– Huh huh…Yes, it will be tight. Cheers to Antti, sums up Urheilu’s expert and 15-time prize medalist Aino-Kaisa Saarinen his thoughts Antti Tuiskun from the skiing project.
Antti Tuisku, who put his music career on hiatus last summer, said on Sunday that he would become a full-time skier and aim for next year’s World Championships.
Tuisku plans to train 700–750 hours a year. His coach is the former head coach of the Finnish national team Reijo Jylhä.
Saarinen has a positive attitude towards Tuisku’s project. He is excited that the new Ski Club AT Ski Team will be founded at the same time. According to Tuisku, the purpose is to find promising female skiers who, through them, can make the effort to become a top athlete.
– That’s a really nice thing. It will be like a new private team. It’s a really great job, Saarinen marvels.
Jylhä described to Urheilustudio on Sunday that Tuisku’s physical talent is at the level of an average endurance athlete.
In the evening newspaper Jylhä revealed, that Tuisku has done a test measuring oxygen uptake. According to Jylhä, Tuisku reached the level of an average male skier and a top female skier in the test.
A gust of wind registered in July 2020 at a half marathon time of 1.29.00. That same summer he ran Cooper’s test to 3,250m. Last December, the artist ran at the time of his first marathon 3:15.42.
Tuisku turns 40 in three weeks.
– That half-marathon time is just okay. Of course, men’s skiers run for less than an hour and a half. Fitness could probably be enough, Saarinen thinks.
Tuisku said on Sunday in Urheilustudio that he was aiming for the freestyle skiing SC competition, but reminded that he put on freestyle skiing skis for the first time four years ago in Val di Fiemme.
At that time, he pulled off the final ascent of the legendary Alpe Cermis in an invitational competition. He feels that he is raw as a skier. According to Jylhänk, the biggest work will be to make Tuisku’s skiing look like competitive skiing.
Saarinen also raises the same challenge.
Saarinen compares to his own spouse to Tom Gustafsson. In his time, he played more than 300 basketball championship matches and 14 national matches for adults. There are five SM medals in the trophy cabinet, one of which is a gold medal from Namika Lahti’s shirt in 2000.
– He has been to a lot of camps and has certainly seen how to ski properly. He has seen a lot of skiing in the last 25 years. When I watch his skiing, it’s not like competitive skiing, though. If you start practicing the technique of competitive skiing at the age of 30-40, it is difficult to learn it. It is difficult to make skiing economical, says Saarinen.
The expert refers to how shifting the weight and sliding the ski should come naturally.
– When we go to the side of competitive skiing and refine the details, it’s difficult. I also honed my technique until the last few years. It won’t be perfect, Saarinen reminds.
Oxygen uptake is not a problem
Urheilu’s experts Ville Nousiainen emphasizes the importance of technique and muscle endurance.
– Even if you get the technique right, it won’t last more than a few minutes without muscle endurance. However, competitive skiing usually takes a little longer, Nousiainen estimates.
Nousiainen, who also works as a ski coach, believes that Antti Tuisku’s project will not get caught up in oxygen uptake. In Nousiainen’s opinion, it is also a good starting point that Tuisku’s engine is in good condition, so to speak
– As an adult, it is difficult to develop such a motor. However, muscle endurance can be developed even at an older age. On at the age of 30, 40 or 50. As long as you find the right skiing positions and maintain them, muscle endurance develops little by little, says Nousiainen.
Muscle endurance is still not a quick fix.
– It can’t be treated by jogging for half a year. It has to be worked on every workout so that the positions remain in the muscle memory. Even when tired, you would be able to work at the same time, Nousiainen says.
According to Nousiainen, 700 hours of training is not a drastic thing, because Tuisku only focuses on skiing.
– That would be a huge amount in addition to the work. If you’re just training, that’s pretty basic training reading for a national-level skier, Nousiainen describes.
Sports physiologist excited about the human experiment
The leading expert of the Institute of Elite Sports Kihu (former research center for racing and elite sports). Ville Vesterinen looks at Tuisku’s project with joy.
– There has been talk of a human experiment, where one’s own limits are sought. It’s a good idea on a wider scale. Everyone can apply for the limits in the ways they want. It’s great that now we’re going skiing, Vesterinen describes.
Vestinen, an expert in sports physiology, has worked a lot with the cross-country team. He works as the head of the Training Support Unit at Kihu.
– There is much more to living as a top athlete 24/7 than training. When you put your own development first, commitment is the biggest thing. In that sense, this is a demanding tick, Vesterinen estimates.
According to Vesterinen, Tuisku’s 40-year-old age will not be an obstacle to development. Big leaps in development can come, because Tuisku has not previously trained full-time like a top athlete. Vesterinen sees one essential thing in the success of the project.
– If he is able to carry out training plans without any health concerns, that determines success to a large extent. Will there be stress-type injuries? How can you manage the load? If you train 700–750 hours a year, that means a couple of times a day, and probably quite tiringly. However, with sensible programming, it can be controlled, Vesterinen says.
Top 80?
On Saturday in Vantaa, 148 athletes registered for the 20-kilometer intermediate start race of traditional skiing. 131 competitors crossed the finish line. Aino-Kaisa Saarinen has a direct assessment of Tuisku’s chances of success a year from now.
– If he reaches the top 80, it will be a great achievement. You have to succeed in that perfectly, Saarinen estimates.
Saarinen believes that Tuisku’s project will show the whole nation the difficulty of competitive skiing, especially with the freestyle skiing that is still often frowned upon in Finland.
– This project will certainly increase the following of skiing. It gives perspective how difficult the sport is. It’s easy to criticize from the couch and criticize why you don’t know how to freestyle skiing. It’s nice to start following this project, says Saarinen.