Amazing Uchimura Training Video

[Coach Sommer]

Below is a video of some training by the 2009 World All Around Champion Koehi Uchimura of Japan. In it he easily performs several of the most difficult skills being trained by anyone, anywhere in the world:

triple twisting double back tuck on floor

a) this is two back somersaults and three complete twists all while airborne in a single jump.

training a triple Kovacs on high bar

a) this is performed out of a giant swing going approx 60 mph around the high bar, releasing the bar, performing three back flips and then attempting to regrasp the bar and returning back to giant swings once more.

b) has never been competed by anyone yet

training a front handspring triple twisting layout front on vault

a) this is essentially a double somersault forward in a stretched body position with three twists in a single jump

b) has never been competed by anyone yet

Enjoy!

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Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

[Seiji]

Although I thought the narrator's voice was sort of annoying, THAT was an amazing video. Thanks for sharing once again, coach

[Felipe]

He has an incredible quality over an incredible quantity of movements.

It's incredible the way he stops all the technical perfect twisting elements.

Even if it's an AAer, he could easily be a world finalist on every apparatus (with improved difficulty even on pommel horse, maybe not on rings, there are too many good specialists!).

At this rate he could become one of the best in history...this is also the proof that the next generation of gymnasts are still increasing the difficulty...but we are very near to the natural and technical limits of the body and apparatus.

[Marcelo Lara]

Really amazing! Enjoyable!

[Charles Weill]

Whenever I see a message with video links from GB in my inbox, I smile as it brightens my days. Seeing such incredible feats performed by professionals and especially by the members of this forum makes me wonder if there is any limit to what we can do with enough hard work.

Keep the enthusiasm flowing! Thanks Coach!

[Wangtang6911]

If Uchimura was just stronger on rings, that kid would be unstoppable in the upcoming years!!

I don't think anyone in China can compete with him in the all-around right now!

[phken4343]

The video was so inspirational (it really helps if you understand Japanese well). Now I'm even more motivated to become a great gymnast.

[phken4343]

For those who want a translation (like Mark who PMed me), here are some of the main points in the interview:

2:36.. Uchimura says that to be successful, he has to do routines with confidence.

3:15.. Although doing the routines without mistake is important, he says that sticking the landing is a major part of the routine.

3:47.. Former olympian Tomita says that learning to understand the flow in the movements is a very important process to sticking landings.

5:41.. Uchimura also talks about trampoline and how he did his first flip when he was 5 years old. Talks about how he wanted a trampoline for his birthday.

*to part 2*

0:20~.. Uchimura's mom shows the interview a notebook full of gymnastics moves and a Pink Panther doll he used to image the gymnastics moves in his mind and tested the moves with his trampoline.

2:53.. Uchimura describes gymnastics as "fun to take seriously"

5:18.. He wants to appeal to others by doing original gymnastics moves.

[wunlee]

When we went to Japan in 2008, we trained in the gym that was shown in part 2 of the vid, it was his home gym if memory serves me correct. Some people that I've talked to think high level gymnast come from million dollar gym, but that place was really small, and they didn't even have a mens highbar. Just goes to show that you don't necessarily need fancy or expensive equipment to become an amazing gymnast. Met his mom too, she's a very happy person, made our team feel very welcomed.

[Wangtang6911]

My friend is going to be training in the same gym as Uchimura starting April. I told him to tell me if Uchimura smokes or not. He told me that Tomita smokes a ton.

I definitely agree that the quality of the gym does not dictate the quality of the gymnast! I know for a fact that when Tomita started out, he trained in a gym that he couldn't even swing giants because the ceiling was too low! I also just recently met one of the top vaulters in China from the Dong-Bei region. This kid was telling me that his gym was not even half the size of the Shanghai Men's gym. On top of that, his gym had the oldest equipment. He was telling me that the worst part about it was that starting in 2005, his city didn't have a professional gymnastics team anymore and he was the only one training in that crappy gym. The only other people that were in the gym with him were 10 year old girls and his coach! He said that his coach would make him wear a weight vest and run and climb up some mountain every morning haha. He did that for the last 4 years!!

[Marcelo Lara]

When we went to Japan in 2008, we trained in the gym that was shown in part 2 of the vid, it was his home gym if memory serves me correct. Some people that I've talked to think high level gymnast come from million dollar gym, but that place was really small, and they didn't even have a mens highbar. Just goes to show that you don't necessarily need fancy or expensive equipment to become an amazing gymnast. Met his mom too, she's a very happy person, made our team feel very welcomed.

You're very lucky

My friend is going to be training in the same gym as Uchimura starting April. I told him to tell me if Uchimura smokes or not. He told me that Tomita smokes a ton.

I definitely agree that the quality of the gym does not dictate the quality of the gymnast! I know for a fact that when Tomita started out, he trained in a gym that he couldn't even swing giants because the ceiling was too low! I also just recently met one of the top vaulters in China from the Dong-Bei region. This kid was telling me that his gym was not even half the size of the Shanghai Men's gym. On top of that, his gym had the oldest equipment. He was telling me that the worst part about it was that starting in 2005, his city didn't have a professional gymnastics team anymore and he was the only one training in that crappy gym. The only other people that were in the gym with him were 10 year old girls and his coach! He said that his coach would make him wear a weight vest and run and climb up some mountain every morning haha. He did that for the last 4 years!!

...who is Tomita?

[Gregor]

look in youtube.

[Coach Sommer]

He said that his coach would make him wear a weight vest and run and climb up some mountain every morning haha. He did that for the last 4 years!!

Great info.

The Chinese coaches do believe strongly in running. I myself am also coming to believe that it is a more important component of training that I had previously believed.

Additional details would help others to implement this into their own training. How heavy was the vest? How long was the run? How steep was the mountain? Was every day really EVERY day; or was it 4 or 5 or even 6 days a week? What other leg conditioning did he do? How often did he vault each week?

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

[Marcelo Lara]

Interesting, coach! So, I'm going to run more often

[Wangtang6911]

Great info.

The Chinese coaches do believe strongly in running. I myself am also coming to believe that it is a more important component of training that I had previously believed.

Additional details would help others to implement this into their own training. How heavy was the vest? How long was the run? How steep was the mountain? Was every day really EVERY day; or was it 4 or 5 or even 6 days a week? What other leg conditioning did he do? How often did he vault each week?

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

Eh, not sure on all the details. I only got to be in the gym with him for about 3 days. He said he was planning on training in Shanghai because the gym in his city was too crappy and that there was noone else in the gym but him. Yeah, Chinese gymnasts do run a lot! I asked the head coach on the Shanghai team, why he makes the guys run so much and he says it's good for muscle endurance. Yan Mingyong runs everyday!! This I know for a fact!

In Shanghai, we do different kinds of runs too. We will do a sprint of 100M, another sprint of 400M, and a 3000M run that we are supposed to be able to do in under 14 minutes.

[Arch]

I'm curious about the value of standard long-distance running for gymnasts... I think it would be counter-productive because gymnasts primarily use an anaerobic modality. I could understand intense interval training because the athlete would train for power but still reap the physiologic benefits of an elevated heart rate over time (increased parasympathetic tone and cardiovascular efficiency).

[Joshua Naterman]

Standard long distance running can only keep a gymnast from reaching his or her maximum potential within the sport, because the energy systems in use during competition are not the same, and the effects on recovery, body composition, and muscle adaptation are not desirable for a gymnast.

[Coach Sommer]

Surprisingly many of the top gymnastics programs in the world run, it tends to be therapeautic for the joints. Distances are relatively short and the volume is mild, ranging from 3-5 miles, two to three times a week. The Russians and the Germans love to run outside, the Chinese seem to like treadmills. In addition to their regular runs, the Chinese also like to incorporate 400m sprint work into their week.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

[Joshua Naterman]

None of those qualify as long distance though. 3-5 miles is still middle distance, though I know some coaches consider more than 5k to be long distance. My understanding is that everything 1 mile and under is short distance, from 1-8 miles is considered middle distance, and 9-10+ is considered long distance.

Seeing 5 miles does surprise me a little, though 3 does not. Short runs like that are definitely good for the joints, and at slower paces don't eat into recovery hardly at all and in low volume definitely count as active recovery! I am definitely not against running, but long distance running isn't in the best interest of any strength/power athlete. I'd be ultra surprised to hear about any gymnast doing better with 5 mile runs than 3 mile runs, and I think my eyes would fall out and I'd have to reconsider my entire concept of fitness if a gymnast did better with 8-10 mile runs.

Thanks for the info Coach! Does the American team advocate short runs like that? Do you have your athletes run?

[Donald Lee]

I don't believe high intensity intervals would be as beneficial for gymnasts as middle-distance aerobic work or the speed-endurance-type work sprinters do. High intensity intervals are too taxing to be productive for gymnasts.

Aerobic work produces great work capacity, which allows for greater training volume and frequency. It also can be used to facilitate recovery. Higher aerobic capacities can also be useful for helping to buffer metabolic acidosis, which can be helpful in prolonging the time before muscle failure and in speeding up the recovery between sets.

Doing some aerobic work does not mean your muscles will fall off. Strength/power athletes are not training for high levels of aerobic capacity/power. They train it to complement/supplement their strength/power-specific training, so they merely need adequate levels.

Depending on the exact purpose for the aerobic work, aerobic work can often be done at about 65% of maximal heart rate, which is basically jogging (if you choose to run).

[Joshua Naterman]

Very true.

[Alvaro Antolinez]

Coach do you have any thoughts about "pose" running method? It seems the gymnast run on the balls of their feet, is it correct?.

[Razz]

Coach had a long post about this before, not bothered to search but I'm sure its possible to find it somewhere

[Coach Sommer]

Coach do you have any thoughts about "pose" running method? It seems the gymnast run on the balls of their feet, is it correct?.

Regardless of the minutae of a particular training system (e.g. Pose or Chi), running with a mid to forefoot strike is the rule of nature. It is how the human body is designed to run.

It is only the heavily padded heels of the modern running shoes that allows today's runners to engage in an abnormal heel first stride. This is easily verified. Take off your shoes. Go outside and attempt to sprint down the sideway with the heels striking first. Now limp back inside and share your experience with the rest of us.

Striding heel to toe is for walking only.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

[Joshua Naterman]

HAHAHA Ah, it doesn't get simpler than that. It's kind of funny, in a way, to observe how many more lower body injuries there are these days, and 'wonder' how much of it comes from wearing shoes that force the body to move in ways that nature never intended.