Zach why leave the sun of San Diego and the U.S.O.C. behind for the U.S. Ski Team?
Every decision has its reasons. The work side of things was the main reason. I knew Andy Walsh, Per Lundstrom and Sue Robson (USST Sport Science Staff), and knew they were very innovative in how they approached sport – how sport science was integrated within the teams. With the USOC it was more consulting with various NGB’s (national governing bodies). I feel there is less of a barrier between sport science and coaching, and sport science and athletes, when employed by, and specifically working for, one Olympic sport. I felt this would be a great opportunity to work more hands on with coaches and their athletes. USST Sport Science is really innovative in trying to look for the new, state of the art way to train its athletes.
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<p><b>You’ve been with the Ski Team now for just over two years. Has intrigue matched your actual experience?</b></p>
<p>Yes. For sure. I had no expectations coming in. And to be honest with you, I was ready for a good change and getting to focus on doing my job with one particular team and specialize more. Before I worked with many different sports — track & field to table tennis — and was just doing this, that and everything, here and there. The idea of learning a new sport that I’ve never been associated with before like cross-country skiing and jumping, and working together with the athletes to help them find what they need to be successful is why I am now an employee of the U.S. Ski Team. </p>
<p><b>Talking about the Olympic sports, how many other NGB’s directly employ sport science?</b></p>
<p>That I know of? One. The U.S. Ski Team. Track & field has just started a program down in Chula Vista, Calif. where they have a sport science technical advisor. USA Swimming consults with a physiologist, but I don’t believe they are employed full-time by the NGB. Rowing does the same. Many of the team’s seek out consulting work, but so far as full-on employees for an Olympic NGB, the Ski Team is an exception to the rule.</p>
<p><b>What is it like to work with coaches and athletes in a sport like jumping or cross-country skiing outside your personal athletic experience?</b></p>
<p>Is this a benefit? This really depends on the coach and the athletes. What I can bring to the table is fresh ideas. For instance, from a physiological standpoint, skiing shares similarities with different sports. To associate strength training for skiing with other endurance athletes is a matter of taking what we know works for them and running with it. </p>
<p>Cross-country skiing shares similarities with long distance running, canoe/kayak, especially sprint kayak, rowing, and even team some team sports like soccer. There are many different ways people train, or have trained, and been successful. I’ve seen lots of successes in these three or four sports. I’ve been taking bits and pieces that worked from these sports and brought this to the U.S. Ski Team. Cross-country is certainly unique in that it relies so much on the total body movement and the upper and lower body being in synch with each other. </p>
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An explosive squat. Lifts employing multi-joints are a feature of the USST strength program. (Koos photo).
Is there anything you have drawn on specifically from these other sports?
No. I like to take each sport for what it is. It’s thinking about how other sports train, and why they’ve trained in such-and-such a way. The technique of each sport is totally different. But the physiological training involved is very similar in many areas.
With strength training you have to ask, ‘What do you want to get done?’ Do you want to develop strength? Do you want to put on mass? Build power? These things are pretty cut and dry when you start going from sport to sport. The cardio program is catered pretty specifically to each sport. Building strength and power is different in that it’s not as sport specific. It just can’t be that specific. Technique and specificity will always be lost when you walk into the weight room.
When it comes to the weight room with nordic combined athletes, what are you going after?
The nordic combined guys are challenged by the fact they cannot gain much mass. They have to be pretty careful of that. However, they also need a great deal of power. So we try to maximize every bit of muscle mass that they have. Although they work on strength, they work on max strength. They also have a huge focus on explosive movements- plyometrics are a huge part of their program to help them be faster within their movements, if not necessarily stronger.
With the cross-country team what are you key training themes?
What I strive for is not so much what we’re doing, but rather how we’re doing it. At this point, I just want to see consistency. Developing a program that doesn’t negatively affect cardio sport training, where they are able to over a long period of time (i.e. several years) gain strength not only for performance, but also for injury prevention. Consistency plays a huge part of that. Being consistent through the year, building up strength and power in the preparation season, then maintaining this throughout the competitive season, so the athlete does not lose anything by the later World Cup events, the World Championships, Olympics. I want our skiers just as strong and just as powerful in February as they were in October.
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<p><b>Zach, could you line out what you mean by strength and power? The terms seem to be interrelated, but are not interchangeable…</b></p>
<p>That’s exactly right. Terminology is always a barrier, in all disciplines of training athletes. An athlete in one place may be talking about power and it might mean something totally different that what I might be thinking of with power. Real simply, when I think of strength, I think of an athlete’s ability to create force against a resistance. So when I think of a strength athlete I think of a shot putter, a big athlete that produces a lot of absolute strength. On the other side, a powerful athlete is also strong. But they are also very quick. I think of a power athlete more as someone who can move very, very fast. Their rate of force development is super high. With our skiers, we are after increasing the rate at which they develop force. This is where I believe a cross-country skier can see strength room gains boost performance. </p>
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Torin Koos is a member of the National A Team for the United States. A World Cup, World Championship and Olympic competitor, Koos brings this experience to the FasterSkier sportscasting arena for the 2006/2007 season.
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