ST. MORITZ


Günter
Traub knows no retirement


Schweinfurt. Qualified sports coach turns 70 and makes rocker
Rudolf Schenker fit


The “pacemaker of St. Moritz "is he named with a wink: Günter Traub, former
top athlete, world ice- and roller-speed-skating champion and pioneer of alpine
movement training, is celebrating his 70th Birthday on Friday.


The Schweinfurter, who visits his home city regular, doesn´t wants to know
anything about retirement. Instead, he helps people in the Oberengadine mountain
world for over 30 years to a better physical and mental wellness and new
energy.

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"To buy health in the form of tablets is not possible. You have to do
something by yourself and that is always associated with effort", the qualified sports coach Traub is convinced in it. Born 1939 in Schweinfurt he felt and still feels like home as an active athlete and a coach in the major sports centers in the world. As a fitness expert he lives and works together with his wife Heidi for over 30 years in St. Moritz.

Who is a part of his fitness seminars at the Kempinski Hotel in St. Moritz is to expect an optimal dosed Cardiovascular- and relaxing-training: Monitored
morning jogging, special weight training and body forming to tightening up the figure. Guided mountain walks on classic high paths of Oberengadins with varying levels of difficulty, inline skating, mountain bike rides and skiing
excursions complement the program. Last but not least, relaxation exercises
such as Hatha-yoga, deep breathing, oxygen-multistep-therapy and magnetic field
therapy helps to a healthy body and activating the self-regulating forces. Because
of the altitude of St. Moritz (1800 m) performance- and training-profit are
higher than in the lowlands.


"What counts are an individual-dosed exposure- and training-program
and the right motivation," says Günter Traub. "Doesn´t matter if they
are kings or corporate leaders, athletes or employees, amateur athletes or
housewives." But the list of his celebrity guests is long: Juan Carlos,
King of Spain, Michael Schumacher, the publisher Dr. Hubert Burda and Frank
Elstner got fit in the mountains with his help. The conductor Herbert von
Karajan he helped several times at a great age to new physical quality, the
French pop star Niki de Saint Phalle for years to a better physical fitness.

Rudolf Schenker, composer, guitarist and founder of the rock band "Scorpions", which has received the Echo for the life work of the German Phone Academy this year, is this time in St. Moritz with Traub for a special
training program for more major international concerts make fit after Rudolf
Schenker was here years ago.


For his programs Traub combines theoretical knowledge from the study as a qualified
physical coach at the German Sport University Cologne, with the experience he
got in his time as a high performance athlete and national coach of several
Olympic teams from different nations. The 39-times German champion in ice- and
rollerblade speed skating can look back to 15 world records and four world
championship titles.


1969 he trained the U.S. Olympic team in ice speed skating, when a serious
accident in the pool made his career an end. He wanted to leap from the
three-meter board of a swimming pool when it broke and Traub landed on the fringe of the pool. With 23 broken bones on the arms, chest and legs, he was in casts from head to toe for three months in hospital. He barely escaped the paralysis. With a self-designed rehabilitation program, and iron will, he was fighting his way back on the sporting area.

His accident he refers as the famous eye-opening experience: "It was
the signal for me, to paying attention to my body and my fitness as intense as never before." When he was allowed to stand up again, he began a
five-meter heat and extended slowly to 100 meters. 1972 he started in St.
Moritz his movement alpine seminars. His students were at that time the racer Nicki Lauda and Jacky Stewart, which won the world title right after
the seminar.

The inner motivation is crucial for Günter Traub, therefore, he sees himself not only as fitness- but also as a mental trainer. "I want to start a fire inside of the people and create awareness that exercise is the best medicine." He himself is the best example: With 60 years he celebrated his comeback in ice speed skating with the senior world championship. Between 60 and 65 years, he established more than a dozen new age class world
records, three times he was Masters Champion. "People must know their way and believe in it," is Traubs recipe for success.

http://www.mainpost.de/sport/Guenter-Traub-kennt-keinen-Ruhestand;art787,5022707

Thankyou so much for doing this translation Claudi. I found it really interesting to read. It is nice to know about fitness for a change. There was a lot of cool information in that article.