What is everyone’s opinion on leg depletion work? Should it or shouldn’t it be used by sprinters? If so, under what circumstances? An example session would be the double countdown Clemson uses of 20 squats, 20 lunges, 19 squats, 19 lunges, 18 squats, 18 lunges, etc. all the way down to 1 and 1. What are the potential benefits or drawbacks. What about weights, ie. 50% squats to failure? I have used it, and I personally feel that the amount of lactate generated is extremely beneficial, both from a physical and psychological standpoint, as it feels much greater than what is generated in most track sessions. It therefore seems to be good preperation for SE work. Obviously you would probably only use it in the GPP, or early SPP phases of training. I know Charlie has expressed that he is not in favour of this type of work.
I don’t do any depletion work for legs with sprinters in track but used it as a nice hypertrophy method and GPP workout. This is good for a few weeks (1-2x week) for football guys that are 15-16. This is also done early in the gpp phase and never during the SPP. Swimmers and mass training for HS football players has worked well for me.