How many are familiar with Serbian Novak Djokovic? I am going to give you a hint. You might be more knowledgeable if I say Roger Federer, McEnroe, or Ivan Lendl. I will not hold you in suspense any longer. Novak is currently the number one tennis player in the world. You will see him in the U.S. Open this week. Let’s see how he performs?
An article written by Hanna Karp in the Wall Street Journal dated August 29, 2011, was titled Novak Djokovic’s Secret: Sitting in a Pressurized Egg. Okay, what is a pressurized egg? This egg is called a CVAC Pod, made by a California company and has a price tag of $75,000. The purpose of going into the pod is to help him feel stronger on the court. This contraption uses a computer controlled valve and a vacuum pump to simulate high-altitude and compress the muscles at rhythmic intervals.
This company claims that if you spend up to 20 minutes in the pod three times a week you can boost your athletic performance by improving circulation boosting oxygen-rich red-blood cells, removing lactic acid and possibly even stimulating mitochondrial bio genesis and stem cell production. Novak is so convinced that this pod helps his game, he is staying with a wealthy tennis trainer friend in New Jersey who has one of these devices on his property. Hopefully, Hurricane Irene didn’t interfere with their power source. At the moment I do not know anyone who has this pod because I would like to check it out. We don’t know if this takes the place of training? I’ll bet it doesn’t, but it might have helped me on my 9 mile or so trail run.
How many of you know which track and field record is the toughest? Statistically speaking compare every world record time and distance with the second-best performance in both men and women’s competition and come up with a percentage difference, and then use this number. Someone defined “toughest “employing this statistical procedure. Using this definition the winner is: Czechoslovakian javelin thrower Jan Zelezny whose 1996 mark of 98.48 m is 5.47% better than Aki Parviainen’s 93.09 also set 1996. Let’s see how long you can remember his name?
The fastest time for 100 m was set by Usain Bolt. His record time in 2009 is 9.58. Currently, he is considered the fastest human in history. Remember his name and remember that time. We’ll see how long this record holds?
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