I am trying to increase my strength to weight ratio for sprinting. Back in high school I trained for a long time like a bodybuilder and gained a large amount of weight but for the amount of muscle I have I still feel that I am not very strong. In Bompa’s book “Periodization training for sport” there is a sample of the strength program Ben Johnson supposedly used in the mid-1980’s. I modified it slightly to better suit my tolerances and preferences and have been using it for the last 2 years. So far the results have been great but I still find that my weight is slowly creeping up. My body fat varies in the 6-7% range so I don’t have too much fat to loose. Does anyone have any suggestions or ideas way I could improve or do things differently? Thanks
What modifications did you make? The volume of lifting recommended in that program is crazy! If you are lifting after track I hope you dropped numbers by at least half…
Providing your strength to weight ratio is increasing I wouldn’t worry too much.
Some suggestions however:
- Decrease reps to ensure any hypertrohy is ‘functional’. Note this does not necessaryly mean intensity increases.
- Introduce dynamic movements, i.e. replace deads with power cleans; bench with push press. The lower time under tension will limit hypertrophy and the increased movement velocity and compensatory acceleration will increase specificty (don’t crucify me CF!). In the Jon Edwards training diary thread you can see (SHOCK :o) he actually dropped squats prior to the '95 WR season. Possibly this is because Carl believed improvements in this exercise no longer crossed over to Jon’s jumping.
Adam,
might you be able to post a sample session and detail other training that you do?
How about the european old school periodization.
first 6 weeks 10-12 reps
second 5weeks 5-6reps
third5weeks IKtraining(1rep(95-100%))five times with 5min brake or 1-2-3-2-1repswith 5min brakes
in the third session you should get it accomplished.Be carefull the third session weightlifting is very dangerous and should always be done at the beginning of the training. If you are younger than 20 you should not do it or if you dont have at least 3years of weightlifting behind you.
hop step jump: see ‘Pre Strength’ Thread
Sorry it has taken me so long to reply.
I know the program has crazy volume so I cut out 1 or 2 sets depending on the loading pattern.
Here is a sample. I will normally do this three days per week I train in a circuit training manner. I do squats, arm pulls, leg curls, reverse leg press, close grip bench press, and power cleans.
Week 1: Squats through bench press: 70/8/1, 80/6/1. (% of one rep max/reps/sets) Power cleans: 70/8/2
Week 2: Squats through bench press: 80/6/1, 85/5/2, 90/3/1. Power cleans: 60/8/1, 70/6/1, 80/4/1.
Week 3: Squats through bench press: 85/5/1, 90/3/2, 95/2/1. Power cleans: 70/6/1, 80/4/2
Week 4: Squats through bench press: 80/6/1, 85/4/1. Power cleans: 70/6/2
Week 5: Squats through bench press: 85/5/1, 90/3/2, 95/2/1. Power cleans: 70/6/1, 80/4/2
Week 6: Squats through bench press: 90/3/1, 95/2/1, 100/1/2. Power cleans: 80/4/3
I hope that makes sence