Some may spot him passionately teaching a class on the
basketball court, some may recognize him as a former member of
UCLA’s 1987 NCAA Track and Field Championship team, and some
may even catch a glimpse of him sprinting on the track field.
An ardent personal fitness and basketball trainer, 41-year-old
Long Beach native Dwayne Washington, also known as the “Hoop
Mechanic,” is currently training to break the world record
for the 400-meter run for his 40-45 age group.
Six years ago, the thought of breaking a world record would
never have crossed this former European professional basketball
player’s mind. Washington was out of shape and away from the
track, but over the past six years, having created a new fitness
workout called “Dribborobics” (a combination of
footwork and speed, aerobic dribbling movements, and hip hop
music), Washington gradually developed back into top shape. Last
year, when he started teaching Dribborobics every day at UCLA, was
especially beneficial.
“In doing my Dribborobics, it actually helped my running
on the track, so every year I go out to the track during the
summertime and just run with some of the players that I
train,” Washington said.
Thus, it was fate when Washington’s former track coach Bob
Larsen bumped into Washington last summer, just when Washington was
training to get back into peak form, and suggested to him the idea
of breaking the world record for the 400m run.
“My old track coach was the one who told me to try and do
it,” Washington said. “He was saying, “˜You could
probably either be the fastest in the world next year, or you could
break the world record for 400m.’ So I decided, “˜OK,
let me go ahead and train and see if I could break the world
record.'”
During his time at UCLA, Washington was the program’s
premiere triple jumper. In 1987, as a senior, Washington placed
third in the Pac-10 Championships, and made the UCLA all-time list
in the triple jump with a mark of 53 feet, 3 1/4 inches. His
vertical leap that year was recorded as a remarkable 40 inches.
Currently, as creator and teacher of Dribborobics, Washington is
helping his students improve their dribbling skills on the
basketball court.
“He’s a good teacher, very friendly,” said
Tiffany Bell, a student of Washington’s. “He’s
taught me a lot since I started playing basketball with
him.”
Despite his previous accolades, breaking the world record is not
an easy task. It takes an enormous amount of painstaking practice,
which Washington has been enduring since October, when he went
through a base training program designed to get his body used to
running again.
Once Washington’s body was accustomed to running, a more
demanding program, which Washington describes as being “very
painful,” was carried out. This regimen consists of a series
of running and jogging sets with reduced recovery time; Washington
runs 600 meters, jogs 200 meters, and then runs 300 meters, and
repeats this set three times with five minutes rest in between
each, and then runs five 300-meters with a 100-meter walk in
between.
Prior to competition season, the workouts Washington performs
change every six months. Once Washington starts competing, he will
switch to less stringent, regular competitive workouts.
“When you start competing, you take a lot of that work
off,” Washington said. “You just train two days, party
over a day, and then you rest for a couple days until you
compete.”
Competition season begins in January 2006 and will continue
through the summer. While Washington hopes to break the 400m world
record during the outdoor world championships in 2007, he can also
attempt to break it at any of the Masters-sanctioned track meets
along the way.
“I’m just building up for the world championships
and then I will try and break the world record,” Washington
said. “It would be ideal to break the world record at the
world championship race, but I could break it along the way. I
could break it this year. Who knows?”
For the moment, Washington is focused solely on training. His
performance at his first meet will be an indication of his
progress.
“What I’m doing is I’m training, and then when
I run that first meet in January, then I’ll know, “˜OK,
this is where I am, this where I need to go,'”
Washington said. “Once I do that, then I can readjust my plan
and really start training.”
Bell is confident that her instructor will break the record.
“He’s crazy, and he’s really fast,” Bell
said. “I would think people his age are not really active
right now, but for his age he’s really good.”
“He’ll certainly bring a new perspective, as well as
consistency that most people haven’t seen,”
Bell’s grandmother, Mary Jackson, added, “He has the
stamina and the endurance and the commitment to actually break a
record.”
Visit Washington’s two Web sites to gain more
information about him and his Dribborobics program:
hoopemechanic.com and
dribborobics.com.