What happen???
Anyone know where to find the Pfaff General Strength DVD?
Everywhere I have looked has either been shut down (website) or lists it as unavailable.
MF used to sell it but said last fall they had asked DP to get them more copies but did not think that would happen. I think this limitation of the materials he put out is part of the UK lockdown of their current salaried coaches.
You can always go the Canadian athletics coaching site and view some of his videos there.
I’ll check that out. Thanks.
Random question, but I’ve seen the exercise “hurdle reach” in various other programs. Does anyone know exactly what that is? I’m assuming that it involves some sort of throw or exchange of a shot/med ball given it’s in the multiple throws series, but I’ve yet to figure out exactly what it is.
I have the DVD. It doesn’t involve any exchanging with a MB. From a standing position, hold the MB directly in front of your chest with your arms fully extended. Then simply kick your toes into the MB. Similar to the Frankenstein walk warmup drill. It gives a good stretch to the hamstrings.
I had the priviledge of a month and a half of training under Glenroy Gilbert back in 2005 and we used both of those circuits quite often. If I remember correctly, we’d do them more often then not on tempo days or at the end of easy speed days.
Started with 10x each exercise going from 1 exercise to the next with hardly a pause and we would generally go through twice per circuit so 2x Bataan 2x Waterloo etc. As we became more adept/strong/comfortable we would add more reps per set then up the sets but while I was there, it never went beyond 2 sets of 15 reps per exercise.
Did you feel these circuits were equal to tempo for developing gen fitness?
Why do one or the other? Why not use them in conjunction?
And for anyone who wants the old DVD, doesn’t look like it’s available. But he did re-do all the practical sessions for a 16.99 video over at athleticscoaching.ca if you really want to watch his stuff.
Maybe but that’s not what I’m doing in gpp… See below:
Mon/Thur: Hills/LB
Tue/Fri: Tempo/UB
Wed: GS circuit - low impact general fitness work
Sorry I probably wasn’t clear, they were done on tempo days AFTER the running portion of our tempo was completed, not in lieu of the running.
I thought they did a great job at developing general fitness. You can literally do almost every exercise from both of those circuits in your house if you wanted and they will definitely kick your ass if you do them properly.
I thought you guys were training Pfaff style - I understand Pfaff don’t like ext tempo runs.
Pfaff low intensity days may look something like below:
WUP
6-8x60-80m tech runs (optional)
GS circuits
MB circuits
Hurdle mobility
Man, it’s been a lot longer than I thought and my memory is apparently exceedingly poor. I just dug up one of our old workout sheets to verify and what do I see?
Tuesday
- Warm up
- 5-8 50 to 90m light runs
- Extended & Superior 2x40m
- G.S x15 Bataan & Pedestal - (on a Swiss ball)
- MB Gas & Tank x10
- Body building 2x10
- C.D
From what I understand this was their origin, Pfaff needed a way for traveling athletes to get a workout in while confined to a hotel room.
I’m currently in Austin, Texas for the summer working under a heavily Pfaff influenced coach. I am in a competition phase, and we do tempo runs followed by Pfaff GS circuits, though tempo seems to occur only once per week in Pfaff programs (correct me if I’m wrong).
They are not the 60 to 80 metre technical runs described above, they are basically Charlie style tempo runs, except not done in a big circuit / small circuit style. They are usually done in sets of 10, so currently we’re doing 1200 to 1400 metres of tempo, always in the format 10x 100 with 1 minute rest, 3 minutes rest between sets, 2-4x 100 with 1 minute rest, then 2x Pfaff GS circuits.
Charlie’s Big Circuit is definitely tougher and provides more of an aerobic workout. I like having 200’s mixed in, it provides an additional challenge.
The Pfaff GS differs from the Charlie style medball and abdominal circuits in that the volume of Pfaff’s GS circuits is lower, the intensity is higher, and each set takes only five minutes or less.
Charlie’s medball / ab work has higher volume, lower intensity and takes about 15 minutes per set and is tough, but a phenomenal full body flush. Overall for me, the full body flush I get from CF medball work is superior than the benefits from Pfaff GS work for recovery purposes. Pfaff GS work feels more like “work” than “recovery” after everything is complete, if that makes any sense.
When back in Toronto, I use CF tempo along with the medball circuit on tempo days. As was stated above, the Pfaff GS work is good quality. I use it in place of medball work if I’m running out of time and have an off day the next day, and is also good to use with developing athletes not ready for the weight room.
Monday – Short speed running (30 to 40 metres) and heavy weights.
Tuesday – Technical, focus on the smaller muscles.
Wednesday – Speed endurance running (90 to 150 metres) and heavy weights.
Thursday – Regeneration day. Long warm-up, stretching, bounding on grass.
Friday – Power speed running (30 to 40 metres) and heavy weights.
Saturday – Race day, or raw-speed day. Get up at 10 a.m. Three runs of 150
metres, with three-minute rests in between. Treats yourself to huge grilled
salmon at night.
Donovan seem to not have tempo or general strength was he simply different in that regard or did those things were only done in gpp back then?
Also how was he running one day before the meet? Were they only sub-max runs and activation lifting?
DP does not like slow ext tempo/road work. The pre-meet runs were only 4-6x20-40m+olympics-6x2@80-85%…
Never heard/seen DP do that much ext tempo - maybe a couple 100’s striders and even then the intensity was slightly higher then ext tempo…
thanks RB!!!
DP programs slightly different from Charlie but there are many many similarities. Almost like they came to the same conclusion through similar sources.
One thing DP will do different is he will use 100m up-backs on the Wednesday early in the year, This is basically extensive tempo as the volume will be around 1000-1200m roughly. This starts coming down in volume and going up in speed and becomes a max velocity/speed endurance day over time. Key point - as the year goes by volume goes down, intensity goes up and rests get longer.
In GPP I have seen some DP material with hurdle mob, 3xvarious GS circuits, medball then weight circuits. This is after doing the technical/conditioning type runs at less volume that Charlie. Not too much need for more tempo volume with that many GS circuits, then medball then weight circuits I wouldn’t think.