hemann
January 25, 2011, 12:46pm
129
I suppose, not a fan of the “best” term though . There are so many factors going into it. Understand gct and the F/T relationship, then decide what to do depending on the athlete and the situation at hand. Certainly Sprinting and speed drills are the most specific and closest in GCT, but as stated earlier Plyos, bounding, skips, and weights all have their place.
So basically you’re saying its a combination of strength + flexibility + technique + relaxation + jumping and bounding drills
lkh:
Keep in mind that the guys running 0.80s and 0.81s in races are the guys doing some power work (sleds and the like) but also lots of overdistance .
For your fitness level, the best way is to improve MaxV is to do flying sprints with a long leadin–as long a leadin as your fitness can handle. Charlie had Ben do flying 20s with a 60m leadin; Gay with Bauman has done flying 30’s with a 45m leadin.
What doesn’t get talked about as much is that after the acceleration zone, you have to be able to produce ATP fast enough and long enough to train MaxV. If your legs can’t go fast enough after accel for 50-60m, you cannot train your CNS to respond faster. This requires the fitness you get from significant amounts of SE and IT. Without this fitness, you will plateau in MaxV quickly.
Alternate leg bounding is believed to be the best plyo exercise for MaxV. But if you look through the literature, it is difficult to find any citations for plyos improving MaxV. I found a bunch with sleds and such improving the first 20m (accel) but with no effect on MaxV.
i don’t think you are alluding to speed endurance, however- just to clarify… Im asking about improving top end speed. Are you saying the best way to improve top speed is to practice top speed? Or that the average non-eliete trainee should focus on lengthening the amount of time spent at their current top speed? (Or both, of course)
