I couldn’t find a thread to put this in but thought it of note: On the local news last night here in Raleigh, they did a little segment on Trevor Graham’s group. Shawn Crawford was doing drills with no shirt on, and holy smoke does that guy have some serious back development. Erectors like a heavy lifter, deep lats, you name it, it was impressive.
Do you think this was intentional or do you think it’s a result of him incorporating non-essential body-building type lifts into his program just for personal preference? Do you think it has much impact on his speed?
He might simply have a very low body fat level, hence you can see his muscles so clearly.
I don’t know anything about Crawford’s training, but most of the top guys are built. Is this the optimal sprinter’s body? Is there something about this amount of musculature that tends towrds an ideal? Elite male gymnasts are all built basically alike. At this level, the demands are so high that you can’t do this stuff without being that built. It would be desirable to have as little bodyweight as possible so you can throw yourself around, but you apparently need that level of muscle to have that kind of both power and strength. Do sprinters need the amount of muscle we see on the top guys, or is another body type better? I think there’s reason to think it’s needed, because if we look at elite runners from ultramamrathon to 60 Meters, we see them getting thinner as we increase distance and more built as we go shorter (and faster). Maybe the build we commonly see in 100M guys is the right idea, which then raises the question of how much time doing what exercises combines to create the body without hampering that body’s ability to do what you want, in this case, sprint 100 meters.
Well I remember in Speed Trap it was mentioned that one of the things that allowed Ben to have such phenomenal starts was the fact that his back muscles were incredibly strong. So maybe this has something to do with it, although I havent really noticed Crawford because of his starts.
It permits the athlete to maintain the correct body position and direction during the starting and drive phase
crawford won the 60 indoors did he not? maybe it was this year or last year?..i like him for athens…good 60m speed and good finisher because of his great 200.
crawford looks like a beast, i remember in Athens when they were doing the post race interview and he had the top part of his suit off, he looked like a linebacker.
i remember back in 2002 crawford was almost half his size now! and then he came back in 2004 with a hug musculature and went on to run 6.46 in US indoor trials and 6.50 to catch the silver after gardner in 6.49. so it has obviously worked for him. and then ran new times that year in the 100m 9.89 and a new time in the 200m 19.79, so obviously crawford needed that muscle mass to provide more power and hence more speed. charlie says about bens lower back development in relation to his start because he says you would need a very strong back with your blocks so far behind and hence your centre of gravity infront of u, if u not that developed youd ultimately fall on ur face.
this is my frist time writing and i want every body to know that charlie program works, coach in my area dont like me that much because of my kids success,my junior this year ran a flag staff on feb 19 in the mens 400m in a pr time of 48.19, 200m in a pr of 22.08. my other kids redshirt from college ran the 60m in apr of 6.75, 200m in a pr time of 21.28. so my first check i will give you twentyfive %. in 2000 my boys win the state champship 100m 200m 400m 4-100m 4-200m,but at the end of the night the official says my boys came to the track late they only check there spike, uniform batonwe know they wanted to find a reason to dq them and they did .in 2001 my boys win the 100m 200m 3-4-200m.so thank charlie i am from jamaica too in my heart you are the best every. tell ben.we love.him.like life it self