My physical coach Pasi Keskumäki

Name:

You work in a company called Kuntokompassi (Condition compass). What kind of a company is it?
Kuntokompassi is the biggest physical education company. It has offices at Tampere, Turku, Jyväskylä and the capital city area. The trainers of Kuntokompassi aim at helping people to reach their goals by means of physical education/coaching. We provide services from company coaching to individual personal training services.

What is your own role in the company at the moment and do you see it changing in the future?
At the moment I'm an entrepreneur and one of two owners in Kuntokompassi at Tampere and Turku together with my friend Petri. I'm responsible for the operation of Tampere and  under my supervision there are on an average 15 personal trainees and the coaching projects of companies where I act as a so called head coach.

Even at this very moment I have two instructors assisting me at Tampere. They do coaching for Kuntokompassi and they also have their own personal trainees. Our aim is to consentrate the business more and more to company coaching without forgetting personal training services, however. Also, my own work would be more on planning the training programmes and developing the services. It'd also be great to be able to offer eager professionals of sports job where they could get responsibility and do the work they want.

Tell about your education. Do you participate courses regularly? What is "in" at the moment in the ever developing field of physical instruction?
I'm a physical education instructor. In addition I've done the personal training education of FAF (Fitness Academy of Finland). At the moment I study besides working to achieve the special profession of a coach.

There are different kinds of courses and education days yearly. Kuntokompassi also has it's own education and developement days every other month. In this business you have to stand out and be "on top of the wave" all the time as well as to constantly develope better and more comprehensive services.

You have a 2nd degree black belt in Taekwon-Do and you used to train actively when you lived in Vammala in the 90's. When have you worn dobok the last time?
Approximately probably sometime at year 2000.

When is the last time you've seen Taekwon-Do and where?
Live at a competition place in the European Championships 2004 at Tampere, if you don't count video material.

You used to compete yourself and you've achieved medals in Finnish championships. What names do you remember from those times?
Mikko Allinniemi, Harri Ketamo and others… guys from Vammala. There was always a good punch of guys coming from Oulu with Vesa Pitsinki and Sami Greus, for example. There were many others too, of course....

Which qualities does a succesful Taekwon-Do competitor need?
TKD is a skill / speed sport, so naturally those in all of their forms. Reaction speed for different impulses must be trained in the way of the sport. Also exploding and moving speed is good to train as far TKD-wise as possible, although one gets lots of tips for developing the qualities in question from the light athletics circles too. There are also many good exercises for developing those forms of speed with weights as well as with jumping and leaping exercises. Endurance qualities must also be in a good level, so that one can train effectively and recover from competitions and trainings. Flexibility is also a very important quality due to the demanding techniques. One has to have strength, of course, for the saying "speed is strength mastered by skill" is true. The strength training, however, has to be precisely coordinated and planned to achieve the best possible benefit.

Is it possible, in your opinion, to become a successful TKD competitor only by TKD training or are gym-, running-, leaping- etc. trainings necessary?
Nowadays the meaning of physical qualities training has increased in all sports. When one aims for the top the meaning of all aspects of physical capacity grows, and I don't think there are any top athletes in any physical sport that wouldn't use the training methods in question in their coaching.

You have been a part of the supporting team of Ismo Mäkinen as a physical coach since 2002 and your role as an expert of correct physical training has been significant. How do you see Ismo's development since the beginning of the cooperation till today?
Ismo is without a doubt one of the most conscientious individuals I know. In the beginning I planned in detail what to do and how the trainings are built. Nowadays we discuss different exercises and Ismo as a sportsman knows his body better than anyone else. This quality makes the cooperation great, since we are able to try new, versatile, as TKD-like exercises as possible, which in my opinion is very important. I believe that Ismo is physically one of the toughest TKD competitors in the world. The future challenge is to modify all the exercises to be as close to TKD as possible without bargaining with the basic training, however.

What are in your opinion his physical strengths and weaknesses?
Well, of course a bit bigger and stronger guy would be better  His strength is, I believe, a good enough level of power for his weight category. When it comes to endurance, his maximal oxygen consumption (over 70ml/kg/min) is for sure enough for a TKD competitor. In addition elasticity and basic fastness are his trumps. All this, however, must be ennobled to Taekwon-Do.

What has Taekwon-Do given to you and has training it been of any use in your work or studies?
I believe that training what ever sport for a longer time lays the basis for physical and mental well-being for the rest of your life. Without a doubt the trainings I used to conduct in Vammala club have brought certain routine and certainty in my guidance skills.

At the same time I became acquainted with knowledge of coaching, which for sure was helpful in the beginning of my studies. Now that I'm a bit more experienced, I've began to look at physical training more widely and find the right keys for programming of training. When I look back at my own trainings at that time they were more like trainings of endurance sports. Quantities were large, intensity "hard" and strength training a bit of this and that. But for sure I tested just about everything.

You've always exercised a lot. Do you still find time for yourself now that you make others move and what sports do you favour?
Well, yes... At best there was probably 1000 hours of training a year and in addition physical work at home in the garden. Physical exercise is still a big part of my life, I train 6-9 times a week. At the moment my favourite sports are weight lifting, skiing, badminton, running training and of course the king of all sports golf, which I play almost everyday at summer (I don't count this as training, though).

If you weren't a physical education instructor, what would be your profession?
This is a tough one, I suppose it would have something to do with sports.

In the end your own coaching philosophy.
Credit to basic exercising, with regular and right kind of training one achieves top results.

Big thanks to you Pasi, good luck to your projects and wishing you good trainings!