I play football, mostly cornerback and some wide receiver. I have a weight training program that I’ve been doing for two weeks now yet I want to incorporate some sprinting and plyos. I searched the forum for info on tempo days but I’m still unclear about them. I was wondering if anyone could show me what a tempo day looked like as well as a sprinting routine that I would do on the days I lift. My lifting program is below. thanks very much.
Monday (legs)
Squat-1x12,10,8,6
Lunges 4x6
Calf Raises- 1x20,18,16,14 (first half of set are slow and second half are fast to recruit fast twitch fibers)
Wednesday (push)
Bench Press-1x12,10,8,6
Military Press-4x6
Skullcrushers-4x6
Friday (pull)
Deadlift-4x6
Power Clean- 4x6 (these are done starting from the floor so I guess they really are floor cleans)
Bent Over Barbell Rows- 4x6
Sprint workouts are a little tricky to prescribe, since there are a lot of factors. But a tempo workout is pretty generic.
Examples (all run at 75% of best or slower):
4x5x100m
3x7x100m
Big circuit (+ means 50m walk):
100+100+100
100+200+100
100+200+100+200+100
100+200+100
100+100+100
Basically, tempo comprises sets of 100-200m runs done at 75% or slower, for a total of around 2000m total for a 100-200m sprinter or 3000m total for a 400m sprinter.
For a receiver/corner, the 2000m volume should be okay. A lineman for example may only do 1000m.
Yeah, tempo is good cuz it helps to aid recovery by clearing out lactic acid while at the same time strengthening your joints/connective tissue to keep up with your strength. It also increases capillary density which increase oxygen to the muscles which allows you to do more work. In your case, I would do tempo Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday with the workout being 14100m @ 50-70% with a walk back recovery for the first week and then add 2 every week until you get up to 20100m walk back recovery. If thats too much to start out then do a little less and work your way up, and dont push yourself. Remember the point of tempo is to recover, not to beat yourself down even more.
Yes. I should have stated that you have to work up to the total volumes above. Even though it’s low intensity work, if you’ve never done it before, it will wear you out a little at first.