clueless to 400 meter preparation

Track & Field 400m
1

Okay guys, here’s the situation. Right now I’m around 195ish with about 10 percent bodyfat. My goal, since I am on scholarship for track and field as a 400 meter dash sprinter, is to get to 180 lbs 6-7 percent bodyfat by practice, which is August 16th, without losing much LBM or strength. My question is, what type of diet should I have? Should it be the typical bodybuilders cutting diet or should it be tweaked to fit a more active schedule for an athlete? here is what my training is going to look like, and please feel free to critique it being as harsh as possible:

Day 1- am weightroom-backsquats, lunges, step ups, core work

Day 2- pm sprints-nothing over 1000 meters of combined distance(8x100 meters, 200x4, 300x3)

Day 3- am weightroom- powercleans, hang cleans, one legged squats, weighted hyperextensions
pm sprints- 2-3 200 meter dash timed sprints, goal is to beat previous time each week

Day 4-am weightroom- barbell bench, incline dumbell, barbell shoulder press, core work, arms, calves

day 5- am plyometrics
pm sprints- 4x400s

day 6- am-tennis, basketball, or football.
pm- weighroom-whatever I want to do(my choice)

Day 7-rest

usually i’ll eat 5 meals or so a day including lean meats, complex carbs 2x a day, protein shakes after my workouts, and a fat source before bed.

please help. reps for well thought out replies and ideas.

2

You ask some very complex questions. If you want to train for the 400m then there are more important things to think about first before getting into such details. I guess the first is getting a coach and training group to work with. Your diet must be part of an entire training schedule which gives you the outcomes you want and at present i wouldn’t suggest your training is “ideal” for the 400m.

3

You shouldn’t open duplicate threads. See my response in the other one.

4

Okay, here it is in a nutshell:

I’ve been running track for 2 years. The reason I like getting my information on here is because a)people have experience
b)people usually are educated and know what they’re talking about.

Now, I realize there are exceptions, but this is generally speaking. I’m actually very afraid of finding a coach that is able to train me(I don’t know any around this area, I just moved here)…only to find out, 3 months later when I’m overtrained and oblivious to the fact that I had been trained by a guy with the mindset similar to many others out there that think more volume=better.

Which brings me to my question.

How many days a week should I be sprinting at 100 percent? What types of distances should I be doing? Weightlifting and sets/rep-range thereto? What can I do to GET into good cardio shape?

5

Would help to combine the posts from tyhe other thread with this one so there is only 1 going.

You say you are on a scholarship as a 400m runner. What is your racing history and what does the track coach have planned?

6

Yeah, sorry about the duplicate. Will delete it later. I was primarily a 100 meter dash runner just b/c our team lacked any talent in that area. PR for 100 meter is 10.98 my jr year(I ran track my jr and freshman year) and low 51 for 400. I am running for a JUCO because of academic issues. As far as what my track coach has planned, he just told me to relax and enjoy the summer, but…I know what that will lead to(drinking and too much free time)…which, in turn, makes me want to work as hard as i can this summer.