In recent years, the gymnastics hall at the National Sports Institute (INS) had become something of a second home for Quentin Brandenburger. After secondary school, he chose the path of becoming an army athlete.
Now, however, he has left the INS gymnastics hall in Cents behind and is training across the border in Saarbrücken, Germany.
The army athlete has been training in Saarland for almost three months. Brandenburger spends five days a week in the gym, usually twice a day. When he was still in Luxembourg, he trained for 20 hours a week.
That has now increased by another 10 hours. It is mainly the morning training sessions that have changed, the gymnast explained.
Brandenburger said that when he was at the Sportlycée, they also had two hours of training in the morning. But now, from 9.30am to midday, it is a genuine intensive training session, he added.
He stressed that it is not just about small details, but proper strength training, just like in an afternoon session, with the intensity being on a completely different level.
A new country, a new gymnastics hall, and also a new coach. Brandenburger is now being guided through his routines by Waldemar Eichenhorn. When Brandenburger arrived in Saarbrücken three months ago, he went back to the basics of gymnastics, as he explained.
During the first two months after his arrival, they effectively started everything from scratch, according to Brandenburger.
He said that although he arrived able to perform a double somersault with a double twist, they began again with a cartwheel, making sure it was perfect, then moved on to a round-off, then one somersault, then, if that was good, perhaps one and a half. From there, things were gradually built up, Brandenburger explained.
That does not mean he had learnt things incorrectly. There are different ways of performing elements.
Coach Waldemar Eichenhorn explained that every coach has certain details they focus on when teaching an element. He discussed with Brandenburger why he wanted to change a few things, with Brandenburger accepting that approach.
Since starting in Germany, the army athlete has also taken part in a competition in Luxembourg, the Luxembourg Open. However, things did not go particularly well. This had been expected, as the gymnast and his German coach had had to make a decision.
Brandenburger explained that they had to choose whether to focus on the Luxembourg Open, with only eight weeks remaining, which is when preparation normally begins, or whether to work on the basics and set the Luxembourg Open aside so that better results can follow in the coming years.
He said that the alternative would have been to continue with what he could already do and improve it slightly so that it would be ready within two months. The downside, however, would have been that the basics would still have had to be addressed afterwards, closer to the European Championships, which are more important, according to Brandenburger.
The young athlete is now also taking part in German competitions. He has been competing in the second Bundesliga since last year. After three months, the gymnast, who is part of the Luxembourg Olympic and Sporting Committee (COSL) promotion squad, has settled in well in Saarland.
Although training takes up a large part of his daily life, it was also important for Brandenburger to continue studying alongside his sport.
He said it was important for him to have something after gymnastics, as the sport may be viable until around the age of 30, while work continues for the rest of one's life. He therefore wants to do something he enjoys and could imagine doing later in life, he said.
His connection to Luxembourg remains in place. Brandenburger also takes part in training camps several times a year with his Luxembourg teammates. His new coach is also in close contact with the Luxembourg Sports Federation and with the Luxembourg coach.
For now, the focus is on the European Championships, for which Brandenburger has already qualified.
