Researcher Comments on Ma Junren's Training Methods

For more than twenty days, Ma Junren has coached more than fifty runners as they prepare for the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games at the Duoba training base.

Min Jun, 65, a researcher at the Qinghai Sports Science Research Institute, has witnessed Ma Junren's entire training regiment at the Duoba plateau ten times. He said, although Ma is not highly educated, he is clever and studious. He knows acupuncture, massage, dietary needs and traditional Chinese medicine. He has his own methods of taking care of his runners.

Ma Junren said, he has never been an athlete and never studied in a college. But he can teach himself a college education in the process of working. He asks, which university did the professors of the first university of the world graduate from?

Minjun said, the hardships and training Ma Junren's runners go through are rare in China but and Ma has a lot of respect for his work.

The researcher found that in the ten times he has seen Ma train on the Duoba plateau, each time was different. There was always some new breakthrough in the training. Ma Junren continuously improved his training method. Minjun said, Ma noticed the weather factors, temperature and humidity. He paid close attention to the physical strength of the athletes and took trained his runners differently according to their sex, physical conditions and events.

Minjun said that Ma's training is characterized by the special attention he pays to raising the overall strength of the team and details such as how to tie the shoelaces and how to prevent being pushed away from the racetrack by bigger and taller athletes.

Another important reason for Ma's success is that he is able to enhance the actual strength of the athlete. He studied bionics to optimize the athletes' motions. The posture of his runners are unique. They sway their arms like ostriches, bend like horses and move their centers of gravity like deer.



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