I saw a picture of Ben in his autobiography from 1987 doing squat on the bench too, and it was very heavy with spoter behind him. It is a couple of days ago I posted a video about Ben from 1988 and he was doing squats on the bench with 315lb about 11times… so I do not know if it was for warm up or some period of preparation… So Ben was doing it on the bench for sure… and hid 2x6x600lb it was on the bench too… I bet.
I’m not sure what’s up with James Dasaolu these days. He hasn’t been the same since the one off 9.91 a few years ago. Here’s his most recent meet: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9GMuN6r-3M
He has had a few runs of similar quality since then both indoors and outdoors, but has had a few injury issues over the last few years. The race yesterday looked to me like he’s not able to keep his form past 70m yet. He was injured in winter, and they are doing a classical short to long program with him, so maybe this is where they are at in his training.
Ok. How about Adam Gemili? Has he competed this season?
10.19 with -0.3
Today he run 9.97 with +3.7
Would be interested to know if the S-L programmes used in the UK and mentioned in several threads, truly include all parts of the CF methodology. Or are just the hi intensity parts of S-L.
Are they using speed endurance along with general conditioning and recovery benefits of tempo, pool running med ball work ?
I just watched the James D race and agree about his form from 70m - lacks general conditioning ?
The most impressive coaching regimes contain more than just their headlines S-L (CF), high mileage (Lyddiard)
It’s hard to say, many guys are keeping the programs to themselves.
Watching Vancouver 2004 there is coach seating on the right side, I think it’s Michael Afilaka who used to coach Gemili when he clocked sub 20 and 10.05, he is also coaching Ashley Nelson 11.19, from what I have heard from athletes volumes are quite high and all elements are present.
I think Jonas is going S-L but no details, I might ask him about it.
I think there is a shift from L-S towards S-L or even mixture of both.
If Gemili was running so well under Afilaka, why the heck would he want to leave him?
I have asked this question many times.
In two years he improved from 20.98 to 19.98 10.35 to 10.05 which is massive improvement.
So why did he leave him?
We can only speculate.
I’m not Ms. Dr. Squat expert. ( I know ,that’s too bad isn’t it? ;(… )
I will and am able to speak about what I saw and experienced and listened in on from 1988 to 2010.
When a person makes a blanket statement about " parallel squatting … ( equalling fantasy horses etc ) the first thing I ask myself is " who is making this statement". ? What have they done? These questions qualify peoples statements.
Squatting for elite sprinting or learning to squat to get the most out of your potential to run fast must have it’s own unique set of rules.
This is why Weights for Speed was created.
Weights for speed is different than lifting weights to get strong.
Squatting is secondary to speed work.
The very attribute of a full squat negates it from it’s usefulness for sprinting because performing squats past parallel will compete with central nervous system stress and fatigue.
Don’t get me wrong.
Getting strong and lifting weights were both very important to Charlie’s program.
but he never lost sight of the end goal which was first you run as fast as you can. Once that goal in the training has been completed or accomplished, then you move to the other areas of how to supplement , augment the strength as it will best be suited to speed work.
This was the only way I ever saw Ben do squats.
I think this is a crucially important insight which is overlooked in the quest to emulate powerlifters and olympic lifters who specialize in lifting, as opposed to using it as supplemental training.
Do you know what year it was at 2.45 of this video of Ben squatting?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-K5An8qf1Q
The interview was done in 1998, but if I’m not mistaken, it looks like one of my all time favorite sprinters, “Super Cool” Desai Williams is spotting him and he looks just like he did in '88, so maybe that squatting video was done then?
Neospeed,
I think you are right. This was a CBC production so it would have been easy for them to take " stock" footage and cut and paste it into the show. It looks like BJ was wearing a Diadora sweat top as well but they blurred it out or you can’t see it. That too tells me it’s 1988 or earlier but not that much earlier because Diadora came in post 1987 Rome. ( I think Diadora happened right around the time I was around Feb 1988) .
Ok thanks.
What do yall think about squat width. Ive read wide stance sq hit the hips and glutes harder.
Chris, I am sure there is an ideal way to squat. I am sure your question is an excellent invite for lots of squat experts to fan their feathers.
" One has to be able to thread together scientific knowledge and sport technique while listening to one’s own feelings and the feelings of the particular athlete in question - it is at this point that coaching ceases to be a science and becomes an art" ( forward, coaching as an art form page iv in charlie’s training manual)
Charlie did not much care about hyper analyzing the technical variables of any lifts. As long as you were properly and throughly warmed up, careful and safe that was good.
Tudor told us both that squat needs to be performed with a stance that had the feet slightly wider than the width of your shoulders and wider was " easier". I remember this specifically because he felt my stance was too wide but Charlie piped in to say and I am paraphrasing here " yeah but it’s good enough and if she might not be able to do it otherwise.
Speed is the priority variable which must be trained first and foremost and squats come after and only when the speed variable has been appropriately and effectively trained might we then experiment with other aspects and qualities of a given lift. ( including the squat for sprinting)
The squat , no matter how you shake it , will be performed second to the speed work.
I think it is very important to get a little bit of all the key exercises done through out the year to hit the hamstring, hip and glute area in a way that max’s out your ability to use that strength for speed. Once you have ham curls, reverse hypers, squats, lunges, power speed drills and back ups going on, then maybe I would start refining and experimenting ( carefully with method) different ways to train the squat.
Thanks. Ive been looking a for a gym with a reverse hyper machine my entire life.
From personal experience, I used to do my squats with a fairly narrow stance, because you don’t run with your legs spread wide apart. I would use a low bar placement and sit back like powerlifters do to hit the hamstrings.
The problem I found as I became stronger is that I would frequently injure my adductor muscles during the acceleration phase. I was always recovered from my previous leg workout before I did starts, so it wasn’t because of muscle fatigue. I put it down to weakness in the adductors, and I think I was right, because several months after changing to a wider squat stance which target the adductors, I never strained my adductors again. If the squat stance is too narrow, you will overdevelop the quads and your adductors will become weak unless you do other exercises that specifically target the adductors. By using a relatively wide stance (it doesn’t have to be as wide as powerlifter’s stance) and sitting back, you will work all the muscles in the thigh and won’t have to worry about any imbalances.