General Yuzuru Chat

[Sombreuil]

I don’t think he should have to justify himself if he doesn’t want to.  People with chronic illness often prefer to under play these difficulties and that’s their prerogative 

[glilikoi]

7 minutes ago, Sombreuil said:

I don’t think he should have to justify himself if he doesn’t want to.  People with chronic illness often prefer to under play these difficulties and that’s their prerogative 

No, he doesn't, I completely agree about that. It's just one of those things that can be frustrating as a fan (because it's painful when he calls himself weak, or other people do, when that's not really the case and there is another reason) - but ultimately it's of course his own decision. And this firm refusal to make any excuses, or to do things the easy way, is one of the things that make Yuzu so successful and so interesting as a person.

 

I'm just venting because I'm still getting over GPF and Japanese Nats I guess  And I have too much time on my hands now that I'm off for Christmas.. 

[mercedes]

11 hours ago, glilikoi said:

 

 

// Someone uploaded it to Youtube in good quality, here (not divided into clips).

I've realised I have a bad habit of editing my comments way too many times, sorry about that I always think of something else I wanted to say or something that could have been translated a little better and start tweaking it around, but I hope it doesn't get confusing.. 

please you and other japanese speaking fans are so generous in translating and sharing what he says,i'm truly grateful so edit as much as you like

[rockstaryuzu]

The reason there's even a stamina narrative at all is because Yuzu himself keeps mentioning it. But the physical reality, if you look at athletes across various disciplines and especially those in sports that place a  high cardiovascular demand on the body, is that stamina tends to peak in the late 20's - early 30's. (Take a look at cross-country skiing, for example. The winning guys aren't the baby skiers, they're the uncles). So my opinion, taking into account that I have no direct personal knowledge of Yuzu specifically, is that Yuzu still hasn't reached his peak stamina as an adult man but is getting closer to it. 

 

Maybe he also is aware of this, and maybe that's where all his comments about stamina are coming from. 

 

Either way, of course his stamina is going to give the appearance that it's getting worse if you were to compare his performance 5 years ago in a two-quad program with his performance now in a 5 - quad program. How do you even build stamina for a 5-quad program to begin with? I mean, do you have to invent an entirely new way of training, or what? 

But I think it's clear that he has gotten better and stronger since his teens 

[GraceAndPower]

While we're on the topic of stamina, etc., I have been thinking about this clip:

 

 

And these comments by Sweetwater:
 

Spoiler

After Yuzu's scores came up, Fuji switched the camera to air Shoma's interview, but Yuzu stayed there for some time. Guessing from the length of Shoma's interview, it was a few minutes, but it felt much longer. He was holding the Pooh, putting his head on it and did not raise his face for a while. I thought he might be crying and the coaches were reacting as if trying to comfort him. But once he raised his face he wasn't crying but unable to hold his weight and leaned on Ghislain. Then he managed to stand up very slowly but could not walk properly, as in when you have very sore muscles. Many people in the venue saw him off applauding as he proceeded to the exit and disappeared behind the curtain.

The way Ghislain just goes "Sure" immediately in the video... This is something that has happened before, right?

I wonder what can cause such a reaction. Is it the adrenaline just crashing??

[memae]

2 hours ago, rockstaryuzu said:

The difficulty is that increasing stamina is done mainly by increasing the amount of work you do, which directly increases the risk of injury. Maybe the answer to this question for Yuzu doesn't lie on the ice but in some other area. For example, stamina can be increased by doing basic cardio like running or biking, and lots of it. He mentioned in an interview that swimmers can perform multiple disciplines and races in one competition without loss of stamina. Well that's because swimmers overtrain - for every meter a swimmer races at competitions, they've swum hundreds, if not thousands, of kilometers in training, and trained every single energy system the body has, many times over. If Yuzu wants that kind of stamina, he's probably going to have to try something completely new to what he's done before.

 

Kind of. I mean, the kilometres and kilometres are mostly made up of drills, warm ups, and sets of light-ish pace-work for aerobic fitness. It's the kind of easy, weightless movement that may as well be breathing to anyone who swims competitively, but it doesn't make anyone fast. It doesn't feel like over-training because that kind of swimming is so effortless. It feels like walking compared to running or even jogging - but's important for technique and maintaining the base fitness for all the anaerobic and speed work stuff that builds swimmers up to their racing fitness. 

 

That said, swimming is great for asthma (most of the time) and it's low impact. Maybe Yuzuru should consider hitting the pool.

[rockstaryuzu]

21 minutes ago, memae said:

It's the kind of easy, weightless movement that may as well be breathing to anyone who swims competitively, but it doesn't make anyone fast. It doesn't feel like over-training because that kind of swimming is so effortless.

It only feels easy because you get used to it! But the easy stuff is really only at the start of the season when you're building your aerobic base. When you start into training for specific events, you're rarely swimming below 60% of max HR. I used to specialize in 200 I.M, 100 &200 breaststroke, and 200-400 free. At those racing distances, you're never training easy. You might do some long slow distance sets, but you're pushing all the time. 

 

Maybe I should explain that when I say 'overtrain' in this sense, I don't mean 'the athlete overdoes it and pushes themselves too far'. I mean specifically that the athlete does many times more physical work (either distance covered, or weight lifted, or whatever) in training than they would ever do in competition. The opposite of this would be something like a marathon runner. They don't go out and run 3 marathons every time they practice for their event. But a swimmer who races the 200m distance will go to practice and do a 4000m practice in the morning, and then do another 3 or 4 thousand meters in the evening on the same day, and do dryland training in between, if they're elite-level. And then do the same thing the next day or the day after, lather, rinse, repeat. 

 

Now I don't know what kind of training approach is taken for figure skating usually, but it would seem to me that doing tons of run-throughs is a kind of 'overtraining' approach. BUT because of what jumping does to the body, this will lead to injury. 

 

So what is the answer for a figure skater? I'm not sure. 

[FlyingCamel]

2 hours ago, rockstaryuzu said:

So what is the answer for a figure skater? I'm not sure. 

Maybe HIIT? Considering that the length of a free skate is a high intensity 4-5min session rather than a moderate intensity 30min jog or swim. 

[quadaxelwin]

10 hours ago, monchan said:

Their ways are easy to figure out. Nathan's is to do little TR and Russian girls'  is to do LOTS of RT, that's it.

 

But one thing I have to emphasize first is, they are YOUNG. Name ONE skater that lands quads consistently at Yuzu's age, there's no one, ever. What Yuzu has to figure out, is not only some "tricks" to land the jumps, but more importantly, he also has to fight against his stamina (decreasing with age) and risk of injuries (increasing with age) to do smt no one has ever done. I don't think he can find answer on those young skaters, yet he still needs to watch everyone to figure out his own path.

 

 

 

Yuzu's age is coming up alot so I am going to have to discuss the biology of aging. 

 

 

 

David sinclair is a Harvard professor of aging. He has published researches on the fact that not all individuals age at the same rate.

 

Also your chronological age does not automatically equal your biological age. 

 

The speed of aging of an individual depends on:

 

1. Genetics

 

2. How many calories you consume. The less calories you eat, the slower the speed of aging

 

3. How much exercise you do. (The more the better)

 

 

Number 2/3 slows down aging because both activities activate sirtuin pathways, increases the level of NAD in our bodies (one of the main reasons we age is because NAD levels decrease as we age). They also allow us to heal our DNA damage (we accumulate error in our DNA info as we age).

It is also one of the reasons why fasting is healthy; it also raises NAD levels in our body and helps repair damaged DNA info + activates sirtuin pathways.

 

Thus Yuzu eating less than average people and also exercising more than ever (harder training) is actually helping him retain his youth for much longer than average people.

 

Ironically, Yuzu attempting to add more quads and training more vigorously than ever is helping him age less faster, not aging him quicker. When your NAD levels rise your body also heals injuries faster. 

 

Also there is a theory that the reason why Japan has the longest life expectancy in the world may be due to both diet and genetics (ie they might have genes that help them stay youthful for longer. But individual variations always exist. The theory was in terms of "national average" (look up study on okinawan centenarians). 

 

How I know all this is because I have a biotech research member at a world famous grad school in the family

 

We may never know what Yuzu's biological age is, but it is typically reflected in a person's appearance. ie if someone "looks younger" they probably are younger biologically. 

 

[monchan]

2 hours ago, quadaxelwin said:

 

 

 

Yuzu's age is coming up alot so I am going to have to discuss the biology of aging. 

 

 

 

David sinclair is a Harvard professor of aging. He has published researches on the fact that not all individuals age at the same rate.

 

Also your chronological age does not automatically equal your biological age. 

 

The speed of aging of an individual depends on:

 

1. Genetics

 

2. How many calories you consume. The less calories you eat, the slower the speed of aging

 

3. How much exercise you do. (The more the better)

 

 

Number 2/3 slows down aging because both activities activate sirtuin pathways, increases the level of NAD in our bodies (one of the main reasons we age is because NAD levels decrease as we age). They also allow us to heal our DNA damage (we accumulate error in our DNA info as we age).

It is also one of the reasons why fasting is healthy; it also raises NAD levels in our body and helps repair damaged DNA info + activates sirtuin pathways.

 

Thus Yuzu eating less than average people and also exercising more than ever (harder training) is actually helping him retain his youth for much longer than average people.

 

Ironically, Yuzu attempting to add more quads and training more vigorously than ever is helping him age less faster, not aging him quicker. When your NAD levels rise your body also heals injuries faster. 

 

Also there is a theory that the reason why Japan has the longest life expectancy in the world may be due to both diet and genetics (ie they might have genes that help them stay youthful for longer. But individual variations always exist. The theory was in terms of "national average" (look up study on okinawan centenarians). 

 

How I know all this is because I have a biotech research member at a world famous grad school in the family

 

We may never know what Yuzu's biological age is, but it is typically reflected in a person's appearance. ie if someone "looks younger" they probably are younger biologically. 

 

This can only apply to ordinary ppl who do sports to improve health w no bad impact to their bodies, and can rest at will to heal when they are injured or tired. Athletes are forced to compete even under injuries (minor or major, visible or invisible) and fatigue. They cant wait to heal properly even if in theory they can heal faster than others. So i dont think its comparable and we need specific research on athletes to examine age and stamina. It will even vary in different sports too.

 

One thing i see thou is many elite athletes suffer bad post-injury illness at their old age and dont live as well as ordinary ppl who got healthy diet and lifestyle.

[Dreamer]

On 12/26/2019 at 8:39 AM, memae said:

 

I feel like he's probably already got a good few hundred (or thousand) emails, tweets etc from the more enthusiastic fanyus among us. I'm sure he'll soon see his mistake (and perhaps the others). He must have searched Yuzu to know he won both Olympics and that he has a calendar (I'm guessing everything else got snapped up and wasn't searchable). That he didn't realise it wasn't even the same event as Rippon's bronze really suggests he did minimal research. Yuzu hasn't written a book? Bet he just searched US Amazon because I just searched on the .jp site and I could very quickly end up thousands of dollars poorer for it lol. There is so much stuff.

 

He's a financial planner who is also a blogger. I'm relieved he's not a real journalist. 

 

If he is as sloppy and lazy a financial planner(poorly researched and inaccurate data analyses)  as he is as a journalist....no wonder he had to look for other work!!

[memae]

9 hours ago, rockstaryuzu said:

It only feels easy because you get used to it! But the easy stuff is really only at the start of the season when you're building your aerobic base. When you start into training for specific events, you're rarely swimming below 60% of max HR. I used to specialize in 200 I.M, 100 &200 breaststroke, and 200-400 free. At those racing distances, you're never training easy. You might do some long slow distance sets, but you're pushing all the time. 

 

Maybe I should explain that when I say 'overtrain' in this sense, I don't mean 'the athlete overdoes it and pushes themselves too far'. I mean specifically that the athlete does many times more physical work (either distance covered, or weight lifted, or whatever) in training than they would ever do in competition. The opposite of this would be something like a marathon runner. They don't go out and run 3 marathons every time they practice for their event. But a swimmer who races the 200m distance will go to practice and do a 4000m practice in the morning, and then do another 3 or 4 thousand meters in the evening on the same day, and do dryland training in between, if they're elite-level. And then do the same thing the next day or the day after, lather, rinse, repeat. 

 

Now I don't know what kind of training approach is taken for figure skating usually, but it would seem to me that doing tons of run-throughs is a kind of 'overtraining' approach. BUT because of what jumping does to the body, this will lead to injury. 

 

So what is the answer for a figure skater? I'm not sure. 

 

Ah, another swimmer! I specialised in 100 & 200 fly and 200-800 free before switching to open water as a young adult (and then I had some random, consecutive injuries (from dumb things like slipping on the stairs at home) too close to nationals and other major events and just couldn't get back into it). We were doing around 6km+ a session from the time I was about 14 or 15, and for me about 1/3 of that was fly. I guess when I think of the pace work and timed sets that get your HR up above 60% (but not the crazy level  stuff that had me crying between sets lol), I don't remember it being hard or exhausting, perhaps because of the level of fitness swimming demands or because as soon as you hit the wall it stops hurting. (Also, it's so uncommon for someone to specialise in breaststroke and free - very commendable!).

 

I wonder if for skaters it's a bit like the difference between stroking, drilling jumps, and run-throughs. Just that their higher intensity stuff comes with a high impact that we didn't have to worry about in the pool.

[rockstaryuzu]

5 hours ago, memae said:

 

Ah, another swimmer! I specialised in 100 & 200 fly and 200-800 free before switching to open water as a young adult (and then I had some random, consecutive injuries (from dumb things like slipping on the stairs at home) too close to nationals and other major events and just couldn't get back into it). We were doing around 6km+ a session from the time I was about 14 or 15, and for me about 1/3 of that was fly. I guess when I think of the pace work and timed sets that get your HR up above 60% (but not the crazy level  stuff that had me crying between sets lol), I don't remember it being hard or exhausting, perhaps because of the level of fitness swimming demands or because as soon as you hit the wall it stops hurting. (Also, it's so uncommon for someone to specialise in breaststroke and free - very commendable!).

 

I wonder if for skaters it's a bit like the difference between stroking, drilling jumps, and run-throughs. Just that their higher intensity stuff comes with a high impact that we didn't have to worry about in the pool.

Open water racing - now there's a fitness challenge! Hats off to you! 

 

I left competitive swimming because it became important for me to earn money for university, and I became a lifeguard/swim instructor/ coach instead. Coaching was really fun. 

 

There's definitely an effect in swimming that, once you get efficient at it, training feels easier than it would on land. You're not overheating, you might be sweating but the water washes it away, and you don't have to carry you own bodyweight throughout the work. But you quickly realize how demanding those workouts are if you try to replicate them on land.

 

If you think about the amount of stamina needed, and what kinds of energy systems you're engaging, during a 5 quad free skate, it actually becomes really complex. It's a 4 minute duration, so you're definitely using the base level aerobic capacity just to last through the whole tjing. But for jumps and maybe for spins, you're engaging the anaerobic and ATP-ADP systems. So you have to train all 3. But drilling jumps, for example, only trains the second two. If all you do on the ice is short bursts of activity interspersed with leisurely skating, you're not going to train the right energy systems. 

 

Someone mentioned in one of these posts that Yuzu's first coach used to give him exercises to improve his stamina like skating continuously for an hour...and that's probably the way for a skater to build that base-level stamina. Doesn't sound like much fun. Round and round in ovals for an hour...almost as bad as up and down the pool following the black line on the bottom of the lane. 

 

 

[quadaxelwin]

 

 

9 hours ago, monchan said:

This can only apply to ordinary ppl who do sports to improve health w no bad impact to their bodies, and can rest at will to heal when they are injured or tired. Athletes are forced to compete even under injuries (minor or major, visible or invisible) and fatigue. They cant wait to heal properly even if in theory they can heal faster than others. So i dont think its comparable and we need specific research on athletes to examine age and stamina. It will even vary in different sports too.

 

One thing i see thou is many elite athletes suffer bad post-injury illness at their old age and dont live as well as ordinary ppl who got healthy diet and lifestyle.

 

 

I'm talking specifically about biological age. As with ankles, I have less clue. The biological age is actually imprinted in the DNA. The information theory of aging suggests that the the information of the DNA is not lost, but as we get older, it is not read in the same way as when we were younger. I am really curious as to what Yuzu's biological age is in regards to this.

 

He looks much younger than his peers his age. 

 

[ralucutzagy]