In the Rigth-to-Left chart, Charlie outlines the idea that the difference (time) between elite and begginer sprinter rises as the distance of the run increases. Thus, “why fight for tenths or hundreths at the start, when you can gain the seconds in the later stages of the race trough general conditioning”…
So, what should be the fastest method of improving one (begginer) 100m or 200m speed???
Should he avoid acceleration work (10-30m) and mostly work on speed endurance? Should Long-to-Short be used in this case? Weigths and tempo work only?
Interesting question? I totally see your point. I would argue however that some form of speed work needs to be done to simply practice the motor patterns etc. However, the speed endurance could be enough high intensity sprinting to cover this. I don’t know!
Now you see my dilema
I am NOT talking about childern here… I am talking about adult, maturated begginer sprinters who are capable of running (not some couch potato).
So their general conditioning is solid correct? In that case speed endurance would probably lead to the greatest reduction in times. Since they are slower and likely reach peak speed sooner in both events, they will spend a much longer portion of the race using speed endurance.
Edit: At least in the short term I would think it would lead to the greatest improvement. I am not sure about how you would take this into account for long term planning.
I could be wrong but I think charlie’s comment on General conditioning would apply more to kids or people who are out of shape and show significant muscular fatigue during the race.
I agree general conditioning is a very vague concept, but I see it as the ability to carry out and recover from low intensity work, so your looking at training modes such as tempo and circuits. This of course is just what it means to me.
I like the short - long for beginners of any age becuase as maris mentioned it helps sets up proper neural patterns but also helps them create a proper acceleration, and we know thats key for reaching higher speeds. The other part that i like is that it start with higher volume shorter recovery runs that is a way of working speed endurance. I think for beginner adults keep the recoveries even shorter and as the spp progresses as in the S-L lengthen the recoveries so that they have endurance base.
Tempo is great way to get conditiong. I personally feel it helps my longer sprint workouts from the cardiovascular help.
S-L starts with higher volume shorter recovery work? Not questioning or criticising, I think my understanding of the differences between L-S and S-L is a little weak anyway. I would have thought it was the other way around, unless perhaps you are referring to tempo. Could you please elaborate for me?
If they havn’t trained before then just getting them fit and hitting the weights room makes a BIG difference. Think about your average female soccer player. What would happen if they lost a few KGs? Now look at the difference between a top female soccer player and a top sprinter. Body composition and strength levels are 2 immediate things. Of course you still have to work technique the whole time because it takes years to perfect.
Suppose we have an athlete in general good shape (soccer player, kickboxer, etc) who for some reason need to be tested in 100m.
a) You have 1month to prepare him (short-term)
b) He totally switch sport and start training sprinting (long-term)
What would you do in (a) situation (weigths, tempo, long-to-short? [some acceleration work with some techique, but gross volume would be speed-endurance]) and what in situation (b) (something more simmilar to GPP program outlined here)
If he’s a decent soccer player, chances are he has good general fitness already and should concentrate his SE on distances out to 120 or 150m max while maintaining his tempo work at the current level (which should be very easy to do at that point)
Sorry, I should clarify, i wasnt comparing l-s and s -l volumes i was just making a general statement about the s - l program. The l - s program has more volume for sure when compared to the s - l especiallly if its a beginner.
