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Slalom canoeist and Olympic silver medal winner Campbell Walsh, has
been a member of the Scottish Institute of Sport for over five years.
Like all the athletes on the target supported sports programme, Campbell has received tailored support to meet his individual requirements. Specifically, Campbell has acknowledged the services received by the Institute's head of strength and conditioning, Dave Clark, as having played an integral role in his success.
When Dave first met Campbell, he was performing at a consistently high level, but he knew that he could still build on this and could benefit from a bespoke training programme. Dave's view was that he could further improve Campbell's results at a world class level, both by strengthening his muscles and working on his posture to help him move more effectively in the water.
Dave initially worked with Campbell on an intensive four week training programme at the Institute's hub in Stirling. During the training sessions, the strength and conditioning expert used a range of high tech equipment to monitor Campbell's technique and to identify where improvements could be made. This innovative approach included the use of the Muscle Lab, computerised technology used to measure the force and power produced by Campbell whilst performing selected exercises, as well as Silicon Coach, a video analysis tool used to measure muscle movement.
During this period Dave worked with Campbell to ensure he had a programme that he could use when he went back to his training base in Nottingham. In the build up to the Beijing Olympics, Dave has made regular trips to work with Campbell to review and monitor the development of the Scot, ensuring that he did not reach a plateau, but strived to continually improve, thus giving him the best possible chance at Olympic medal success.
Since working with Dave, the result of this strength and conditioning support has been phenomenal. Campbell has improved his weight lifting capacity in the overhead squat position by 10kg, (one repetition max) and improved strength and force throughout his body as measured by the Muscle Lab.
In addition to his work with strength and conditioning, through support received from the Scottish Institute of Sport, Campbell had a high tech bespoke boat carved by a specialist in the industry to meet his unique requirements which has also contributed to an improvement in his overall performance.