Interview with Tudor Bompa

[James_Smith]

@lkh

Those, now, are not my opinions, those are Shaver’s.

I know, you were clear.

@lkh

but John Smith also pays particular attention to how fast the bar is moving (with sets of about 10 reps for primary lifts).

Equally as disappointing, as now not only is it implied that the speed of lifting the barbell is important for the sprinter but also during the context of high rep sets on the primary lifts.

It’s information like this that lies at the root of my criticism of many in the industry, even those at the ‘perceived’, or via ‘assocation’, ‘highest’ levels.

Some things are open to debate (ergo general exercise selection, long to short, short to long, and so on); however, some things are not.

Hence, while it earns me my own share of criticism and haters, I must caution all readers to closely scrutinize the methods of even those who are, according to conventional wisdom, the most celebrated coaches because what you may find out, as is too often the case, is that a fair share of success often occurs in spite of, NOTdirectly because of, the coaching.

While this may sound preposterous, hence the friction I receive for stating my unpopular opinion, I have had many a conversation with individuals ‘in the know’ that are in a position to reveal coaching tactics and otherwise that are strikingly absurd.

@lkh

You don’t get the gains unless you minimize those risks!

When I first learned of Loren’s contrast training workout (and I have no idea whether he invented it, but it seems that he popularized it), I saw gains of 0.2-0.3 in 60 meter times after ONE session. The problem was that I injured my hamstring after two sessions for 5-6 weeks and didn’t get to compete.

Somebody here on the forum who I’m not going to name saw a 0.3s improvement in 150 after ONE session.

I know it sounds too good to be true, but you have to see it to believe it. But there’s a giant gotcha: You have to learn how to do this safely.

One advantage of this approach over the towing-type overspeed approaches (and maybe some of the stuff Franno does with sleds) is that you only have to tempt fate–yes, I think that’s the proper way of looking at it–once or twice.

It looks like I finally learned how much to cut back everything else to make contrast training work safely, which is why I listed every single workout (and every single non-workout) in one of my posts above. And from what I’ve learned now, I think I’m going to end Phase II this way from now on.

Just sent you a PM.