En novembre dernier, j’ai eu la chance d’assister à un séminaire ComplexCore grâce à mon collègue Patrick Beriault de KinMotion. Lors de cette journée, le présentateur était nul autre que le co-fondateur de ComplexCore, Roman Jahoda. Ce dernier a notamment été le préparateur physique de l’ancien pilote de Formule 1 Ralf Schumacher. Vous trouverez ci-dessus mon entrevue avec Roman suite à ses derniers voyages au Japon, au Canada et à l’EURO 2012.
XR Performance (XRP): Hi Roman. First of all, I would like to thank you for taking the time to do this interview. Can you begin by presenting a bit of your background and how you got into training athletes?
Roman Jahoda (RJ): My name is Roman Jahoda. Already as a kid, I did 10 different sports. Being 10 years old, I decided to do judo professionally. I was a member of the Austrian national team for over 10 years taking part in several European Championships, World Championships and World Cups.
After finishing my studies for physical therapy, I always wanted to work active, so I decided to do less manual therapy and to specialize in sport therapy (training therapy).
Today I’m sport therapist and personal coach training all kind of professional athletes in different sports. My background in sports helps me a lot and that’s what my clients/athletes appreciate.
XRP: Last month, you have traveled to Japan to work with professional Formula 1 driver Kamui Kobayashi. What is different in training pilots as opposed to team sports for example? What are the specific aspects of their physical preparation that you need to work on?
RJ: The work with individual athletes like in Formula 1 makes it easier on the one side than to work with a big group. But on the other side in those sports the levels of the athletes are very similar, so its important to work very specific and individually.
First of all team sports as well as Formula 1 drivers need a basic level of mobility, stability, strength, flexibility and coordination before starting to work specifically. For soccer players for example, it is very important to have a great orientation on the field and a optimal positioning to the other players and the ball.
A Formula 1 driver has to know the track and to be able to focus mentally on a high level for almost 1,5 hours without a break. So the better he is in fitness, the more he can focus on driving and not being distracted by pain or weeknesses in the body.
What are the important specific body parts in formula 1 that should be trained? The driver « feels » the car and the position of it in his chair, so it is important to focus in training on stability, strength and proprioception of the glutes and the abductors. The second week point is the neck. That’s why the neck muscles should be strengthened first. The second step is the reactive strength of the neck muscles. This way the athlete is ready to react to small movements of the car and the body.
XRP: In addition to working with pro athletes, your work and background, like you mentioned, enables you to work with athletes from multiple sport disciplines. What are they and how do you apply ComplexCore training with these different sports? Are the foundamentals the same for all sports and then you make it more sport-specific depending on the demands of the sport?
RJ: I work with athletes from these sports: Judo, JiuJitsu, Volleyball, Basketball, Soccer, Motorsports, Climbing, Sailing…
For me, the basic fitness education is almost the same. It is all about mobility, stability, coordination, flexibility, etc. For younger athletes, playful exercises are important (working with a partner,etc.). The sport-specific part is the last thing that should be trained. Many coaches make a mistake by starting to specialize too early. It is very important to take the time to develop the basics, mostly with young athletes (juvenile and kids).
XRP: Obviously, mobility, stability and coordination must be present as the foundation over which other physical qualities are built upon. In your opinion, why do coaches tend to want to specialize so early with young athletes?
RJ: All those things belong to the basics that every athlete should train long-term.
Most of the coaches start to specialize too early. This way they are working on short-term success during tournaments (age: juvenile, juniors) but not long-term towards the age of professional sport.
XRP: A couple of months ago, Patrick Beriault, one of your associate with ComplexCore, posted a Youtube video of your training facility in Salzburg. Can you tell us a little bit of what you do and offer at your facility?
RJ: In Salzburg I have a sports center (network) consisting of sports scientists, therapists, doctors, nutritionists, sport psychologists and fitness coaches. We are covering many issues: testings, trainings, seminars, support during tournaments, etc. We are trying to give our clients the best sport and therapy support during sports and daily life.
XRP: Last month, you had the opportunity to work at the Euro 2012. What exactly did you do during the time of the competition?
RJ: The UEFA EURO 2012 was again (after the last EURO 4 years ago) an amazing experience of great atmosphere in the stadiums during the matches, interesting work in fitness and therapy with the international referees and a great professional organisation and support of the UEFA.
I was responsible for the fitness preparation before and during the tournament. The international referees were tested and trained with my ComplexCore concept. Every UEFA EURO referee received an individual ComplexCore training plan to get prepared well… in core stability and in general fitness.
XRP: Finally, what awaits you in the next couple of months?
RJ: My next projects:
– next week: testing and training of a german soccer team (25 player) for one week in my sport center in Salzburg.
– August: teaching judo and ComplexCore in Toronto.
– September/October: ComplexCore seminars at the sport universities in Salzburg and Cologne, training of the Austrian beach volleyball national team, seminar for the national tennis coaches of Germany.
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For more projects, I will keep you informed ;).
XRP: Thank you very much Roman. Appreciate you took the time to answer my questions and success with your future projects.
Super article Roman et Xavier. Au plaisir de se revoir bientôt.