The story goes that he was simply slowly backpedalling when the achilles ruptured. So it wasn’t that act of playing basketball that ruptured it, it was the series of events that led up to that particular day.
So in other words Pfaff’s are the culprit?
Don’t understand how does doing eccentric calve raises lead to a blown pec?
Should say.
“In other words Pfaff’s methods are the culpit?”
You have to draw your own conclusions. I must say, though, that it is highly questionable why any athlete who is getting paid in excess of $100,000 US per race is playing pick-up basketball at the peak of his career. Regardless of what he ran after the injury, his career - as he knew it - was essentially done.
The same could be said for Mark Boswell, another of Pfaff’s athletes, who would consistently roll his ankles playing basketball. Who knows where he could be now with his high jumping if not for the chronic ankle problems.
I think some thought should be placed into Pfaff’s jumping circuits which can easily result in significant lower leg injuries - particularly for non-jumping athletes.
You rupture the achilles and then rapidly throw your arms in the air and pull you pec while shouting: “Damn! Shouldn’t have done all that extra calf work!”
Seriously though, I’m getting pretty sick and tired of people suggesting that anyone who doesn’t jump on a trend is missing the boat.
If there was a reason to do it, I would have done it. There wasn’t and I didn’t. Full stop!
In fairness to Pfaff I don’t know what he does with his athletes and if I knew his program led to these injuries I would be tearing him apart right now. What I do know is that basketball is the worst sport for injuries especially ankle injuries. Therefore no track athlete should be playing competitive basketball in his career and I firmly believe that. Now Charlie I know the mustang can’t quite get upto top speed and drag race like it used to but I think you still have enough in the gas tank to whoop me in 21 or HORSE or AROUND WORLD! LMFAO 
P.S. I STOP PLAYING BASKETBALL 10 YEARS AGO THANK GOD!
i have seen much of pfaff’s work. the eccentric loading was the exception, not the rule within the planning structure. his volume of skips, hops, jumps and throws, on the other hand, is a mainstay. perhaps the two together, as well as playing pick up hoops, it may be a bit much.
Can you expand on that? What Vol or methods does Pfaff use?
Pfaff places a HUGE deal of emphasis on general work like med ball throws, general strength circuits, hurdle mobility and muti-jumps. The eccentric calf loading is not nearly as important. Your claim of basketball as the worst sport for injuries is unfounded.
Are you Fing kidding me? It is the worst sport in terms of the amounts of injuries that occur, just do some research on the topic and I’m sure you will be dissappointed. 
http://www.nyssf.org/statistics1998.html
Look at the estimated number of cases in the first column (the most out of any sport) and also look at Age Percents Age 15-24 column which equalled 46.4 percent of people getting injured. Rugby and Boxing were the only 2 other sports that were substantially higher in the Percentage of people getting injured.
And from this source, http://www.musckids.com/health_library/orthopaedics/stats.htm
basketball
In 2000, more than 193,000 children ages 5 to 14 were treated in hospital emergency rooms for basketball-related injuries which is second only to,
bicycling
In 2000, more than 373,000 children ages 5 to 14 were treated in hospital emergency rooms for bicycle-related injuries. In addition, 173 children ages 14 and under died in bicycle-related crashes in 1999.
Those are also the two most poular sports for children ages 5 to 14. A statistic on injuries per participant would be valid, but not this. Sorry. Another cause is because basketball is a one of the few activities that your average sedentary slob is willing to get off their ass for. They have no idea what their ability level (or lack there of) is and get out on the court and try to be Michael Jordan. Their body isn’t ready for the the change of direction and other movements required, not to mention a proper warm-up. If you’re conditioned properly the chance of injury is relatively low. I play basketball, track and soccer. I’ve been hurt from track more than any other sport. You can quit talking out your ass anytime. The first study’s a joke. Look at the variance between ages.for There is no way that 55% of cheerleaders are injured. How about 55% for track. It gives no definition of an injury. Does it include chronic injuries or just acute injuries. If it includes injuries like shin splints, tendonitis, jumper’s knee (which it would have to otherwise how could 55% of T&F athletes be injured?) then it is complete BULLSHIT. These injuries are just as likely to occur from the sprint or jump training than the actual sport iself. Is there a chance of injury? Yes, but unless you’re an elite athlete like Donovan, there’s no need to let track dominate every aspect of your life.
You guys are getting away from the point(s)
First off: It is reasonable that you might be injured in the execution of your sport. It is NOT reasonable for a top athlete in one sport to be injured playing in another. This is why professional sports put exclusion clauses in their contracts.
Second: It is reasonable that there is an element of risk in the required training for a sport. It is NOT reasonable to place extreme demands on the same specific areas of the body (such as Achilles) stressed in the sport itself, hoping you will stay just this side of catastrophic failure, when you have other options in training.
We have had this discussion before under general vs specific strength which you can find covered in the Forum Review.
Third: Whatever the stats, Basketball has been responsible for just about every career-ending or career-limiting injury that I have witnessed.
1 Like
Charlie,
Not trying to be an ass here but didn’t you do calf exercises (tudor’s suggestion) up until the end of the '84 season? Just asking.
They were suggested in the weight program that Tudor was involved in but not done much in reality as there was so much calf involvement in drills and Strength Endurance. Also, the calf work Tudor suggested was relatively mild (squats up on to toes etc)
i think i ahve problemswith my calves muscles ,they are strong relativly to my leg muscles but the dont have a shape that shows this
Perhaps, among all the muscles in the body, the calf strength is the one least indicated by cross sectional mass. The calf-muscle tendon unit is greatly enhanced strength wise by the achilles tendon, negating the the need for a lot of bulk. Those that have alot of bulk in the calves don’t neccesarily have a genteic advantage for speed as they’re not allways stronger, and as pointed out before, too much calf bulk can decrease stride frequancy.
all this calf training talk. seems some may be looking for an “edge” where it is not.
i have ridiculusly unproportional calves.
Im 175lbs, 5’10" (that is 81 kgr, 1.80 m) 9-10% body fat, my thigs are 23.6" (60cm) and my calfs are 16.1" (41cm)
go figure, anything i can do to make em smaller?
why someone for here love to create a way to distract we real sprinters ?