John stuff

hahhahaha John, this comment was hilarious !!!

On the 2nd skips - i would focus on more front side mechanics - ie, higher knee drive ect. And it’s a good time to focus on the arm mechanics too. They open up too much behind you again…
Perhaps also focus on being “taller” - which should lead to more hip height, foot landing under COG that type of thing.
Otherwise, looks good.

Any particular advice on rolling?
Just roll out every muscle in the hips 2x or 3x a week?
Thanks!

Sorry for bumping an old thread, but thats some sweet running John. Moving really well!

Yep - or even 5min per day on legs or back with one 1hr roll on a weekly basis.

Just keep it slow and wait till the pain or the hard lump goes away.

Most youtube clips go way too fast. On some esp tight muscles i used to wait up to 5min on the same spot, then the muscle just relaxed instantly…

Once rolled, give that muscle a good stretch or ICE if its still sore.

double post

Thanks Bold!
Any particular muscles? Im sure im tight all over.
I really struggle with getting my ankle over support knee :frowning:

I took some videos yesterday, but they’re almost too embarressing to post :frowning:

I do em all.
Thighs, all 4 heads take 3 x different passes to get into them
Groin - basically same as Medial Thigh - i use a foam roller
Hip flexors and TFL/ITB - i use a mediball
Glutes - i use a Mediball
Hammies - i use a 5kg dumbbell
Calfs - use a 5kg dumbbell
Lower back - use a small foam ball
Shoulders - small foam ball

Just make sure to stretch afterwards

For me - my most often muscle group is the Hip Flexors - it really makes a huge difference having them loose
Dumbbells were the only thing to really get into my hammies - was a life saver.

I do em all.
Thighs, all 4 heads take 3 x different passes to get into them
Groin - basically same as Medial Thigh - i use a foam roller
Hip flexors and TFL/ITB - i use a mediball
Glutes - i use a Mediball
Hammies - i use a 5kg dumbbell
Calfs - use a 5kg dumbbell
Lower back - use a small foam ball
Shoulders - small foam ball

Just make sure to stretch afterwards

For me - my most often muscle group is the Hip Flexors - it really makes a huge difference having them loose
Dumbbells were the only thing to really get into my hammies - was a life saver.

My quads have all sorts of knots right now. Do you just change the angle to hit each head?

In addition to what Bold is suggesting also do hurdle walkovers and over / unders. IMHO they are under rated, to be able to do them like Ange does in the GPP DVD takes a lot of flexibility!

Yep, pretty much.
The Lateral Heal (the outside head) you’re bascially on only one leg with all your body weight on that leg - It typically hurts like all Buggery.
To get used to it, basicaly my legs were shocking, i had to use Two foam rollers to take the pressure off a bit. I can now use a Mediball most times it is now that much better.

John is correct, IF you cannot do Over’s n Unders, then you’re too tight.

you can vary the height of the under so should be able to, what I was meaning was the low setting (Women’s 400m 30 inches / 76.2 cm) Ange and this guy is shown doing…still a work in progress for me :stuck_out_tongue:

//youtu.be/cRlEI9sMwXY

//youtu.be/2RH7_EWa0kQ

//youtu.be/ffgfipUA5-w

first time at the track in months

//youtu.be/kxeeECgSbvs

//youtu.be/C6uSVUO59IU

Here is a PM I got that is worth sharing and commenting on, hopefully the person (who isn’t identified and I edited one bit to ensure that) won’t mind.

[b]having a look at some of the videos in your thread. thought I might make a couple of observations.

first off, I reckon you might want to try keeping your forearms closer to your chest in your arm swing. I think that having your arms out in front too far fulls you forwards. have a look at bolt from side on (just one example). his elbows hardly go past the front of his body and the forearms are at right angles to the ground. most of the arm swing happens behind. tyson gay is another example of this. tight angle at the top, open angle at the bottom.[/b]

Thanks for the feedback, all welcome. To start with, from early September till December I hardly ran due to injury and till 1 April I have only been to the track once with everything done on grass. This has impacted upon a few things not the least being alignments etc. In addition this is the first video work for 12 months and not having a coach (by choice) I rely on that for my feedback.

I agree re the arms swing and that is why I posted the drills vid, which was a week after the running ones, to show I am working on down not back. Not 100% convinced on the tighter angle at the top though, what I think I was doing was not setting my arms at 90deg to start (they were too low) so therefore everything was out of whack. In the drills vid you can see I make a conscious effort to correct this.

secondly, I reckon you are emphasising the knee lift too much. you would be better off thinking of powering your leg downwards as quickly as possible. charlie used to say that if your knee is parallel to the ground it has gone too high. if you stand upright and bend your leg until your knee is at its furthest point from your body that is the ideal height for the knee lift. think of making triangles with your legs. I sometimes think of driving my thighs forwards without lifting my knees at all. the knees do actually lift but the result is that they don’t go beyond that ideal point.

You are right re too much knee lift being an issue however lack of knee lift has been an issue for me in the past and I think this may be a carry over from all the grass running and having a sore R knee which means my foot strike can often be quite painful (was really bad on Sunday). Will see how it goes over the next 4-6 weeks and think it may correct itself.

[b]thirdly, I reckon you need to focus on making your movements faster. this was especially apparant to me in the med ball videos. you bent down slowly and pushed up slowly. the whole motion should be fast so you can bounce back against the stretch.

try this, it works a treat for me. stand in front of a mirror with your hands touching each other at nose level. bring them down quickly and up quickly. do this a few times with a break in between and try and make the whole motion as quick as you can. concentrate particularly on the change of direction from down to up. then start with your hands down and reverse the direction. then do it with one arm up and one arm down. after that you can work a leg into the movement. if you do it gradually and build up you can increase the overall quickness of your movements.

anyway, hope this helps.

[/b]

hmmm, I think some of the movements are slow because I am slow :slight_smile: Which med ball move in particular? Or was it all of them? I’ll follow your advice though.

John
I tried to reply the other day, but can’t seem to do so on a Tablet??
The last video, the last drill, the running A’s - It looks as though your Legs are leading before your Arms?

The squat throws -
It looks like you’re doing a stiff leg dolly throw!!??
I would be getting into a more Squat position, almost 90deg bend - and also work towards getting a very deep angle on the dive part - the deeper the better (make the last one a dive onto some matts, or a sand pit??

Your arms during the drills look ok - but not so much during the runs?

I would say, your runs are looking better than previous videos - you look like you’re getting more taller and greater hip height?

Take two with posting
John, It looks like in your drill, the high knees, when shown in slow-mo, your legs are Leading before your arms - A lot of people i find get “lazy” with their arms during drills, something to be mindful as you want drills done the best you can.

Your medibal squat throws - look like more of a Stiff Leg Dolly throw! Get down and bend them knees, like a squat, nice n deep - around 90deg knee bend, or just off.
Also, your Throw during the squat “stiff leg dolly” throws was Very vertical. Get that angle DOWN - aim for a double story house or trees 100m away - get that 45deg angle happening. (not right away, but you can get lower than what you did there in them videos, much lower) You want the lowest possible angle than once you throw that ball, IF you don’t sprint like a maniac You’ll fall on your face… That’s the feeling. Also - you should be going out that fast, that you catch a medibal on 1st bounce (eventually) and if your mediball bounces

Otherwise, i think you’re looking in good shape - looking fit.
Keep it up

Thanks Bold and I agree pretty much with your comments especially after comparing my throws with those in the med ball DVD. Will work on that.

Re being fit, yeah apart from my R knee which has a real block up the top of my calf, almost behind the knee I am working out things are going well. According to the info in

http://www.charliefrancis.com/community/showthread.php?22202-Usain-Bolt-has-the-perfect-body-shape-for-sprinting-success-researchers-find

My RPI is 41.15 (172cm , 73kg)

I’ve settled on a 12 week model as below which is good fun and has all the elements I like. Racing doesn’t feature in my plans.

Sunday
Med ball, Accelerations & Max speed 500-550m total, Squats (5/3/1 + 3s x 5r @ 80%), Bench (5/3/1 + 3s x 5s @ 80%), RDL or Good Morning & abs

Monday
Abs & Conditioning, Chins & Dips (5s x 10r)
Week 1 3s x 4 x 150 (reps 1 & 3 tempo, 2 & 4 @ 90%, recovery = jog back between reps, 300m jog + 150m walk after set 1, 150m jog + 300m walk after set 2)

Week 2 3 x 3 x 300 (150m out & back, 1 min jog between reps, 4 min jog after set 1, 4 min jog & 5 min walk after set 2)

Week 3 6 x 200 (jog back rec)

Week 4 60 sec, 50 sec, 40 sec, 30 sec, 20 sec, 15 sec, 10 sec, 5 sec walkback rec

Tuesday
Rest

Wednesday
Med ball, SE (8-39 sec) 500-550m total, Squats 8s x 5r @ 75%, Military press (5/3/1 + 3s x 5s @ 80%), Glute bridge or hip thrust & abs

Thursday
Abs & Bent over rows & Incline DB press (5s x 10r), Conditioning

Week 1 2 x 300+150 + = 30 sec

Week 2 2 x 4 x 80 + 200

Week 3 2 x 200 + 200 + = 30 sec

Week 4 no conditioning

Friday
Abs & Conditioning

Weeks 1 &3 30min jog

Weeks 2 & 4 L & S tempo

Saturday
Rest (Fast till 6pm)

Vids from today, med ball much better but still need some work on arm action with drills and running… and getting faster :slight_smile:

//youtu.be/BsHC9Df77Ec

//youtu.be/lcWjVXC7U68