The theory of less volume and higher frequency has successfuly been applied to strength training(oly lifters). Could this approach be applied to sprinting? Ie 5-6 total sprints per session, half at 95%, for four days, then three days before the next session?
Each stimulus that you apply to the body with varying intensities and volumes has a different effect on the body.
What is right for one stimulus is not neccessarily right for another.
Speed and strength workouts have similiar and different effects on the body determined by the way that force is generated by the muscle, the time the muscle is under tension and the amount of motor units that are used etc.
No one knows exactly what are the effects of different stimuli being applied to a muscle from a training sense but we have a reasonable idea of how they interact and what works in terms of maximising performance.
In terms of maximising performance, the system as outlined in the CFTS along with close monitoring through timing an athlete over a distance and watching an athletes technique over a session can give clues as to the volume of work that can be done and when you can reintroduce another strength or speed session.
Back to your question, what you suggest may work for one or two of your athletes at some time in their career, but generally, for a speed workout run at 95% intensity you only need 48hrs, and if you are in pb shape you could need upto 7-10 days to fully recover.
Hope that helps
Yes but why not super low volume sessions at high intensity, surely 3-4 sprints over 30m@100% cannot take out your CNS? What about day 1-3-4 30m acc@100%, day 2-3-4 flying 30-50@100%, day 3-10m starts/acc up to 60m w/ standing start @95%, day 4-ins and outs/flying 10’s @95%. 3-4 sprints surely cant drain the CNS, but could provide arrousal?
In competition, it might take only one sprint to fatigue the CNS. I’m not educated enough on the matter to make judgements of any real weight, I can only go off a season I spent with OU track. At a high-profile meet, a 100 guy might only do two all-out sprints over the course of 1-3 days, but it would cook him well into the next week.
Competition isn’t practice, but it’s an example where volume is almost zero.
But, like AussieBrad said, it’s something that might work in certain situations.
Yes but you have to take into account the physcological factor of “pumping” yourself up for the race which can be extremely draining, where as with training just train, dont think about it or pump yourself up and the effect will be immensly different, leaning towards a lower impact.
Like I said, competition isn’t practice. I only wanted to give an example, however extreme, of what can happen with extremely low volume, high intensity sprinting.
All I know is what I read, and you can tell me to go to hell if you like, but the program seems plucked out of thin air. How long do you expect a given athlete to use that program? If the athletes “don’t think about it” in training, is the 100% going to represent anything close to max speed or acceleration? How will weights intersect with this? At what point in the year would you use this?
All I have to go off of is a fraction of a hypothetical week of training. There’s nothing to use for perspective. Something I’ve struggled to learn is that training doesn’t end at the weight room door. All the trainiable qualities are affected by everything an athlete does, and programming has to take into account all the factors.
The above really sounds pompous, but in no way is it meant to be. I don’t pretend to be an expert or anything, so if I’m off base let me have it. It’s just that without enough context, programming questions can be as pointless as “what if I grew wings and flew across the finish line?”
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calm down man, thats the point of this board, to ask question about hypothetical methods/situations.
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And its not really a specific training week that im asking about, more about the theory of training less more often.
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Yes it is 100% max speed or acc. for that given day, saying it like that is like saying if your not equaling your PB every run your not running 100%, it depends on the day, so for that given day yes youd b running 100%.
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As for weight training, recovery methods, etc… I was just asking a loose question of whether performing limited CNS work repeatedly(enough to arouse, but not nearly enough to drain) would be a plausible idea. Thats all, not a specific training week, just an idea
<clap> <clap> Great points!