Saturday, March 21, 2009
Charlie Francis Training Log
2016 Olympics: The Journey of a 5'7" Filipino.
Hey Everyone,
I am posting here to have valuable feedback. Please feel free to critique.
Stats from last year:
11.7 Handtimed,
12.10 FAT,
24.2 Handtimed 200m
395 DL,
370 Parallel Squat,
225x3 Bench,
200 lb power clean
Body weight:156 lbs.
PROJECTED GOAL: 11.6 FAT on May 6th, 2009 at Cate School, Carpinteria, CA.
Right now, I am using a hybrid between CF and Verkhoshansky's Conjugated Sequence System Concentrated Loading block. I am using a very concentrated explosive phase using short and long jumps, barbell jumps, and drop jumps. In a few weeks I will be using depth jumps as I decrease the volume markedly, and run the sprints with more intensity.
I am using the concentrated block because I haven't improved in the sprints even though I have done so considerable amount of high intensity sprinting for five months. The only explanation I have is that the sprints have lost its training effect, and the body needs more variety. Therefore, I don't think I would be disappointed by using the concentrated loading phase. Prior to the use of concentrated loading, I had run 11.8 handtimed twice without blocks separated by the span of 5 months. Thus, I am using the CSS.
Saturday:
Density training (replacement for tempo) using Thera-band Resistance Tubing.
11 sets x 6 reps
Row
Back Elbow Raise
Biceps
Triceps
Core (Goal: 1000 reps)
Sprinter Situps
Hey Everyone,
I am posting here to have valuable feedback. Please feel free to critique.
Stats from last year:
11.7 Handtimed,
12.10 FAT,
24.2 Handtimed 200m
395 DL,
370 Parallel Squat,
225x3 Bench,
200 lb power clean
Body weight:156 lbs.
PROJECTED GOAL: 11.6 FAT on May 6th, 2009 at Cate School, Carpinteria, CA.
Right now, I am using a hybrid between CF and Verkhoshansky's Conjugated Sequence System Concentrated Loading block. I am using a very concentrated explosive phase using short and long jumps, barbell jumps, and drop jumps. In a few weeks I will be using depth jumps as I decrease the volume markedly, and run the sprints with more intensity.
I am using the concentrated block because I haven't improved in the sprints even though I have done so considerable amount of high intensity sprinting for five months. The only explanation I have is that the sprints have lost its training effect, and the body needs more variety. Therefore, I don't think I would be disappointed by using the concentrated loading phase. Prior to the use of concentrated loading, I had run 11.8 handtimed twice without blocks separated by the span of 5 months. Thus, I am using the CSS.
Saturday:
Density training (replacement for tempo) using Thera-band Resistance Tubing.
11 sets x 6 reps
Row
Back Elbow Raise
Biceps
Triceps
Core (Goal: 1000 reps)
Sprinter Situps
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Dan Andrews on Sprinting
Gentlemen:
I am new to this board, but I like your lines of thought. I think a majority of the physical work needed to run fast involves running fast. Are other training modalities effective to train sprinters or jumpers? Certainly. There is no need for every low to medium intensity day to be a tempo day. However, there is also no need for every high intensity day to be just sprints or acceleration work. Specificity is good up to a point. It allows adaptations to the strongest skills and abilities of the training demands, but the limiting factor in improvement are the weakest skills and abilities of the task. In sprinting one gets faster by improving leg stiffness and acceleration abilities, but if an athlete has a weak acceleration they will never maximize the potential they have in leg stiffness. The opposite is also true if they have poor leg stiffness, their speed will suffer once they reach maximum velocity as they won't be able to hold their speed.
I am not as big on strength training (in a narrow view of that topic). I am more concerned with power, the ability to develop force rapidly, and the ability to sustain power output for specific durations. I definitely do not agree with the baye article on explosive strength training. I see more injuries in the weight caused by lifting too heavy of a weight and not from lifting a weight fast. I truly believe most of the weight room injuries are caused by the inability to unload to heavy a weight without setting a domino effect massive eccentric loading on the shoulder girdle, spinal structures, and bi-articulate muscles of the hip, knee, and ankle joints. This is usually done with heavy 1RM squat, deadlift, and cleans although that 1RM figure is a moving one depending on the fatigue of the components musculoskeletal system involved in the lift.
I wish we in the sporting world would move beyond the idea that ballistic movements are bad, track and field is filled with repetitive ballistic movements even the marathon and throws fit this description. Do we need to be doing drop jumps or landings from 60cm or higher? I doubt even the fastest sprinters or farthest jumpers have the leg stiffness to sustain many of those drops during the course of training.
It all comes down to a balance of specificity to variation so training does not become monotonous, and for those variations to work on weaknesses while still being somewhat specific. There are exercises that work specific strength and mobility on the body that lots of sprint coaches use, but may not use them correctly in a training session such as mach drills, hurdle mobility, plyometrics, olympic lifts, and medball throws. A specific training session must implemented in a way that speed, mobility, and ROM of activity are increased from smaller/slower to larger/faster to speeds and ROM that are as fast if not faster than the work involved in the workout theme. The warm-up isn't just about getting the blood flowing, it's also about priming the nervous system to act on demand, and rid the body of as much tightness in dynamic movements the will be executing. The ancillary and supplementary training in track and field training program should mostly come as part of the warm-up and cooldown to include weight room activities.
Dan
____
Next post:
speed:
I think the warm-up should have the slowest and shortest ranges of motions in a training session not because we want them slow, but because we want them to progress to larger and faster ones.
As far as preloading goes in the weightroom. When my athletes do 1-2RM work in such movements as squats or deadlifts those exercises are complexed with a following 50-60% 1 RM snatch or clean and sometimes with better athletes they are complexed again with a plyometric to include a sprint. Only my new and beginning athletes who have done little or no weightroom work in the weight room doing max strength work for 2-3 macro cycles consisting of 3-4 microcycles for a total of 8-12 weeks of max strength work and they don't start complexing movements except in the last microcycle. At that point almost all work done in the weightroom is geared towards working power, working through intensities ranging from 20% 1RM to 85% 1 RM for each lift as as possible. This makes some traditional lifts such as squats and bench press more ballastic, but it also makes them faster. A coach has to be careful placing weights at the beginning of a workout more so than at the end of a workout as you don't want to fry the CNS, but prime it and keep it pumped for the coming activity.
I must point out that many coaches do not agree with this methodology, but as far as long term development goes. Strength gains are more than acceptable even though we don't do many reps or high tonnage and match closely the gains in strength of their peers who are doing a BFS routine or something similar with regards to max strength. The big difference is power outputs in weightlifting tasks and simple movement skills such as VJ and SLJ scores. Another difference which I can only provide as anecdotal evidence is actual sprinting performances improved greater than peers in programs like BFS in this time which may or may be directly related what we did in the weight room, but a better and more thought training plan which was highly adaptable yet very specific sprinting in terms of work on the track.
Linas:
I think the biggest problem with most sprint programs is the organization of a training session. So I will highlight the problems I see.
1. static stretching and jogging as warmups.
2. inappropriate use of Mach Drills as part or warmup or being cued wrong
3. maximum velocity sprinting is cued at the knees or as a voluntary action of pushing off the ground.
4. cueing of dorsiflexion and shin angles.
5. over emphasis on the swing phase.
6. inappropriate selection and order of plyometric exercises
7. too many lifts and too many days spent in the weight room
8. starts and relay handoffs performed at the end of practice
9. too much volume in sprinting activities without regard to the specific demands of events.
10. putting speed,special, and tempo endurance activities in front of acceleration and maxV work (relates to #8).
11. Very little to zero focus on dynamic flexibility and mobility.
12. Not enough training alternatives to use in training when an athlete is injured, fatigued, or the weather dictates something else must be done.
Most coaches have at least 4 or more these problems in their training program and I think a coach can have short term successes even greater than the ones I achieve if they still have these problems in their training, but long term I think you'll the coaches who more adaptable, training at intensities more often used in competition, and regulating and monitoring recovering will better over the course of a season at least 5 months in duration and even more successful in bringing out adaptations specific to the event demands over the course of each successive season. The coaches who have the problems I listed often are limited in improving their athletes beyond their first 3-4 months with the athlete. I typically see fairly substantial gains over the course of 2 years in smaller increments than many of my peers, but over the course of a season those improvements tend to be larger and after 2 years there seems to be a world of difference.
I am new to this board, but I like your lines of thought. I think a majority of the physical work needed to run fast involves running fast. Are other training modalities effective to train sprinters or jumpers? Certainly. There is no need for every low to medium intensity day to be a tempo day. However, there is also no need for every high intensity day to be just sprints or acceleration work. Specificity is good up to a point. It allows adaptations to the strongest skills and abilities of the training demands, but the limiting factor in improvement are the weakest skills and abilities of the task. In sprinting one gets faster by improving leg stiffness and acceleration abilities, but if an athlete has a weak acceleration they will never maximize the potential they have in leg stiffness. The opposite is also true if they have poor leg stiffness, their speed will suffer once they reach maximum velocity as they won't be able to hold their speed.
I am not as big on strength training (in a narrow view of that topic). I am more concerned with power, the ability to develop force rapidly, and the ability to sustain power output for specific durations. I definitely do not agree with the baye article on explosive strength training. I see more injuries in the weight caused by lifting too heavy of a weight and not from lifting a weight fast. I truly believe most of the weight room injuries are caused by the inability to unload to heavy a weight without setting a domino effect massive eccentric loading on the shoulder girdle, spinal structures, and bi-articulate muscles of the hip, knee, and ankle joints. This is usually done with heavy 1RM squat, deadlift, and cleans although that 1RM figure is a moving one depending on the fatigue of the components musculoskeletal system involved in the lift.
I wish we in the sporting world would move beyond the idea that ballistic movements are bad, track and field is filled with repetitive ballistic movements even the marathon and throws fit this description. Do we need to be doing drop jumps or landings from 60cm or higher? I doubt even the fastest sprinters or farthest jumpers have the leg stiffness to sustain many of those drops during the course of training.
It all comes down to a balance of specificity to variation so training does not become monotonous, and for those variations to work on weaknesses while still being somewhat specific. There are exercises that work specific strength and mobility on the body that lots of sprint coaches use, but may not use them correctly in a training session such as mach drills, hurdle mobility, plyometrics, olympic lifts, and medball throws. A specific training session must implemented in a way that speed, mobility, and ROM of activity are increased from smaller/slower to larger/faster to speeds and ROM that are as fast if not faster than the work involved in the workout theme. The warm-up isn't just about getting the blood flowing, it's also about priming the nervous system to act on demand, and rid the body of as much tightness in dynamic movements the will be executing. The ancillary and supplementary training in track and field training program should mostly come as part of the warm-up and cooldown to include weight room activities.
Dan
____
Next post:
speed:
I think the warm-up should have the slowest and shortest ranges of motions in a training session not because we want them slow, but because we want them to progress to larger and faster ones.
As far as preloading goes in the weightroom. When my athletes do 1-2RM work in such movements as squats or deadlifts those exercises are complexed with a following 50-60% 1 RM snatch or clean and sometimes with better athletes they are complexed again with a plyometric to include a sprint. Only my new and beginning athletes who have done little or no weightroom work in the weight room doing max strength work for 2-3 macro cycles consisting of 3-4 microcycles for a total of 8-12 weeks of max strength work and they don't start complexing movements except in the last microcycle. At that point almost all work done in the weightroom is geared towards working power, working through intensities ranging from 20% 1RM to 85% 1 RM for each lift as as possible. This makes some traditional lifts such as squats and bench press more ballastic, but it also makes them faster. A coach has to be careful placing weights at the beginning of a workout more so than at the end of a workout as you don't want to fry the CNS, but prime it and keep it pumped for the coming activity.
I must point out that many coaches do not agree with this methodology, but as far as long term development goes. Strength gains are more than acceptable even though we don't do many reps or high tonnage and match closely the gains in strength of their peers who are doing a BFS routine or something similar with regards to max strength. The big difference is power outputs in weightlifting tasks and simple movement skills such as VJ and SLJ scores. Another difference which I can only provide as anecdotal evidence is actual sprinting performances improved greater than peers in programs like BFS in this time which may or may be directly related what we did in the weight room, but a better and more thought training plan which was highly adaptable yet very specific sprinting in terms of work on the track.
Linas:
I think the biggest problem with most sprint programs is the organization of a training session. So I will highlight the problems I see.
1. static stretching and jogging as warmups.
2. inappropriate use of Mach Drills as part or warmup or being cued wrong
3. maximum velocity sprinting is cued at the knees or as a voluntary action of pushing off the ground.
4. cueing of dorsiflexion and shin angles.
5. over emphasis on the swing phase.
6. inappropriate selection and order of plyometric exercises
7. too many lifts and too many days spent in the weight room
8. starts and relay handoffs performed at the end of practice
9. too much volume in sprinting activities without regard to the specific demands of events.
10. putting speed,special, and tempo endurance activities in front of acceleration and maxV work (relates to #8).
11. Very little to zero focus on dynamic flexibility and mobility.
12. Not enough training alternatives to use in training when an athlete is injured, fatigued, or the weather dictates something else must be done.
Most coaches have at least 4 or more these problems in their training program and I think a coach can have short term successes even greater than the ones I achieve if they still have these problems in their training, but long term I think you'll the coaches who more adaptable, training at intensities more often used in competition, and regulating and monitoring recovering will better over the course of a season at least 5 months in duration and even more successful in bringing out adaptations specific to the event demands over the course of each successive season. The coaches who have the problems I listed often are limited in improving their athletes beyond their first 3-4 months with the athlete. I typically see fairly substantial gains over the course of 2 years in smaller increments than many of my peers, but over the course of a season those improvements tend to be larger and after 2 years there seems to be a world of difference.
Monday, March 9, 2009
TL Mar 10, 2009 Mon (Concentrated)
PU/CU Kip 6x8
Row 6x8
BER 6x8
FR 6x8
Knee Ext 6x8
Bicep Curl 6x8
Core Training
Side Twists w/ 2b
Side Bends w/ 2b
V-situps
Z-situps w/mb
500 reps total
Row 6x8
BER 6x8
FR 6x8
Knee Ext 6x8
Bicep Curl 6x8
Core Training
Side Twists w/ 2b
Side Bends w/ 2b
V-situps
Z-situps w/mb
500 reps total
TL Mar 9, 2009 Sun (Concentrated)
SLJ in place 6z8
1-2-3 jump 6z6
Knee Tuck J 6z8
Bounding 5x50m
Power Clean 8x3x155
Jump Squat 5x8x135
Push Press 5x5x135
Squat 4x2x275
Exp Hip Flex (Accel) 6x8
Exp Hip Flex (Max V)4x8
Lat Pulldown 6x16
*Core training cancelled.
Dam! This took a lot of time!
1-2-3 jump 6z6
Knee Tuck J 6z8
Bounding 5x50m
Power Clean 8x3x155
Jump Squat 5x8x135
Push Press 5x5x135
Squat 4x2x275
Exp Hip Flex (Accel) 6x8
Exp Hip Flex (Max V)4x8
Lat Pulldown 6x16
*Core training cancelled.
Dam! This took a lot of time!
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Biomotor Development For Speed-Power Athletes
Mike Young's work is similar to Charlie Francis' methodology.
The five biomotor qualities are Speed, Strength, Endurance, Flexibility, and Coordination. Power, Speed Endurance, Balance are combinations of some of them.
***NEW IDEA: Set days that I'm going low-intensity, irregardless of external factors, and just focus on technique.
***Do more general strength exercises, MB circuits, and high volume special strength exercises/specific strength exercises (Explosive Running) during Thurs, Sat, Mon.
***Continue working on Max V Concentrated Loading.
***Implement DROP CATCH SQUATS
***Work on SPEED ENDURANCE.
H$I____
Wed, Fri, Sun
LI____
Tue, Thur, Sat, Mon
Accel
Hill Runs
Clap Starts
Falling Starts
MB Starts
Crouch Starts
Block Starts
Resisted
Speed
Flying Sprints
Float-Sprint-Float
Sprint-Float-Sprint
Assisted/Decline
Endurance
Volume of General Work Capacity (Indirect)
Speed Endurance (<150) HIGH Intensity
Special Endurance (>150) High Intensity
Strength (Max)
Drop Catch Squats
Slow Eccentric Squats (Supra-maximal)
General Strength
Clap Pushups
One legged Knee Ext
Pullup in V form
Etc
Wiper Blades
Bubkas
Side Bends with 45 lbs overhead
SL Stepups with loaded bar
SL Deadlift
Partial Lunge without Reset
Kip Pullup (Out)
Kip Pullup (In)
MB Circuit 10-20 exercises for time, or for higher reps (Perhaps perform with Exp Iso?)
Chicken feet
Scorpion
Side Bends with Overhead Weight
Partner Hip Abduction
Partner Hip Adduction
MB Side Throws (Twist)
Reverse Crunches
V-situp
Weightlifting Circuit
12-24 exercises, for time, or for higher reps, 8-15 reps
Split Snatch
Kip Pullup (Out)
Kip Pullup (In)
Jumping Circuit
Low-intensity, high vol jumps
SLJ, slow
Donkey Jumps
The five biomotor qualities are Speed, Strength, Endurance, Flexibility, and Coordination. Power, Speed Endurance, Balance are combinations of some of them.
***NEW IDEA: Set days that I'm going low-intensity, irregardless of external factors, and just focus on technique.
***Do more general strength exercises, MB circuits, and high volume special strength exercises/specific strength exercises (Explosive Running) during Thurs, Sat, Mon.
***Continue working on Max V Concentrated Loading.
***Implement DROP CATCH SQUATS
***Work on SPEED ENDURANCE.
H$I____
Wed, Fri, Sun
LI____
Tue, Thur, Sat, Mon
Accel
Hill Runs
Clap Starts
Falling Starts
MB Starts
Crouch Starts
Block Starts
Resisted
Speed
Flying Sprints
Float-Sprint-Float
Sprint-Float-Sprint
Assisted/Decline
Endurance
Volume of General Work Capacity (Indirect)
Speed Endurance (<150) HIGH Intensity
Special Endurance (>150) High Intensity
Strength (Max)
Drop Catch Squats
Slow Eccentric Squats (Supra-maximal)
General Strength
Clap Pushups
One legged Knee Ext
Pullup in V form
Etc
Wiper Blades
Bubkas
Side Bends with 45 lbs overhead
SL Stepups with loaded bar
SL Deadlift
Partial Lunge without Reset
Kip Pullup (Out)
Kip Pullup (In)
MB Circuit 10-20 exercises for time, or for higher reps (Perhaps perform with Exp Iso?)
Chicken feet
Scorpion
Side Bends with Overhead Weight
Partner Hip Abduction
Partner Hip Adduction
MB Side Throws (Twist)
Reverse Crunches
V-situp
Weightlifting Circuit
12-24 exercises, for time, or for higher reps, 8-15 reps
Split Snatch
Kip Pullup (Out)
Kip Pullup (In)
Jumping Circuit
Low-intensity, high vol jumps
SLJ, slow
Donkey Jumps
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
TL Mar 4, 2009 (Meet cancelled)
SLJ In place 5x8
1-2-3 jump 5x5
Knee Tuck J 5x8
Later: Bounding 5x50m
PC 5x2
SQ 315 (4x2)
MP 8x3
GHR 5x3 (Heavy)
Before Sleeping
Exp Hip Flex (Max V, 4x8)
Exp Hip Flex (Accel, 6x8)
1-2-3 jump 5x5
Knee Tuck J 5x8
Later: Bounding 5x50m
PC 5x2
SQ 315 (4x2)
MP 8x3
GHR 5x3 (Heavy)
Before Sleeping
Exp Hip Flex (Max V, 4x8)
Exp Hip Flex (Accel, 6x8)
Monday, March 2, 2009
Speed Training: Improving Acceleration for Optimal Performance
Speed Training: Improving Acceleration for Optimal Performance
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Introduction
The ability to accelerate is an important quality to possess in sports such as Track athletics, Rugby, American Football, Soccer and Basketball.
The worlds fastest men (Usain Bolt, Asafa Powell, Tyson Gay), and women spend a large amount of their time training to hone this most important of skills. The ability to accelerate allows Rugby players like Brain Habana, Jason Robinson and Jos Lewsey to evade the opposition. In this post, we will analyse the mechanics and major muscles (also known as prime movers) fundamental to high performance acceleration. We will then suggest training methods to develop this most important quality for speedsters of all running sports.
Description of acceleration mechanics
At the start of a run or sprint, athletes have to assume a favourable position to accelerate their body. This position is characterised by a lean forward with the support or drive leg behind the body. An example is the start and acceleration position of the 100m in Track and Field. The acceleration mechanics can be characterised by a long stance phase and a floating phase that is short.
This position allows the athlete to apply more force and recruit muscle mass to overcome gravity.
Starting and acceleration differ enormously from constant speed or maximal speed. The foot spends a longer time (circa 180-250ms) on the ground and because of the lack of pre-stretch of the achilles tendon (relative to the constant speed phase) muscular strength is a significant factor for success. This type of strength is classified as explosive muscular strength. The foot is in a flatter position when making contact with the ground with very little rebound. Constant speed is characterised by a reactive action relying on the stretch-shortening of tendons, ligaments and muscles. The difference between the two phases of sprinting are the reasons why a sprinter can be world class at 60m yet an also run at 100m. Obviously the 100m requires a longer constant speed phase encompassing phases of maximal speed.
Fig 1:The correct body form and position for optimal acceleration
Fig 1:The correct body form and position for optimal acceleration
Biomechanics
At the start, when the body is hanging forward, the back must be kept stiff and straight without any rounding, this is true for all acceleration patterns regardless of the sport in question. The lean can be achieved by bending the spine with a slight pelvic tilt (bending at the waist). Rounding of the back will weaken the role of the back muscles responsible for keeping the body and spine straight. The muscles responsible for this role are the erector spinae. A slight bend in the back at the waist allows the ES to participate in acceleration yet a rounding of the back diminishes the response. The ES is capable of rotating the pelvis and so can transfer energy through the pelvis, using the pelvis to aid the legs to apply force to the ground. The strength of the ES and latissmus dorsi is crucial in aiding an athlete to maintain the lean during acceleration. The stronger the dorsal and erector muscles the longer the athlete can hold the position and so prolong the acceleration phase. An often ignored but crucial area for success in acceleration is the development of upper body strength. Arm action can contribute to the force applied by a sprinter to the track. Fast explosive arm drive allows a stabilisation of the body but also takes advantage of the global workings of the central nervous system. As you move your arms explosively, the signals sent to the prime-movers also spill-over to the legs. The more forceful and explosive the arm drive, the more forceful and explosive will be the leg drive. Muscles of the shoulder complex and the upper back along with arm muscles contribute to stability and propulsion. The latissmus dorsi, trapezius, and deltoids are the prime movers in the arm drive, helping to mobilise the shoulder joint. Strong biceps and triceps will aid acceleration of the arms also. Quick mention should also be given to the neck. The neck has to be in line with the back, without bracing of the neck, the head alignment will cause acceleration to be less efficient. A neck brace used by boxers could come in useful for developing neck strength, this in particular will favour Rugby players in particular when they are tackled by the opposition, the neck will be able to react faster on impact to protect the spine.
Fig 2: The major muscles involved in acceleration
Fig 2:The major muscles involved in acceleration
Push-off can be strengthened by extending the ankle, knee and hip joint simultaneously; this is also known as triple extension. Hip and knee extension are compatible at stance phase and so the role of the rectus femoris is decisive in the acceleration phase. In short, the RM acts as a transmitter of energy between the two joints. The gluteaus maximus and quadriceps are the engines that generate force during the acceleration phase. The gluteaus maximus transmits its force to the knee through the ilio-tibial band and through the rectus femoris. The gastrocnemius transmits force from the knee to the ankle joint. The gastrocnemius acts very differently from the constant speed mechanics of sprinting, it has no rebound and so the muscle fibers in the gastro have to be able to provide the necessary forces.
During the acceleration the generation of force is the most important factor. A runner has to maintain stretch forcefully because a fast stretch wouldn’t allow enough time for application of muscular explosive strength. Thrust forces are more horizontally directed than running at constant speed. Inter-muscular co-ordination is very important. During acceleration, there is no pre-loading of hamstrings and outer pendulum swing of the leg. What takes place on the ground is decisive during acceleration and what takes place in the air is decisive at max speed. There is little landing energy to process during the stance phase of the acceleration and so greater force can be generated
The optimal angle for acceleration is 45 degrees but stronger athletes can manage more acute angles for the initial strides. Whether a sprinter, rugby player, soccer player or, the optimal angle of 45 degrees is the ideal but as the athlete becomes stronger, a more acute angle can be utilised.
Arm action should be vigorous and purposeful, with an emphasis on the shoulder joint. The head should be in line with the back, but in team sports, players need to see the opposition and team members and so it is not a hard and fast rule.
Exercises to develop the qualities of acceleration.
As mentioned earlier in this post, the acceleration is determined by the strength qualities of the prime movers and the angle of the body in relation to the ground.
To develop explosive muscular strength, there are many methods that can be utilised. Each can replace or compliment the other, but the most important quality to possess is high levels of maximal strength. There is no conflict between the possession of maximal strength and the acquisition of explosive strength. A higher level of muscular strength allows an athlete to readily obtain explosive strength. Below, you will find a range of possible methods for developing acceleration mechanics and strength.
Resistance training
Resistance training is the most popular means of obtaining strength and power in modern sports training. Resistance training can be used to develop maximal strength efficiently. A Load of 80-100% is sufficient to develop maximal strength. Loads can be set serially with optimum recovery of 2-5 min’s. The longer recoveries are needed for heavier loads. Most experts espouse this percentage range as ideal for developing max strength but, the key to developing maximal strength is to use a LIMITED range of reps. Regardless of the percentage, 2-3 repetitions are more effective than 5-6 repetitions. This is not an uncommon practice amongst power lifters and Olympic weight lifters. Resistance training should be undertaken for both upper and lower body. In particular, the shoulder complex should be targeted. A sequence of body building>max strength>power>strength/power endurance should be followed with each phase lasting approximately 2-3 weeks.
10-60m sprints
Sprint runs done over 10 to 30m will improve acceleration over time. Technique must underpin these runs over the set distance. A technical model for acceleration must be emphasised. An example of a session might be 2×3x30m sprints with 2 min’s between rep’s and 5 min’s between sets. 60m sessions can consist of 3×3x60m with 3 min’s between runs and 6 min’s between sets.
Resistance training
Speed squats
Speed squats are deceptively taxing, but also fun as well. The aim is to complete a set amount of reps in the shortest time possible. This brings an element of direct feedback into play for the athlete. A bench that allows the lifter to assume a position where the top of the thighs are parallel with the ground is utilised to standardise the exercise. A set amount of rep’s for example 5 repetitions, could be chosen for the session. Consequently; every weight used onwards is completed with five repetitions. The time taken to complete each set is recorded. This allows the coach and trainees to monitor their progress session by session. As progress is made, a noticeable pattern will reveal itself. The time taken to complete a lighter load in say session 1 will be the time taken to complete a much heavier weight in session 10 for example.
Depth jumps
Depth jumps with or without a rebound can also be used to develop maximal strength. The tension experienced by the extensors of the legs can exceed 3x bodyweight. The optimal height for developing maximal strength is 0.75-1m. A rebound is not necessary for the higher boxes, here the athlete can jump and hold the landing position for approximately 3-4 sec’s. Sets of 6-8 rep’s, done continuously, with a set recovery of 5-7 min’s are ideal. Lower boxes should be used until the athlete feels ready to increase the height. All depth jumps should be done with a double foot take off and landing.
Box jump ups
Box jump ups are an expression of explosive concentric strength. They are the opposite of depth jumps, where the emphasis is on developing muscular eccentric strength upon landing. Box jumps positively influence concentric actions and recruitment of muscle. The aim of the exercise is to jump two-footed onto as high a box as possible. The world’s most explosive athletes, weight lifters are capable of jumping on 2m+ boxes.
Box jump-ups should be done in sets of 3-4 with 8-10 rep’s and a recovery of 5 min’s recovery.
Vibration training
Vibration training is a very new method of training. This type of training can be used to develop maximal, explosive and reactive strength. Gains are most noticeable when developing maximal strength. If done properly, vibration training can add 20-40kg onto a squat in a short space of time. An optimum frequency needs to be chosen for each athlete. An EMG machine is inbuilt into the best vibration platforms. Duration on a vibration platform can be anything from 30 sec’s-2 min’s.
Jump squats with barbell
Jump squats with a barbell of 30-50% of maximum can also be used to develop the explosive strength needed for quality acceleration in athletes. The athlete positions the barbell on their backs and completes a set of very intense and challenging jumps. Squat jumps should be done on a mat that absorbs the landing shock, protecting the spine from unnecessary trauma. No other exercise targets the quadriceps and gluteals so intensely in preparation for acceleration.
Sleigh and hill work.
Towing a sleigh is an effective method for developing strength and acceleration mechanics. The sleigh should be towed for 30m on a flat surface. To control the exercise, the maximum decrement in time should be 0.8 sec’s. For example if you are capable of running 3.8 sec’s for the 30m then when using a sleigh the time should be 4.6 sec’s. This will solve the problem of selecting the appropriate weight for the sleigh.
Hill work
Hill work is an excellent natural means of developing acceleration mechanics and strength. The steepness of a hill will help an athlete to get into the right position for acceleration. Hill work can be done incorrectly if the right instructions are not conveyed to the athlete. The aim of the exercise is to improve the extension of the ankle knee and hip simultaneously. The extension of all three joints is known as triple extension. In order to achieve this desired effect the athlete has to resist the urge to scurry up the hill. The correct technique is like a bound up the hill with a knee drive forward and a forward rotation of the hip concentrating on fully extending all joints on contact with the ground. The optimum gradient is no greater than 6%.
Fig 4:Training on an incline will aid transfer of the correct mechanics on a flat surface
Fig 4:Training on an incline will aid transfer of the correct mechanics on a flat surface
Conclusion:
Acceleration involves the use of many muscle groups to work synergistically. Concentric and explosive muscular strength is the determining factor. Technique is essential for utilising any gains made from increases in power.
A range of training methods can be used to develop the qualities needed for a better acceleration pattern.
M Newman: Strength Qualities of the 100m Sprinter
Strength Qualities of the 100m Sprinter
M Newman
To understand what is required to be successful over the 100m sprint, the event must be divided into three phases. The structure of the velocity-time curve is the same for every sprinter, over the distance. The three phases are the start-acceleration, maximal speed, and speed maintenance. Each phase is defined by physiological and biomechanical characteristics.
Velocity Curve of Elite and Beginner Athlete
Figure 1 the velocity curve of the 100m sprint showing the performance curve
Of an elite and beginning athlete with the phases of the elite sprinter identified.
The phases require slightly differing qualities of strength and technique. The purpose of this article is to concentrate on the strength requirements of the 100m sprint. Each phase will be discussed purely in terms of the dominant strength required.
100m Strength Qualities
Figure 2. The different phases of the 100m sprint and the body
positions that dictate ground contact and the different strength
qualities of the 100m sprint.
The start
Block clearance
The start of the 100m sprint consists of the block clearance and the first two strides proceeding. New research by Dr R Mann and the USATF has shown that elite sprinters whether male or female attain over 50-60% of their maximal velocity after the first two strides of the 100m sprint.
The block clearance requires a form of strength known as explosive isometric strength. This type of strength is expressed when a significant amount of resistance has to be overcome, example overcoming the bodyweight of a sprinter in the blocks. The duration of the front block push-off is approximately 200-300ms and the back foot is 150-180ms. This length of time allows the sprinter to generate explosive strength. There is no pre-stretch of the muscles before the push from the blocks, the start is initiated from a static position with no movement. The feet have very little rebound; instead they push and move away from the body on ground contact. At this point it must be emphasised that other forms of strength are required during this phase and other parts of the sprint; but the dominant expression of strength can be characterised as explosive strength.
Initial first strides
During the second stride, the explosive and maximal strength of muscle contractions, (rather than tendon action) is the performance limiting factor. Explosive isometric strength transitions into explosive ballistic strength. This type of strength can be generated in approximately 120-200ms (average contact times of the first two strides). The ground contact times of the first two strides are in the region of 120-200ms. Explosive ballistic strength is expressed when relatively small resistance (as the body overcomes inertia there is less resistance experienced during the acceleration phase). There is a definite stretch-shortening cycle during this phase dominated by muscular contractions. During the first two to seven strides, a stretch-shortening of muscle has a major part to play, but this stretch-shortening cycle (SSC) is much slower than the fast stretch-shortening cycle experienced at top speed in the 100m event. The prime movers (muscles responsible for most of the work done) are the gluteus maximus, quadriceps, calf and shin muscles.
Both types of explosive strength involving a slow SSC, can be developed using exercises that require a large amount of knee flexing, such as squat jumps, the squat, and sledge pulls to 10-30m, alternative bounds with full strength effort and jumps upward onto boxes. The pulling of an excessively heavy sledge will affect sprint technique. A heavy sledge may develop explosive isometric strength but not explosive ballistic strength, which is needed for the two to seven strides after block clearance.
The acceleration phase
The acceleration or transition phase commences after the first two strides of the 100m sprint. This phase starts around 10m and ends at the 50m mark. Ground contact times fall in a range of 70-110ms. Such low ground contact times are too short for the athlete to apply maximal or near maximal explosive strength. The faster stretch-shortening cycle during this phase is known as explosive reactive reflex strength or elastic strength.
The stretch-shortening cycle during this phase is so fast that the kind of speeds needed for applying force requires the activation of elastic tissue within muscles, and the greater use of tendons such as the achilles and the ilio-tibial band. Undoubtedly this type of strength is the defining quality of the fastest 100m sprinters.
The maximal speed phase
The maximal speed phase of the 100m sprint is reached typically between the 50-70m zone. Maximal speed is considered to be attained when 95% of the highest speed is attained. The phase can last until the 90m mark. Explosive reactive reflex strength, ballistic strength and isometric strength are the limiting factors during the maximum speed section.
The hip flexors, (the muscles responsible for the knee drive) require explosive ballistic strength. The muscles responsible for the knee drive generate a very large amount of strength and power. This type of strength is needed to initially accelerate the knee and the thigh when the foot leaves the ground to a position where the knee is furthest away from the body. Knee drive drills and exercises to develop the rectus femoris, iliacus and psoas muscle must be done. The psoas muscle is the most difficult to train, exercises that strengthen this muscle in a specific manner are needed.
The muscles of the mid-torso warrant a special mention. This part of the 100m sprint requires isometric strength of the mid-torso muscles. During the maximal speed phase, the muscles of the mid-torso must stabilize the pelvis and maintain the upper body in an upright position. The twisting action experienced by the mid-section requires explosive isometric strength endurance. Stability of the pelvis is crucial for acquiring a favourable sprint position. The conditioning of the ilio-psoas, abdominal oblique, and erector spinae is a must for attaining high speeds. This can be developed using a variety of exercises and sets of high repetitions. Use of isometric holding exercises and dynamic repetitions are the way forward. Some elite sprinters achieve this prerequisite through high repetition abdominal work-outs with repetitions totalling 1,000 in a session.
The ability to generate strength in high stretch-shortening actions is limited by the conditioning of the hamstrings, calves and achilles tendon. Greater strength during this phase doesn’t transfer to greater speed if muscle viscosity is too high. Shorter inelastic hamstrings that are less supple are a limiting factor in this phase. Strong but supple hamstrings are necessary for attaining a higher level of maximum speed.
The lower legs of a sprinter must generate a large vertical force. These large vertical forces can only be developed by compliant (easy to stretch) tendons and stiffer muscles. Muscle stiffness in the context of the fast SSC experienced by the 100m sprinter has nothing to do with flexibility. This type of stiffness relates to the ability of the muscle to resist elongation.
The performance of the muscle-tendon complex (MTC) is crucial for attaining and maintaining high levels of maximal speed. Stiffer muscles and compliant tendons are needed. A more compliant tendon will allow muscles to be stiffer.
Using the example of a long thin and a short thick elastic band may help. A long and thing elastic band is very easy to elongate (stretch). The long thin elastic band requires less energy to stretch; and is able to recover more of the energy during the shortening phase. A shorter thicker elastic band will be much stiffer. It will require greater energy to stretch and will shorten at greater speeds but could loose more energy in the form of heat.
A long and thin tendon will be able to cycle faster between stretching and shortening and do more stretch work saving muscles such as the hamstrings from doing stretch work*. Some energy is lost when the elastic band shortens.
It is commonly held by many that muscles lengthen or work eccentrically during the initial ground contact and shorten or work concentrically during toe-off (Figure 3). Evidence from recent research has shown that muscles contract isometrically. An isometric contraction is when a muscle applies force but there is no change in length. A concentric contraction involves muscle shortening, and an eccentric contraction causes muscle to stretch.
Muscle is less efficient when stretching and shortening in comparison to tendon. Over the same distance of work, muscle is less able to reclaim energy required for stretch-shortening. Muscle generates heat and requires ATP to contract. Tendons in contrast can stretch and shorten on impact due to gravity.
A muscle is able to produce greater forces and uses predictable energy levels when it maintains constant (isometric) tension. It uses energy faster when shortening (concentric) and slower when stretching (eccentric). Muscle uses more energy when stretch-shortening than when doing the same amount of work isometrically.
As muscle power increases, the relative cost of work by concentric muscle action also increases. The benefit of using stored energy becomes a priority.
A muscle that is stiff and less compliant will work better during the ground contact time of the 100m sprint because it allows tendons to do most of the stretch-shortening work while applying force isometrically. The muscle then requires less phosphates and glycogen to do work.
Muscle can’t compete with tendon elasticity; a muscle that is stiffer will be able to maintain tension and resist stretch-shortening much faster at ground contact. The muscle will use less energy due to less work done and generate more force. The trade-off means that tendons need to be more compliant to allow muscles to be stiffer.
Muscle stiffness and tendon compliance can be trained using general weight training, plyometrics and sprint training on softer as well as harder surfaces. In particular, bounds and hops over obstacles with an emphasis on the vertical component are the most important for developing the reactive reflex strength for this phase. A heavier athlete will generally need to develop greater reactive strength than a lighter athlete. Even the 100m sprint is a weight limiting event. An emphasis on hamstring strength and power training is fundamental. Supple (less viscose) but stronger hamstrings will be able to generate the necessary strength at maximal speed.
Hamstrings and Muscle Tendon Action
Figure 3. The muscle tendon complex of the hamstrings, gluteus maximus, calves and achilles and iliotibial band.
The speed maintenance phase
The speed maintenance phase involves a mix of different strength qualities. Explosive reactive strength is still dominant, but a certain level of strength endurance comes into play. This is less so for faster sprinters because the maximal speed phase occupies a larger section of the overall sprint (refer to Figure 1). Contrary to the commonly held belief, lactic acid and lactate are not responsible for the fatigue experienced during this phase, in fact the faster and more powerful the athlete the larger the production of lactic acid and lactate. The body has the ability to convert lactic and lactate back into energy. During this phase, most of the phosphate pool would have been depleted. A larger percentage of energy will be provided by anaerobic glycolysis to maintain muscle stiffness. Blood lactate levels measured after the 100m sprint range from 7-15 mmols. Once again the greater the muscle stiffness the shorter the speed maintenance phase.
The central nervous system (CNS) which consists of the brain and the spinal column are likely to be the reason for the fatigue experienced at the end of the 100m sprint. The neural fatigue will happen regardless of the calibre of sprinter or the performance attained. Lowering of dopamine in the brain, and depletion of chemicals in the nerves are likely to decrease the rate and size of impulses travelling to the muscles.
CNS resilience can be improved through strength endurance and sprints to improve speed endurance. Adequate nutrition including amino acids can help lessen CNS fatigue over time. Runs that place a load on the CNS such as differential sprints, and ins and outs will develop the necessary CNS resilience for the 100m sprint.
Velocity Time Curve
Figure 4. The phases of the 100m sprint and the strength qualities needed.
The 100m sprint requires different types of strength in each phase (Figure 4). To be successful in the 100m, these differing types of strength must be trained optimally to increase the potential for success.
*Incidentally, if tendons attached to the hamstrings are less compliant then the potential of injury to the hamstring muscle belly increases.
Mike Boyle: Is Sport-Specific Training a Myth? (excerpt)
Is Sport-Specific Training a Myth?
by Michael Boyle
Next Page | Pages 1 2
Strength training is and always will be a major part of the conditioning process for athletes. In fact, nothing seems to help sport performance more than the development of strength and power. This is great news for those of us who've made a career out of helping athletes reach those goals.
But even though we all agree about the importance of strength training, and even though there's some general consensus about the best ways to improve athletes' strength and power, debates have raged for years about the specifics. One particularly contentious debate is over the very idea that there are specifics for training players in individual sports.
Athletes and their parents or coaches love to hear that a particular exercise is good for a particular sport. It makes strength and conditioning specialists like me sound like we know what we're talking about, and it gives athletes confidence in our ability to help them with their individual needs.
Plus, let's be honest about this: The guys who write for fitness magazines love you when they're assigned articles called "The Best Exercise for Every Sport" and you can actually supply them with material that pleases their editors and helps them get paid.
So it's in my best interest to tell people that such things as "sport-specific training" and "sport-specific exercises" actually exist. But is it true?
Let's think about what we're asking here:
Say I'm training two high school kids. One's a cornerback on the football team, and one's a center fielder on the baseball team. Both are fast and would benefit by being even faster. Both would benefit by being stronger and developing more power. Both want to add some muscular size, but not at the expense of their speed or agility. Do I train them differently, even though their goals are basically the same?
In the most fundamental sense, the answer is no. The best methods to develop speed and power are somewhat universal.
However, there is a catch. Although it's dubious to say that certain exercises are better for certain sports, I think it's fair to say that some exercises are worse for athletes who play particular sports.
Best Exercises for Size and Strength
You need more strength and power in some sports, but the way you build it doesn't change.
TL Mar 2, 2009 Mon
I have now tried the smoothie idea. Bananas, nuts, peanut butter, protein powder seem to do the trick. I am waiting for the flax seed. Right now I am thinking of whether I should train today and treat Wednesday like there's no track meet. I think I shouldn't because there might be a higher chance I'll get injured.
Decision: Train.
Decision: Train.
Sunday, March 1, 2009
TL Mar 1, 2009, Sun
Density Training
Standing Horizontal Rowing 8x8x45
Dorsiflexion 8x10x25*
Back Elbow Raise 8x10x30
Side Bends on RC 3x10x25
1 min rest between sets
*Crocs!
Standing Horizontal Rowing 8x8x45
Dorsiflexion 8x10x25*
Back Elbow Raise 8x10x30
Side Bends on RC 3x10x25
1 min rest between sets
*Crocs!
RFD Training > Maximal Strength Training
I’ve watched and observed countless times how people and athletes who don’t focus on what their max strength is completely shock those weight room people and obliterate athletes who focus only on strength. Max strength is great, but RFD and Power are more important to athletic success because they have a bigger effect on what impulse/acceleration is generated during movement. I am not saying there is no Max Strength work in my weightroom activities for athletes, it more important to me with new athletes I engage with, but by focusing on power (speed of movement) a coach creates high force and high velocity movements. While strength only works on improving high force movements with no respect to velocity or time dependency.
Someone who takes at least 3s to lift a 600lb squat likely doesn’t have the functional strength to squat 400lbs x 3 in less than 6s time. However someone who squats 480lbs in less than 2s likely can squat 400lbs x 3 in less than a 6s timeframe. That’s a huge difference between the 2 athletes. In my observation people who are working max strength have a more limited transference of force application to different skills because their force generation has no time dependency and speed of movement is only variable because of force generating capabilities.
In my experience the main benefit (maybe only) of max strength work is neurological with summation of forces and thus very important earlier in development for about 4-6 weeks and needed only from time to time as needed on an individual basis possibly worked once or twice in a macrocycle or about 6-8 times a mesocycle which excludes testing days is sufficient to ensure max strength is improving throughout a mesocycle. In many training programs they are either almost totally max strength based or you work on max strength first and then as the season wears on it is displaced with power. I don’t see much benefit in either unless in the first instance you are a powerlifter. The ability to produce a greater impulse by applying a force for a longer time improves muscular endurance, but doesn’t improve the functional strength required to apply an effective impulse at an effective power to complete work during movement.
Also, Davan and I are the ones who see more eye to eye on this subject than yourself and Davan which is why I proposed the question to him. Although we may see more eye to eye it doesn’t mean we believe the same things.
Someone who takes at least 3s to lift a 600lb squat likely doesn’t have the functional strength to squat 400lbs x 3 in less than 6s time. However someone who squats 480lbs in less than 2s likely can squat 400lbs x 3 in less than a 6s timeframe. That’s a huge difference between the 2 athletes. In my observation people who are working max strength have a more limited transference of force application to different skills because their force generation has no time dependency and speed of movement is only variable because of force generating capabilities.
In my experience the main benefit (maybe only) of max strength work is neurological with summation of forces and thus very important earlier in development for about 4-6 weeks and needed only from time to time as needed on an individual basis possibly worked once or twice in a macrocycle or about 6-8 times a mesocycle which excludes testing days is sufficient to ensure max strength is improving throughout a mesocycle. In many training programs they are either almost totally max strength based or you work on max strength first and then as the season wears on it is displaced with power. I don’t see much benefit in either unless in the first instance you are a powerlifter. The ability to produce a greater impulse by applying a force for a longer time improves muscular endurance, but doesn’t improve the functional strength required to apply an effective impulse at an effective power to complete work during movement.
Also, Davan and I are the ones who see more eye to eye on this subject than yourself and Davan which is why I proposed the question to him. Although we may see more eye to eye it doesn’t mean we believe the same things.
TL Feb 28,
DLJ Up 4x5
DLJ (Up, Hor) 4x5
Ankle Jump 4x8
Clean 135,155,175,185,195, 205 x1 (missed)
Squat 5x5x225
Superset, Hip FlexionX5X195, Benchingx3x185, 5 sets
DLJ (Up, Hor) 4x5
Ankle Jump 4x8
Clean 135,155,175,185,195, 205 x1 (missed)
Squat 5x5x225
Superset, Hip FlexionX5X195, Benchingx3x185, 5 sets
Theraband!
THERABAND! Holy Grail of Hip Flexion & Dorsiflexion Training
Coach Mason,
I just ordered a Thera-band Silver (Super-Heavy) resistance tubing and extremity straps ($30.00). Ransom and Beth use Thera-bands for physical therapy, but I bought ones that are for athletic use. Check: http://www.thera-band.com/store/products.php?ProductID=27
They will be useful for strengthening the hip flexors and dorsiflexors (which cannot be strengthened sufficiently through our practices). First, this will develop an impressive block start and acceleration. I can imagine an assistant holding the other end of the tube while the athlete has an ankle strapped with the other end. The athlete can then focus on exploding horizontally on the block (he/she has to, because the tubing is resisting in the horizontal direction) through simultaneous hip extension and hip flexion.
Second, for the maximum velocity sprint mechanics, specifically the "scissor legs" that you described yesterday, we can improve it by mimicking the joint angle that produces the long stride length; we can have the athlete have his/her legs in a lunge position, while having him/her focus on explosive hip flexion. Of course, the athlete would need someone to hold on to for balance.
Last, we can use the Thera-band as a substitute for a parachute. We can have an assistant, by pulling behind the athlete, to resist the athlete's forward motion, hence progressively overloading the muscles producing horizontal motion. Then we have a faster athlete. Voila!
They should arrive on Wed, Thurs, or Fri.
SWEET.
Edderic
Coach Mason,
I just ordered a Thera-band Silver (Super-Heavy) resistance tubing and extremity straps ($30.00). Ransom and Beth use Thera-bands for physical therapy, but I bought ones that are for athletic use. Check: http://www.thera-band.com/store/products.php?ProductID=27
They will be useful for strengthening the hip flexors and dorsiflexors (which cannot be strengthened sufficiently through our practices). First, this will develop an impressive block start and acceleration. I can imagine an assistant holding the other end of the tube while the athlete has an ankle strapped with the other end. The athlete can then focus on exploding horizontally on the block (he/she has to, because the tubing is resisting in the horizontal direction) through simultaneous hip extension and hip flexion.
Second, for the maximum velocity sprint mechanics, specifically the "scissor legs" that you described yesterday, we can improve it by mimicking the joint angle that produces the long stride length; we can have the athlete have his/her legs in a lunge position, while having him/her focus on explosive hip flexion. Of course, the athlete would need someone to hold on to for balance.
Last, we can use the Thera-band as a substitute for a parachute. We can have an assistant, by pulling behind the athlete, to resist the athlete's forward motion, hence progressively overloading the muscles producing horizontal motion. Then we have a faster athlete. Voila!
They should arrive on Wed, Thurs, or Fri.
SWEET.
Edderic
Super Shakes
Super Shakes
Dining Hall
Apple
Pineapple (Red Cont)
Cantaloupe (Red Cont)
Natural Peanut Butter (Peach Cont)
Yogurt (Red Cont)
Cottage Cheese (Red Cont)
Quaker Oatmeal
Flax Seeds€
Protein Powder
Mixed Nuts
Make 3-4 servings/ day?
Dining Hall
Apple
Pineapple (Red Cont)
Cantaloupe (Red Cont)
Natural Peanut Butter (Peach Cont)
Yogurt (Red Cont)
Cottage Cheese (Red Cont)
Quaker Oatmeal
Flax Seeds€
Protein Powder
Mixed Nuts
Make 3-4 servings/ day?
Saturday, February 28, 2009
John Berardi's PN Diet Guide
Stuff that stood out:
Use natural peanut butter
1 carton egg whites
Bread, pasta, and non-veggie/non-fruit only after training.
Fish Oil (6 servings)
Veggies & Fruits EVERY SERVING
Plan ahead, use Gourmet Nutrition
Make use of blender for Super Shakes!
10% eat 8 times a day for 7 days = ~5 times to have an imperfect feeding opportunity
Use natural peanut butter
1 carton egg whites
Bread, pasta, and non-veggie/non-fruit only after training.
Fish Oil (6 servings)
Veggies & Fruits EVERY SERVING
Plan ahead, use Gourmet Nutrition
Make use of blender for Super Shakes!
10% eat 8 times a day for 7 days = ~5 times to have an imperfect feeding opportunity
Friday, February 27, 2009
EliteTrack Posts on Olympic Lifting/RFD Stuff
I'll use a variety of jump squats with various loading setups, depths, and starting and / or landing and takeoff instructions. I'll also use various lunge and step-up exercises using the same parameters. I'll also use multi-throws and some good morning variants I picked up from some Olympic lifting training hall videos.
Moving the bar as fast as possible should always be the goal in olympic and core lifts.
It recruits more motor units and stimulates the CNS
Slow Eccentrics for Core lifts, Preceding Max Strength Phase?
I'd lower the reps and weights. I try to keep reps under 10 (usually 6-8) for speed lifting and the weights under 65% of 1RM.
If speed happens to slow dramatically at the end of the set, consider lowering the reps and / or the intensity so that the whole set can be performed fast.
For now, it might just be best to use weights in the 50-65% range and watch bar speed. When it starts to slow down, you just tell them to stop. I hope that's not too simple an answer.
you know those little skinny guys that are freshmen in college and have never picked up a weight before. they need to work out at 8-12 reps to gain some muscle mass that will have a positive affect on their weight/strengthg ratio later on. but i agree for the athlete that has been lifting for years and developed there body they should only focus on functional hypertrophy which would be done by dong under 6 reps of olympic lifts and core exersises such as bench, squat, and shoulder press.
ou still use the basic guidelines for hypertrophy training, 60%-80% for 8-12 reps. Take your goal volume, say 8 reps, and use the same intensity that you would normally use, 80%. Now double your volume, that makes 16 reps at 80%. Instead of doing 2 sets of 8 with 80% you divide the number of total reps by 4 and get 4 sets of 4 with 80%. Note your still doing 16 reps with 80%. The reason for making the reps lower is because about the first 4 reps with that percentage can be done with perfect form, after that form deteriorates. Also you don't lose as much bar speed because fatigue does not set in until the later reps. Now as far as rest periods go you only take about 15 seconds between sets
doing 4 reps at a time your bar speed will remain more constant.
This method can be used as a regular hypertrophy phase. So if you are following Western periodisation this phase would be followed by Max Strength. The athletes I train use this phase right after GPP. And it works well wether your goal is more endurance or power becuase it carries over well into either.
Regarding your peiodized setup I would do the following:
2-3 weeks GPP (anatomical adaptation)
4-7 weeks hypertrophy (depending on lifting experience and hypertrophy need)
That leaves about 14 weeks to divide up between max strength and power phases. For most athletes you can divide that up evenly (about 7weeks for each). However if you need to focus on one or the other you can add a couple of weeks on to one phase and take from another.
When your season begins I always just try to maintain what the athlete has gained up to that point. I believe it is to stressful on the body, and the coach, to try and peak both on the track and in the weightroom.
Hope I answered your question, if not tell me and I'll try to help out.
I was actually referring to the "general setup" that I mentioned in my previous post. While it is similar to the one Matt mentioned it differs slightly. In this setup, I keep % relatively high (85+%), sets high (7-10), reps low (1-4), and rest moderate (1-2 minutes).....sorry I didn't clarify.
Max strength differs from power phase by the intensity used. For max strength typically 90% to greater than 100% is used, while in the power phase 50%-70% is used. Also the goal of the max strength phase is to raise your 1 rep max so you want to use as much wieght as possible for normally 1-3 reps. The goal of the power phase is to increase speed, so you focus on moving the bar as fast as possible.
Hypertrophy is optimally developed all the way up to 85% and max strength can be developed at 85+%. Keep in mind that there can be much crossing over between all of these parameters. For example, hypertrophy can occur above and below the stated optimal % ranges, especially for those new to weight training. At the 92+% range however, strength gains will be mostly neural in nature and hypertrophy will be minimal.
Pavel: I shall sum up the energetic theory of muscle hypertrophy without using any big words: If you get a pump with heavy weights you shall grow. You need the volume to really deplete the muscle, but you need the tension to increase the amino acid uptake. Now if you lift really heavy like a powerlifter and rest for five minutes in between sets, you have the tension but don�??t have enough fatigue. If you start using the little color coded dumbbells and do a hundred reps, you have the fatigue and the pump, but not the tension. You may build some "virtual" muscles, but nothing else.
But if you set it up like this, if you use a heavy weight and do reps of five (not taken to failure) with only one or two minutes of rest for up to twenty sets, you�??re going to be able to use a heavy weight and get a great pump. Every bodybuilder who�??s tried this approach has reported sensational gains.
Originally posted by DaGovernor
So then you're saying it goes like this mike?
50%-70%- Power
70%-85% - Hypertrophy
85%-100% - Max. Strength
Is that about right?
Looks about right to me. Lower level athletes can develop max strength at %s as low as 80%.
I've found doing a couple sets (2-3) of singles and doubles at 85+% work great for maintaining strength during peaking. They provide enough stimulus to maintain all the previously developed strength and are low volume enough to easily allow adequate recovery and not to disturb the event training.
I have my guys lift pretty heavy throughout the indoor season. Actually, by most standards they are lifting heavy throughout most of the outdoor season.
Wanted to bring this thread back from the dead. 2 of my emerging elites have put on 6+ lbs over the last 6 weeks. Both expressed concern but I assured them that it was nothing to worry about at this time of the year and that things would drop considerably once we stop doing the moderate load moderate rep range weight room work (ie- 6 x 6 or 4 x 8), dropping some of the weight circuit activity, and most importantly adding speed and / or special endurance work.
Nick Newman - 24 September 2008 12:47 PM
well for me, training wise, im sure it because of the aux lifts we do, db press, incline, rows etc…becasue my upper back has def got thicker, and a couple of shirts (that we small anyway) cant button up anymore because my chest has got bigger too!....still, as long as i look nothing like Harry Aikines-Aryeetey ill be fine.
Don’t think you’ll have to worry about that. The aux lifts will drop in rep ranges and the bodybuilding volumes will drop which when combined with getting off creatine and adding longer speed work should equal pretty significant weight loss while still maintaining or improving strength levels.
Cleans from the floor target the posterior chain muscles much more (hamstrings, glutes, etc.) because of the first pull. They also develop starting strength (the strength needed to overcome the inertia of a static object) to an extent that hang cleans cannot.
DLs and Hang cleans would work together in combination but as Matt said, the first pull of a clean or snatch is much different than that of a DL. If time efficiency was important, you could just do cleans from the floor and drop the DLs, that way you'd get all the above stated benefits (starting strength, posterior chain development, explosive pull) with just one exercise. You would of course need to use a slightly lower weight during the pull from the ground on a clean as opposed to a DL.
I also tend to think squats could potentially be replaced in a program (though I'd never do it for anything but extreme circumstances). I think heavy step-ups, single leg squats, and a combination of front squats and pulls could be used to replace them quite effectively. In fact, Lars Reidel (possibly the best discus thrower of all time) doesn't squat anymore because of back problems and it hasn't effected his throwing at all.
Quick lifts are the OLs and all their variants as well as things like jumps squats.
Originally posted by DaGovernor
Monday/Friday - Bench, Hang Cleans, Deadlifts, Squat Jumps
Tuesday/Thursday - Toe Raises, Curls, Triceps Ext., Front Shoulder Raises, Eagles, Lat. Pull Downs, Chin Ups, Lunges, Lateral Lunges, Step Ups
Wednesday - Glute-Ham Raise, High Pulls, Push Press
I'd do OLs first as matt suggested, then the leg exercise and then the upper body exercise. The latter two could be interchangable and you might like giving your legs a little break in between the OL and the leg exercise.
Keeping the basic same exercises, I'd change your Monday, Wednesday, and Friday's workout to this:
Monday/Friday -
1. Hang Clean
2. Deadlifts
3. Bench
4. Squat Jumps (optional)....I probably wouldn't recommend doing this unless you have a great training base and are an experienced lifter.
Wednesday-
1. High Pulls
2. Push Press
3. Glute-Ham Raises
If I were to change more than just the order though, I'd recommend you add some squatting and perhaps make the glute-ham raises an assistance exercise to be done on Tuesday / Thursdays.
If you wanted to you could do single leg squats on Wednesday. If you chose to do that though, I think I'd still recommend substituting squat for deadlift on Monday or Friday. Single leg squats are great, especially for track athletes but they can't possibly load the legs maximally because balance is so much more of an issue. Also, the deadlifts, unless performed from a block or with a snatch grip won't really hit the posterior chain like a deep squat will.
As for the jump squats, I just tend to think that they wouldn't be what you'd want during GPP, and also, putting jump squats (or any explosive resistance exercise for that matter) after the core lifts is an advanced technique used for power / CNS development that could potentially bury (or at least not be beneficial to) a novice or intermediate athlete.
You'd be ok, but I think you'd still benefit from doing squats.
As for minimizing lifts, I've tinkered with the idea of having an athlete just do 6-8 sets of 2 reps of clean—> front squat—>push press during comp phase as this would take care of a pulling, squatting, and pressing movements all in one compound exercise. As always, general strength exercises would be used on recovery days to enhance hormonal profile and strengthen the smaller muscles and connective tissue.
Dave-
Nice points but I do disagree on one of them. This is just me but I don't have a real problem with 8 weeks of max strength. In fact I personally think it would be far worse to have 6 weeks of hypertrophy training, especially if one didn't need to get bigger. In my opinion, the biggest gains typically come in the second meso of max strength lifting. Having said that, I'd match up the weights and track work like this:
GPP - 6 weeks
SPP - 8 weeks
Pre-Comp. - 8 weeks
6 weeks - Accumulation Weights
4 weeks - Hypertrophy (Density Training)
8 weeks - Max Strength
4 weeks - Power-Speed
Dave I agree that track is a speed and power sport but my rationale is that max strength will help to develop power because of the increased force output made possible by increasing max strength. Obviously, the key is to be able to "convert" the max strength into power.
Quik-
I'm not where where you got the idea that I followed a Western periodization scheme but what I do is quite far from a typical Western linear periodization scheme. In fact, with my training setups all aspects of the speed-power-strength continuum are worked all year long. I've never really used a typical 'max strength' phase and in fact I frequently use very heavy lifts all year long. Likewise, I incorporate what you call 'dynamic' work all year long in some form or another.
To be honest I think the 'conjugate' training term has become misconstrued to the point that many people actually interpret anything other than WSBB's interpretation of conjugate training as linear periodization. This is especially true when looking at weight programs of sports where weight training is only one component of the training (like track). Take for example this typical example of a training set up for track which from a narrow interpretation of conjugated training could appear to be linear in nature:
GPP: acceleration work, low intensity plyos, higher volume medium intensity weights
SPP: acceleration work & MaxV, short jumps, and high intensity weights (~max strength)
Pre-Comp: MaxV & Speed Endurance, dynamic plyos, medium-high intensity weights
Comp: Speed Endurance, depth jumps, 'speed' weights
With a narrow view of conjugated training we'd just look at the weight program and see that it's following somewhat of a linear approach. Looking deeper however we'd see that all aspects of the strength-power-speed continuum are hit during the year with one or more training modalities with emphasis just shifting slightly. While this isn't necessarily the way I'd recommend setting up the program I think it's hardly a typical Western periodization because for example acceleration work develops speed early in the year while the static strength lifts (squats, presses, etc.) develop strength and the Olympic lifts along with plyos develop power.
That's one way to do it but when using OLs I prefer to do most of the manipulation with intensity (load), density, total volume, and set number while keeping the rep ranges fairly constant.
As a general guideline, the more advanced the athlete, the higher the % of 1RM needs to be to maintain strength levels. Elite athletes will need to be using somewhere in the neighborhood of 85+% on exercises to maintain previously developed strength. The frequency of these maintenance doses don't need to be incorporated too often (~1x every 7-10 days) to be effective.
You need to realize that some one will maintain max strength over time without constatnt training in the 90 to 100 percentiles. The simple effort in sprint repeats is of enough maximal recruitment and effort to be of benefit in maintaining.
Here I use 1RM testing every say 10-14 days to confirm strength levels, if there is more than a 5% decline, you can remediate. But keep in mind that a slight decline in max may be more than justified if the trade is for gains in RFD, etc.
If you create a sledgehammer, you can drive a spike in one stroke. It will be a slow lift to the one stroke though…
or
A 5 Lt. V8 is a big engine, but without the battery, sparkplugs, and wiring, what good is it other than to look at?
Conversely, dedicating 50% of your lifting to slower, closer to max lfiting is of questionable benefit at this stage of your season. If you had more time maybe.
Shawn (if he is coaching you) is pretty much on the mark here. You have what? 5 weeks left to ECAC's (last chance for a NCAA q?) In that time you are not going to make any major gains in max strength to the extent of helping you on Saturdays. Certainly not when measured against the potential for lowering your times that can, will? come from the work he has perscribed.
If you dont follow the logic, or havent asked him to explain, or he didnt explain very well, try this site:
http://www.innervations.com/resources/Power Presentation.htm
This presentation (in PowerPoint) will explain the relationship.
Mike, where do you come down on R. Newton's work here?
Cstate, I still say the best thing here is a sitdown with coach.
I just quickly looked at the presentation (I'm on a dreadfully slow dial-up connection right now and didn't have the patience to look through all of it ) but I agree with all that I saw as well as what you just mentioned. I think you can probably maintain somewhere in the neighborhood of 95% of max strength for about 2.5 weeks without doing ANY "maintenance" work. Also, it's convenient to know that almost all physical capacities can be maintained for extended periods of time (~3 months) with high intensity and lower volume bouts of maintenance work. This is convenient to know because it allows an athlete to maintain the qualities developed previously while focusing training on the development of capacities which are dependent on the previously developed capacities (as is the case with strength and power development).
Originally posted by QUIKAZHELL
Ok,
i questioned my coach as i normally do. I said so you are trying to tell me that by not lifting ANY weights near 80% or higher i will maintain my strength because of the compensatory acceleration componet of the lifts we are doing? And that quality (the fast velocity) is pretty much negating the need for lifts above 80%. He said yes.
What he forgot to mention that i presumed and eventually got out of him was that this type of training can only maintain strength levels for 3-4 weeks.
Thoughts?
I've done this in the past and have noticed that strength can be maintained quite effectively for short periods of time like this. The same holds true for replacing heavy weights with plyos. The period of maintenance however seems to be shorter than if you were to do maintenance doses with heavy weights once in a while. Also, following the method you mentioned creates problems should you want to come back to a max strength phase later on (i.e. in a season with multiple peaks) because you'll be incredibly sore from the lifting and it may take you a while (10-14 days) to get back to where you can train with the heavy weights necessary to get strong again without getting overly sore. This is the case even if you have maintained most of the previous strength levels through your speed lifting.
Originally posted by delldell
No, don't get it. I know what buffering is, but there's no reason as far as I can see to do a maintenance workout during a max strength phase. Just lift twice and do sprinting as Pete said on the other day. The point of maintenance is if you were doing a cycle focused on something other than max s.
I agree.
Originally posted by DaGovernor
So basically, the best method for a sprinter would be to start off with high reps/low intensity, then gradually move up to low reps/high intensity, correct?
Not really. I don't really think that high rep protocols have much of a place in a power athletes training…..even in GPP. There are better ways around this issue. Instead of doing 4 x 12 @ 50% why not something like 8 x 6 @ 65%. The volume would be the same, the intensity would actually be high enough to yield some strength gains and the the set-rep scheme would be better for safety and speed of movement (if you chose to emphasize this).
I think they'd probably progress just fine with lower intensities lower than 95 and most likely lower than even 90% max.
As for my previous recommendations, I think that the 50 and 60% intensities you had mentioned would be best for muscular endurance and wouldn't be the best way to develop muscular strength even in younger athletes. If you were to do as I prescribed and used equivalent volumes with higher loads I think the gains you'd see would be much better. Because the volume would still be high you'd reap some soft tissue benefits and the higher loads would permit more efficient training for strength. All you'd be doing would be keeping the total volume the same while manipulating the sets and reps in such a manner that would create a nice balance of strength gains and anatomical adaptation.
I think the setup you proposed above looks good and I think it would be quite effective on a 3 day a week cycle. As for very high intensities, I just think that in light of their training age and lack of strength they would make very nice gains at lower intensities without having to progress to very high intensities. I don't think it would hurt them in the short term to do high intensity stuff right now (nor do I think they'd get much extra benefit) but in the long term scheme of things you'll be taking away the opportunity to progress training intensities since you'd have already done it without seeing much additional benefit due to the fact that athletes such as yours will typically respond just the same or better to lower intensity work.
Originally posted by DaGovernor
Well how would I periodize the lifting (OL's, etc.), starting from summer on through the end of next outdoor season?
There is no way this question could be answered in one post…..this could be a book by itself. There are many variables here to look at with volume and intensity being the most basic and perhaps easiest to manipulate. In GENERAL, total volume should start high and get lower as the season progresses. The opposite is true for intensity. It's also important to try and match up what you're doing on the track with what you're doing in the weight room. Sorry for the near-worthless answer but if you give a more specific question I'll try and give a better answer.
Originally posted by DaGovernor
1st cycle - 8 x 6 @ 65%
2nd cycle - 6 x 6 @ 75%
3rd cycle - 4 x 5 @ 85%
4th cycle - 6 x 2 @ 95%
testing after the 4th cycle
I plan on using this cycle from now on. How much time should I spend on each cycle? Should I use the standard 3 weeks load, one week unload plan, or should I just go off of feel - meaning move on to next cycle when current cycle has become easy? Thoughts?
I typically use a 3 week on 1 week off cycle format but have used other varieties such as 2-1, and 4-1. Going on feel has its pluses but makes for difficult planning.
Also, if I am to start out with 65-70% with stuff like bench press and squats, what percentage do I start off with for OL's? Do I start these off at 65-70% as well, or do I consistantly keep them in the 80-90% range?
I would start the OLs slightly higher (+5% from other lifts) for several reasons:
*OLs are typically performed with less reps.
*Because they are used to develop power and RFD, a lower % of max isn't necessarily a bad thing as peak power outputs are typically seen in the neighborhood of 60-70% of max.
Originally posted by DaGovernor
1. I forgot what RFD is mike. What is it?
Rate of force development as Pete said.
2. And keeping the OL's in the 80-90% range is not good right?
Don't keep them their all the time. I use a range of 70-100% depending on what I'm trying to accomplish. Note however that this is for advanced athletes and more novice athletes may not need such high intensity levels to progress. One thing you should concentrate on though is speed of movement, especially on the second pull.
3. When running, the 3 on, 1 off program is 3 weeks with each of the 3 weeks getting progressively more difficult, then "unload" the 4th week.
I rarely increase the intensity or volume from week 1 to week 3 of a cycle, but otherwise what you said is right (for how I usually set it up).
Personally, I don’t believe 1RM heavy OLs are worth more than squats or DLs. Squats and Deadlifts require a great deal of initial force application. OL’s require the same type of force application, but greater coordination, and different extension parameters. The snatch in Olympic Lifting is closer to jumping, starting, and throwing than squats and deadlifts are. Between testing days of every macrocycle, the athletes who have shown the greatest improvements in power outputs and it’s maintainability have the better test scores and they show the greatest improvements in actual competition performances as well. I see better improvements in 5 hop, 5 bound, SLJ, STJ, and VJ scores that coincide with power development and not strength development. As for transferability, my kids do a lot of medball throws and almost all of their work is geared towards increasing power outputs and the ability to hold a power output for a certain period of time.
RFD is explosive strength…
the best way the develop this is with very high intensity cleans, snatches, power cleans/snatches, low volume, full rec OR submax load with maximal velocity quarter squats, cleans, snatches ect at 70%, low volume, full rec…depending on sports training for…
With the max intensity method, the bar is still moving slowly because of the high loads. Becuase of this, and with the aim being on explosive application of force, cleans, snatches ect are better than squats for developing RFD…
Due to limited arm strength in most people power, cleans, snatches etc are only benificial in developing RFD if the RFD of the legs is maximal and the bar is moved so fast that the catch is possible….
Basically something (load or speed) has to be maximal for the RFD to be developed. Squats just dont fit the bill nearly like OL’s do for this aim.
Olympic lifts are good because they provide an innate measure of both load and speed. If a clean is not fast enough, it’s not getting racked. If a heavy squat, speed squat, or jump squat isn’t fast enough…eh who cares (or who knows).
i dont think anyone said that sprinting wasnt the most important aspect of developing sprinting…
But RFD training with OL’s and other high intensity means develop an attribute which will be shown during the sprint…
You are a little off base with this conclusion, conjecture, or otherwise riveting opinion. If you train for strength and not rate at which work is done you will be left in the dust. You don’t have to increase strength to increase power, you only have to increase the rate at which work is done. In a lift, it’s the number of lifts per unit time, in a race it’s velocity, in a jumping event or throwing event it’s momentum of the implement/takeoff at release along with the trajectory of flight. Strength can help those numbers, but power is the deciding factor.
Let’s back up to the drop jump. If you are a coach whose well rounded in education you will know that a landing in the drop jump creates a reactive force which can aid jumping ability. You’d be able to further infer that the reactive force you create from a dropped height is controlled by elastic and eccentric capabilities of the human body, if it is too strong the contact time dissipates the energy/force return. Drop jumps train elastic and eccentric capabilities and not concentric capabilities. The 2 footed vertical jump is an SSC initiated muscular action, but it’s mostly dependent on the concentric abilities of that have been developed. In this sense, a combination of Snatch, Cleans, Deadlifts, Squats, OHB Medball throws, and 2 foot vertical jumps on a regular basis will fulfill the needs to increase the vertical jump. One can build strength by training for power, the strength increases are smaller, but their is little need for Western Style Periodization which is what you are suggesting correct?
yes i agree D…
The skinny guys who cant squat 225 or clean 185 but can jump 8m are not strong…but have incredible RFD…this can be developed without much increase in strength. Absolutley. I am also an example of this, this season. i am more powerful at the given strength that i am at now, than i have been at this strength level before. And this is because of all the power work we have been focussing on.
I totally disagree with the statement you just made…but in regards of RFD, if something has very powerful legs and a high RFD then that person has a higher chance of being good at speed and power sports. I don’t think you can argue against that.
For example, in the UK athletics national squad camps for the jumpers. One part of talent identification is a RFD test, which is performed using a fix bar in a squat position (knees bent 140 degrees) on a force plate. They evaluate the athletes RFD. Almost all the time, the athletes with the highest number, are or become the best long jumpers and are also the fastest in the group.
Delecluse (1995) found that concurrent heavy resistance and sprint training did not improve 100m sprint performance in average sprinters (100m in 12.4s) whereas concurrent plyometric (rfd related) training and concurrent sprint training improved 100m times by 0.2s with most improvement within the first 10m.
Blazevich (2002) who is now based at Brunel University alongside Nick Linthorne (the long jump researcher)-small world- tested highly trained sprinters that were almost elite (20m in 2.95-3.10s) with either a highish velocity/low resistance or low velocity/high resistance training program. All subjects were instructed to move as fast as possible and were also concurrently sprint and plyometric training. The high velocity group had a 4.3% improvement compared to the low velocity groups 2.9% improvement over 20m.
Yes, those with enough fast twitch fibre and sprint oriented nervous system will respond to resistance training but the more velocity specific group improved more. However, it must be realised that the high velocity group also reverted to lower velocity and heavier weights every fourth training session whereas the low velocity group only used higher velocity/lower weights for the first warm-up set. Therefore the high velocity group got the added benefit of stimulating as many fast fibres as possible during the heavier movements to complement the more rfd specific high velocity resistance training.
As for optimum power training at 30% 1RM, power is really only correlated to improvement at the start (according to me) and between 5-10m (according to me and Morin 2002). Therefore a reliance on optimal power training will not satisfy many other places in a 100m race.
(TRAIN SPEED ENDURANCE!!!!!)
There is little difference between using Olympic lifts and power or strength training. Faster movement shows to be more beneficial especially when combined with heavy more maximal training periodically. Olympic lifts could facilitate hip extension in combination with knee extension. I’m sure the squat could be modified to facilitate more contribution of hip extensors.
Yes practising the squat will benefit jumping much more than sprinting. However, training methods do have a small effect on sprint performance.
Plyometrics will reduce time over 10m by 0.03-0.04s approximately more than sprinting.
Plyometrics or velocity and movement specific strength training will reduce time over 10m by 0.06-0.08s more than traditional low movement velocity strength training.
However, it must be realised that current strength training methods (and perhaps plyometric methods) could be much more specific to sprinting. For example imagine doing a hang clean from a split squat stance or better still a split squat with one leg on a step hang clean. (Caution do not try this unless you are very conditioned and have excellent CORE STABILITY/Strength). Or even a jump squat or squat jump or unweighted squat jump in water (although the movement will still be too slow) from a split step position. Nick and Mike’s exercise idea would work well here.
Furthermore, imagine a more progressive plyometric program to take into account the contribution that connective tissue makes to the application of force. There is limited but improved plyometric methods that have been proven but not yet disclosed. I have no doubt that within 12 months much more movement and velocity specific training methods will be unveiled with good scientific evidence to remove the guesswork.
Without a doubt resistance training on its own will not help sprinting but any improvement in strength will benefit from sprint training as well. For example the squat can improve vertical jump by 4% but only help sprinting by 2% if velocity specific enough within the first 10m only. Is this gain worthwhile? Olympic lifts carry an increased chance of injury but are little better than fast squats and plyometrics within the first 10m. In fact, for those with poor hip extension strength/power (although not much is needed) OL may be the best choice. Granted all this is useless without concurrent sprint training. Are any of these methods better than a sprint program involving a combination of uphill and downhill sprinting? I would argue that it is unlikely. However I would also argue that there are improvements we can make to any of the above exercises instead of just accepting the status quo. My argument is based around the fact that less than 100kg of propulsive force is generated in total in a sprinting stride.
As for training the CNS with OL or resistance training, the two are not related. One is only training muscle fibre and connective tissue. OL muscle activation must come from the motor cortex. Plyometric training will more likely enhance the CNS (and the muscle recruitment thereof)as the spinal chord is known to be adaptable. Alternating limb plyometric activities and sprint training benefits the cross extension reflex activated muscle-connective tissue for sprinting.
Don’t worry about the argument getting personal - many great ideas have come so far from the debate. I think this is an excellent thread as most of us supplement our sprint training. I’m curious as to your training program and how much it has improved your sprinting as you are very adamant in your philosophy. (And I don’t think I’m disagreeing with you)
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I now do lifts to strengthen my upper body, and I think it will be increased this next phase because I didn’t have the increase in max strength that he wanted. I have developed my skill in the disc, but the shot I had not and I was stand throwing what I full threw at WAC champs last year. But I will say by far cleans have been the most helpful lift for me track especially when it comes to jumps.
I am talking about long term improvements after stagnation. I am not talking about a temporary benefit, but people who had previously not been improving and have been improving significantly since. They are most definitely proficient in the lifts.
*Specificity is not just movement or muscle related. Specificity can be motor recruitment related, contractile speed, coordination related, metabolic, etc. It’s very easy to get too caught up in the external appearance of something and associate that with specificity and not examine these other factors.
*Specificity isn’t everything. In fact, I think it’s equally important to work AROUND (+/-) the point of interest because the transfer of training affect and additional variety will provide a beneficial training stimulus that cannot be had when you get overly specific.
*There actually is quite a bit of research on the benefits of OLs for sporting performance. I don’t have the time to cite them all right now but I made a shell topic on the new wiki regarding the benefits of Olympic lifting. If you have an argument or research paper in support of doing them please contribute to the wiki entry.
Sprinting is skill which contains 4 skills:
1. Initial block clearance (skill)
—- Starting power, starting strength, reaction (abilities)
2. Acceleration sprinting (skill)
—- power, strength within a dynamic framework (abilities)
3. Transition from Accel to Max Race velocity (skill)
—- elastic/reactive power & strength within a dynamic framework (abilities)
4. Maintenance of Max Race velocity (skill)
—- power endurance of elastic structures and anaerobic metabolic pathways
By the end of a training season instead of my athletes doing training sessions working on specific skills of the 4 listed they are working on the main skill. They don’t get slower, they get faster and typically beat their previous PR’s by mid or early competitive season.
Sure it takes years to develop an optimal competitive olympic lift but it doesn’t take long to develop a good, safe technique. I teach using a top-down progression and only use the power variants. It’s just that I have seen more horrifying(dangerous) deadlifts than horrifying olympic lifts from incoming athletes that have been “taught how to do them”.
You’re stuck in power lift thinking with this one and using a one factor model for ‘maximal.’ You can’t compare loads used in one exercise and say that because you can’t lift the same load in another exercise (even if it looks similar) that it’s not of maximal load. Are front squats sub maximal because you can’t lift as much as in a back squat? Remember, maximal can be maximal speed, maximal load, maximal force output, maximal power output, etc. Note that OLs easily beat out heavy deadlifts on all of those except load (remember load does not equal force or power). This thinking is really WAAAAAAY off base in my opinion. In fact, the peak force, RFD, and power output of all the OLs is several magnitudes greater than what we see in the power lifts.
Totally agreed on this one. I push around heavy loads this way too but am much more cautious than I am with similar %s in the OLs. For example, for my highly experienced athletes I’ll use supra-maximal loads for partial or or eccentric only lifts and having done them myself and gotten feedback from athletes I know that these are far more likely to cause an injury than OLs. Same thing with deadlifts. I cringe when I see some of the pictures from some of the Hall of Fame pics from BFS or Barry Ross’s site in the deadlift. I’m expecting to see a thoracic vertebrae explode out of their body.
Sprenten
Short term you would be correct about the heavy lifters pulling heavier loads faster, but not after 8-12 months. By that time the fast lifters with more power will be one who lift lighter loads, but at faster rates. The structural changes needed in the muscle for faster movements takes longer to adapt. The short-term gains in heavy lifting are neuromuscular adaptations which come along in 2-3 weeks for beginners. The problem is you believe heavy creates the adaptations you want, but in reality the changes you want take a variety of loading parameters on the bar with the fastest bar speed possible. Sticking to heavy squats or deadlifts will get you nowhere fast after 6-12 months. Strength gains without gains in mass will become almost impossible and power eventually suffers so over the course of a 4-5 year period a runner becomes slower just because of work in the weight room. Any athlete who trains with me and is new to weight room gets a heavy does of heavier and heavier lifting through 2 macrocycles, then its almost always ballastic, explosive, or partial lifts that are complexed with other lifts. The athletes still have an occasional macro of 2-3 microcycles of heavy lifting. Variety and specificity are the keys, I want more power so I focus on developing power and power needs to be displayed over a variety of spectrums (how fast, how long, how many, and how much).
Random note here. I had a 31” standing vertical PR in HS before I really started lifting(1998). It hit a 31” vertical last year with a 450lbs squat max and a 31.5” vertical last night with a 365lb squat max. The same can be said for my SLJ (~9’5” at the same 3 snapshots in time). If searching for heavier and heavier loads is so important, why have 85 to 200lb squat max swings had no effect on these jump tests? Why has my 55 gone from ~7.10 to 6.63 during this time? It seems that pushing heavier and heavier loads can help you….push heavier and heavier loads.
We are neither discussing Olympic lifters or Powerlifters as the typical athlete in this thread. The specifity of lifting to their particular competitive tasks require them to work specifically more to competition loads in the weight room. Even then powerlifters and Olympic Lifters have far greater ranges with which they work with than you give them credit for. However, powerlifters keep their power values relatively low compared to their absolute strength while Olympic lifters still have high strength and power numbers both relatively and absolutely. You take your basic powerlifter and they would have to weigh approx. 20 kilos more to generate the same power in an olympic lift. The bottom line is you can increase strength without increasing power and you can increase power without increasing strength but athletic performance relies on power output. If 2 powerlifters have the same strength, but the different max power outputs then the favored lifter would be the one with more power as he would have less fatigue in producing max values on all 3 competition lifts during a competition.
I don’t really think the stimulus is so redundant that it should be taken out of a program. Jumps and sprint work are indeed explosive and speed oriented but the difference is that they tend to overload the eccentric portion (up to 6-10x bodyweight on ground contact) of the movement more and OLs overload the concentric portion of the movement (pulling bodyweight + bar load).
One of the ways I use OLs during comp phase is as a strength maintenance tool. Because they involve so many muscle groups and because the emphasis can be shifted based on the load used they are my first choice of excercises to keep in a program as volumes (and exercises) in the weight room (and track) are dropped. For example, during comp phase, an athlete could substitute a normal weight workout with 6 x (2 cleans + 1 front squat + 1 jerk) and put in enough work on every muscle group to maintain the strength and power developed in earlier phases while keeping volume low to enhance system recovery.
There are no magic exercises for a specific event. Leg work is essential for sprint development. I’d suggest sticking to the basics: squat variations, lunges, pulling movements (especially the Olympic lifts) and pressing movements.
Ground contact time has a big deal to do with vertical, but the associated power generated in that contact time is biggest factor, so you must decrease contact time with an increase in force generated within that contact time. So all I can say is do cleans and snatchs along with deadlifts and squats, do some hopscotch and try to get quicker with the hopscotch pattern each time and hurdle hops for both speed and height/distance.
Sprinting can help reduce contact time, but force development and power are done with accel work mostly in "Sprint Training".
Vertical Jump is highly dependent on strength and low-end explosive power. Doing Olympic lifts and short jumps (things like standing long jump, standing vertical jump, standing triple jumps, etc.) would be your best bets for development.
danimal9 - 13 October 2005 07:59 AM
I really think you need to work on proprioception, coordination, and quickness/speed.
While I think these things are valuable I don't think training them will have too much of an impact on VJ performance. Given his weight room numbers I think you have a little bit of an explosive-strength deficit. I'd suggest putting the heavy lifting (especially the squatting) on maintenance mode and work on more reactive activities such as slightly lighter OLs and multi-jumps. Sprinting might help also if you keep the reps short.
Basically I'm just suggesting that you reduce the volumes and focus on heavy lifting and put more emphasis on more explosive exercises like plyometrics and sprinting. It doesn't need to be a wholesale shift but a gradual change would be beneficial.
The absolute load shouldn't matter THAT much….in my experience the % is a better indicator of intensity.
I would recommend not doing them on Thursday. While I typically wouldn't use them in-season, on the rare occassions when I have, I've always had better success doing them no later than 3 days before a meet (Mon-Wed).
(ECCENTRIC, SUPRAMAXIMAL, SLOW TEMPO)
I use them as a means of developing strength by switching up the stimuli. I also use it as a lead-in to supra-maximal fast-eccentric work which I've found useful for enhancing leg stiffness.
I'd personally never use them during a peaking phase…the negatives (soreness, low stimuli on both eccentric and concentric phase) don't outweigh the positives (increased time under tension, potential to increase strength via varied stimuli).
First, I personally am not a fan of partial ROM movements, especially when combined with very heavy weights. It works for some people, and that's fine for them, but I don't use them - but that's my opinion. It's a big world and everything works for someone, it's just not a tool that I like to use. So, I don't like 1/4 squats even though I know a lot of t&f coaches swear by them. Yes you can do a lot more weight, but I find that form breaks down during those 700 pound 1/4 squats and I've seen more back injuries from those than I care to think about.
Second, I don't like situations with supermaximal amounts of weight either - so eccentric squats with 150% of your maximum squat. Again, we all have good intensions but form breaks down too badly.
Third, in my opinion the weight room is a terrible place for sport specificity. The weight room is a great place to provide you with the physical foundation that you need for t&f, but you must then transfer it to the track. This means that you won't duplicate speed of movement, angles, etc. in the weight room and it's pointless to try (my opinion).
Typically with college t&f athletes, we have a general phase that runs into October. A specific phase that runs into December/January. Pre comp that runs January and into some of Feb (yes we're competing in indoors in Feb, but we're not peaking yet).
Now, this depends upon the level of athlete, but general phase focuses on fundamental exercises and strength/technique in those exercises. Lots of Olympic lift fundamentals (lifts from the hang), lifts off two feet (squats, RDL's, etc.), that sort of thing. Specific phase, for me, begins to peak strength and to apply it a little more to the event. Having said that, it's still a learning phase - which means we begin introducing things like eccentric/pause squats to the athlete. Those exercises aren't heavy yet (b/c the athlete is learning) and they aren't complexed with anything yet (b/c we're not peaking yet in terms of event performance).
I find that athletes have trouble transferring weight room strength to the track. Some of this requires a good t&f coach to help this occur, some of this is because athletes have trouble connecting the two mentally. So they may have a great back squat, but be unable to maintain their posture well on footstrike. I like eccentric/pause lifts as a way to help train this. But I don't like 100%+ lifts for reasons I just mentioned. I find that if these are done properly, they are extremely fatiguing (i.e. form breaks down) - which is not something you want to combine with too much weight.
I've only approached that one time and I really didn't like it. As with the partial ROM stuff I typically stay in the realm 105-115% for supramaximal work. At these loads I haven't noticed any technical detioration for eccentric work however all of these techniques are things I reserve for athletes with at least 3 years of serious training. In fact, research evidence suggests this is actually the strength capacity for eccentric force production. That is, what we are calling maximal is really a reference to an athlete's concentric maximal strength….there eccentric maximal force capabilities are actually up to 25% higher. As a result, I think it's perfectly safe to use loads that are considerably (though reasonably) above the concentric maximal load. In fact, because of the differential between concentric and eccentric maximal strength capabilities (with eccentric being so much stronger) I would actually think that using 60-65% of concentric maximal load wouldn't be sufficient to provide an adequate stimuli.Using a load that is 60-75% of concentric max for eccentric lift work would actually be somewhere in the neighborhood of using a load that is about 50% of eccentric maximal load.
I actually max out at least one lift every four weeks during the fall. I've never found it to be disruptive to training. We almost always do it in a rest / test week and it just takes the place of the day's lift that would have otherwise gone in that spot. If you don't want to test though I wouldn't do it. Everything has to be in the context of the whole workout plan. This is why I'd never farm out my strength training. Many strength coaches have problems seeing that it's the harmony between the weight room and track work that really makes things cook hot. When they are treated as independent variables you'll always run in to training and logistical problems….even if they are running a program that you give them.
00Scoots - 16 November 2006 07:12 AM
Mike, when you lift on the day of a home meet, what type of weight and vol do you use? I assume light and extremely low volume?
We go 5-6 sets of 1-2 reps at 80+%. The specifics vary depending on what we did earlier in the week.
Yeah simular to what cerebro said…its really important you develop power alongside you lifting very heavy…thus converting that squat strength into jumping POWER. ICan be done either by jumping drills, plyos and also what i do at the end of every heavy lifting session is to do 3-4x10 light 100% jump squats to remind your body to be fast and explosive and not slow. Also doing contrast heavy / light squats in same workout works very well. I have always found tha with this system as my 1repmax in squat goes up, so does my vertical and standing long jumping…and because of the other stuff i do, so does my long jumping and sprinting…
The power clean however, i think is more important to improving jumping…same principles apply.
VJ is a combination of elastic strength and explosive strength, therefore deep squats don't enhance those strengths specifically. 1/4 squats, speed squats, 1/2 squats, jump squats are more specific to jumping ability.
Just to back up what has already been said, there are numerous studies which show that a combination of weights and plyos is the most effective means of enhancing jumping performance. This is true even when total volumes of the various protocols are taken in to account.
Strength is prerequisite to most of the Olympic lifts. I'm only aware of one good OLer who didn't have a monster squat.
On rare occassions when I haven't been able to OL I've actually maintain OL strength just by heavy squatting. Sprint-plyo work can also maintain overall strength levels.
from the studies i have seen for the ol lifts its best to use 80%+ for peak power development, strength lifts bp/sq/dl 50-70%, ballistic lifts 10-40%.
Well, for concentric starting strength, paused jump squats or paused jumping good mornings would work well. Block starts or broad jumps without a countermovement would be good too. In fact, anything done from a pause with an attempt to explode should get the job done.
If you want to train force absorbtion capabilities you could use altitude landings or you could do drop and catch reactive squats, kind of like my reactive single leg squats but in back squat form, or reactive GHRs. All of these lifts are much less technical and provide equal if not better benefits than OLYs.
Carl Valle - 29 September 2007 01:13 PM
waste of time for 90% of most people…power endurance is best served from indirect means and the actual sprint program.
I agree with Carl 100%. Speed endurance is best left to track work. The only time I'll ever try to do anything specifically geared towards speed endurance in the weight room is when I have an athlete who is injured and can't run.
Barto - 05 October 2007 06:19 AM
I think that big sets of olympics can have crossover benefits on speed endurance. The major determining factors in speed endurance are holding posture over time and applying force over time. Both of these elements are covered in the 12 to 15 rep range of oly lifts.
I was forced to do this in a pinch last year with some of my injured athletes. It's not conventional and in many ways is seemingly contraindicated but I did feel that it was a decent substitute when there weren't too many other options on the table. We were doing them for times similar to what the non-injured athletes were performing their runs in. So for example, if we were doing 150s….the substitute might be continuous cleans @65% for 20s straight.
bodybuilding ? nah, dont do that…upper body work shouldnt kill you…but a push and pull exercise is necessary, the latts and chest are used in sprinting so to just ignore them would be silly…do them in a simular way you'd do the main lifts, maybe just less sets…and a lesser emphasis during comp time…
tkaberna1 - 25 November 2007 11:08 AM
I think doing a bodybuilding circuit once or twice a week will also help train the smaller muscle groups and during this time you get to use the isolated movements you want to use for bis, tris or whatever work you want. Just my .02.
i agree bb circuits would be a great way to hit some of the smaller groups in the upper body, at least twice a week.
i agree that chest and lats are very important no matter what event and should be train with a press and pull movement.
Moving the bar as fast as possible should always be the goal in olympic and core lifts.
It recruits more motor units and stimulates the CNS
Slow Eccentrics for Core lifts, Preceding Max Strength Phase?
I'd lower the reps and weights. I try to keep reps under 10 (usually 6-8) for speed lifting and the weights under 65% of 1RM.
If speed happens to slow dramatically at the end of the set, consider lowering the reps and / or the intensity so that the whole set can be performed fast.
For now, it might just be best to use weights in the 50-65% range and watch bar speed. When it starts to slow down, you just tell them to stop. I hope that's not too simple an answer.
you know those little skinny guys that are freshmen in college and have never picked up a weight before. they need to work out at 8-12 reps to gain some muscle mass that will have a positive affect on their weight/strengthg ratio later on. but i agree for the athlete that has been lifting for years and developed there body they should only focus on functional hypertrophy which would be done by dong under 6 reps of olympic lifts and core exersises such as bench, squat, and shoulder press.
ou still use the basic guidelines for hypertrophy training, 60%-80% for 8-12 reps. Take your goal volume, say 8 reps, and use the same intensity that you would normally use, 80%. Now double your volume, that makes 16 reps at 80%. Instead of doing 2 sets of 8 with 80% you divide the number of total reps by 4 and get 4 sets of 4 with 80%. Note your still doing 16 reps with 80%. The reason for making the reps lower is because about the first 4 reps with that percentage can be done with perfect form, after that form deteriorates. Also you don't lose as much bar speed because fatigue does not set in until the later reps. Now as far as rest periods go you only take about 15 seconds between sets
doing 4 reps at a time your bar speed will remain more constant.
This method can be used as a regular hypertrophy phase. So if you are following Western periodisation this phase would be followed by Max Strength. The athletes I train use this phase right after GPP. And it works well wether your goal is more endurance or power becuase it carries over well into either.
Regarding your peiodized setup I would do the following:
2-3 weeks GPP (anatomical adaptation)
4-7 weeks hypertrophy (depending on lifting experience and hypertrophy need)
That leaves about 14 weeks to divide up between max strength and power phases. For most athletes you can divide that up evenly (about 7weeks for each). However if you need to focus on one or the other you can add a couple of weeks on to one phase and take from another.
When your season begins I always just try to maintain what the athlete has gained up to that point. I believe it is to stressful on the body, and the coach, to try and peak both on the track and in the weightroom.
Hope I answered your question, if not tell me and I'll try to help out.
I was actually referring to the "general setup" that I mentioned in my previous post. While it is similar to the one Matt mentioned it differs slightly. In this setup, I keep % relatively high (85+%), sets high (7-10), reps low (1-4), and rest moderate (1-2 minutes).....sorry I didn't clarify.
Max strength differs from power phase by the intensity used. For max strength typically 90% to greater than 100% is used, while in the power phase 50%-70% is used. Also the goal of the max strength phase is to raise your 1 rep max so you want to use as much wieght as possible for normally 1-3 reps. The goal of the power phase is to increase speed, so you focus on moving the bar as fast as possible.
Hypertrophy is optimally developed all the way up to 85% and max strength can be developed at 85+%. Keep in mind that there can be much crossing over between all of these parameters. For example, hypertrophy can occur above and below the stated optimal % ranges, especially for those new to weight training. At the 92+% range however, strength gains will be mostly neural in nature and hypertrophy will be minimal.
Pavel: I shall sum up the energetic theory of muscle hypertrophy without using any big words: If you get a pump with heavy weights you shall grow. You need the volume to really deplete the muscle, but you need the tension to increase the amino acid uptake. Now if you lift really heavy like a powerlifter and rest for five minutes in between sets, you have the tension but don�??t have enough fatigue. If you start using the little color coded dumbbells and do a hundred reps, you have the fatigue and the pump, but not the tension. You may build some "virtual" muscles, but nothing else.
But if you set it up like this, if you use a heavy weight and do reps of five (not taken to failure) with only one or two minutes of rest for up to twenty sets, you�??re going to be able to use a heavy weight and get a great pump. Every bodybuilder who�??s tried this approach has reported sensational gains.
Originally posted by DaGovernor
So then you're saying it goes like this mike?
50%-70%- Power
70%-85% - Hypertrophy
85%-100% - Max. Strength
Is that about right?
Looks about right to me. Lower level athletes can develop max strength at %s as low as 80%.
I've found doing a couple sets (2-3) of singles and doubles at 85+% work great for maintaining strength during peaking. They provide enough stimulus to maintain all the previously developed strength and are low volume enough to easily allow adequate recovery and not to disturb the event training.
I have my guys lift pretty heavy throughout the indoor season. Actually, by most standards they are lifting heavy throughout most of the outdoor season.
Wanted to bring this thread back from the dead. 2 of my emerging elites have put on 6+ lbs over the last 6 weeks. Both expressed concern but I assured them that it was nothing to worry about at this time of the year and that things would drop considerably once we stop doing the moderate load moderate rep range weight room work (ie- 6 x 6 or 4 x 8), dropping some of the weight circuit activity, and most importantly adding speed and / or special endurance work.
Nick Newman - 24 September 2008 12:47 PM
well for me, training wise, im sure it because of the aux lifts we do, db press, incline, rows etc…becasue my upper back has def got thicker, and a couple of shirts (that we small anyway) cant button up anymore because my chest has got bigger too!....still, as long as i look nothing like Harry Aikines-Aryeetey ill be fine.
Don’t think you’ll have to worry about that. The aux lifts will drop in rep ranges and the bodybuilding volumes will drop which when combined with getting off creatine and adding longer speed work should equal pretty significant weight loss while still maintaining or improving strength levels.
Cleans from the floor target the posterior chain muscles much more (hamstrings, glutes, etc.) because of the first pull. They also develop starting strength (the strength needed to overcome the inertia of a static object) to an extent that hang cleans cannot.
DLs and Hang cleans would work together in combination but as Matt said, the first pull of a clean or snatch is much different than that of a DL. If time efficiency was important, you could just do cleans from the floor and drop the DLs, that way you'd get all the above stated benefits (starting strength, posterior chain development, explosive pull) with just one exercise. You would of course need to use a slightly lower weight during the pull from the ground on a clean as opposed to a DL.
I also tend to think squats could potentially be replaced in a program (though I'd never do it for anything but extreme circumstances). I think heavy step-ups, single leg squats, and a combination of front squats and pulls could be used to replace them quite effectively. In fact, Lars Reidel (possibly the best discus thrower of all time) doesn't squat anymore because of back problems and it hasn't effected his throwing at all.
Quick lifts are the OLs and all their variants as well as things like jumps squats.
Originally posted by DaGovernor
Monday/Friday - Bench, Hang Cleans, Deadlifts, Squat Jumps
Tuesday/Thursday - Toe Raises, Curls, Triceps Ext., Front Shoulder Raises, Eagles, Lat. Pull Downs, Chin Ups, Lunges, Lateral Lunges, Step Ups
Wednesday - Glute-Ham Raise, High Pulls, Push Press
I'd do OLs first as matt suggested, then the leg exercise and then the upper body exercise. The latter two could be interchangable and you might like giving your legs a little break in between the OL and the leg exercise.
Keeping the basic same exercises, I'd change your Monday, Wednesday, and Friday's workout to this:
Monday/Friday -
1. Hang Clean
2. Deadlifts
3. Bench
4. Squat Jumps (optional)....I probably wouldn't recommend doing this unless you have a great training base and are an experienced lifter.
Wednesday-
1. High Pulls
2. Push Press
3. Glute-Ham Raises
If I were to change more than just the order though, I'd recommend you add some squatting and perhaps make the glute-ham raises an assistance exercise to be done on Tuesday / Thursdays.
If you wanted to you could do single leg squats on Wednesday. If you chose to do that though, I think I'd still recommend substituting squat for deadlift on Monday or Friday. Single leg squats are great, especially for track athletes but they can't possibly load the legs maximally because balance is so much more of an issue. Also, the deadlifts, unless performed from a block or with a snatch grip won't really hit the posterior chain like a deep squat will.
As for the jump squats, I just tend to think that they wouldn't be what you'd want during GPP, and also, putting jump squats (or any explosive resistance exercise for that matter) after the core lifts is an advanced technique used for power / CNS development that could potentially bury (or at least not be beneficial to) a novice or intermediate athlete.
You'd be ok, but I think you'd still benefit from doing squats.
As for minimizing lifts, I've tinkered with the idea of having an athlete just do 6-8 sets of 2 reps of clean—> front squat—>push press during comp phase as this would take care of a pulling, squatting, and pressing movements all in one compound exercise. As always, general strength exercises would be used on recovery days to enhance hormonal profile and strengthen the smaller muscles and connective tissue.
Dave-
Nice points but I do disagree on one of them. This is just me but I don't have a real problem with 8 weeks of max strength. In fact I personally think it would be far worse to have 6 weeks of hypertrophy training, especially if one didn't need to get bigger. In my opinion, the biggest gains typically come in the second meso of max strength lifting. Having said that, I'd match up the weights and track work like this:
GPP - 6 weeks
SPP - 8 weeks
Pre-Comp. - 8 weeks
6 weeks - Accumulation Weights
4 weeks - Hypertrophy (Density Training)
8 weeks - Max Strength
4 weeks - Power-Speed
Dave I agree that track is a speed and power sport but my rationale is that max strength will help to develop power because of the increased force output made possible by increasing max strength. Obviously, the key is to be able to "convert" the max strength into power.
Quik-
I'm not where where you got the idea that I followed a Western periodization scheme but what I do is quite far from a typical Western linear periodization scheme. In fact, with my training setups all aspects of the speed-power-strength continuum are worked all year long. I've never really used a typical 'max strength' phase and in fact I frequently use very heavy lifts all year long. Likewise, I incorporate what you call 'dynamic' work all year long in some form or another.
To be honest I think the 'conjugate' training term has become misconstrued to the point that many people actually interpret anything other than WSBB's interpretation of conjugate training as linear periodization. This is especially true when looking at weight programs of sports where weight training is only one component of the training (like track). Take for example this typical example of a training set up for track which from a narrow interpretation of conjugated training could appear to be linear in nature:
GPP: acceleration work, low intensity plyos, higher volume medium intensity weights
SPP: acceleration work & MaxV, short jumps, and high intensity weights (~max strength)
Pre-Comp: MaxV & Speed Endurance, dynamic plyos, medium-high intensity weights
Comp: Speed Endurance, depth jumps, 'speed' weights
With a narrow view of conjugated training we'd just look at the weight program and see that it's following somewhat of a linear approach. Looking deeper however we'd see that all aspects of the strength-power-speed continuum are hit during the year with one or more training modalities with emphasis just shifting slightly. While this isn't necessarily the way I'd recommend setting up the program I think it's hardly a typical Western periodization because for example acceleration work develops speed early in the year while the static strength lifts (squats, presses, etc.) develop strength and the Olympic lifts along with plyos develop power.
That's one way to do it but when using OLs I prefer to do most of the manipulation with intensity (load), density, total volume, and set number while keeping the rep ranges fairly constant.
As a general guideline, the more advanced the athlete, the higher the % of 1RM needs to be to maintain strength levels. Elite athletes will need to be using somewhere in the neighborhood of 85+% on exercises to maintain previously developed strength. The frequency of these maintenance doses don't need to be incorporated too often (~1x every 7-10 days) to be effective.
You need to realize that some one will maintain max strength over time without constatnt training in the 90 to 100 percentiles. The simple effort in sprint repeats is of enough maximal recruitment and effort to be of benefit in maintaining.
Here I use 1RM testing every say 10-14 days to confirm strength levels, if there is more than a 5% decline, you can remediate. But keep in mind that a slight decline in max may be more than justified if the trade is for gains in RFD, etc.
If you create a sledgehammer, you can drive a spike in one stroke. It will be a slow lift to the one stroke though…
or
A 5 Lt. V8 is a big engine, but without the battery, sparkplugs, and wiring, what good is it other than to look at?
Conversely, dedicating 50% of your lifting to slower, closer to max lfiting is of questionable benefit at this stage of your season. If you had more time maybe.
Shawn (if he is coaching you) is pretty much on the mark here. You have what? 5 weeks left to ECAC's (last chance for a NCAA q?) In that time you are not going to make any major gains in max strength to the extent of helping you on Saturdays. Certainly not when measured against the potential for lowering your times that can, will? come from the work he has perscribed.
If you dont follow the logic, or havent asked him to explain, or he didnt explain very well, try this site:
http://www.innervations.com/resources/Power Presentation.htm
This presentation (in PowerPoint) will explain the relationship.
Mike, where do you come down on R. Newton's work here?
Cstate, I still say the best thing here is a sitdown with coach.
I just quickly looked at the presentation (I'm on a dreadfully slow dial-up connection right now and didn't have the patience to look through all of it ) but I agree with all that I saw as well as what you just mentioned. I think you can probably maintain somewhere in the neighborhood of 95% of max strength for about 2.5 weeks without doing ANY "maintenance" work. Also, it's convenient to know that almost all physical capacities can be maintained for extended periods of time (~3 months) with high intensity and lower volume bouts of maintenance work. This is convenient to know because it allows an athlete to maintain the qualities developed previously while focusing training on the development of capacities which are dependent on the previously developed capacities (as is the case with strength and power development).
Originally posted by QUIKAZHELL
Ok,
i questioned my coach as i normally do. I said so you are trying to tell me that by not lifting ANY weights near 80% or higher i will maintain my strength because of the compensatory acceleration componet of the lifts we are doing? And that quality (the fast velocity) is pretty much negating the need for lifts above 80%. He said yes.
What he forgot to mention that i presumed and eventually got out of him was that this type of training can only maintain strength levels for 3-4 weeks.
Thoughts?
I've done this in the past and have noticed that strength can be maintained quite effectively for short periods of time like this. The same holds true for replacing heavy weights with plyos. The period of maintenance however seems to be shorter than if you were to do maintenance doses with heavy weights once in a while. Also, following the method you mentioned creates problems should you want to come back to a max strength phase later on (i.e. in a season with multiple peaks) because you'll be incredibly sore from the lifting and it may take you a while (10-14 days) to get back to where you can train with the heavy weights necessary to get strong again without getting overly sore. This is the case even if you have maintained most of the previous strength levels through your speed lifting.
Originally posted by delldell
No, don't get it. I know what buffering is, but there's no reason as far as I can see to do a maintenance workout during a max strength phase. Just lift twice and do sprinting as Pete said on the other day. The point of maintenance is if you were doing a cycle focused on something other than max s.
I agree.
Originally posted by DaGovernor
So basically, the best method for a sprinter would be to start off with high reps/low intensity, then gradually move up to low reps/high intensity, correct?
Not really. I don't really think that high rep protocols have much of a place in a power athletes training…..even in GPP. There are better ways around this issue. Instead of doing 4 x 12 @ 50% why not something like 8 x 6 @ 65%. The volume would be the same, the intensity would actually be high enough to yield some strength gains and the the set-rep scheme would be better for safety and speed of movement (if you chose to emphasize this).
I think they'd probably progress just fine with lower intensities lower than 95 and most likely lower than even 90% max.
As for my previous recommendations, I think that the 50 and 60% intensities you had mentioned would be best for muscular endurance and wouldn't be the best way to develop muscular strength even in younger athletes. If you were to do as I prescribed and used equivalent volumes with higher loads I think the gains you'd see would be much better. Because the volume would still be high you'd reap some soft tissue benefits and the higher loads would permit more efficient training for strength. All you'd be doing would be keeping the total volume the same while manipulating the sets and reps in such a manner that would create a nice balance of strength gains and anatomical adaptation.
I think the setup you proposed above looks good and I think it would be quite effective on a 3 day a week cycle. As for very high intensities, I just think that in light of their training age and lack of strength they would make very nice gains at lower intensities without having to progress to very high intensities. I don't think it would hurt them in the short term to do high intensity stuff right now (nor do I think they'd get much extra benefit) but in the long term scheme of things you'll be taking away the opportunity to progress training intensities since you'd have already done it without seeing much additional benefit due to the fact that athletes such as yours will typically respond just the same or better to lower intensity work.
Originally posted by DaGovernor
Well how would I periodize the lifting (OL's, etc.), starting from summer on through the end of next outdoor season?
There is no way this question could be answered in one post…..this could be a book by itself. There are many variables here to look at with volume and intensity being the most basic and perhaps easiest to manipulate. In GENERAL, total volume should start high and get lower as the season progresses. The opposite is true for intensity. It's also important to try and match up what you're doing on the track with what you're doing in the weight room. Sorry for the near-worthless answer but if you give a more specific question I'll try and give a better answer.
Originally posted by DaGovernor
1st cycle - 8 x 6 @ 65%
2nd cycle - 6 x 6 @ 75%
3rd cycle - 4 x 5 @ 85%
4th cycle - 6 x 2 @ 95%
testing after the 4th cycle
I plan on using this cycle from now on. How much time should I spend on each cycle? Should I use the standard 3 weeks load, one week unload plan, or should I just go off of feel - meaning move on to next cycle when current cycle has become easy? Thoughts?
I typically use a 3 week on 1 week off cycle format but have used other varieties such as 2-1, and 4-1. Going on feel has its pluses but makes for difficult planning.
Also, if I am to start out with 65-70% with stuff like bench press and squats, what percentage do I start off with for OL's? Do I start these off at 65-70% as well, or do I consistantly keep them in the 80-90% range?
I would start the OLs slightly higher (+5% from other lifts) for several reasons:
*OLs are typically performed with less reps.
*Because they are used to develop power and RFD, a lower % of max isn't necessarily a bad thing as peak power outputs are typically seen in the neighborhood of 60-70% of max.
Originally posted by DaGovernor
1. I forgot what RFD is mike. What is it?
Rate of force development as Pete said.
2. And keeping the OL's in the 80-90% range is not good right?
Don't keep them their all the time. I use a range of 70-100% depending on what I'm trying to accomplish. Note however that this is for advanced athletes and more novice athletes may not need such high intensity levels to progress. One thing you should concentrate on though is speed of movement, especially on the second pull.
3. When running, the 3 on, 1 off program is 3 weeks with each of the 3 weeks getting progressively more difficult, then "unload" the 4th week.
I rarely increase the intensity or volume from week 1 to week 3 of a cycle, but otherwise what you said is right (for how I usually set it up).
Personally, I don’t believe 1RM heavy OLs are worth more than squats or DLs. Squats and Deadlifts require a great deal of initial force application. OL’s require the same type of force application, but greater coordination, and different extension parameters. The snatch in Olympic Lifting is closer to jumping, starting, and throwing than squats and deadlifts are. Between testing days of every macrocycle, the athletes who have shown the greatest improvements in power outputs and it’s maintainability have the better test scores and they show the greatest improvements in actual competition performances as well. I see better improvements in 5 hop, 5 bound, SLJ, STJ, and VJ scores that coincide with power development and not strength development. As for transferability, my kids do a lot of medball throws and almost all of their work is geared towards increasing power outputs and the ability to hold a power output for a certain period of time.
RFD is explosive strength…
the best way the develop this is with very high intensity cleans, snatches, power cleans/snatches, low volume, full rec OR submax load with maximal velocity quarter squats, cleans, snatches ect at 70%, low volume, full rec…depending on sports training for…
With the max intensity method, the bar is still moving slowly because of the high loads. Becuase of this, and with the aim being on explosive application of force, cleans, snatches ect are better than squats for developing RFD…
Due to limited arm strength in most people power, cleans, snatches etc are only benificial in developing RFD if the RFD of the legs is maximal and the bar is moved so fast that the catch is possible….
Basically something (load or speed) has to be maximal for the RFD to be developed. Squats just dont fit the bill nearly like OL’s do for this aim.
Olympic lifts are good because they provide an innate measure of both load and speed. If a clean is not fast enough, it’s not getting racked. If a heavy squat, speed squat, or jump squat isn’t fast enough…eh who cares (or who knows).
i dont think anyone said that sprinting wasnt the most important aspect of developing sprinting…
But RFD training with OL’s and other high intensity means develop an attribute which will be shown during the sprint…
You are a little off base with this conclusion, conjecture, or otherwise riveting opinion. If you train for strength and not rate at which work is done you will be left in the dust. You don’t have to increase strength to increase power, you only have to increase the rate at which work is done. In a lift, it’s the number of lifts per unit time, in a race it’s velocity, in a jumping event or throwing event it’s momentum of the implement/takeoff at release along with the trajectory of flight. Strength can help those numbers, but power is the deciding factor.
Let’s back up to the drop jump. If you are a coach whose well rounded in education you will know that a landing in the drop jump creates a reactive force which can aid jumping ability. You’d be able to further infer that the reactive force you create from a dropped height is controlled by elastic and eccentric capabilities of the human body, if it is too strong the contact time dissipates the energy/force return. Drop jumps train elastic and eccentric capabilities and not concentric capabilities. The 2 footed vertical jump is an SSC initiated muscular action, but it’s mostly dependent on the concentric abilities of that have been developed. In this sense, a combination of Snatch, Cleans, Deadlifts, Squats, OHB Medball throws, and 2 foot vertical jumps on a regular basis will fulfill the needs to increase the vertical jump. One can build strength by training for power, the strength increases are smaller, but their is little need for Western Style Periodization which is what you are suggesting correct?
yes i agree D…
The skinny guys who cant squat 225 or clean 185 but can jump 8m are not strong…but have incredible RFD…this can be developed without much increase in strength. Absolutley. I am also an example of this, this season. i am more powerful at the given strength that i am at now, than i have been at this strength level before. And this is because of all the power work we have been focussing on.
I totally disagree with the statement you just made…but in regards of RFD, if something has very powerful legs and a high RFD then that person has a higher chance of being good at speed and power sports. I don’t think you can argue against that.
For example, in the UK athletics national squad camps for the jumpers. One part of talent identification is a RFD test, which is performed using a fix bar in a squat position (knees bent 140 degrees) on a force plate. They evaluate the athletes RFD. Almost all the time, the athletes with the highest number, are or become the best long jumpers and are also the fastest in the group.
Delecluse (1995) found that concurrent heavy resistance and sprint training did not improve 100m sprint performance in average sprinters (100m in 12.4s) whereas concurrent plyometric (rfd related) training and concurrent sprint training improved 100m times by 0.2s with most improvement within the first 10m.
Blazevich (2002) who is now based at Brunel University alongside Nick Linthorne (the long jump researcher)-small world- tested highly trained sprinters that were almost elite (20m in 2.95-3.10s) with either a highish velocity/low resistance or low velocity/high resistance training program. All subjects were instructed to move as fast as possible and were also concurrently sprint and plyometric training. The high velocity group had a 4.3% improvement compared to the low velocity groups 2.9% improvement over 20m.
Yes, those with enough fast twitch fibre and sprint oriented nervous system will respond to resistance training but the more velocity specific group improved more. However, it must be realised that the high velocity group also reverted to lower velocity and heavier weights every fourth training session whereas the low velocity group only used higher velocity/lower weights for the first warm-up set. Therefore the high velocity group got the added benefit of stimulating as many fast fibres as possible during the heavier movements to complement the more rfd specific high velocity resistance training.
As for optimum power training at 30% 1RM, power is really only correlated to improvement at the start (according to me) and between 5-10m (according to me and Morin 2002). Therefore a reliance on optimal power training will not satisfy many other places in a 100m race.
(TRAIN SPEED ENDURANCE!!!!!)
There is little difference between using Olympic lifts and power or strength training. Faster movement shows to be more beneficial especially when combined with heavy more maximal training periodically. Olympic lifts could facilitate hip extension in combination with knee extension. I’m sure the squat could be modified to facilitate more contribution of hip extensors.
Yes practising the squat will benefit jumping much more than sprinting. However, training methods do have a small effect on sprint performance.
Plyometrics will reduce time over 10m by 0.03-0.04s approximately more than sprinting.
Plyometrics or velocity and movement specific strength training will reduce time over 10m by 0.06-0.08s more than traditional low movement velocity strength training.
However, it must be realised that current strength training methods (and perhaps plyometric methods) could be much more specific to sprinting. For example imagine doing a hang clean from a split squat stance or better still a split squat with one leg on a step hang clean. (Caution do not try this unless you are very conditioned and have excellent CORE STABILITY/Strength). Or even a jump squat or squat jump or unweighted squat jump in water (although the movement will still be too slow) from a split step position. Nick and Mike’s exercise idea would work well here.
Furthermore, imagine a more progressive plyometric program to take into account the contribution that connective tissue makes to the application of force. There is limited but improved plyometric methods that have been proven but not yet disclosed. I have no doubt that within 12 months much more movement and velocity specific training methods will be unveiled with good scientific evidence to remove the guesswork.
Without a doubt resistance training on its own will not help sprinting but any improvement in strength will benefit from sprint training as well. For example the squat can improve vertical jump by 4% but only help sprinting by 2% if velocity specific enough within the first 10m only. Is this gain worthwhile? Olympic lifts carry an increased chance of injury but are little better than fast squats and plyometrics within the first 10m. In fact, for those with poor hip extension strength/power (although not much is needed) OL may be the best choice. Granted all this is useless without concurrent sprint training. Are any of these methods better than a sprint program involving a combination of uphill and downhill sprinting? I would argue that it is unlikely. However I would also argue that there are improvements we can make to any of the above exercises instead of just accepting the status quo. My argument is based around the fact that less than 100kg of propulsive force is generated in total in a sprinting stride.
As for training the CNS with OL or resistance training, the two are not related. One is only training muscle fibre and connective tissue. OL muscle activation must come from the motor cortex. Plyometric training will more likely enhance the CNS (and the muscle recruitment thereof)as the spinal chord is known to be adaptable. Alternating limb plyometric activities and sprint training benefits the cross extension reflex activated muscle-connective tissue for sprinting.
Don’t worry about the argument getting personal - many great ideas have come so far from the debate. I think this is an excellent thread as most of us supplement our sprint training. I’m curious as to your training program and how much it has improved your sprinting as you are very adamant in your philosophy. (And I don’t think I’m disagreeing with you)
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I now do lifts to strengthen my upper body, and I think it will be increased this next phase because I didn’t have the increase in max strength that he wanted. I have developed my skill in the disc, but the shot I had not and I was stand throwing what I full threw at WAC champs last year. But I will say by far cleans have been the most helpful lift for me track especially when it comes to jumps.
I am talking about long term improvements after stagnation. I am not talking about a temporary benefit, but people who had previously not been improving and have been improving significantly since. They are most definitely proficient in the lifts.
*Specificity is not just movement or muscle related. Specificity can be motor recruitment related, contractile speed, coordination related, metabolic, etc. It’s very easy to get too caught up in the external appearance of something and associate that with specificity and not examine these other factors.
*Specificity isn’t everything. In fact, I think it’s equally important to work AROUND (+/-) the point of interest because the transfer of training affect and additional variety will provide a beneficial training stimulus that cannot be had when you get overly specific.
*There actually is quite a bit of research on the benefits of OLs for sporting performance. I don’t have the time to cite them all right now but I made a shell topic on the new wiki regarding the benefits of Olympic lifting. If you have an argument or research paper in support of doing them please contribute to the wiki entry.
Sprinting is skill which contains 4 skills:
1. Initial block clearance (skill)
—- Starting power, starting strength, reaction (abilities)
2. Acceleration sprinting (skill)
—- power, strength within a dynamic framework (abilities)
3. Transition from Accel to Max Race velocity (skill)
—- elastic/reactive power & strength within a dynamic framework (abilities)
4. Maintenance of Max Race velocity (skill)
—- power endurance of elastic structures and anaerobic metabolic pathways
By the end of a training season instead of my athletes doing training sessions working on specific skills of the 4 listed they are working on the main skill. They don’t get slower, they get faster and typically beat their previous PR’s by mid or early competitive season.
Sure it takes years to develop an optimal competitive olympic lift but it doesn’t take long to develop a good, safe technique. I teach using a top-down progression and only use the power variants. It’s just that I have seen more horrifying(dangerous) deadlifts than horrifying olympic lifts from incoming athletes that have been “taught how to do them”.
You’re stuck in power lift thinking with this one and using a one factor model for ‘maximal.’ You can’t compare loads used in one exercise and say that because you can’t lift the same load in another exercise (even if it looks similar) that it’s not of maximal load. Are front squats sub maximal because you can’t lift as much as in a back squat? Remember, maximal can be maximal speed, maximal load, maximal force output, maximal power output, etc. Note that OLs easily beat out heavy deadlifts on all of those except load (remember load does not equal force or power). This thinking is really WAAAAAAY off base in my opinion. In fact, the peak force, RFD, and power output of all the OLs is several magnitudes greater than what we see in the power lifts.
Totally agreed on this one. I push around heavy loads this way too but am much more cautious than I am with similar %s in the OLs. For example, for my highly experienced athletes I’ll use supra-maximal loads for partial or or eccentric only lifts and having done them myself and gotten feedback from athletes I know that these are far more likely to cause an injury than OLs. Same thing with deadlifts. I cringe when I see some of the pictures from some of the Hall of Fame pics from BFS or Barry Ross’s site in the deadlift. I’m expecting to see a thoracic vertebrae explode out of their body.
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Short term you would be correct about the heavy lifters pulling heavier loads faster, but not after 8-12 months. By that time the fast lifters with more power will be one who lift lighter loads, but at faster rates. The structural changes needed in the muscle for faster movements takes longer to adapt. The short-term gains in heavy lifting are neuromuscular adaptations which come along in 2-3 weeks for beginners. The problem is you believe heavy creates the adaptations you want, but in reality the changes you want take a variety of loading parameters on the bar with the fastest bar speed possible. Sticking to heavy squats or deadlifts will get you nowhere fast after 6-12 months. Strength gains without gains in mass will become almost impossible and power eventually suffers so over the course of a 4-5 year period a runner becomes slower just because of work in the weight room. Any athlete who trains with me and is new to weight room gets a heavy does of heavier and heavier lifting through 2 macrocycles, then its almost always ballastic, explosive, or partial lifts that are complexed with other lifts. The athletes still have an occasional macro of 2-3 microcycles of heavy lifting. Variety and specificity are the keys, I want more power so I focus on developing power and power needs to be displayed over a variety of spectrums (how fast, how long, how many, and how much).
Random note here. I had a 31” standing vertical PR in HS before I really started lifting(1998). It hit a 31” vertical last year with a 450lbs squat max and a 31.5” vertical last night with a 365lb squat max. The same can be said for my SLJ (~9’5” at the same 3 snapshots in time). If searching for heavier and heavier loads is so important, why have 85 to 200lb squat max swings had no effect on these jump tests? Why has my 55 gone from ~7.10 to 6.63 during this time? It seems that pushing heavier and heavier loads can help you….push heavier and heavier loads.
We are neither discussing Olympic lifters or Powerlifters as the typical athlete in this thread. The specifity of lifting to their particular competitive tasks require them to work specifically more to competition loads in the weight room. Even then powerlifters and Olympic Lifters have far greater ranges with which they work with than you give them credit for. However, powerlifters keep their power values relatively low compared to their absolute strength while Olympic lifters still have high strength and power numbers both relatively and absolutely. You take your basic powerlifter and they would have to weigh approx. 20 kilos more to generate the same power in an olympic lift. The bottom line is you can increase strength without increasing power and you can increase power without increasing strength but athletic performance relies on power output. If 2 powerlifters have the same strength, but the different max power outputs then the favored lifter would be the one with more power as he would have less fatigue in producing max values on all 3 competition lifts during a competition.
I don’t really think the stimulus is so redundant that it should be taken out of a program. Jumps and sprint work are indeed explosive and speed oriented but the difference is that they tend to overload the eccentric portion (up to 6-10x bodyweight on ground contact) of the movement more and OLs overload the concentric portion of the movement (pulling bodyweight + bar load).
One of the ways I use OLs during comp phase is as a strength maintenance tool. Because they involve so many muscle groups and because the emphasis can be shifted based on the load used they are my first choice of excercises to keep in a program as volumes (and exercises) in the weight room (and track) are dropped. For example, during comp phase, an athlete could substitute a normal weight workout with 6 x (2 cleans + 1 front squat + 1 jerk) and put in enough work on every muscle group to maintain the strength and power developed in earlier phases while keeping volume low to enhance system recovery.
There are no magic exercises for a specific event. Leg work is essential for sprint development. I’d suggest sticking to the basics: squat variations, lunges, pulling movements (especially the Olympic lifts) and pressing movements.
Ground contact time has a big deal to do with vertical, but the associated power generated in that contact time is biggest factor, so you must decrease contact time with an increase in force generated within that contact time. So all I can say is do cleans and snatchs along with deadlifts and squats, do some hopscotch and try to get quicker with the hopscotch pattern each time and hurdle hops for both speed and height/distance.
Sprinting can help reduce contact time, but force development and power are done with accel work mostly in "Sprint Training".
Vertical Jump is highly dependent on strength and low-end explosive power. Doing Olympic lifts and short jumps (things like standing long jump, standing vertical jump, standing triple jumps, etc.) would be your best bets for development.
danimal9 - 13 October 2005 07:59 AM
I really think you need to work on proprioception, coordination, and quickness/speed.
While I think these things are valuable I don't think training them will have too much of an impact on VJ performance. Given his weight room numbers I think you have a little bit of an explosive-strength deficit. I'd suggest putting the heavy lifting (especially the squatting) on maintenance mode and work on more reactive activities such as slightly lighter OLs and multi-jumps. Sprinting might help also if you keep the reps short.
Basically I'm just suggesting that you reduce the volumes and focus on heavy lifting and put more emphasis on more explosive exercises like plyometrics and sprinting. It doesn't need to be a wholesale shift but a gradual change would be beneficial.
The absolute load shouldn't matter THAT much….in my experience the % is a better indicator of intensity.
I would recommend not doing them on Thursday. While I typically wouldn't use them in-season, on the rare occassions when I have, I've always had better success doing them no later than 3 days before a meet (Mon-Wed).
(ECCENTRIC, SUPRAMAXIMAL, SLOW TEMPO)
I use them as a means of developing strength by switching up the stimuli. I also use it as a lead-in to supra-maximal fast-eccentric work which I've found useful for enhancing leg stiffness.
I'd personally never use them during a peaking phase…the negatives (soreness, low stimuli on both eccentric and concentric phase) don't outweigh the positives (increased time under tension, potential to increase strength via varied stimuli).
First, I personally am not a fan of partial ROM movements, especially when combined with very heavy weights. It works for some people, and that's fine for them, but I don't use them - but that's my opinion. It's a big world and everything works for someone, it's just not a tool that I like to use. So, I don't like 1/4 squats even though I know a lot of t&f coaches swear by them. Yes you can do a lot more weight, but I find that form breaks down during those 700 pound 1/4 squats and I've seen more back injuries from those than I care to think about.
Second, I don't like situations with supermaximal amounts of weight either - so eccentric squats with 150% of your maximum squat. Again, we all have good intensions but form breaks down too badly.
Third, in my opinion the weight room is a terrible place for sport specificity. The weight room is a great place to provide you with the physical foundation that you need for t&f, but you must then transfer it to the track. This means that you won't duplicate speed of movement, angles, etc. in the weight room and it's pointless to try (my opinion).
Typically with college t&f athletes, we have a general phase that runs into October. A specific phase that runs into December/January. Pre comp that runs January and into some of Feb (yes we're competing in indoors in Feb, but we're not peaking yet).
Now, this depends upon the level of athlete, but general phase focuses on fundamental exercises and strength/technique in those exercises. Lots of Olympic lift fundamentals (lifts from the hang), lifts off two feet (squats, RDL's, etc.), that sort of thing. Specific phase, for me, begins to peak strength and to apply it a little more to the event. Having said that, it's still a learning phase - which means we begin introducing things like eccentric/pause squats to the athlete. Those exercises aren't heavy yet (b/c the athlete is learning) and they aren't complexed with anything yet (b/c we're not peaking yet in terms of event performance).
I find that athletes have trouble transferring weight room strength to the track. Some of this requires a good t&f coach to help this occur, some of this is because athletes have trouble connecting the two mentally. So they may have a great back squat, but be unable to maintain their posture well on footstrike. I like eccentric/pause lifts as a way to help train this. But I don't like 100%+ lifts for reasons I just mentioned. I find that if these are done properly, they are extremely fatiguing (i.e. form breaks down) - which is not something you want to combine with too much weight.
I've only approached that one time and I really didn't like it. As with the partial ROM stuff I typically stay in the realm 105-115% for supramaximal work. At these loads I haven't noticed any technical detioration for eccentric work however all of these techniques are things I reserve for athletes with at least 3 years of serious training. In fact, research evidence suggests this is actually the strength capacity for eccentric force production. That is, what we are calling maximal is really a reference to an athlete's concentric maximal strength….there eccentric maximal force capabilities are actually up to 25% higher. As a result, I think it's perfectly safe to use loads that are considerably (though reasonably) above the concentric maximal load. In fact, because of the differential between concentric and eccentric maximal strength capabilities (with eccentric being so much stronger) I would actually think that using 60-65% of concentric maximal load wouldn't be sufficient to provide an adequate stimuli.Using a load that is 60-75% of concentric max for eccentric lift work would actually be somewhere in the neighborhood of using a load that is about 50% of eccentric maximal load.
I actually max out at least one lift every four weeks during the fall. I've never found it to be disruptive to training. We almost always do it in a rest / test week and it just takes the place of the day's lift that would have otherwise gone in that spot. If you don't want to test though I wouldn't do it. Everything has to be in the context of the whole workout plan. This is why I'd never farm out my strength training. Many strength coaches have problems seeing that it's the harmony between the weight room and track work that really makes things cook hot. When they are treated as independent variables you'll always run in to training and logistical problems….even if they are running a program that you give them.
00Scoots - 16 November 2006 07:12 AM
Mike, when you lift on the day of a home meet, what type of weight and vol do you use? I assume light and extremely low volume?
We go 5-6 sets of 1-2 reps at 80+%. The specifics vary depending on what we did earlier in the week.
Yeah simular to what cerebro said…its really important you develop power alongside you lifting very heavy…thus converting that squat strength into jumping POWER. ICan be done either by jumping drills, plyos and also what i do at the end of every heavy lifting session is to do 3-4x10 light 100% jump squats to remind your body to be fast and explosive and not slow. Also doing contrast heavy / light squats in same workout works very well. I have always found tha with this system as my 1repmax in squat goes up, so does my vertical and standing long jumping…and because of the other stuff i do, so does my long jumping and sprinting…
The power clean however, i think is more important to improving jumping…same principles apply.
VJ is a combination of elastic strength and explosive strength, therefore deep squats don't enhance those strengths specifically. 1/4 squats, speed squats, 1/2 squats, jump squats are more specific to jumping ability.
Just to back up what has already been said, there are numerous studies which show that a combination of weights and plyos is the most effective means of enhancing jumping performance. This is true even when total volumes of the various protocols are taken in to account.
Strength is prerequisite to most of the Olympic lifts. I'm only aware of one good OLer who didn't have a monster squat.
On rare occassions when I haven't been able to OL I've actually maintain OL strength just by heavy squatting. Sprint-plyo work can also maintain overall strength levels.
from the studies i have seen for the ol lifts its best to use 80%+ for peak power development, strength lifts bp/sq/dl 50-70%, ballistic lifts 10-40%.
Well, for concentric starting strength, paused jump squats or paused jumping good mornings would work well. Block starts or broad jumps without a countermovement would be good too. In fact, anything done from a pause with an attempt to explode should get the job done.
If you want to train force absorbtion capabilities you could use altitude landings or you could do drop and catch reactive squats, kind of like my reactive single leg squats but in back squat form, or reactive GHRs. All of these lifts are much less technical and provide equal if not better benefits than OLYs.
Carl Valle - 29 September 2007 01:13 PM
waste of time for 90% of most people…power endurance is best served from indirect means and the actual sprint program.
I agree with Carl 100%. Speed endurance is best left to track work. The only time I'll ever try to do anything specifically geared towards speed endurance in the weight room is when I have an athlete who is injured and can't run.
Barto - 05 October 2007 06:19 AM
I think that big sets of olympics can have crossover benefits on speed endurance. The major determining factors in speed endurance are holding posture over time and applying force over time. Both of these elements are covered in the 12 to 15 rep range of oly lifts.
I was forced to do this in a pinch last year with some of my injured athletes. It's not conventional and in many ways is seemingly contraindicated but I did feel that it was a decent substitute when there weren't too many other options on the table. We were doing them for times similar to what the non-injured athletes were performing their runs in. So for example, if we were doing 150s….the substitute might be continuous cleans @65% for 20s straight.
bodybuilding ? nah, dont do that…upper body work shouldnt kill you…but a push and pull exercise is necessary, the latts and chest are used in sprinting so to just ignore them would be silly…do them in a simular way you'd do the main lifts, maybe just less sets…and a lesser emphasis during comp time…
tkaberna1 - 25 November 2007 11:08 AM
I think doing a bodybuilding circuit once or twice a week will also help train the smaller muscle groups and during this time you get to use the isolated movements you want to use for bis, tris or whatever work you want. Just my .02.
i agree bb circuits would be a great way to hit some of the smaller groups in the upper body, at least twice a week.
i agree that chest and lats are very important no matter what event and should be train with a press and pull movement.
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