The secrets they won’t share with you – finally revealed!
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS
1. You are a Manager of Athletes – Do your job well
2. 75% of performance is dependant on nutrition
3. Feed the Right type of food at the right time.
4. Train the pigeons to know their job.
5. Never over-train – Rest is very important.
6. Use Supplements regularly & wisely
7. NEVER treat for a non–existent disease!
8. MINIMISE STRESS = increased sustained performances
9. Breed Early – aim to hatch early January each year
10. ENJOY YOUR PIGEONS!
Let’s take a closer look at the points made above.
If a person acts like a hobbyist then they should not be surprised if another person with a more professional attitude is more successful. Therefore do not underestimate your personal attitude to your particular role as a Manager of Athletes. The athletes in this case are Pigeons.
Listen to what I have to say, read the following guidelines and if you have chosen good pigeons and you are dedicated to them then you are guaranteed to improve their performances, sometimes very dramatically by following my advice.
Neither the chequebook, nor genetics are a guarantee of success! Nor a guarantee of improving your lofts "street credibility" – On the other hand, winning consistently, breeding top quality pigeons from your winners, WILL definitely improve your "Street Cred" and, also increase the price you can get for your pigeons!! We can measure your level of success by the numbers game!
* How many races did he win?
* He’s got a waiting list for his pigeons
* He get the top prices for his pigeons
* He get’s enquiries from all over the world
* He bred and sold more top class pigeons that anyone else
Are they talking about you? – Well they could be in a few years time if you follow your instincts, use your experience and act onmy advice.
Sceptics will say that all I am doing is trying to sell you Vydex supplements. Well, all I can say is that I have been involved with athlete animals, etc. for 30 years and have proved beyond reasonable doubt that this system works. As a result of my research into nutritional benefits and athletic performance I developed the Vydex pigeon products, A legitimate method of feeding my family I am sure you will agree. The sceptics will always find a reason or excuse for poor performance and for keeping their money in their pocket! Little wonder they are rarely successful!
75% of performance potential come from nutrition therefore most of your attention should be focused on feeding- i.e. feed the right type of food at the right time. Carbohydrates before and after racing – proteins Tuesday and Wednesday (assuming you’re racing on Saturdays). Therefore, the racing mix will not contain peas and beans! It WILL however, be made up of maize, rice wheat and some barley, to which a little oil is added to create an adhesive. Creatine can be added to this mix every day and also to the beans and peas mix mid week.
Creatine: What is it?
Creatine is technically called an ergogentic aid! Ergogenic means performance enhancing. Creatine is a substance naturally occurring in muscle tissue. It is directly involved in the bio-synthesis (production of) the chemicals used in muscles for energy. It was discovered many years ago that increasing the body-levels of Creatine, increased explosive power and endurance significantly. In those days Creatine was very expensive and a well kept secret, especially by the Russians! Remember the Russian athletes creaming off the prizes in the 40's and 50's! - They were on Creatine! These days Creatine is being produced in huge quantities and thus the cost is now affordable. But, only about 10 years ago I recall obtaining small samples of Creatine for test purposes and paying around £200.00 per kilo for it! The most widely used form of Creatine is the monohydrate. There is no trials information that shows that any other form of Creatine is better or even as good as the monohydrate form.
Is the Liquid form of Creatine Better?
Liquid Creatine is made from the "anhydrous" form. This material is very expensive, and the processing to produce a liquid product is also very expensive. The fact is however, that no evidence I have seen convinces me that there is any significant greater benefit over the monohydrate form.! Furthermore, for example 500gms of Creatine powder is 500gms of Creatine. However, 500mls of Creatine liquid is mainly water with a measure of Creatine suspended into it! Therefore, you may consider the additional cost of liquid Creatine as an uneconomic extravagance!
How does it work?
Creatine appears to work in two ways:
1 increases the power of the fuel used by the body. This fuel is actually made inside the muscle cells - It is a very complex mixture of chemicals and Creatine is a very important substance in this energy fuel production.
2. Creatine appears to also influence the quantity of fuel the muscles are able to carry - simply put, is seems to cause the muscle cells to expand , a bit like having an elastic fuel tank and stretching it so it will hold more fuel - this may be the reason for improved endurance - the body carries more fuel so it can keep going for longer periods.
How to use it for best results:
For Creatine to be really effective, it is necessary to saturate the muscle tissues.
This can be achieved in on of two ways;
Rapid loading - over 7 day give double the normal dose daily i.e. give 10 gms instead of 5 gms in each pound of food (see below) thereafter, give 5gms each day for five weeks, then reload for 7 days with 10gms per day. We cal this the Creatine Saturation Cycle, (CSC). To maintain this level of saturate you must provide Creatine every day without interruption. If for some reason you miss several days of Creatine provision - You must reload for 7 days at 10 gms per day in each pound of food.
Middle & Long Distance:
As above, accept that for the 7 days leading up to the race, provide the reloading dose of 10 gms per pound of food. And rest the pigeons (no training tosses beyond the 7 days prior to the race and no liberty for 3 day prior to basketing, FEED AND REST … FEED AND REST…
Important information
We now know that adding Creatine to the drinking water is not ideal - Creatine does not dissolve well and we have learned that a chemical reaction takes place when Creatine monohydrate is added to water (fluid) it changes to a metabolite called creatinine. This change renders the Creatine useless to the recipient (your pigeons). Therefore, we recommend that you use Creatine in the following manner to obtain the best results:
Creatine is added to the corn at the rate of 5gms (one teaspoonful) per lb (450gms) of food daily. This is sufficient for around 10 pigeons for example:
The average racing pigeon weighs about 400g it should be fed about 10% of its body weight i.e. 40gms or 1.5 ozs of food per day. The Creatine will cling to the corn if you add a little oil, such as Dexol-E, before adding the Creatine. Offer this mixture soon after preparation.
How and what should I feed for the best results for Sprinters:
Thursday morning right through to Monday evening only feed carbohydrate mixture. Tuesday and Wednesday, only feed protein, i.e. peas and Beans. To which you add a little oil, Creatine and also MVS-30 multi-vitamin & mineral supplement.
IN THE WATER: several soluble supplements must be added to the drinking water. They each have a specific role to play
1. Entrodex, 5gms per litre – digestive function
2. Ascorbivite, add 5gms per litre - this will increase the efficiency and quantity of oxygen being transported around body in red blood cells.
It will also improve carbohydrate utilisation, the production of anti-bodies, and anti-stress hormones.
It also is involved in reducing/neutralising toxins in the body. Therefore, it is essential to be given after racing or hard training.
3. Carbosol, (LIQUID ENERGY) Add 20gms per litre of drinking water- Carbosol is to your pigeons as petrol is to a car – it is a unique racing fuel for pigeons. It is made from high and low glycemic index nutrients which when combined (in the body) it will act with Creatine and other essential substances such Adenosine tri-phosphate to make hi-octane fuel for sustained and explosive energy potential.
Use this combination for the carbohydrate loading days i.e. Thursday to Monday.
To The water on Tuesday and Wednesday add 5gms per litre of Entrodex.
TRAIN THE PIGEON TO KNOW THEIR JOB
You cannot put a child into university and expect them to cope! But so many people do just that with their pigeons – this will create an overwhelming level of unnecessary and thus, avoidable stress. An may ruin the pigeon in the process!
When the youngsters have gained their flights – take a basket into the loft each day put some corn into the basket and encourage the youngsters to feed in it. Leave the lid open at this stage. Do this until they are confident about the basket. This may take 3 To 4 days. After which you can continue but now close the lid and repeat every day until they are confident with the lid closed. The next step is to close the lid while they are still in the basket lock it, and take it to the car and drive gently around for about ten minute return to the loft and let them out. Repeat this for several days leading up to the first training toss of just five miles. At the time of the first toss, they will be accompanied by a few older more experienced pigeons. Upon their return begin to handle them as if you were clocking and checking them after a race. Repeat this exercise until they are very familiar with this system. On a race day when they return they will expect to be handled, this may make you job easier and will be much less stressful on the pigeons. Do not under-estimate the value of educating the young pigeons.
OVER TRAINING CAUSES A LOSS OF PERFORMANCE
A sprint pigeon should be fit before the racing season begins and therefore should not require training/fitness tosses during the racing season for them to become fit! Longer distances obviously require a different more involved strategy. Let’s focus our attention on the sprinters first. Once fit and trained, all they will require is liberty to maintain their fitness, therefore, after racing they must be allowed to rest and be feed well as described earlier. Recovery is vital if they are to give of their best during the next race. They DEFINITELY should not leave the loft after the liberty flight on the Thursday morning until being basketed prior to the race. From this time until the race on Saturday they are to be fuelled up and must conserve their energy for the race. Feed and Rest… Feed and Rest!
RETURNING FROM THE RACE
Upon their return, check and clock as usual allow the pigeon to cool/settle down then provide the drinking water with the supplements added as described earlier. This special drink 'elixir' will provide an instant source of nutritional support the pigeons will need for rapid recovery.
DO NOT PURGE YOUR PIGEONS – DO NOT HOLD BACK NUTRIENTS – DO NOT BREAK THEM DOWN!
The food should be a light carbohydrate mixture and fed to appetite. After which the pigeons should be locked up in darkness. If it practical to do so, play a tape with very soothing soft music – it works wonders for relaxation and inducing proper rest which is vital to rapid recovery and minimises the effects of stress. (any problems with this – call me, I can help).
Weather permitting allow the pigeons liberty the following morning. This liberty time is very important as it help to relieve any stiffness in muscles, it also promotes a significant increase in blood flow thus stimulating detoxification. The birds will also benefit psychologically. After this liberty feed and water as recommended and once again, lock them up and play the relaxation music.
IMMUNOLOGICAL STRESS
So many times we hear horror stories of pigeons dying, becoming infertile, or just not being good enough any more so they are culled. All too often this is the direct result of the abusive indiscriminate use of drugs. Let’s take Coccidiosis as an example. All the adverts tell you of the disasters if you don’t treat in time! Swab test will reveal that your pigeon have a positive coccidia count – well of course they have, unless they are dead!! All pigeons are carriers of coccidia without showing symptoms of disease. Unless the pigeon is "down" stressed the coccidia will remain in balance and harmless. Therefore, to treat with an anti-coccidia drug, is unnecessary and causes addition stress and what is more the coccidia count will be re-established as it was before the treatment within a short period of time after the treatment! As a consequence, you will have stressed the pigeon and wasted your money, all for nothing. Pathogens (pathogens = disease producing organisms) normally, only multiple to significant numbers when the pigeon is down and stressed. Therefore the secret is to manage your pigeons to minimise stress. This in turn will minimise disease potential.
Do not use drugs routinely you may harm the pigeon, eventually render the drug useless and waste your hard earned money in the process. Again if your not sure what to do - call me.
BREED EARLY AND GET MORE ROBUST YOUNG ATHLETES
There is a strong move now towards early breeding. Ideally the hatching should be taking place just as the new seasons rings become available.
Young bird sickness as I named it several years ago i.e. Adenovirus, has been plaguing the young birds for a number of years and has had an almost ruinous effect of the Y B racing. I am not alone in the view that breeding early gives the youngster a chance to mature more before being moulting out, and the training for racing begins. The stress placed on them at this time can be overwhelming. This level of stress, allows this organisms responsible for the disease to make them very ill. Recovery from this disease may take over a month – during this time you have patients not athletes! And, this may be right at beginning of the young bird season.
Breeding earlier and allowing them time to grow and mature a little, get through this disease, and recover in time to be fit for the racing season seems to most thinking people to be all good news with no downside. Healthy, fit, and strong racing pigeons will give you a lot more pleasure (and street cred) than poorly performing sick pigeons. By following these simple but important guidelines you may ENJOY YOUR PIGEON MUCH MORE!
Melvyn John © 2002 |
