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Don't forget your mental practice. It'll keep you in touch and give you a clear focus when you do go back. Worked for Steve Backley: see article by Dave Collins called "Getting it back: A case study of skill recovery in an elite athlete"

that's tough luck.. I used to see the Dean Machine training down at Canvey Island while i was there chucking spears. He was always pushing himself very hard. He and I share the same physio although i was never there as much as deano was. Phill Sadler is a top physio and helped Dean get through the Commonwealth games and secure gold. so if you are needing a physio closer to home i can suggest you contact him (based in Hornchurch)

22 days isn't too bad. Besides the aquajogging, you can always concentrate on upper body and core work. Flexibility in the arm for the javelin and speed work with a ball for throwing.

I remember having to lay off for 6 weeks following a stress fracture to the femur and buying an aquajogger, which is basically a bit of foam with a couple of bayonet fix straps attached, retailing at £25 to £30.
The kids at the local pool found it highly amusing.... "Hey Mister, can you no swim? Hey mister, have you got special needs?"
There's nothing more demoralising than thrashing about in a pool with an Aquajogger.
Let's hope you're back out of the pool before the kids break up for school holidays!

Try yoga for flexibility - it will make your body feel years younger (honest).

Hope you make it - this is major challenge. Have Daley or Dean ever completed a full decathlon in an hour?

md_fan @ 4

if you refer to one of the earlyer articles in this blog you will find that Daley has not just completed a 1 hour decathlon but he has also done a 30min decathlon.

Forders - short hamstrings and a dodgy IT band are the prevail of cyclists who do a bit of running. I was a rugby player who did a bit of running, and when I began cycling big miles I found I couldn't run more than 2 miles without the IT band making my knees scream. Lots of stretching is the only answer I have unfortunately.

Good luck with it!! C'mon Lions!!!!!!!!!!

It is worth getting some sports massage on a regular basis

Careful, Tom. If you conquer the McNulty Block (aka sentence & paragraph are the same thing) you may yet turn into a decent ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ journalist, and I've had my doubts about you, believe you me... ;)

On the subject of training, bodyweight exercises are marvellous things. You already know about medicine balls {evil grin}, try Hindu push-ups (much more than a regular), & handstands ditto. Look up Hindu squats too. I've never pulled a hamstring, so I've no idea whether they'll hurt, but if they don't, 150 are something you'll notice, & 500 is a real workout. After that you've got V-ups (a sit up that only bends/curves at the waist), handstand push-ups, & all sorts of vicious self-inflicted agonies to look forward to. Much better (& healthier!) than poncing about in a gym... ;)

Ooops! Didn't mean to post handstands twice. It's only one exercise... :o

That's the article, but any sports psych book should have enough to get you started. Physical practice is best, but when you can't, mental practice is better than nothing. And like I said above, when you go back, you know exactly what you want to do in each event and each session can be that bit higher quality. Best of luck

Hi Tom! I believe it is heroic of you to choose an athletics event, and then want to perform so well so soon.

I will give you a tip. I am a powerlifter. I have trained a guy at my athletics club, who is amongst the elite level at decathalon for under 20 men.
He basically saw me lifting large weights in the gym, and told me it could help his progress. Indeed it has, this year, he broke the club record for discus.

But I have no idea about helping him with his technique over any of the events! I simply taught him over a peroid of 3 months or so, the basics of powerlifting, and strength training, by allowing him to join me while I trained. (3 months was enough, I have to focus on my own progress, so after that I called it a day)
You basically need to develop your CORE STRENGTH.

You look very fit, but also lack any real muscular development.

With your lower body injured, you need to concentrate on developing your upper body. You need to be doing bench press, seated military press, seated rows, cable pull downs....anything that will develop your upper body. You need to start off with a medium weight, but eventually you need to do some heavy training, so that you develop the strength you need.

Once your lower body has recovered from its injury, you need to really set about strengthening your core. Forget split squats, you need REAL SQUATS! ATG squats (ass to the ground) with a weight you can manage for 10 reps will get your legs really working!
You also need deadlifts...stiff legged deadlifts, regular deadlifts. You need to do push press, and upright rows, and bent over rows.

You need to eventually work fairly heavy also.

If you develop your strength in the gym, you will have the body which will allow you to push yourself far harder on the track.

Bench will develop your pecs, deltoids, triceps.

Rows will develop your traps, your biceps, your abs.

Squats will develop your back, your glutes, your abs, your thighs, your calves.

Deadlifts, will develop all the major muscles of your body...it is the single most effective lift for developing all over body strength.

You will not become massive, for you cannot unless you eat a lot more, and stop running.

You will simply develop a strong core, and also strengthen your tendons and muscles. You will basically be building the body you need to be an athlete.

The events need individual training as you know...but if you are as strong as an ox, you will be at a far better advantage!

Tom, all the drills you should be doing in the state you are in will be with the javelin ball. these can be picked up from most good javelin coaches or well equiped tracks. grab one 600g and one 800g. you will need to be working on the final phase of the throw, so standing side on with your block leg out and your left arm braced. you will transfer the weight from your right foot into your left foot while turning your right hip through. leave the throwing arm behind as long as you can and make sure than when you execute the throw that your hand comes over the top of the shoulder just as it would if you were using a javelin. the ball should be thrown against the wall, caught and then re-set your position to go again.

I would suggest doing 50 throws in your first session, 25 with the 600g and 25 with the 800g. as the sessions go on and your hammy is getting better you can start to include a walking step into the throw. the amount of reps should increase along with this. i would expect my athletes to get to doing about 100-150 throws in a session with a ball during the winter months as well as throwing the javelin too.

you can also, as the hammy improves, do some walking drills working on the carry of the javelin. don't get carried away though and listen to the advice from your physio

The higher up the elite ladder you go, the more you realise the fine balance between fitness and injury. If you can get as much physio as possible and regular advice on how its improving this will put your mind at ease and stop you going out and doing anything that will make it worse again.
After tearing my calf (grade 2-3) in the first internationals of the season three weeks ago Ive just had to make the decision to pull out of the World Games which are in three weeks; effectively the Olympics for those sports trying to get into the Olympics. At my age I probably wont get another chance as its every four years like the Olympics :-(
Since the injury Id been pretty stressed about getting back in time, and I think that actually set me back a bit as I picked up a cold and tried to rehab as fast as possible. So take your time, and try to be positive about what you can do instead. Apparently hamstrings are better at recovering than calves, and you have enough time if youre sensible (I intend to be back for the World Champs in mid-August). Oh, and mental preparation really does go a long way.
Ill think of you during my aqua-jogging!

Aquajogging :-((((

I fractured my left knee when I tripped up running in 1998. Ended up on crutches for a few weeks then I had to do water running as rehab, one of the most boring activities known to man, the novelty wears off after about 10 seconds :-(

Get well soon Tom.