Showing posts with label Paralympics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Paralympics. Show all posts

Tuesday, May 18, 2021

Rocking And Recovery With Robert, Heading To The Tokyo Paralympics

For who? Competitive athletes, swimmers, masters swimmers, runners, rowers
For what? Strength, recovery, functional movement, mobility, flexibility, cool-down

Robert Griswold is an American Paralympic swimmer and gold medal favorite for the upcoming Tokyo Paralympics. He has cerebral palsy and does KAATSU Cycles before and after his 8-times-per-week workouts and races as part of his pre-swim warm-ups and post-swim cool-downs.

During the complete lockdown at the U.S. Olympic Training Center due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Griswold spent nearly a year of trying his best to being creative in order to maintain his speed, strength, stamina and flexibility. He also graduated from Indiana State University, began clerking at a law firm in St. Louis, Missouri, and continues to train 8 times per week in anticipation of the Paralympic Trials in Lewisville, Texas in April with the anticipation of winning medals at the Tokyo Paralympics.

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, the administration at the U.S. Olympic Training Center shut down its facilities, but also would not let the athletes off the Training Center campus. The athletes had no way to leave the Center, but swimmers also had no way to train properly in a pool. So what did Griswold do? He looked for an AirBnB with a backyard pool and found one and negotiated an early morning training schedule with the owner.







































He and his roommate would sneak out of the Training Center campus through a side door before the sun came up. They would get to the AirBnB house with a 13-meter pool. They jury-rigged a tether unit and did creative pool workouts. He also finagled his way to get a Vasa Trainer unit and figured out a way to stay in shape with his ingenuity and KAATSU Air Bands that he used on dry land and in the pool.

Eventually, he ended up moving to St Louis where he currently trains in a 50m pool 8 times per week while working as a law clerk 25 hours per week. The United States Paralympic Trials are on April 10-12.

He explains his recovery protocol, "When I came back and competed in my first swim meet at the U.S. Open, I swam the 400m individual medley. I was about 95% of my peak physical abilities and just barely missed the world record. When I got out of the pool, I used my lactate meter and showed the USA Swimming National Team High Performance Director that his post-race lactate levels were 19.9 mmol/L. The director saw my lactate reading and said that 19.9 must be a mistake.

So I retested a few minutes later and I tested at 20.2 mmol/L. The director was surprised it was that high
."

But Griswold uses his KAATSU equipment to help him recover from these high lactate levels. He swims easily (loosens down) for 600 meters until his lactate reading is between 7-8 mmol/L. Then he gets out of the water and does KAATSU Cycles until his lactate is reduced to 2.1 or lower mmol/L.

Note: Griswold, Matt Torres and Jamal Hill are among the American Paralympic athletes who will use KAATSU at the Tokyo Paralympic Games.

Copyright © 2014 - 2021 by KAATSU Global

Wednesday, February 24, 2021

Robert Griswold Recovers From High Lactate Levels With KAATSU

For who? Competitive athletes, swimmers, masters swimmers, runners, rowers
For what? Strength, recovery, functional movement, mobility, flexibility, cool-down







































Robert Griswold is an American Paralympic swimmer and gold medal favorite for the upcoming Tokyo Paralympics in various events. He has cerebral palsy and does KAATSU Cycles before and after his 8-times-per-week workouts and races as part of his pre-swim warm-ups and post-swim cool-downs.

During the complete lockdown at the U.S. Olympic Training Center due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Griswold spent nearly a year of trying his best to being creative in order to maintain his speed, strength, stamina and flexibility. He also graduated from Indiana State University, began clerking at a law firm in St. Louis, Missouri, and continues to train 8 times per week in anticipation of the Paralympic Trials in Lewisville, Texas in April with the anticipation of winning medals at the Tokyo Paralympics.

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, the administration at the U.S. Olympic Training Center shut down its facilities, but also would not let the athletes off the Training Center campus. The athletes had no way to leave the Center, but swimmers also had no way to train properly in a pool. So what did Griswold do? He looked for an AirBnB with a backyard pool and found one and negotiated an early morning training schedule with the owner.

He and his roommate would sneak out of the Training Center campus through a side door before the sun came up. They would get to the AirBnB house with a 13-meter pool. They jury-rigged a tether unit and did creative pool workouts. He also finagled his way to get a Vasa Trainer unit and figured out a way to stay in shape with his ingenuity and KAATSU Air Bands that he used on dry land and in the pool.

Eventually, he ended up moving to St Louis where he currently trains in a 50m pool 8 times per week while working as a law clerk 25 hours per week. The United States Paralympic Trials are on April 10-12.

He explains his recovery protocol, "When I came back and competed in my first swim meet at the U.S. Open, I swam the 400m individual medley. I was about 95% of my peak physical abilities and just barely missed the world record. When I got out of the pool, I used my lactate meter and showed the USA Swimming National Team High Performance Director that his post-race lactate levels were 19.9 mmol/L. The director saw my lactate reading and said that 19.9 must be a mistake.

So I retested a few minutes later and I tested at 20.2 mmol/L. The director was surprised it was that high
."

But Griswold uses his KAATSU equipment to help him recover from these high lactate levels. He swims easily (loosens down) for 600 meters until his lactate reading is between 7-8 mmol/L. Then he gets out of the water and does KAATSU Cycles until his lactate is reduced to 2.1 or lower mmol/L.

Copyright © 2014 - 2021 by KAATSU Global

Thursday, August 29, 2019

Swimming Uphill Ends With Silver Lining

For who? swimmers, student-athletes
For what? Strength, stamina, functional movement, mobility, flexibility, recovery

Courtesy of Wilma Wong, Lima, Peru.

Jamal Hill of Inglewood, California struggles with the degenerative disorder Charcot-Marie-Tooth - but not much else.

Filmmaker John Duarte discussed Hill, "Jamal, a Paralympic swimmer from Inglewood, California has blazed through boundaries. Once fully paralyzed from the neck down, and now top ranked in the United States, he teaches us that nothing - and no one - can put a limit on his ambition if he doesn’t impose one on himself.

As soon as I met Jamal, I knew I had to document his journey
." [see video below]

Hill won a silver medal at the Para Pan American Games in Lima, Peru with a lifetime best.  "He just keeps getting better and better under the tutelage of coach Wilma Wong.  "Jamal has a passion - for swimming, for sharing his passion, for mentoring others - has is so uncommon.  It is great to see him succeed both in his commercial ventures and in the water," said Steven Munatones who taught Hill how to use KAATSU in his training.

Hill is happy with his progress using KAATSU Aqua, "The [KAATSU] technology has been so integral in my growth since we first met almost two years ago.  I am glad to have something to commemorate this journey to Lima other than a llama souvenir."

Hill, a personable aquapreneur and member of the USA Paralympic swim team, is looking forward to competing in the 2020 Tokyo, 2024 Paris and 2028 Los Angeles Paralympic Games despite living with Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease which is an inherited disorder that causes nerve damage in his arms and legs.

The disease results in smaller, weaker muscles, a loss of sensation and muscle contractions, and difficulty walking.

In Hill's case, it significantly reduces the mobility in his legs where his motor function stops at his knee caps and his motor function in my arms is also impacted.

[The disease] runs in my family,” Hill explained. “It affects my mom a little bit. It affects my uncles pretty heavily. Essentially my motor neurons in my outer extremities, from my elbow to my fingertips and from my kneecaps all the way to my toes gives me a lot of problems.”

But his overwhelming positive nature has enabled him to succeed in a sport he could have easily quit many times.

Currently coach by Wilma Wong, Hill is ranked #1 among American Paralympic swimmers in the 50m freestyle going into the Olympic year. But he has also created Swimming Up Hill, a digital marketing company that markets health and fitness brands, insurance and medical practices - and inspiring many young people who would not otherwise be swimming.

At its core, Hill's mission is to teach 1 million people - including many with little access to the shorelines of California or pools in their neighborhoods.  He want to teach these individuals how to swim. He works with swim schools in Southern California to help the schools facilitate more lessons for lower cost to the customer.

Hill is shown above with fellow American Paralympic medalist swimmer and KAATSU Aqua user Robert Griswold of Indiana.

"In Tokyo, I think there will be gold at the end of his Olympic rainbow," predicted Munatones.



Video below of Hill is courtesy of John Duarte, California.

For more information on Swimming Up Hill, visit www.swimuphill.com/ and @swimminguphill.

Copyright © 2014 - 2019 by KAATSU Global

Monday, April 15, 2019

Robert Griswold Giving Back And Inspiring Others

For who? Baby Boomers, retirees, student-athletes
For what? Strength, stamina, functional movement, mobility, flexibility, recovery

Robert Griswold has energy that is palpable. He thinks fast, he talks fast, he executes fast and he swims fast, very very fast.

The 2016 Rio Paralympic swimmer won one bronze medal at the 2016 Rio Paralympic Games, but he has been on a tear on the recent 2019 World Para Swimming World Series where he has won every event he has swum.

His specialties include the 400m freestyle, 100m backstroke and 200m individual medley in the S8, SB7 and SM8 classification. He is the world record holder in the S8 200m back in 2:22.04.

The 22-year-old from Freehold, New Jersey is currently studying at Indiana State University, training under coach Josh Christensen.

He is clearly a driven athlete, but he is even more inspirational. At the age of 16, Griswold organized a clinic to educate his community in New Jersey about the sport of adaptive swimming. He exposed and advised individuals with physical disabilities and their families to learn about and seek athletic opportunities that available to Paralympic athletes. He continues to share the opportunities with others who he meets and inspires.

Every morning before his first workout of the day, Griswold understands the value of doing repeated KAATSU Cycles to warm-up his limbs - and repeating the KAATSU Cycles after the workouts as a recovery modality.

He is shown with fellow American Paralympic swimmer and KAATSU user Jamal Hill.



Copyright © 2014-2019 by KAATSU Global