intends to return to the Irish capital, believing the size of the competition and the crowds helped him reach that PB.

"I would find it a lot easier to retire after five metres," he admits.

"To clear that is a question of technique and belief. I cleared 4.65 in Dublin and thought, 'Brilliant, I must have scraped it'. But my coach said I did it easily, so I had a pop at 4.75 and in three attempts I got lots of height but came down on the bar."

Anyway guys, as I lay inside the MRI tunnel this morning (a cross between a building site and standing next to a music speaker experience) I thought, this is rubbish & wondered why I didn't feel worse? Sure I have bad days & I'm angry about the knee, but mentally I'm positive, working round the problem and focusing on getting it better. Slowly the body is getting the idea and catching up! Have to mention helping "mini-me" sportspeople is a massive help aswell! Hopefully YOU can avoid some of the injuries that I have had and learn from my mistakes. The mind is the most powerful Sports Performance tool...

"BECOME STRONG IN MIND & THE BODY WILL FOLLOW"

Adam Walker
THE SPEED FREAK

PS: IF YOU WANNA CHECK OUT THE FULL STORY ALONG WITH SAD PHOTO'S OF ME! HERE IS THE LINK BELOW (copu & paste it into your browser).
http://www.thisissussex.co.uk/crawley/sport/Walker-fights-brink/article-503354-detail/article.html
LET ME KNOW HOW YOUR DOING IN YOUR SPORTS AND ABOUT ANY INJURY WORRIES??

YOUNGER & FASTER WILKO!

2008-11-17T09:03:00.006Z

Morning all!

With the Autumn Rugby Union Internationals fully underway, you can't go a weekend without viewing some quality rugby and Speed to match!

One who tends to stand out is The younger faster version of Jonny Wilkinson... DAN CIPRIANI !

Wilkinson's injuries are the cost of too much contact. But Cipriani is still young, developing, bigger, stronger and FASTER than Wilkinson already! A RUGBY SPEED FREAK!

This is not luck though. Like SPORT SPEED ACADEMY, Dan Cipriani identified weaknesses and did something about it!
When Dan joined Wasps he commented:

“Wasps have a gym culture so I quickly got big and strong — but I was convinced I needed to work on my speed. So I started working with Margot Wells — she’s the wife of former Olympic gold medal sprinter Allan — and I pay her out of my own pocket!"

Cipriani who comes from Croydon the same stomping ground that produced a TRUE SPEED FREAK in Paul Sackey. Cipriani gained a Rugby scholorsip from Whitgift school and hasn't looked back.

In his time there I was lucky enough to be at the school and taught him in disciplines such as Water Polo and Basketball. Sadly no Rugby speed work back then! Anyway, it was Paul Sackey who started to pay Margot £400 a month to help his speed six years ago. Sackey is always quick to credit Wells for her part in turning him into an international rugby player. As a young lad joining Wasps, Dan started his regular Speed sessions with Margot off his own back and has also paid tribute to the help she has given him.

So what does she do??

She only gets 45 minutes, twice a week, to make a difference to these blokes. She needs discipline and hasn't got time for them to turn up and muck about! She maintains she fuels their talent in a step-by-step manner. The first thing she did was to teach him how to run properly, immediately making Dan run faster. She then looked at his body to find out where are all the weaknesses? Then she starts to fix them.

SIMPLE.

Personally physical mistakes and weaknesses jump out to me too and I can appriciate and understand exactly how and why she does what she does. You need a structured system to follow and then you can reap the rewards when you take your skills onto the pitch! I only get 60 minutes once a week at my Academy at still get results!

Still with all this (as I have found in Polevault) you cannot avoid the "Freak" injuries and Cipriani suffered a fractured dislocated ankle injury in May. OUCH! Wilkinson dislocated his knee like me in September, and this is with us all being in good condition for our sport. Mmust be the season for it!

Expected to be out untill the new year, Dan has burst back in time for the Autumn internationals! His speed coach reckons he is faster than before he got injured, so it is looking good for England. Margot currently looks after 28 rugby players and says that she is unable to take anybody else on board. In the past (as all good speed coaches should!) she has also worked with swimmers, fencers and coached a variety of team sports.

SPORT SPEED IS ESSENTIAL & I LOVE IT!

I'll leave you with some great words that we apply daily at SPORT SPEED ACADEMY...

“You can’t tackle what you can’t catch.” Margot Wells

GET FAST. WIN MORE.

Adam Walker BSc PGCE CSCS YCS
www.SportSpeedAcademy.com
www.TheSpeedFreak.blogspot.com

THE SPEED FREAK

PS: Check out this Key Exercise to eliminate a massive weakness on the SPEED FREAK Channel... AdamWalkerPro on YouTube, Subscribe for free now!

WEMBLEY FOOTBALL SPEED!

2008-10-27T10:56:00.004Z

Morning all,

Did you watch the big FOOTBALL game at Wembley last night?? It was quality and some of the SPEED on show was impressive, I could watch it all day!

If your wondering what game I'm talking about, Man U Vs Arsednal?? Liverpool Vs Chelsea??
Nope...

San Diego Chargers Vs New Orliens Saints!

Thats right a NFL regular season game of American Football was played at Wembley to a sell out crowd and millions of viewers watched around the world. I watched. and in particular one player...

LT! This guy off the San Diego team was not the biggest (5 foot 6!), but actually the smallest. His one defining SKILL was his Superhuman SPORTSPEED!

You know what it reminded me of.
Seeing my SSA junior athletes that I coach the Academy. When these little guys go up against other juniors in their sports or we have a new kid come along to try a session, it makes them look so QUICK and EFFICIENT with their movements.

I LOVE IT.

In this sporting arena it wasn't just that LT was soo fast, but that everytime he had a one on one situation he was FASTER than the other highly conditioned athlete he was up against!

If you are aspiring to these levels in whatever sport you chose, imagine the damage you could do with these speed skills. Put them onto a Football pitch, A rugby pitch, a basketball, netball or badminton court! The potential is endless and so is your potential!

DONT JUST WATCH THIS SPEED, GET OFF YOUR BUTT AND DO SOMETHING SMART TO REACH YOUR POTENTIAL.

I'm inspired.

Where's the next american football try-outs!?

Guess I better get my knee sorted first! (3 weeks till I can run on it, still)

GET FAST. WIN MORE.

Adam Walker
www.Sportspeedacademy.com
www.AdamWalkerPro.com
THE SPEED FREAK

CHOCOLATE OLYMPICS ?

2008-10-21T09:37:00.003+01:00

Morning!

Can you believe it?? Yesterday LONDON 2012 unvieled(quietly)its newest major sponser for the games the well known sporty, healthy brand...

CADBURYS CHOCOLATE???

Hmmmmm... once again maybe I'm missing something here, but I didn't realise they premoted healthy lifestyle, diet, competition and sports nutrition. I must be simple, I thought it was chocolate treats marketed at people who struggle to control their diet & health. Who already eat to much rubbish, are too young to know better, oh and to make as much money through as much exposure as possible. A healthy, sporty, 2012 Olympic tag to all its products, well its bound to help brainwash another generation of ever increasing obese people with Olympic ideals??

OLYMPIC IDEALS!

Ancient Greeks and Baron De Coubertain (Founder of the Modern Olympics) I'm sure would be very happy with the way things are going, NOT.
As usual... its to the HIGHEST BIDDER.

I am not niave, I know big sporting events are big business. But the whole idea and point of the Olympics are the Olympic ideals, this is something more. Its why I fully support GB's LIFETIME BAN on DRUG users in sport, when other countries are soft.

Whats next?

MARLBRO CIGARETTES TO BECOME THE NEXT BIG SPONSER OF 2016??

Your havin a Laugh.

Yours in Sport & Speed,

Adam Lewis-Walker
www.sportspeedacademy.com

THE SPEED FREAK

SPEEDY INJURY! SPEEDY RECOVERY??

2008-10-16T07:45:00.003+01:00

Morning all,

Its been a rough few days recently, knee has been having a tough time since dislocating my patella 8 weeks ago at the UK Athletics Challenge final @ Eton.
The “FREAK” accident seemed to be getting better as fast as it happened! If you didn’t hear, I’ll give you a quick recap from what the papers reported:

ADAM Walker admits his season is over after dislocating his knee in testing conditions at the UK Challenge Final in Eton.The Crawley Athletic Club pole vaulter suffered the freak accident when going for his second attempt at 4.46m in the Thames Valley Athletics Stadium.
Walker, the Sussex senior champion, had only been a late call-up to the event after another athlete dropped out, but still managed to finish fourth and pocketed £100 prize money.
But the 28-year-old was left with mixed emotions as he was taken to hospital following the accident and will not be able to compete for the rest of the season.
I am so happy with my best result of fourth in the UK, but it cost me a knee and is still swelling," said Walker.
"I'm angry that the organisers made us vault in the dangerous conditions and didn't move it indoors or call it off.
"Last time I vaulted there about eight years ago, another competition was called off after a friend of mine had a career ending injury in dangerous conditions. He never vaulted again and still limps now."

Walker's injury compounded a miserable weekend for him which began on Friday night when his ankle swelled because of an insect bite picked up at a midweek meeting in Woking.
Having been told he had an infection, he was prescribed antibiotics to reduce the swelling and made it to Eton only to find the rain had left standing water on the pole vault run-up.
The competitors were told the event would not be moved indoors and Walker had to make the best of the conditions, clearing 4.16m and 4.31m to put him in fifth place.
With conditions worsening, Walker went for 4.46m but on his second attempt at the new height, it all went wrong.

"I came flying in, puddles splashing, struggling to grip the pole, my take-off foot was too close, and although it didn't feel right I tried to vault," he said.
"But my foot slipped from under me, I tried to grip the pole but my top hand slipped off the pole and I ended up crumpled in the box, screaming and gripping my knee.
"It's a bit of a blur. The pain was excruciating, as my patella (knee-cap) was ripped off and leg had been hyper-extended. I thought I was going to see bone sticking through so I was initially relieved."

Walker's condition has improved in the last few days and an x-ray has shown no tears to any of the major ligaments or tendons and no floating bone fragments.
He is now recuperating in San Francisco although his target of clearing five metres (IRISH RECORD) now looks a long way off.Horrible to read that again! Anyway, as I mentioned my recovery was initially so rapid, I’d had the best season of my career and a lifetime best height to boot. Even though I’d had my left kneecap ripped off (ouch!) I was in good spirits and Soo motivated to crack on and get it sorted, I attacked the rehab with force!
The PAIN involved was a shock to me, but with my Good friend and long term physio John Allen reassuring me I had to do it and the pain was necessary I didn’t look back. The physio’s I have always used are Matthews & Allen, one is the Head physio for the Wimbledon tennis Championships every year and the other is in charge of the majority of the UK Athletics teams at major championships (I had to wait for him to get back from Beijing to help me out!.

My strength gains were so quick it was really motivating how quick I was recovering. People would be shocked when they saw my progress and I told them I was only off crutches a week ago! Obviously I’m all about speed so I was loving it. However, flexibility has not been so good in my knee ( and the fact it still doesn’t look too hot!) and it stiffens up reducing the ROM (Range Of Movement) quickly if I neglect it.

So, here we are today 8 weeks later and I’m still sitting here writing this with an ice pack on my knee! Since the incident my knee has been able to fry an egg on it, its so hot and inflamed, with a bad weekend where it swelled up so I could not do any rehab except ice it constantly for two days and eat Anit-Inflamatories like smarties!

I’d over done it a tad, it’s a fine line between doing as much as possible to help it and over doing it and ruining your work!
OVER-TRAINING, you put just too much demand on your body and don’t respect the principle of rest and recovery, and you’r body will make you rest either through INJURY or SWELLING up to the size of a coconut knee and put you out of the game!

Hey my SPEED FREAKS, You have been warned! Take it from someone who knows and is still confined to running in the swimming pool!

Whats the worst injury you’ve had or known a friend experience?? Let me know, I hope you haven’t experience much… Unfortunately I doubt that!??

What’s yours??

Yours in Sport & Speed,

Adam Walker BSc PGCE CSCS

PS: Imagine 3 hours taken out of every day for 8 weeks (and counting) for REHAB, Strengthening, flexibility and Hydro sessions in the pool! FUN.

Put in the work PRE-HAB before an injury occurs, any problems, help needed gimme a shout.THE SPEED FREAK

SPEEDY RHYME!

2008-10-09T22:55:00.003+01:00

Evening All!

Just a quick one, before the day is up.

Over here in the UK it is National Poetry day and being a wannabe poet I thought it 'd be rude to let it pass without a mention...

"PARENT'S WHO SUPPORT AND BELIEVE,

HELP THEIR CHILDREN TO EXCELL AND ACHIEVE"

Adam Walker 2008

Get Support,
Get Fast, Win More.

Night,

THE SPEED FREAK

http://www.sportspeedacademy.com/

FAT-CARE!

2008-10-08T09:46:00.006+01:00

Morning!

Blimey, I sat there eating my porridge and banana and the BBC announced that:

"OBESE CHILDREN IN THE UK ARE TO BE TAKEN OFF THEIR PARENTS AND PLACED INTO CARE"

Finally something extreme to be done about this HUGE probelm and what I have know for years... CHILD ABUSE!

Thats how the goverment is now viewing at it as well, a from of child abuse. "Really, you don't say!" The site of an obese parent stuffing sugary crap into a young child who cannot make their own decisions and at the end of the day is hungry, has never sat well with me. The goverment hasn't helped with its softly, softly approach. Matched with the media of the last few years view: That its ok to be fat and love your body.

Well not if it is a health RISK to you and your children who will look up to you as a role model, end up having the same diet that YOU buy and guess what...

End up OBESE.

Suprise.

Cruel.

This is an unacceptable situation and it had been left so long there was a need for something EXTREME. I just hope it wasn't all talk and now they will actually impose this new legislation.

DONT GET FAT,
GET FIT,
GET FAST, WIN MORE.

Adam Walker BSc PGCE CSCS
www.adamwalkerpro.com
www.sportspeedacademy.com
THE SPEED FREAK.

PS WHAT DO YOU THINK?? Agree?? you must do!

SWIMMING & CEREAL!?

2008-10-02T07:10:00.005+01:00

Morning all!

I just got passed on a news story from one of my mates in America. Its all about the “GoldenBoy” of Beijing Michael Phelps, his foundation are getting together with Kellogs to promote children being active.

Sounds good, on the surface, but I’m gonna dip below the water on this one!

I’m all for increasing the activity of children as more and more kids become overweight and obese everyday around the world. Children in their early teens ending up in the hospitals with Type two diabetes (used to be an adult only disease!), heart problems & high cholesterol. The worst part!? The majority is all preventable, kids definitely need to get of their butt & get active! The culture is to sit and watch TV, play playstation, Not play outside (as its soo dangerous here now!?) and be slobs by the time they reach puberty. Eating fast food, quick fix dinners and far too much sugar and they know no better!

Enough of my morning rant… back to Phelps & kellogs.

It is quality that Kellogs and Michael want to promote a more active lifestyle, but I have a little issue here, that seems pretty obvious to me.

Number one, he almost publicised that he eats anything and everything, most of it junk to get up to his gut swelling 10,000 calories a day! Bearing in mind that recommended intake for a normal adult male is one fourth that at 2,500! The commercials they are starting to run, show Phelps on the boxes of a whole load of cereals, frosted flakes to rice crispy treats.

I’m guessing “8 Medal Man” doesn’t get into the detail of what his “BoatRace” is plastered on, but call me picky, I don’t think Kellogs have any intention or plan to try and help make our kids more healthy. Surprisingly they want to sell more and more of their big earners, which ARE FULL OF SUGAR & ADDING TO THE PROBLEM!

GOOD WORK KELLOGS, not.
So the story is not quite as it started out, here’s my new headline…

KELLOGS USE OLYMPIC LEGEND TO PROMOTE HIGH SUGAR RUBBISH, MAKE MORE MONEY & DECREASE THE HEALTH OF KIDS THE WORLD OVER.

What’s yours??
I’d love to know your views on this, do you think I’m too harsh or not harsh enough!

GET FAST. WIN MORE,

The Speed Freak!

www.SportSpeedAcademy.com
www.AdamWalkerPro.com

PS: I think he may be teaming up with MacDonnalds as well! Hmmmm, not the best 2nd choice either!

ATTACK IT!

2008-09-26T08:01:00.003+01:00

Morning Guys!

Started a new job yesterday, did not think there was a job that would fit in with my Sports Speed Development work. More importantly I did not think there was a job I would love like my Sport Speed Academy, then good things came to me, I knew what I could do, what wold fit with my "Fun" work and started yesterday.

ATTACK IT!

The main thing if you wan't to do something or achieve something is attack it! There is no point me wondering into this job looking for a little extra cash, turning up and going through the numbers. It would be tough for me and my students, I have attacked it and in one day of lecturing, I LOVE IT! This is not going to be "work" for me as well, how good is that!??

All these years of doing work and now both my jobs I love, ATTACK and enjoy! If you don't love or have any passion for what you do...

Look elsewhere... and attack it with all you got and you'l be suprised with what you get out of it.

Yours in Sport & Speed,

The SpeedFreak.

www.adamwalkerpro.com
www.sportspeedacademy.co.uk

HOW KNACKERED ARE YOU!

2008-09-24T15:57:00.007+01:00

Alright guys!

Today my eyes hurt, head hurts and I've got that "could be ill soon" feeling as my Jet lag finally kicks in properly! I'm sure you've had one of these days? Thats what happens when you burn the candles at both ends Training (well Knee Rehab for me at the mo, but that is another story!) and too many nights with not enough sleep.

I am knackered.

Now I'm a healthy bloke, eat well, feel good, train and coach at "SpeedFreak" standards, almost invincible!!? Well no, enven the SpeedFreak cannot get away from one of the most important Speed training principles...

RECOVERY.

DO NOT OVERTRAIN!

Getting faster is not always about training hard, its about trainng smart and knowing what you are trying to achieve in each session, set and rep. Why is it some athletes are constantly injured or ill? Others seem to avoid this and produce consistently good performances year after year?

THEY TRAIN SMART. THEY LISTEN TO THEIR BODIES or A GOOD COACH who can spot the signs of over-trainng and intervene and adapt the sessions when needed. For so many years coaches have been all about putting kids through pain/suffering in their conditioning programmes, that IS Rubbish. The standard of your conditioning programme should not be measured by how many are sick form the session or find themselves injured/during the start of the season.

THEY DESREVE BETTER.

Rest and recovery between sets,reps and sessions are more important that what you are actually doing and determine what you are trying to achieve. No one is immune, not even the SpeedFreak wo is listening to his body and having a rest day, it's not about being lazy or training HARD all the time. At the end of the day is about preparing you best for waht you are trying to achieve and improving your sports performance!

Thats where I step in.

GET FAST. WIN MORE.

The "SpeedFreak"

www.adamwalkerPro.com
www.sportspeedacademy.co.uk

YOUTH SPORT SPEED REVOLUTION

2008-09-23T22:25:00.001+01:00

The SPEEDFREAK is here!

Alright World!!?

Sooo Quality that i'm finally starting my BLOG! Buzzin' almost as much as I am about starting to sorting out the standard (or lack of!) Under 18's Speed Development everywhere....

especially @ Home in the UK!

Well, its all good my MISSION starts here in NYC, USA. They ARE ahead of the UK in Youth Speed Development, but everone still needs to get better. I'm over for a Youth Sports Conditioning meeting of minds. Some quality bloke gave me a kick up the arse to use my passion for Improving Youth Performance. To not just help the athletes I work with on a daily basis, That is just SELFISH, but to SPREAD THE WORD! The Sporty kids of today need my help!

Don't put it off, UK, USA, Australia, China, Africa, Asia, Everywhere, WORLD! What are you doing to get FASTER & FASTER?!
I challenge you, RAISE THE BAR!
Is that all you got!??

BRING IT ON.

The REVOLUTION has begun...

The "SpeedFreak"

http://www.sportspeedacademy.co.uk