Svetlana Shkolina World Champion Women High Jump : Diet and Exercise


 Svetlana Shkolina World Champion Women High Jump : Diet and ExerciseSvetlana Shkolina of Russia won the women�s high jump at the world championships Saturday with a leap of 6 feet, 8 inches, beating Brigetta Barrett of the United States by 1� inches. She earned a bronze medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics. She set an outdoor personal best of 2.03 metres at the 2012 Olympics. Her indoor personal best is 2.00 metres, achieved in February 2010 in Arnstadt.

Svetlana Shkolina full name is Svetlana Vladimirovna Shkolina. She is 6'2" (187 cm) and weighs about 146 lbs (66 kg). She is 27 years of age. She has affiliations to Trade Unions, Moskva, Russia.

Her brief set of top achievements once Olympic Games Bronze medallist, once World Championships Gold medallist, once Olympic Games finalist, thrice World Championships finalist and three times Diamond League meeting winner.

Characteristics of the Sport High Jump: High Jump is an event where the competitors must jump over a bar at measured heights.

Training for High Jump: Elite �jumpers� train all year round concentrating on speed endurance running, plyometric, and heavy strength weights in the off-season. Coming into competition phase, the emphasis is on speed, specific technical sessions in the pit and developing strength and power. Bounding and technical sessions have a high physical impact on the body, therefore working on flexibility and core strength is a year round focus.

Physical Characteristics for High Jump:

Power-to-weight ratio is important for �jumpers�, therefore maximising muscle mass and maintaining low body fat levels is desirable. For all the events, particularly high-jump, a significant vertical leap is advantageous.

Common Nutrition Issues

Training Nutrition for High Jump:

Jumpers need to consume sufficient carbohydrate to fuel training needs, however carbohydrate requirements do not reach the level of endurance-type athletes. Given this, daily carbohydrate should reflect daily exercise levels. Jumpers need to be mindful of maintaining low body fat levels but still need to eat a sufficient variety and quantity of food to meet nutritional requirements and allow for the development of muscle mass. Diets need to be nutrient-dense. This is best achieved by including a wide variety of nutrient-dense carbohydrate sources such as bread, cereal, fruit, vegetables and sweetened dairy products in the diet. Moderate portions of lean sources of protein such as lean meat, chicken, eggs, low-fat dairy foods, lentils and tofu should also be on the menu. Energy-dense foods such as cakes, pastries, lollies, soft drinks, chocolate, alcohol and takeaways should be used sparingly.

Appropriate snacks need to be included before and after training to maximise performance during training and to promote recovery. The quantity should match the intensity and duration of the ensuing training session with an emphasis towards carbohydrate for the sprinting sessions and carbohydrate/protein for weight training.

A good base diet will provide adequate nutrients and energy to enhance adaptations from training, support optimal recovery and avoid excessive food-related stress.

Low-Body Fat Levels for High Jump:

Power-to-weight ratio is an important determinate of performance. Jumpers require low body fat levels whilst being strong and muscular. Low body-fat levels usually occur naturally for male athletes, however, they often need to reduce total body mass leading into the competition phase. Some of the additional muscle mass gained in off-season weight training is not sport specific, therefore needs to be trimmed to achieve an ideal body composition for competition. Female jumpers often need to manipulate their food intake and training to achieve their desired body fat levels.

Jumpers needing to reduce their body fat level should target excess kilojoules in the diet. In particular, excess fat, sugary foods and alcohol can add unnecessary kilojoules and would be better replaced with more nutrient-dense foods.

Preparation for Competition for High Jump:

Since jumps will not deplete muscle glycogen stores, the day of competition is best tackled with glycogen stores topped up to their usual resting level. This can be achieved with the athlete�s usual carbohydrate intake and 24-36 hours of rest or very light training.


Hydration and gastrointestinal comfort are important considerations pre-competition. Jumpers need to feel comfortable, confident and �light� on the runway. A reduced fibre intake may be helpful in the 24-36 hours before competition. Products such as liquid meal supplements may be useful as a pre-event meal.

Competition Day Food and Fluid for High Jump:

A single jump involves only a brief explosion of energy and does not significantly affect muscle glycogen stores. However, competition may drag out for many hours whilst each competitor takes a turn. Qualifying rounds usually last for two hours or more. The main focus of competition eating in these events is to maintain blood glucose levels, maintain hydration and maintain a comfortable stomach.


Sports drinks are useful to assist with meeting fuel and fluid needs during competition. It is important to experiment in training so that you can be confident of your routine on competition day.

Work out exercises for high jump:

 Svetlana Shkolina World Champion Women High Jump : Diet and ExerciseImprove your hip mobility, core strength, and explosiveness�all critical to generating speed�with this superset.
 

Frog jump

Squat and touch the ground with both hands, keeping your arms straight. Then explode into the air, raising your knees as high as they'll go. Do 10 reps.

Dumbbell lunge

Stand with your weight balanced and feet slightly apart, holding dumbbells at your sides at arm's length. Take a long step forward with your right foot, bending your right knee and lowering your body until the top of your right thigh is parallel to the ground. Keeping your torso upright, push back to standing. Repeat with your left leg. Do 10 reps with each leg.

Hanging leg raises


Hang from a bar using an overhand, shoulder-width grip. Bend your knees and raise your hips until your thighs are near your chest. Pause, and then lower your legs. Do 10 reps.

Rest 2 minutes, and then do the superset 2 more times.

Vegan diet for a high-performance athlete.

The most common criticism of plant-based diets for serious athletes is that it�s difficult to get enough protein. As Mr. Jurek points out, the basic challenge of getting enough boils down to taking the time and effort to eat enough protein-rich plant foods like spinach and lentils. But there�s also the more subtle question of protein quality. Research by McMaster University researcher Stuart Phillips and others has shown that dairy protein stimulates muscle synthesis most effectively compared to other types of protein, like that found in soy.

While this may not be a problem for vegetarians, vegans � who don�t consume any dairy products � might consequently have a less-than-optimal response to strength training.�It�s not that plant-based proteins can�t get the job done,� Dr. Phillips says. �They can, but the concept of complementary proteins has to be followed.� This idea � that vegetarians need to combine proteins from different sources like grains and legumes at each meal in order to obtain �complete� proteins � has fallen from favour in recent years, but Dr.

Phillips�s research suggests that vegan athletes can still benefit from it, especially for post-workout meals.

Another issue is iron: though leafy greens like kale and spinach are excellent sources of iron, only about 10 per cent of iron from plant sources can be absorbed by the body, compared to 18 per cent from animal sources. Female endurance athletes, in particular, are prone to low iron levels, so they may need to consider iron supplements if tests show their levels are low. A 2010 review in the journal Current Sports Medicine Reports identified several other micronutrients that vegan and vegetarian athletes may be deficient in.

Zinc, vitamin B-12 and the omega-3 fatty acid DHA are all crucial for physical performance and are either hard to absorb or hard to get enough of from plant sources, so the authors recommend taking supplements. For vegans, calcium may also be a concern with a dairy-less diet. Foods like bok choy and kale, as well as seeds and nuts, provide good sources of calcium that can be readily absorbed by the body, so they should be emphasized.

Relatively few studies have attempted to directly compare the performance of vegetarian and omnivorous athletes, but the results have generally been favourable. One in 1970 found no difference in lung function and thigh muscle size; another in 1986 found no difference in serum protein levels; and a 1989 study found no difference in finishing time for a 1,000-kilometre run.

�I don�t think there is any evidence that a vegetarian or vegan diet is any �better� or �worse� for performance,� says Asker Jeukendrup, a nutrition researcher and the global senior director of research for the Gatorade Sports Science Institute in Illinois, �but you will have to be much more aware of what you are eating.� That�s a nearly universal piece of advice when people discuss plant-based diets for high-performance athletes � and perhaps it should be seen as an advantage rather than a disadvantage. To eat with more attention and greater mindfulness sounds like a good idea, whatever your dietary persuasion or athletic aspirations happen to be.

If you have a few extra pounds and want to maximize your vertical jump, fat burning strategies that don't detract from your levels of muscular power are vital. Having a high power to weight ratio is a key determinant of how high you can jump. Fat doesn't contribute to your power, only to your weight. This is most undesirable in regards to jumping.

Fat burning therefore is a must if you want to maximize your vertical.

The benefits of reducing your body fat aren't just limited to higher jumping either. It also means a reduction of impact every time you land. This decreases injuries, increases durability, and reduces recovery time from workouts. And this is only the start. There is a whole host of other health related benefits that come with a concerted fat burning effort.

The conundrum of this for the vertical jump training athlete is that traditional fat burning methods often call for long duration, moderate to low intensity workouts. Jumping is a very quick, very high intensity action. Long slow training will therefore negatively impact your vertical. So how do you shed the extra pounds without sacrificing your explosiveness? Read on to find out.

Diet for High jumpers

First thing you can do to reduce body fat is to look at your diet. The obvious thing here is that by reducing your food intake and eating healthier options, you reduce your total calorie intake to below maintenance levels. This causes your body to eat into its fat stores and consequently you will lose weight. This, in a nutshell, is the basic premise of dieting and applies to anyone trying to lose weight.

The trouble with dieting is that you often also lose muscle. In order to minimize this you should try and keep your protein intake relatively high. You might also try a CLA and or HMB supplement which research suggests can prevent muscle breakdown, particularly for those on calorie restricted diets.

Another important point to remember about dieting is that once you have achieved your fat loss goals you need to re-assess your food requirements. The reason for this is that once your body is at a state of readiness, i.e. not covered in fat, your diet will play a huge role in how well you can train, how well you can recover, and basically, how quickly you develop your vertical leap.

You may also want to implement a few more advanced strategies with regard to food timing and macro-nutrient manipulation that can really ramp up your metabolism and help you lose body fat pretty quickly.

The first couple of these advanced strategies to think about both involve carbohydrate manipulation. These techniques are carbohydrate tapering and high-low carbohydrate days.

Carb tapering basically refers to the practice of eating the bulk of your carbs earlier in the day so that you have more time to utilize them.

Hi-Lo carb days are where you have 2 or 3 days of low carbohydrate intake followed by a day of much higher carb intake. This has the effect of teaching your body to use its stored energy for fuel (i.e. your body fat), and the high carb days tell your body that it is still getting enough carbs so that there isn't any need to store them up.

High Intensity Cardio for High jumpers

 Svetlana Shkolina World Champion Women High Jump : Diet and ExerciseBasically doing long duration - medium to low intensity, cardiovascular activity is a huge no-no when it comes to vertical jump training. You want to train your muscles to contract with maximum force in minimum time. This does not involve going for a 40 minute jog, a 1.5km swim, or any other form of activity that is sub maximal for extended periods. You most definitely do not want your muscles learning how to go slow at less than 100% effort.

High Intensity Interval Training, or HIIT for short. There is some debate about what is the best method of exercise for fat burning, whether it be long duration slow intensity, moderate intensity, weights, or HIIT. This debate however isn't focused on the needs of explosive athletes. HIIT may not be as 100% effective as low intensity-high duration cardio, but what it does do is ensure that fat is burnt in a manner that is in alignment with the explosive athletes training goals.

HIIT involves picking a cardio activity of your choice, then after doing a warm up of 5 minutes or so, proceeding to do 15 - 20 minutes of that activity using bursts of very high intensity for approximately 10 - 15 seconds interspersed with rest periods of anywhere between 20 and 100 seconds.

HIIT recumbent bike workout might be:

Warm up: 3 Minutes

15 x 10 second intervals @ 125 rpm on level 15

Rest periods being 50 seconds @ 80 rpm on level 10

What this does is it not only burns fat in a manner that is more better for maintaining your explosiveness than lower intensity cardio training, but also:

Burns more total calories per pound of body weight. Boosts growth hormone levels. Focuses your training on short duration, high intensity bursts (similar to running in for a dunk) Elevates the body's metabolism throughout the entire day. A word of warning before you do this though. High intensity training is very taxing. Like ALL forms of training you should build up. If you are fairly new to athletic training you should keep your high intensity bursts shorter, use less resistance, and also pedal at a lower cadence. As you get fitter and faster, then slowly build up these three intensity variables.

If you feel light headed, dizzy etc at all whilst performing this type of activity (or any type of activity for that matter) you should stop immediately. The best exercise to use for this method in terms of fat burning potential is sprint training, however if you are a little heavy it is also harder on your joints than the bike option outlined here.

The other forms of activity that I highly recommend for HIIT work are skipping with a jump rope and kettlebell swings. Bruce Lee claimed that 10 minutes of skipping was better than a 30 minute jog. Whilst the factuality of this statement might be debatable, what isn't doubted is how great skipping is.

Jumping rope is not only a fantastic fat burning exercise, but it also helps improve your co-ordination, and it will help make you very light and springy on your feet. The best way to use a jump rope for fat burning is to concentrate on speed. Go as fast as you can.

HIIT using a skipping rope can be performed with longer training intervals due to the relatively short ground contact time. A good workout involves intervals of 20 -30 seconds on, followed by 30-40 seconds rest. Provided your diet is ok, and depending on how much fat you have to lose, 3 or 4 sessions of 10-20 minute interval work a week will have you well on the way to being ripped.

High rep kettle bell swings are another excellent choice because of the way they target many of the same muscles as jumping (glutes and hamstrings in particular). Another "fun" way to use kettle bells for fat loss is by performing Tabata work. A Tabata interval is essentially 4 minutes of hell. You work at maximum intensity for 20 seconds, rest for 10 seconds. You repeat this 8 times for a total workout of 4 minutes. It is gut busting to say the least but that 4 minutes can really burn some fat - provided it doesn't kill you of course.

Weight Training for High jumpers.

One of the most effective methods of fat burning is weight training. Luckily for you, a vital ingredient to maximizing your vertical jump is in fact a solid weights program. The nature of the lifting required for vertical jump development isn't necessarily that great for fat loss. You should be focusing on training the muscles involved in jumping, and you should be lifting as explosively as possible for low reps (1-6) to stimulate muscular power improvements not hypertrophy.

From a fat loss perspective bodybuilding (i.e hypertrophy training) does have an advantage over power training. As you build more muscle your resting metabolism increases, meaning you burn more calories as you rest. Power training tends to develops muscular strength and power, not necessarily muscular size. The moral of the story is that lifting weights in the explosive, low rep manner described above won't put your body into the same sort of anabolic, fat burning zone as hypertrophy focused lifting. However, it will still burn fat, build muscle, and most importantly, help you develop incredible jumping capabilities.

Svetlana Shkolina present world champion in women high jump was born in Yartsevo. As a teenager she won the silver medals at the 2003 World Youth Championships and the 2004 World Junior Championships and the gold medal at the 2005 European Junior Championships. Her personal bests were 1.88 metres in 2003 (Krasnodar, May), 1.91 metres in 2004 (Grosseto, WJC, July) and 1.92 metres in 2005 (Mannheim, June). In 2007 she won another gold medal, at the 2007 European U23 Championships, where both Shkolina and Adonia Steryiou cleared 1.92 metres but failed at 1.95 metres. She also improved her personal best to 1.96 metres in Tula in June 2007, having only managed to equal 1.92 metres the 2006 season.

Her first major international senior championship was the 2008 Olympic Games, where she finished fourteenth with a jump of 1.93 metres. Her season's best was 1.98 metres, achieved in July in Kazan. In 2009 she equalled this height in January in Rijeka before finishing fourth at the 2009 European Indoor Championships. She finished fourth again at the 2009 European Team Championships, by equalling her personal best for the third time in the Super League competition in Leiria. At the 2009 World Championships and the 2009 World Athletics Final she finished sixth; with 1.96 and 1.94 metres respectively.

In early 2010 she broke the 2-metre barrier as she cleared 2.00 metres at the Hochsprung mit Musik event in Arnstadt in February. She contended with Blanka Vla�ic who eventually set a world leading mark of 2.06 metres. In the next three international championships she ended on the unlucky 4th place: In March 2010 at the World Indoor Championships in Doha, Qatar (1.96 m), in August at the European Championships in Barcelona (1.92 m) and in March 2011 at the European Athletics Indoor Championships in Paris (1.92 m). In July she managed to beat Vla�ic at the high jump meeting in Eberstadt, Germany. Shkolina managed 1.99 m, while Vla�ic stopped at 1.97 m.

Shkolina won a bronze medal at the high jump at the 2012 Summer Olympics with a height of 2.03 m. Shkolina won the gold medal at the high jump at the 2013 World Championships in Athletics in Moscow equating her personal best with a height of 2.03 m.  
 

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Dated 20 August 2013

 

 

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