My weekend at Kampong Glam community club

Dear all,

This weekend is good for me as I am invited to watch the Kampong Glam Badminton Open.

It is a very good approach to encourage sporting lifestyles in Singapore. I would like to give my applause to the organisers and those whom is directly or indirectly involved to make this a very successful event.

The competitors are very sporting and sportsmanship have been exercise throughout the event.

Through my observation, I realised that almost 70 percent of the women competitors is putting on knee guards. Mostly women between the age 28 to 45.

I would like to draw the attention to all athletes regardless of their age that badminton is a very demanding game . Especially on the physical aspects of the lower body.

The speed of movement in all three planes is real fast especially when the standard of play increases. I urge all athletes to progressively strengthen their lower body to keep in pace the demand of the sport without injuring themselves.

I would like to recommend some simple exercises to you, you will find that it is so different after a month training. You will even enjoy more in your games as your lower body physical competency is there to support your personal demands. Injury will not set in at all and you will sure have a pair of STRONG knees.

Simple strength conditioning of the lower body :

Gym work
Name of exercise :
1) Half squats
2) Calf raise
3) 45 degree lunges
4) Side lunges

All exercises to start without weights first, understand the movement patterns till you are smooth in the movement. Add weight progressively after every 2 weeks ( six workouts)

Always refer and listen to the duty gym instructor's guide. Ask all the questions you need before you start.

Try starting with 4 to 5 sets at 15 repetitions per set. Rest time between sets should be 60 seconds. It is so easy and less time consuming. Total time spend on the exercises should not be more than 30 minutes inclusive of rest time.

Try to avoid running, if you really want do short speed run is advise.

Hope you got a great workout, until then take care.

Trained to train

Y u can't play better in both singles & doubles event

Hi athletes,

My answer to this morning's question, brought up by some ladies is that why Singles is different from Doubles.
The Difference :
1) Footwork is slightly different, singles cover all corners of the court, whereas doubles coverage is shared. (doubles more side jumps and movements to execution target)

2) Setting up of defense is shared, whereas singles is alone in the middle of the court, position depending on the capabilities of each individual competency.

3) There is a common system of combination movements. Eg : (a) when the server serves a low service, the server will immediately cover the front court. (b) when the shuttle is up in the opponent's court both players will set up defense coverage, position depending on the height of the shuttle and also the depth of the shuttle. (c) upon defending the shuttle, the defender that returns the opponent's attacking shot into the front court he automatically moves into the front for coverage. At this point of time his partner will move from mid court to mid rear ready for attacking.

This is only 1 part of the difference regarding the coverage. So athletes how are you able to train on both events & expect to perform well on both.

The human brain is superb, created the computer but it does not work as the computor works.

Be focus on what you want and you can reach to your ultimate goal setting.

Coach

what is the best way to train your footwork

Dear All,

My findings and answers to your tiring, torturing, dull, ridiculous footwork training program.

Firstly we look into what are we currently doing in training footwork. Here are the examples gathered by trainees in Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Feedback #1 from trainees in Singapore.
We often set 10-12 shuttles in 4 to 6 different position of the court. Utilising the front, mid and back court.
We were told to transfer the shuttles from 1 place to another and back. Are we training correctly?
My answer to the athlete :
First we must understand that any training of movement in court must be specific to the sport (the way we play the game).
So bending down to pick shuttles from 1 point and transferring it to another point and bending again is never specific to the sport.
So why are we spending so much emphasis in this drill?
Feedback #2 in Thailand.
We were given a certain time like 30 secs, 60 secs or 90 secs to move to 4 to 6 positions in the court. Repeating it and we must get back to the middle of the court on the return of every position done. This is done without shuttles.
My answer to this athlete :
Well this drill is good no doubt about it. My comment is that this drill should include shuttles.
I explained to him that training footwork is not only about speed, plyometrics, body posture upon delivery and recovery.
It is about timing also, when there is shuttles you are able to train to regulate your speed upon execution and recovery.
Feedback #3 in Vietnam.
This female high school athlete approaches me and asked me, sir do you know of any new training method on training footwork other than what she surf in the Internet. I asked her why she asked me this question. She replied to me saying, what she already know have been ages already. She could not find anything new.
During my lunch with her :
I asked her why do you want to train your footwork? She replied " I wanted to train my footwork so as to improve myself, so when I play with guys I am able to reach for their shuttles. You know sir, the guys shuttle speed is real fast"
I laughed cos behind my mind and the way she explained herself, I think she have been tortured be the guys flick shots or delayed tactics.

Ok I said, forget all you have seen in the Internet and all that you have learned. I will give you a strength and conditioning program for 3 months to work on your : Legs and your Core stability.

After which apply it in the court and there you are able to reach for the guys shots.
She was so pleased, cos this is something new to her.

As the saying goes, know your job first and prepare your tools to do it.

Coach

Save guard your body

Hi athletes,

Training is important to you, doing that physical exercises and learning that technical skills. But the most important thing above all this is to protect your physical body from being injured.

If you are using straps or guards to ease the pain at your knee, elbow, shoulder, ankle you are in for trouble.

Stop your training, take a good look at yourself and recall what are you doing in your training because something is wrong with your exercises or training program.

I can help you solve your problem even though you are not with the Trained To Train training program.

Just go to the comment and tell me about you. You can also refer your friends to this site and they can enjoy this privilege too.

Coach

Why certain physical training cannot make you improve

Hi athletes,

Why are the physical training that you do in every training session cannot make you improve in your badminton sport?

I have been in and out of different training sessions in different places and different cities.

There are some training sessions that I observed is that they do runs in considerable lengths. Focusing on runs in every training is contradicting to this sport.

Just look at the top badminton players, do they run in the court? if they don't run in the court than YOU MUST be seriously look into your training program again.

The same as one athlete asked me this. "coach I have been instructed by our coach to do full squats beginning from the middle court to all 6 position in the court" I am afraid to do this exercise as I am beginning to feel sore on my Quads and pain in my knees.

My answer to him was : Do you see Lin Dan or Lee Chong Wei play and do squats while they are engaging the opponent's shuttle? What is the angle of their knees ? If they are not doing it than this training is not relevant.

Until next time we meet, train smart

Coach

I am back from around Asia

Hi Athletes,

It is your june holidays, pls try to achieve your double skips and power push ups this holiday. Some of you may be wondering why improvements in your physical and technical skills is rather slow.

This is because you did not spend enough training time other than the usual weekend practices.

For those who have put in extra training time and not getting there, stop and think again. Did you follow what you were taught and try to change according to it.

It is always difficult to accept to new changes in the begining, ask yourself this question. Do you want to learn new correct skills to get to the top or do you want to remain the same as before you join us?

See you athletes real soon

Note : It is always quicker to adopt to new skills in the court when you have Mindfulness during training.

Coach