lkh,
If I send you a PM would you be able to mail me a copy of the material? Sounds very interesting.
print some sample work-outs from ato’s material
I’ve emailed both files to several people who sent me PMs.
To nail it down further, is a couple of sample weeks OK, or do they have to be individual workouts? I think it’s difficult to have much of a discussion of just a single workout.
Firstly JS GPP is 12 weeks and it is not on grass, most of the sessions you point out are HSI workouts but the training week is not structured in that fashion. From direct experience and can tell you, what HSI do and what they say they do, are two different things
Misinformation is still alive and kicking…
Is this another case of a coach who is pressed by the organisation he works for to produce written documments of their training ideas?
This affliction is now rampant in UK athletics where many coaches have to write down (for people outside of their group) what they are doing in training.
What they write down for them selves and what they write down for others are often 2 diferant things.
This is why I didn’t take much noice of the Dan Pfaff paper that came out a couple of years back. I expect the collage or university track where he worked, asked him to produce a paper, or maybe some other pressure authority.
I think people end up writting down a theory-etical template or something.
That paper that I saw from Stephen Francis… In no way do I believe it is even a 75 % reflection of what Asafa Powell does in training. I rely a bit more on other sources that visit the group/s and observe and report.(Ironically)
I think you basically have to just grab an understanding of their generall phillosophy and adapt it, or bits of it. Mind, I think that’s what a lot of us do anyway.
Ofcourse, their are exceptions, and Charlie Francis has allways been forth comming (if that’s the right phrasing), to those interested, in his ideas and templates, …(I cannot carry on, becuase you can’t sum him up in a sentance and I don’t want to sound patronnizing.)
the gpp example Sharmer was commenting on was from 1988, so I think its fair that john has changed a few things since… and I know that Sharmer has seen what they do now especially with the 400 guys.
Also, Dan Pfaff is one of the most helpful people in this game, what he writes is the truth.
Jacko,
HSI 100/400 runners do very similar work in the GPP & SPP, e.g. the quarter miler may be do 3x600s @17s 100, whilst the 100m sprinters would do 500,400,300 @15s 100s.
HSI workouts are a lot more similar to CF workouts than they are to Dan’s. You’re right, Dan is liberal with the information he gives out. However, from my experience, coaches that have followed JS in what they do have had more success than following Dan’s methods.
Dan advocates too many successive speed sessions within a training cycle. Michael Khemal adopted much of Dan’s methods from 1999 onwards with Matt Shirvington, and most people know what happened to Matt.
From what I have seen the reason why Dan can do all that stuff is because his guys are getting lots of therapy. I’m not sure if you could do that level of volume and intensity without it.
Therapy or not, you need to look at longevity and injury history to tell the full tale.
As we all know Dan is one of the best therapists in the world and treats most of his athletes which permits them to train at higher levels more often also the results speak for themselves.
Please list the successful athletes that have come from Dan Pfaff
Has he worked with any top 200m/400m runners?
donovan bailey is a successful athlete that he’s worked with
R u serious?
From an online resume…
Amy Acuff (High Jump, fourth 2004 Olympics); Donovan Bailey (100m Olympic Gold Medalist, 1996); Mark Boswell (NCAA High Jump Champion); Jacob Davis (NCAA Pole Vault Champion); Dudley Dorival (110m Hurdles World Championships Bronze Medalist, 2001); Richard Duncan (NCAA Long Jump Champion); Brian Hunter (NCAA Pole Vault Champion); Tore Johnson (Former Weight Throw World Record Holder) Tom Lange (NCAA High Jump Champion); John Nichols (NCAA Discus Champion); Mikael Olander (NCAA Decathlon Champion); Mario Sategna (NCAA Decathlon Champion); Llewellyn Starks (NCAA Long Jump Champion); Bruny Surin (100m World Championships Silver Medalist, 1999); Obadele Thompson (100m Olympic Bronze Medalist, 2000); Ivan Wagner (NCAA High Jump Champion); Simon Williams (NCAA Shot Put Champion)
u of f bio:
Amy Acuff (High Jump, fourth 2004 Olympics); Donovan Bailey (100m Olympic Gold Medalist, 1996); Mark Boswell (NCAA High Jump Champion); Jacob Davis (NCAA Pole Vault Champion); Dudley Dorival (110m Hurdles World Championships Bronze Medalist, 2001); Richard Duncan (NCAA Long Jump Champion); Brian Hunter (NCAA Pole Vault Champion); Tore Johnson (Former Weight Throw World Record Holder) Tom Lange (NCAA High Jump Champion); John Nichols (NCAA Discus Champion); Mikael Olander (NCAA Decathlon Champion); Mario Sategna (NCAA Decathlon Champion); Llewellyn Starks (NCAA Long Jump Champion); Bruny Surin (100m World Championships Silver Medalist, 1999); Obadele Thompson (100m Olympic Bronze Medalist, 2000); Ivan Wagner (NCAA High Jump Champion); Simon Williams (NCAA Shot Put Champion)
Results do indeed speak for themselves …
Well lets look at the history of the coaches - John Smith has had a very good injury history with only one real serious achilles injury around 1992, whereas Charlie hasn’t had any to my mind.
Then - in terms of injuries in general - Charlies record is quite astonishing when you consider the human limits they were at - with only one serious hamstring injury and that was recovered from very successfully.
Both these coaches have had far lower injury rates than Dan Pfaff, who has had a history of achilles injuries including Bailey, Adam Mc Dougal, which is no surprise really when you think of all the high intensity single leg work done.
It’s patently obvious that both overuse of single leg work and high intensity work will lead to breakdown, usually quite severe, if maintained for a long enough period.
I thought Bailey injury happen while playing basketball? When you say high intensity single leg work, do you strength or plyos? So are we saying that Dan isnt a bright coach? In just one season:
Athlete Improvement
- In just one season, Dan Pfaff coached six athletes to nine PRs
Athlete Event Previous PR 2005 PR
Alex Harris O-Long Jump 24-7.25 25-0.75
O-Triple Jump 48-0.75 50-6
Jeff Hoffman Weight Throw 49-8.50 54-8.75
Richard Lawrence I-Triple Jump 48-3.50 48-6
Mike Morrison I-High Jump 7-3 7-4.50
I-Long Jump 25-7.50 25-9.50
O-High Jump 7-2.25 7-3.75
Tim Skeper Javelin 192-3 201-7
Jet Theriac Weight Throw 53-6.50 55-2
Also Dan is a very helpful Coach some coaches either charge you a arm and a leg or wont speak to you at all.