[i]I recall watching training footage of disgraced Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson before his >>>>>>>>>. For one particular workout, Johnson brought a squat rack onto the track and performed an extremely heavy set of back squats (I think he had over 500 pounds) for 3-5 reps, then immediately burst from the cage in a full speed sprint for 60m.
The reasoning behind this was to overload the nervous system in a sort of “pre-fatigue” manner with the back squats, and then have to generate power through the already tired legs to achieve top velocity.[/i]
supa power: Where did you hear about Ben Johnson doing the squats before sprints?? His coach Charlie Francis was completely against this and says it never happened.
Dean Somerset: @Supa power - I saw a video documentary a few years ago, and this was one of the components they showed. Can’t remember who his coach was at the time.
Fast-forward to see him squatting on the track. This documentary was edited and didn’t show him sprint out of the cage, but you get the picture.
OorWullie: Cheers Dean, good video. First of all I wasn’t having a go at you. Just I have read most of Charlie’s books, and the articles he did on T-nation and I know he was against squatting before sprinting. Weights were done, but, only ever after the sprinting. After all sprinting was the goal, so this got the main focus. All this video shows is Ben squatting, and not at what time. Ben did his weights after his speed work. So this could very well be after he had done his speed work for the day.
Dean Somerset: @Oorwuille - No doubt after he did his speed work, but still he was probably going at about 75% out of the cage. It’s a shame I couldn’t find the english edit of this, because it actually showed him pull off the knee wraps and run forward. The concept was what stuck in my mind though.
After I learned about this effective training technique, I returned home and used it with great success with bobsledders, lugers, skiers and speed-skaters who were preparing for the 1992 Albertville Games. Other top athletes have used elements of this type of training with great success, too. For instance, Olympic Gold medalists Valery Borsov and Ben Johnson would squat a 3RM load ten minutes before their record smashing performances in the sprint to make use of this post-tetanic facilitation.
This never happened nor does it make one bit of sense.
Ben never squatted and then ran 60 meters pre 1988 or post 1988.
The person writing that article for Tinyhead ( tiny brain and tiny thought process) magazine has no idea what he is talking about.
The only place i know of that had a gym near the start line was Runaway Bay, at the time the headquarters of the ATFCA. I believe it was common practice to do squats then run straight away. Maybe that is why Aust has so many top sprinters. (tongue in cheek)
My gawd, that’s the funniest article I’ve seen in quite a while … or maybe not … since I don’t want to imagine how many athletes or wanna be athletes must have gotten injured following that sprinting after squatting program they propose.
“Yell, scream, kick, and claw to get every rep out, and put every ounce of your being into every second of the sprint work. Since the rest intervals are only 90 seconds long, you won’t have full recovery before beginning the next set” No need to add comment to this.
