After taking several weeks off from track season I’ve been looking over the net for summer training tips, and came basically came across way too much information. From all the different ‘phases’ to different workouts ie tempo, acc. dev.,There is alot more to the sport than i’ve ever imagined. I understand some of this ‘track talk’ but get confused very easily. Whay I’m looking for is basically some help on a training program for a 400m runner (mainly a 400 hurdler). I was curious also on what the best way of weight lifting was. Is bodybuilding type (chest and tris monday, back tuesday, etc) a good idea for just getting overall strength for the summer before doing more technique lfting in the fall? any help and/or recommendations are greatly appreciated! thanx
Yea I’ve read your thred a few times,so what did you come up with finally for an overall workout, just curious so I could possibly base mine off of something. What all are you doin for weights, circuit of what? SB
I’m sure somebody will see this, glad to hear you checked out the site first.
Rupert
CharlieFrancis.com
In the end, i came up with something like:
Monday: (speed)
-3x30m Stride, 4x40m Acc
-plyos
-lower body weight
Tuesday: (tempo)
-5x2x100m
-Medicine Ball Drills
-Upper Body Workout
Wednesday: (SE)
-3(2x150m)
-plyos
Thursday: (tempo)
-6x200m
-Medicine Ball Drills
-Upper Body Workout
Friday: (speed)
-3(3x30m)
-plyos
-lower body weight
As for weight room exercises, i do a variety of squat, cleans, deadlift, and bench press. Hope that helps. If you would like to find out more, go to the Fundamental section and look at the Lactate Threshold topic, it basically covers everything you need to know 
400hurdler, Oni’s training sample is alot of weekly volume for beginner (excuse the presumption). I’d start the week with one quality speed session, and have two tempo workouts later in the week. 10 x 100 with walkback recovery is a great session for long sprint conditioning. If you haven’t trained for a while, start with 6 then each week up the reps by two. As KK said, hills are brilliant. Try to do them on grass, with a fairly gentle slope. 6 x 150m hills with walkback recovery is good. As for weights - 6 to 8 weeks of general hypertrophy can be vastly beneficial. Dont train like a bodybuilder. Focus on quality of lifts rather than mega-set marathons. I am a great believer in a strong back (upper+lower). Bench press is good but don’t become to obsessed with it. Prioritise. Squats + deads should be your focus. Alternate between these two lifts, three times a week.
Your lifting program could look something like this.
Session 1
- Squats 4 x 8
- Bench pull 4 x 8
- Bench press 4 x 8
- Chins 3 x ?
- Military Press 2 x 15
- Reverse Hypers
Session 2
- Dead lifts 4 x 8
- Lat. pull down 4 x 8
- Dumb. Chest Press 4 x 8
- Bench pulls 4 x 8
- Shoulder Raise 2 x 15
- Reverse hypers 4 x 8
Start light with squats. Take two/three weeks getting used to the lift - start with good form and you will reap the benefits when you go heavy.
More isn’t better. It’s far better to start off doing less than you could - you can always increase.
Thanks Flyer for the weight information; I think I will look into a program more like that for the summer. Although I have a few questions: I knwo what you mean about not doing mega-set marathons!(definatly not what I had in mind). But, would training like bodybuilders have their weeks set up be bad
ie–Monday chest/tricep day
–Tuesday back/bicep day
–Thursday shoulder day
Again, not doing mega set type stuff but doing moderate and basic exercises while incorprating legs (squats and DL’s) into two of those days with a few more leg exercises on those two days as well. Would this at all be an adquate workout? Or, like you recommended before, do multiple body parts each of the lifting days.
Also thanks Oni, althought I have a another question for you &/or anyone else. You have a nice workout there, seems like everybody contributed to your post and you came up with something pretty good, no doubt about it. But, what about 300’s and 600’s? Workouts involving these distances I’ve heard can be very beneficial,are the workouts you have now basically taking the places of such workouts (600’s and 300’s) or are these somthing you will incorporate in the fall or something. Just curious! thanks again
b400hurdlernut, the main reason bodybuilders break their sessions up into muscle groups is because of time constrains. 10-12 sets per muscle group isn’t uncommon.
You shouldn’t be doing this.
From my experience, a three day per week lifting program is the most effective approach for athletes with less than 12 months of training.
If you feel the need to to lift weights every day, then by all means go for your life. But it’s unnessasary.
As Flyer states, there really is no need to break up your training like this. Full body workouts are quick and efficient and get the job done.
From personal experience you don’t need to do as much volume for hypertrophy as some people might lead you to believe. In fact some less gifted individuals often overtrain because they think volume is the key to large muscles. Perhaps, if you do EVERYTHING right you will do better on a split routine but I believe 90-95% of the hypertrophy gains you are capable of making can be realised with whole body training.
Having a certain day for biceps, back etc has the psycological effect of making you feel like you should do more work for these body parts than is optimal.