how often do you guys throw in "deload: or "light weeks? also what can typically be done during this week that would’t defeat the purpose of the week? do you take total time off any training? do you reduce the volumes but still sprint/lift? do you just do tempo?
Usual pattern is 3 high 1 low int week but sometimes 2/1. Read about it in the archives or Forum Review- there’s a lot there.
charlies right if you follow that school of thought it is usually 3/1 just remembre to monitor your bodies reaction to the training. if you are planning something like a shock microcycle or something i would take my heart rate at strategice times during the day (upon waking up, after sets in the weight room ect.) to notice if there is any significant change as this can be a precurssor to overtraining.
hmm i normally only get 2-3 hi days per week and 2 low days… how much should the volume be reduced? do i go 100% on the sprint days?
Dude you are fine. You have almost no volume as it is judging by the workouts you have posted before. Just train hard for a little while and go a little easier after a few weeks (most likely when you are feeling slightly fatigued) and then go back at it.
i dont believe in submaximal effort so i cant comment on the training protocols you use.
Don’t forget the learning curve in sprinting; 95-99% absolute effort might actually have you go faster than 100% absolute effort if technique isn’t top notch. The goal is obviously to be able to relax and execute at 100% effort, but more than often, people get there gradually; first you have to be able to execute perfectly at slightly under 100%.
100% might mean the fullest effort wherein you still manage to keep your sprinting technically together. It does not necessarily mean ‘struggling’ at maximal effort. Volume is dictated by how you feel and when speed & technique deteriorates. How early you should stop before it deteriorates is a planning issue; in GPP you might go closer to the limit than in the SPP?
James
can i ask without being rude whats the reasoning in you not believing in sub max work?
nanny
your question is perfectly valid and I don’t take offense. basically we don’t want to perform at sub maximally so why do we train as such. if a may quote Ivan Adadjev orchestrator of the Bulgarian dominance in Olympic weightlifting “animals don’t have micro or mesocycles. they don’t have performance of 80% or 90% only for 100% all of the time. The way that animal’s prey whatever they do they do it best at 100% this is the way they survive.” forgive the broken English as this is a translation. we are training to survive and survival is always achieved through maximal effort. we all go through predictable streams of thought when we evolve as training athletes. in the beginning we think the more we train the faster we get stronger faster more powerful etc. eventually someone comes a long and tells us, as im sure all of you have heard, you don’t grow/get stronger/ get faster while you train, you get stronger when rest and recover from the strain. this is true but we must not forget the more often that we can train maximally the faster we will adapt towards the training goal. the problem then becomes recovery in between the sessions of stimulus. the faster you can recover the more often you can train the faster you progress. now understanding the factors involved in accomplishing this are varied but another consideration is this, motor patterns are different between sub-maximal and maximal loads. another consideration is that with maximal loads your body naturally seeks the most efficient means to complete the movement. the more efficient the movement pattern the larger the work capacity. Bulgarians have proven that high load high intensity and high volume work can be used to induce rapid adaptations. i will be the first to point out some flaws in the program though, but this indicates there are other means of loading. I believe that training should match and then exceed the loads experienced in the sport. for example because of limb accelerations forces during a stride it is said that the muscles of the leg can experience up to 6 times the body weight of the athlete. this means a 150lbs athlete will experience 900 lbs of force on a single leg. this of course is a general estimate but you get
the picture of the large forces involved during a sprint. how do you replicate these forces in the gym and how do you exceed these forces. well we apply the same logic that leads us to high forces during a sprint and apply the same theory to the weight room (or track, I don’t differentiate between plyos strength work or track work). Acceleration and velocity can account for large forces. for example stepping off a box 3.2 m high will result in forces of over 20 times the individuals body weight (I AM IN NO WAY RECOMMENDING DOING THIS, THIS IS JUST A EXAMPLE THAT I HAVE MEMORIZED, THIS TYPE OF TRAINING HAS TO BE PROGRESSIVE JUST LIKE LIFTING WEIGHTS). Now im opening up a can of worms let me close in saying that maximal does not always mean maximal load but maximal effort. weight of say 50% of max lifted at the highest velocity possible. but there is no in between no 60% for a nice slow set of 10. you want to perform maximally then train maximally. Of course there are other considerations but that give u an idea of my and a some others train of thought.
Yes, but who survived his model? Genetic freaks who had a state sponsored program for EVERYTHING (even things that shouldn’t be talked about on the board) and lived for training and pretty much had their lives controlled in many many ways. If someone (or most people) didn’t survive, then they were cut out of the program.
What kind of program is that when you are training a typical collegiate or rec. athlete who has other things to do and prefers to stay legal in their sport?
i stated there are flaws in the program but that does not belay the fact that its possilbe. and the key to their rapid results was from their large loads. i would not run a program in the same way the bulgarians did. but wut i will do is take what they have used and modify it to synthesis usefull training. it doesnt matter how much time you have or what “supplements” you use the loads imposed are still beyond the scope of these simple explanations. we must consider the theory and apply what is usefull and drop what is not to progress training knowledge otherwise you stuck with the same old shit.
Wouldn’t this drifting discussion deserve a new thread topic by itself,something like: “Max and Submax or Max vs.Submax”,and go back to discuss its original unloading topic? You gentlemen will excuse me if I take the liberty to start it…
when using a system similar to charlie’s where one uses a lift three times a week, just for example
monday 80% 62
wednesday 90% 33
friday 85% 5*5
and one continues this through a three week block of training, when does one retest to reset the percentage of CFmm used? Would I retest during the deload week once the fatigue from the previous three weeks has dissapated, or would this be too much intensity for a week where the main goal is recovery from cumulative fatigue, while still doing enough to maintain the strength fitness gained in the preceeding weeks? Any input on when to retest for CFmm would be greatly appreciated.
5x5x85 is very tough work, its really a 100% effort.
Another method discussed on the forum years ago to use if you are particulary fried is instead of the usual breakdown of 3 High/3 Low intensity days you could go 2 high/3-4 low days during an unload week.
In some rare cases going with 2 consecutive unload weeks could be used to promote recovery without any significant loss in general fitness.
Yeah I was just using the numbers as an example. I guess I didn’t think about how hard that would be. Good point though.