Approach question.

Today someone asked me if it is appropriate to train the approach in the Preparation Stage. If you have programmed into your training program to start the competition season with indoor competitions, of course you have to practice the approach in this period. Here you have to be very careful with the approach distance, speed, control and rhythms.

When we start the competitive season indoor, the athlete never uses the full approach. Depending on what the level and quality of the athlete is at that time, almost always it is recommended that athletes start with the 7 step approach. Why? As I explained before, in the preparation stage the athlete's body is overloaded and to achieve results it is necessary to have a good controlled approach in order to maintain speed and rhythm in balance.

There are many athletes who maintain the full approach indoor as outdoor. If the athlete has to compete in one of the major competitions like the World Championship or the European Indoor Championship, of course the approach should be different. For the first indoor competition, I recommend to my athletes to use the 7 step approaches, as explained before, depending on their level. You can change the distance as well as the speed, according to the competition results of the athlete.

Each coach makes his own decisions, as to whether the athlete needs more distance or not, and also the coach will know clearly when or in which moment the athlete needs to apply it.