I mean why should someone de-emphasize speed, in order to free up CNS energy so that he could improve the lifting strength EXPRESSION? What’s the purpose?
A friend of mine suggested that by spending most of your resources in Speed/SE1 (HI work) and plyos you would eventually fail to receive a stimulus from weights strong enough to faciliate a good taper?
I am not so sure about that… Since the total CNS output (which is affected by HI work) goes up and you get faster, you are good . Even with reduced gym strength, couldn’t you just increase the number of lifts or the volume to produce a satisfactory stimulus?
“I mean why should someone de-emphasize speed, in order to free up CNS energy so that he could improve the lifting strength EXPRESSION? What’s the purpose?”
Little confused by what you are saying here, but sprinting is the expression of strength, not lifting. After a certain point, just about the only way to get faster is to get stronger. At some point or another you NEED to increase the amount of force you can put into the ground.
“I am not so sure about that… Since the total CNS output (which is affected by HI work) goes up and you get faster, you are good . Even with reduced gym strength, couldn’t you just increase the number of lifts or the volume to produce a satisfactory stimulus?”
If your gym strength has gone down or is going down, chances are you’ve gotten slower. Once again, you are decreasing how much force you put into the ground thus decreasing the amount of strength you are able to express (sprinting).
“I mean why should someone de-emphasize speed, in order to free up CNS energy so that he could improve the lifting strength EXPRESSION? What’s the purpose?”
Little confused by what you are saying here, but sprinting is the expression of strength, not lifting. After a certain point, just about the only way to get faster is to get stronger. At some point or another you NEED to increase the amount of force you can put into the ground.
“I am not so sure about that… Since the total CNS output (which is affected by HI work) goes up and you get faster, you are good . Even with reduced gym strength, couldn’t you just increase the number of lifts or the volume to produce a satisfactory stimulus?”
If your gym strength has gone down or is going down, chances are you’ve gotten slower. Once again, you are decreasing how much force you put into the ground thus decreasing the amount of strength you are able to express (sprinting).
Often, gym strength rises as a result of improved speed rather than causing it. that said, the improved gym strength loops back to create a greater stimulus for the next speed session. If gym strength rises as a result of the speed work, there is no need to reduce the loads, but, rather the number of overall lifts.
If you included no max strength cycles in the annual plan, how would that affect sprinting progress? And you just relied on the mechanism you described - gains in speed moving weights up?
If you included no max strength cycles in the annual plan, how would that affect sprinting progress? And you just relied on the mechanism you described - gains in speed moving weights up?
Think of direct and indirect. Indirect will move up easily but the squat directly competes with the speed work for physical resources.
If I’m right about that, you need a staggered approach for gains there, ie first improve speed, then maintain speed and add SE at existing velocities, allowing the weights to move up after a brief consolidation period (thus max strength phase) and then allow speed to advance further after a brief consolidation period during the maintenance phase.
This is another reason for avoiding a conversion phase from a timing perspective.
Another point here. If you do only specific lifting, improvements occur at only one time (max phase) while general lifts like the bench can move up in a more staggered schedule, giving you more training options. thoughts??
Consolidation period terminology is confusing me. Is the consolidation period just a period where your overall load drops a bit and levels off? After that you can “refill the load” by focusing on a particular quality (like squat or speed)?
Sprint work will cause the squat to rise as well from the standpoint of the improved motor unit (synchronization- rate coding- and recruitment) which all facilitate improved muscular strength.
The strength potential is advanced via the speed work yet the specific expression of it, in this case via squatting, won’t happen until the volume of speed work is relieved and the squat is trained at a capacity that is not negatively impacted by track work.
This may not be readily noticed as often by sprinters, however, because the track work tends to necessitate priority year round.
James what value is their in sprint work for the developing and elite powerlifters/weight lifters? In the block approach could sprint work be used during accumulation?
It’s probably a good idea not to get too specific with the lifting, what would be the most general lift for the lower body? The squat? deadlift possibly?
If we aren’t talking about beginners here, rather sprinters who are technically sound and relatively advanced, how do these athletes get faster without trying to get stronger in the weight room? If that’s not clear, how do these athletes get faster just through sprint work?
Hmmm! Bit tricky. Well, the max speed occurs over longer and longer distances, so there is max speed occurring at the time of max strength but the question is: “how far out?”
The max 0 to 30 works very to create a stimulus for max str weights and it is well developed by the time the max str phase is underway in phase one.
That said, you are moving into speed farther out by this point but is the work done at that exact time the cause of movement of max str weights or was the earlier stimulus the main cause.
The next question is:“How can the max str phase coexist with even higher max speeds?”
Assumedly, it is because the max strength follows and is relatively subtle, therefore it doesn’t interfere with the concurrent track speed. That said, speed end, requiring more looseness might be effected if the max str was applied for more than a brief period of time (Therefore, 2 three-week blocks in phase one of S-to-L and only 1 three week block in phases two and three.)
Thoughts?