10 replies to this topic

[glorius&victorius]

http://www.sense-core.com/sport.html

just saw this remarkable list of champions and I wondered what this guy does with F1 drivers?

anyone can shed more light on this?

also whatever drivers do for physical preparation? I saw Button once doing the light on-off reaction machine. Someone told me Alonso is the absolute champ in using it.

[Concorde]

a bit OT but I just read a tweet from Lee McKenzie and apparently she's in his clinic to have her knee checked today.
According to her Mclaren young drivers, a GP2 and an F1 driver were also seeing Dr. Aki today.

[glorius&victorius]

a bit OT but I just read a tweet from Lee McKenzie and apparently she's in his clinic to have her knee checked today.
According to her Mclaren young drivers, a GP2 and an F1 driver were also seeing Dr. Aki today.

her tweet got me wondering about Hintsa..;)

so any ideas? is it just fitness training or also more sensory training? i remember Hintsa analysing Kimi and saying that he had the best spatial sensory capacity or something weird like that.. what is that all about.. how does he test that?

would Schumacher pass his tests?

Edited by glorius&victorius, 03 January 2012 - 14:37.

[Concorde]

her tweet got me wondering about Hintsa..;)

I already suspected that but really can't help you with his methods, would be interesting to know though.

Only thing I noticed is that he should update his website.

* Sebastian Vettel, 2010 & 2011 World Champion

* Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton are the two the youngest double World Champions in F1 history.

[Ross Stonefeld]

So judging from his client list he worked at McLaren for a long time and then went to Red Bull.

[glorius&victorius]

So judging from his client list he worked at McLaren for a long time and then went to Red Bull.

made a quick google image search on his: http://www.google.it...a...280&bih=881

two things strike me:
- he appeared in lots of mclaren apparel.
- i was expecting a fresh looking fitness expert.. but he is not seriously well trained, nor does his face look fresh.. big dark rings under his eyes.. but that must be because he spends so much time analysing his patients.

jokes aside.. i still wonder about his approach.

Edited by glorius&victorius, 03 January 2012 - 16:09.

[glorius&victorius]

saw this by Wolfie!

Post McLaren's doctor Aki Hintsa

by Wolfie on Fri Mar 26, 2010 12:40 pm
Here is more about Aki Hintsa and the way they work in McLaren which IMO is a great thing others really should learn from

RÄIKKÖNEN HAS EYES IN HIS BACK

Turun Sanomat 18.6.2005

They say that some top sportsmen have eyes in their back.

The Senior Physician of Finland's Olympic Committee Aki Hintsa can scientifically prove that Kimi Räikkönen belongs to this elite group.

- During our neurological examinations we found out that Kimi has an exceptionally well developed ability to give a form to time, place and shape.

- It's a neuropsychological feature and it gives a guy like Kimi who works in a speed of 360 km/h an enormous advantage.

As a neurosurgeon Hintsa knows that he himself has a very good ability to give form too.

- But Kimi's ability can be considered as exceptional. It's an inbuilt ability that is almost as fast as a lightning. A thing like this, to say it out loud, is really special, Hintsa emphasises.

- We all have it. It might be poorly developed, well developed or extremely well developed. You need it in everyday life but it gives you a substantial advantage especially in sport.

- A person who can give form very well reacts automatically fast and exactly like the situation requires whereas a slower has to think about different things, Hintsa describes.

- It's like having an excellent game-eye in ball games but there's more to it. In tests you can see who has a natural talent and who hasn't.

- Kimi's ability to act in racing situations comes straight from his backbone. He doesn't need time to think, he just makes the right decisions naturally. He can give form to an upcoming situation practically automatically and can because of that make just the right decision, Hintsa praises.

When you may face the most unbelieavable situations in GP's, the ability to draw the 3-dimensional line into the right spaces helps to direct the car in a top speed exactly the right way. Eyesight has nothing to do with this ability.

- Let's take X-Y-Z -space in which a bullet draws a certain line. When asked how the bullet moved, 99 % of the people start to think and draw the movement of the bullet.

- But then someone like Kimi can just show you exactly how the movement was born including the impression of depth. He doesn't have to think. It just is there, Räikkönen's doctor praised.

- When you follow Mika's interviews and when he is asked about a certain racing incident, Mika usually draws the answer in the air. That expresses this special feature, how Mika saw what happened and remembers it so vividly.

- When the skill comes from the genes and is natural you can enforce and improve it by being in the situation all the time. That way you can learn to keep up the ability for as long as you need it, Hintsa said.

Neurological tests are done to race drivers just in case.

If some serious accident happens we know the basic level the sportsman had before the accident.

Häkkinen was in a tragic accident in Adelaide qualification in 1995. The serious skull injury almost killed him.

- God has built human being's brains in a magnificent way. There's a great capacity that isn't even used. When damaged nervecells don't renew themself again new routes are born to replace them. Hintsa says that Häkkinen became an even more whole person after the accident.

Räikkönen himself doesn't care at all about Hintsa's flattering research results about a race driver's exceptional game-eye.

- Doctors know about those things, I don't. I haven't noticed anything special. I have been in some examinations. I guess it's somekind of a technology. And I most certainly don't see any better than anybody else who has a normal eyesight, Räikkönen thinks.
__________

10.4.2007 Kuala Lumpur

Health guru Aki Hintsa put especially Lewis Hamilton into a sufficient stitch under extremely hard conditions.

- The heat created a bigger problem for Lewis than it did for any other driver I've worked with before, Hintsa confessed to Turun Sanomat.

- On Friday Lewis hardly made it through the 2nd practice. He was completely beaten. I told him to learn his lesson because he didn't believe what I said to him earlier.

- I did some special things just for Lewis. We made up a specific schedule that we followed hour by hour before the race. It was about how he should prepare himself and how he had to drink especially the way his sweating requires, Hintsa told.

- We measured everything on Friday and Saturday. We get all kinds of data more and more.

The winner Fernando Alonso did not require as big efforts from Hintsa as Hamilton did.

- Metabolically Fernando and Lewis are completely different. Fernando lost 800 grams during the GP while Lewis lost 2,8 kg, Hintsa said.

- It was good for Lewis to go through this. I told him that he will feel bad if he doesn't do as I say. When he broke on Friday I told him to do what he is supposed to do. He did and noticed that he got strenght to go on again. It's important for an athlete to notice that a specifically made program works.

- I showed Lewis what physical strenght and mental energy depend upon. He saw that his system started working again. After that it was quite easy to work with him.

- It feels great when you can start from scratch with a talent like Lewis. It's so much easier for me than working with some experienced F1-drivers who think they already know everything.

- This is a great job for me because for once we have the resources. I don't have to think if I can do this or that. All I need to do is a plan and work accordingly.

Everybody in McLaren drank according to the plan. Hintsa asks Pedro de la Rosa to show the finnish reporter how he has adviced everybody to do.
- Bottoms up, Pedro says and shows it by emptying a water bottle at once.

Hamilton admitted that the Malaysian GP was the most difficult race in his life.
- The weather conditions were unbelieavable. I sweated and sweated more and more. I wanted to drink but emptied my bottle quickly.

Alonso drank with more patience.
- The fluid in the bottle heated quickly up to 60 degree, it was like tee. It wasn't nice to drink it but you had to moisten your mouth once in a while, the winner smiled.
_____________

24.5.2007 Monte Carlo

Hintsa joined McLaren two years ago and started his thorough training with Hamilton right away.

Results speak for themselves. The Finnish expert is used to working with Olympic- and WC-heroes.

- Now we make athletes - in every sense. It hasn't been done in F1 ever before, Hintsa says. Lewis is my first diciple. I started this work with him and I would say that he already starts to show some results.

Hamilton leads the serie in his rookie-season.
- Of course it is a really big thing for me too, Hintsa sighs.

Everybody can determine what his affect on the 22 year old Lewis has been.

- The starting point is that we build up a human performance - wholeness, in other words we improve the performance ability both mentally and physically.

- Lewis is an ideal guy for a co-operation like this. Now everything is already easy. During his GP2-season some things came up that glued us even more together. That's when he saw how the system works and we haven't had any problems after that.

- Kuortane is a center where we run certain things from our program. Kuortane is one of the most diversified training center for athletes in the world. Several Olympic winners from Valeri Borzov to Steve Backley have been trained there. F1 is a different kind of sport but you can find similarities.

- A healthy soul in a healthy body - you are what you do. It is all built upon selfconfidence. Selfconfidence is based upon healthy realism. Lewis has it both mentally and physically and he knows it himself. He isn't a dreamer.

- That's why we have Kuortane as our help. There we have Olympic winners and world champions who have gone through the same themselves. They can advice about what might be ahead of you and also how to prepare for it. It's like being in hospital care where everything is taken care of beforehand.

- I will have to see what happens after a year, a month, a week, a day or tomorrow. I have to know it and tell how things need to be done.

- If F1-drivers train seriously then the risk to get injured is as big as it is in every top sport. As a matter of fact this is an extremely delicate genre where you have to take into consideration all jetlags, driving strains and the stress from both the media and the publicity. In that sense F1 fills easily the criterias of one of the most tough top-sport, Hintsa says.

The mental training has hit home with Hamilton.

- Ever since the beginning I have been telling him that you are Lewis Hamilton. I asked if he had any idols and when he told me that he admired Ayrton Senna I said to him that you can have an ideal but you are now building up yourself. We are now building up Lewis Hamilton, Hintsa sums up his methods.

- You can't reflect upon yourself even for a moment so that you look up at someone else. The minute you look up to someone else you are immediately second. No matter if it's Schumacher or Senna, you can't copy anyone. That's how you build up yourself.

- Lewis is already there. Without any compromises. That's super. Now we are making athletes, not just putting them running.

- And he doesn't have to do anything that I wouldn't do myself, Hintsa laughs and refers to Hamilton's swim in the ice cold Päijänne in the beginning of April.

Due to Hamilton's experiences McLaren has already made an indenture with the 14-year old Oliver Rowland.

- Oliver has now joined our group. Now we start to build him up, Hintsa said.
____________

12.6.2007

Would Hintsa already place a bet for Hamilton's championship?
- If I would place a bet then Lewis wouldn't win for sure.

How much did Lewis grow now that he won for the first time?

- On Monday morning he will look at himself in the mirror and say - Lewis Hamilton, nothing has been won yet, Hintsa revealed how the process goes on.

- On Sunday we cheered for his first victory but on Monday we started to prepare for Indianapolis according to the normal schedule and forgot all about Canada.

- New boots but same old project. We sat down with Lewis right after his victory and talked things through. Our project proceeds the same way as before. No matter what happens, good or bad, we learn from the bad and don't get excited over the good. That's that! Hintsa says to Turun Sanomat.

Canada GP was one of the most chaotic of all times and it was shadowed by the horrible accident Robert Kubica had.

- I saw immediately that Kubica had passed out. Fortunately he made it so that we could be happy for Hamilton's victory, Hintsa said.
_______________

6.10.2007 Shanghai

- Lewis is a Top-athlete with a big T. He has all the qualities a top-athlete needs. He is a talent. The best athletes get 90 % from talent and 10 % from work. On top of that Lewis is extremely determined and ambitious. And on top of that he has genuine Finnish sisu. (fighting spirit)

- Lewis is the same type as Kimi is. Maybe that's the reason why they respect each other so much. Neither one of them never give up and both have eyes in their back and that's how they can always anticipate situations and do what's required, Hintsa said.
________________

21.12.2007

Heikki Kovalainen's switch from Renault to McLaren as Hamilton's team mate is an especially pleasant christmas present for Aki Hintsa.
- For me it's like a Dream Team, Hintsa confesses to TS.

Hintsa dreamed about this pairing ever since Fernando Alonso's problems in adjusting to McLaren exceeded everyone's treshold of pain.

Hintsa is happy now that his three favourite boys drive in McLaren - Hamilton, Kovalainen and Pedro de la Rosa.
- All three are guys who bring positive energy to the team.

Hintsa's personal relationship with Alonso was good when he said goodbye to him.
- If the drivers' chemistry just doesn't match, what happened last season will happen. Even though Fernando is as a driver a complete top driver without any doubt, if the spiritual world goes on the wrong track, it just goes, and there's nothing that can twist it back on the right track, Hintsa summed up McLaren's tough experiences.

Hintsa will make Kovalainen's training programs completely new.
- We started working with Heikki the moment the contract papers were signed last week.
___________

11.3.2008

Kovalainen is already familiar with Kuortane.

- I know the gang. I went there before christmas to do all the tests the other McLaren drivers also do. You go there to get the final perfomance ability. They are small things they find there but if they find even something small we feel better. This is a superthing from that point of view.

- The whole team has been in Kuortane in tests. They have programs for treating both the physical and the mental side. I believe that our team is in a better shape than many other teams.

Kovalainen has now a completely new training program. His new trainer is Simon Reynolds who has worked in the team for a couple of years.

Reynolds stays in touch with Kuortane's reasearch group.

- I have a pulse meter when I drive and Aki Hintsa takes blood tests quite often. They follow all my values so much that I feel like an athlete, Kovalainen laughs.

- I'm 100 % in a better shape both physically and mentally than I ever was in Renault. Aki made things go in the right direction and on top of that they have in Kuortane a big bunch of different experts.

- They got even the smallest things on the right track. We do more work all the time so that I would be in full stitch in Melbourne.
______________

12.3.2008 Melbourne

McLaren's drivers Lewis Hamilton, Heikki Kovalainen and Pedro de la Rosa all live in Switzerland. That's why it was convenient that the trio had their 4-day training camp in Zürich - where Aki Hintsa also lives.

- Everybody likes Heikki, he has adjusted as well as one can only hope but of course he has to catch up a lot.

- There is no doubt that everyone wouldn't have liked Mika Häkkinen and Kimi Räikkönen as much but Heikki has his own way of taking the whole team, Hintsa says.
____________

6.6.2008 Montreal

Heikki Kovalainen has experienced bad luck during the season.

Aki Hintsa throws Lady Fortuna into the trash can.

- We really don't want to talk about luck and fortune. It doesn't go that way in motorsport. You have to get so many elements in their right places in order to succeed. F1 is a world of it's own.

- If a top sprinter has to weld 10 things together in order to wind, in F1 there are 100 elements that need to be put in the right place.

- When you know that you are ready you can go for the victory everytime. Winning isn't anything you wish for. Of course you can wish but you can't build any victory upon it. The victories need to be taken. It's a long way to get to the level where you drive for the victory everytime.

Kovalainen has been following the same program Lewis Hamilton followed a year before.

- There are six different areas in the program and they all need to be in order. Of course nobody is never completely ready. We check our program during every training camp and always lift the level.

- When Heikki came to the team we started from scratch and created goals. The endurance has to be on a certain level as well as the biomechanic. We made completely new nutrition system for him, the recovery-level needed to be improved and he also needs to be mentally filled with energy.

- A driver can't just tell himself that he is tough. All values have to be good. You have to be mentally mature so that you can fight for the victory.

- After Monaco I thanked Heikki and said that after this I'm not padding him on the shoulder after 2nd places.

- It's true that Lewis is tough. I've done things with him so systematically that everything is on a good level. Lewis doesn't have to win every race, there will be bad results every now and then but he is now tougher than he was last year, Hintsa assures.
____________________

20.10.2008 Shanghai

A year ago Lewis won in Japan and had such a big lead that he felt he had won the championship in practice. It didn't help even though I kept telling him that nothing has been decided, this is racing and anything can happen.

We are all humans and Lewis suffered from a so called podium-syndrom. No matter how much he tried to avoid that feeling he felt subsconsiously that he was on fire and had won the title.

In a situation like that it's difficult to tell yourself that everything is still open. You just think subconsiously that it's mine, I have won the championship. You start floating and no matter how you try to bring yourself back on the ground it doesn't help.

This year everything is completely different. It has been an extremely difficult season for both Lewis and the team. Even if you find it hard to believe, Lewis is now much stronger than he was last year this time.

Everything didn't go as it was supposed to go. It's only a good thing when you fail and have other unpleasant things happening, they keep you on the ground in this situation when we are going to Brazil.

It's 100% sure that Lewis doesn't have any feelings that he would have already won. Anything can happen again.

Brazilian Grand Prix is like the Olympic final. You can't make one single mistake. Now you can't patch up things like you can during the season if something goes wrong.

Now it feels like we are dealing with real top-sport. The whole team feels like an Olympic team going to the Olympics.

You are wrong if you say that Lewis can't handle pressure but you might be right if you say that he has difficulties with his attitude towards winning.

The more the press beats him the more sure it is that he wins in the next race.

After Fuji we did like we always do, we opened up the whole weekend both technically and mentally. It wasn't easy but after that you could see that Lewis was very strong when he came to China. He took that half a step towards the championship as he was supposed to take. Now he has to take the other half a step in Brazil, Hintsa said.
________________

3.11.2008

Aki Hintsa was moved by his protegé's WDC.

This is the most rewarding moment in my life. When you are in this thing with balls and everything, winning the WDC feels completely fantastic. My role isn't to be a fan, I have to keep my feet on the ground and always try and be one step ahead of where we are going emotionally.

During our three years this talented boy grew into a determined and very skillful race driver. It isn't easy to grow. A good day can help you grow but a bad day does it for sure. You need both successes and failures and now we have had our share of both of them, Hintsa said.

I told Lewis before the race that no matter what happens, don't give up. I assured him that justice will finally win and it happened. This is an unbelievably tough serie. First we drive 18 races and then the championship is decided in the last corner, 800 metres before the finish line.
__________________

25.2.2009

McLaren will use the KERS-system in their car.

- It's shocking if an athlete who is in top form would have to lose his weight at the expense of his muscles. If you burn your own flesh you are in the danger of going into a catabolic state which will lead to a spiritiual paralysis. The system reacts in it's own way and puts you in a spiritual sordino.

- If you have to lose weight then it has to be done somewhere else - not by endangering the driver's physical condition, Hintsa said.
_______________

25.2.2009

This is without doubt the most challenging stage with Lewis. It hasn't been easy this far either but we have managed to build up a script and follow it. After the WDC it's going to be different, Hintsa assures.

Based on statistics, 70% of different champions from different sports flops after their success because they aren't mentally prepared for what happens. This happens because the athlete didn't know what the championship means and isn't therefore able to be on his guard.

We have spent a fantastic time with Lewis during the winter. I'm assured that we can avoid and pass the trap that winning the championship has created. Lewis is now even more stronger both mentally and physically than he was last season, Hintsa says.

I'm extremely proud of both my boys. Now we will se what kind of men they are. Personally I have more to do when things go well. Now we keep the spirit high. It's the whole team's job to create a positive atmosphere and when watching what this team does I'm really proud that I'm part of it.

When you are up you know that you come down someday. When you are on the bottom like we are now, we know that we will come up from here someday. In this situation Brawn has everything to lose and we have everything to win, Hintsa said.

[glorius&victorius]

again thanks to Wolfie

Post McLaren's doctor Aki Hintsa

by Wolfie on Fri Mar 26, 2010 12:45 pm
For those interested, more on the subject

Their co-operation started in 1999 when Mika Häkkinen asked Hintsa to be his doctor. When Häkkinen changed into Räikkönen, McLaren wanted Hintsa to be the expert of the whole team.

– I'm in a similar role as the conductor is. I seek the best possible experts to improve human performance, for example nutrition therapists, psychologists, physio therapists and other special doctors.

Hintsa is quite an expert himself. His Human High Perfomance -consept follows the driver's features with 155 measurements per year.

– We can show with meters that we have found something that affects the performance in a positive way. We measure everything. There is no 'how does it feel like' -method in this job.

The drivers have to be in good physical shape because a driver can sweat even 3,5 liters during a GP. Physical training includes endurance, muscular strenght, biomechanics and biodynamics.

With magnetic scans the posture is cherished and the driving position is maintained. Several inquires measure the mental charge.

The best drivers are distinguished by their ability to drive flawlessly when they are on the limit.

– If a driver isn't physically or mentally in 100 % shape it's easier to make mistakes - or he doesn't even get to drive on his limits.

Hintsa has jumped from one extreme to another himself. Before the F1-circles he did mission work in Ethiopia.

– Somebody once said to me that wasn't it more valuable work. I answered that to a doctor all people are equally valuable.
– Money does not bring happiness, you have to find that from somewhere else.
– The F1-drivers and other big guys eat the same porridge as other people eat.

But F1-drivers aren't exactly normal people. You have to be an A-type personality to drive 300 km/hour, Hintsa defines.

A good driver control the 3-dimensional world and can combine it with speed.
– The driver has to have eyes in the back of his head and be aware of everything all the time.

Features can also be improved. The mental alertness affects the coordination and the ability to react.
– If the mental side isn't alright then the maximum performance will not be achieved.

Sometimes Hintsa also has to use his clinical skills. It looked hopeless for Hamilton to drive in Valencia because of the bad spasm in the neck he had the night before qualification.

– With conservative treatment his symptoms would have lasted 3-4 days. With local anesthesia we managed to treat his symptoms so that he could get to quali and came in 2nd in the race. That felt good.

The team's doctor always finds out about the hospitals in the race-town in case an accident would happen and he also gets to know a lot of colleagues. Hintsa is interested in efficiency, quality and optimization of costs. We could in Finland follow the example of the Australian way where they combine the public and the private sector.

Hintsa's methods have started to interest the companies too but he is so interested in winning in F1 that he intends to watch this circus for at least some years.

Hintsa plays tennis, squash or badminton with Hamilton, Kovalainen and Räikkönen. Because he isn't allowed to say which one of them is in the best shape he gets permission to reveal who is best in tennis.

– Me of course. Otherwise I wouldn't even have told that I play with them.

Human High Perfomance

It's a program that develops human performance and is based on constant measurements.

For example sport psychology, psychodynamics, biomechanics and biodynamics.

It has 155 meters, for example magnetical research for the neckbone, th-bone and lumbar spinal, maximum ability to take in oxygen several times per year, definitions of lactic acid level during strain and maximum-tests, a lot of blood samples, physiotherapist's biodynamic and biomechanic measurements, the body's musclebalance and definitions for the movement of joints, matters related to the posture etc. etc.

- I have tested 13 F1-drivers and I know very well which one of them is in the best physical shape. The differences in for example muscle strenght and speed are remarkable, Aki Hintsa says.

The doctor characterises in the same way Mika Häkkinen's, Kimi Räikkönen's, Heikki Kovalainen's and Lewis Hamilton's natural strenghts.
– They are clearly different, even when it comes to these features. The 3-dimensional observation, speed and fear-related features are of the same kind but they are highlighted differently.
– Lewis can make decisions in a flash. He is an extremely clever young man.

In Finland they think that Hamilton's success in rainy conditions are due to the car but Hintsa has another explanation.
– Of all the top drivers Lewis can most quickly adjust to new special conditions. He doesn't have to look for his limits for two or three laps. He finds them so quickly that everytime the conditions change it works in his advantage.

Kimi Räikkönen again is the Iceman when it comes to his mental strenght. Hintsa tells an example from Canada a few years back.
– We got tired of waiting for the qualification and we fell asleep on the floor in the garage. We woke up when engines were started and Kimi said 'Oh, I think the qualification is about to begin'. Kimi doesn't jump all over in these situations. His nerves are in perfect condition.
_________________

07.05.2009 12.24

Aki Hintsa also helps other team's drivers Sport Bild -magazine told. According to the paper Hintsa also gives advice to Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Räikkönen.

- Aki and I are friends, Vettel informed.

- I always thought that I demand a lot from the sportsmen but Sebastian is incredible. He wants to develop more and more: he often calls me when he is finishing some exercise and asks what he could do next. You have to put brakes on him rather than encourage him to go forward, Hintsa told.

Turun Sanomat
Heikki Kulta

[Bonaventura]

Antti Vierula, Lewis trainer comes from the same company as Hintsa

[Kvothe]

Very interesting to read, thanks Glorious.

[glorius&victorius]

Very interesting to read, thanks Glorious.

thanks.. but rather.. thanks to Wolfie