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Hong Kong fencer Edgar Cheung’s strength trainer on the exercises and conditioning that helped him win gold at the Tokyo Olympic Games
- Fencers need mobility, agility and explosive power, says William Lo, and because they move the same leg and arm together they need exercises to improve balance
- He uses sprints on a bicycle, climbing walls and battle-rope exercises to improve fencers’ fitness, and single-leg squats and single-arm movements for balance
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As Hongkongers celebrated fencer Edgar Cheung Ka-long’s gold medal performance in the men’s foil at the Tokyo Olympics on Monday evening, William Lo Wing-kwan, the co-founder of Strive Fitness in Hong Kong, was feeling overwhelming respect for his 24-year-old friend. The Olympian had trained at the gym on his journey to the podium.
While Strive Fitness in Wong Chuk Hang is mostly known as for training basketball players, as a strength and conditioning coach Lo has helped many fencers hone their fitness and strength, from children just starting out in the sport to high-level fencers.
Cheung trained at Strive Fitness prior to the Tokyo 2020 Games, and Lo worked with him on overall strength and conditioning, on improving his mobility, agility and power, and on reducing his risk of injury.
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“Fencing is a unique sport. There’s lots of lunging, but it’s also ipsilateral, in that you use the same [side] hand and leg, which is not natural movement,” Lo says, unlike contralateral movements in which the opposite hand and leg move together.
This ipsilateral movement produces imbalances in the body, Lo says, and this is more pronounced in those who, like Cheung, fence every day. Lo addresses the imbalances by having clients do exercises such as single-leg squats and single-arm movements.
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