Activation sessions day before competitions

So typically with two acceleration days in the week, presumably with weights and plyos on the same day, were the other days low intensity in nature?

Depends on the time of year, most times Max V and Speed e or special e with two days of general strength work.

Can you please elaborate on Pfaff’s programme and why it is harder to follow?

Its harder to follow bc of the back to back high int days but this is where the art of coaching should take over.:cool:

Anybody else of note in that weight room?

There are some threads regarding Pfaff templates in the archives.

Do a search and then maybe , if in doubt, we can continue on those threads…
I’d be more curious on different coaches activation sessions.
I do remember something pre race suggested by poliquin ( for sprinters) some short ISO half squat minutes before the race?Have to check with friends…( could have been s.jumps with 30% bw…my memory fades…)anyone aware of that?

Anybody else of note in that weight room?

To be honest with you, I don’t remember who was there, I just remember there were other athletes. May be I was too focused on the task ahead.

Verkhoshansky has more than thoroughly elaborated upon the complex variant 1 (explosive strength) in which, and I quote, Uses the positive after-effects of the body’s reactions and those of the CNS
After performing tonic work, these effects are seen on the qualitative and quantitative characteristics of the training effect of the subsequent (specific) work

In such a case I would presume that the positive transference in T&F events would only be seen against disciplines whose competitive duration is less than the limit of the alactic threshold (ergo jumps, throws, and 60m) as the pre-event (meaning minutes before the event) tonic work would likely induce greater fatigue than that which is already generated specific to the event concerning the disciplines that draw from energy providing mechanisms beyond the ATP-CP system (ergo 100m, 200m, etcetera).

i do very heavy squats the day of compeition and eat mcdonalds right before too…and I still bet most elite athletes

It might be much less than the alactic threshold and may not be necessary so close in. The higher the amplitude of the stimulation wave, the longer the period can be- and the longer it needs to be because of that output and the type of fibre generating it.

Charlie what do you make of the use of the cleans after the quarterfinal? I know that you have vehemently denied the rumor about Ben’s pre race squats but do you see any value in performing similar potentiation methods either the day before or even up to a few minutes prior to a race?

You can look over my 10 day taper and see it in action in the taper DVd.
Some individuals use full body actions as part of a warm-up and it really depends on the level of intensity it represents and how tight the athlete is at the time and why he requires it.
Ben’s last potentiation with weights was 4 days out but you need to think of the role of the heats in this as well. He certainly needed the first two rounds to prepare him for maximum efforts in the semi and final.
In the taper DVD you see how things were adjusted when the athlete needed to be optimized for heat one.

Interesting, would you ever consider using weights as part of the warmup process in some capacity?

I agree CF, if the training is well plan then there is no need for all the lil tricks. Most coaches/athletes actually fuk things up when trying to improve the athlete performance when using such methods. WHEN IN DOUBT REST!

Slow down a little bit there, don’t forget that Donovan won an Olympic title after using “such methods.” Obviously he was able to use them with effectiveness. This practice is apparently not all that uncommon at the high level as evidenced by some of the previous posts. Perhaps there is a mechanism at work that we would do well try and understand rather than dismiss it without a thought.

I have 10 years of Dans training logs on my hard drive at work ( abt 1 gig of training logs). I’ll give you one example, if Donavan was doing starts, 12x30 from blocks he would have therapy between starts (loosen hip flexor, glut etc). Most of us don’t have access to a therapist in between runs in practice. Also that’s why reading the program on paper doesn’t give an accurate picture of what’s going on.

With CF system you don’t need therapy between runs to get through the session.

I added photos of Dan’s training center. Its in a warehouse, they only train on a proper 400m track once a week.

One more photo…

wow fastest man in the world at the time, using a warehouse for training:eek:

reminds me of my school team using the playground a few times, and the area around it, and we’re the number one team in the province.

I think he was working from UT when he was training Bailey and Surin.