Need your help please! Paging Charlie!

Expert Discussion Advanced Sprint Training
1

I am a 29 year old ex-sprinter coming back to competition after a 6 year layoff.

Currently I am in the 7.0-7.2 range in the 60 meter and 11.3X-11.5X electric in the 100 meter. (Was in the 6.9 and 10.8 range back in the day)

Since my layoff I have been pretty consistent with my weight training and have started to tailer my weight training more around sprinting again.

I am currently at 200 pounds (six foot 1) but am going to trim down to about 190 or so. I am stronger now than ever before. I played division one soccer all last summer up until I was sidelined with a foot injury (Injured my heel) My foot is about 85-90% now and running in a straight line doesnt affect it at all. I have a pretty decent base fitness wise.

I am planning on competing in masters class Track and Field next Jan. (My 30th birthday is in March but I am going to attend some indoor meets from Jan on and then run outdoor next summer.
I “may” run a couple of baseline 100’s this summer to see where I stand depending on how I feel.

Here is my workout plan so far. I welcome any criticisms and suggestions you may have. My goal is to finish in the top three for the masters class age bracket 30-34 at the national level.

Monday - Speed 1:

~400 meters total speed work
· Warm-up: 800 meter walk/jog, drills (A’s, B’s, Ankle drills) stretching, 3x30 meter accelerations)
· 3x2x30 meter lying start sprints (3 minutes rest in between reps. 5 minutes between sets. All timed if possible)
· 5 flying 40’s with 10 meter acceleration phase

Weights after immediately after speed 1: (3 minutes rest between sets)
· 4 sets of back squats (~3-5 reps concentrating on bar speed) Oly style deep
· 3 sets of jump squats (4-6 reps in between sets of squats 50% bodyweight)
· 3 sets of GM’s
· 3 sets of standing calf raise (explosive)

Tuesday - Tempo:
· 16x100 meter tempo runs at .65% intensity (16 seconds per 100meter run)
· Broken into 4 sets of 4
· 40 seconds rest between reps
· 2 minutes rest between sets

Wednesday - Core Work - abs

Thursday - Speed 2:

~400 meters total speed work
· Warm-up: 800 meter jog, drills (A’s, B’s, Ankle drills) 3x30 meter accelerations)
· 3 reps x 2 sets x 50 meter lying start sprints (3 minutes rest in between reps. 5-8 minutes between sprints. All timed if possible)
· 3 flying 30’s with 10 meter acceleration phase

Weights after speed 2:
· 3 sets of power snatch
· 3 sets front squats (explosive)
· 3 sets of snatch grip deadlift with shrug and exploding onto toes
· 3 sets explosive chins

Friday - Tempo:
· 16x100 meter tempo runs at .65% intensity (16 seconds per 100meter run)
· Broken into 4 sets of 4
· 40 seconds rest between reps
· 2 minutes rest between sets

Saturday - Core Work - abs
Warm-up: 800 meter jog, drills (A’s, B’s, Ankle drills, stretching)

Supplemental weights
· 4 sets of flat bench
· 3 sets push press
· 3 sets bent over barbell rows
· 3 sets dips
· 3 sets barbell curls

Sunday - Day off

I was planning to wait a couple of months before introducing speed endurance. I was thinking about 3x150meter with approx 15-20 minutes rest in between.

Can you give me your thoughts on my plan? I am not sure how to approach the different phases or cycles or how to train to peak for next Jan.

Your help is greatly appreciated!

Chris

2

I agree with xlr8, excellant plan. I would question, though, the number of excercises to be performed in the gym. For example, deadlift and power snatch and front squats in one session after track is, IMO, excessive. 2 core excercise plus 1 supplementry excercise may be enough.

Take ideas from:
http://www.charliefrancis.com/board/philboard_read.asp?id=1544

3

Chris,

This looks like a pretty solid plan. You have the time to incorporate some max strength cycles (3-1-3) format into your training program. Also, I would add in some heavy benching to each of my weight workouts, not just the Saturday workout.

As far as Charlie’s books, they are available on-line in ebook format. This means that once you pay for them, there is no shipping involved, simply go to the web link and download!

xlr8

4

Thanks guys for the feedback!

Can you go a little more in depth with the 3-1-3 format for me? I am not familiar with it. Is it a rep/intensity regimen?

I am probably going to take out the snatch grip deadlifts and substitute in bent over rows on speed 2.

(I did speed 2 yesterday and found the deads too much so I swapped in the bent over rows and it felt really good)

That is interesting about the heavy bench included in both speed days. I’ll definitely take that under consideration. I’ll probably do it on speed 2 and Saturdays if I have enough recovery time. (I may just do 3 sets heavy flat bench on speed 2 emphasizing speed of positive contraction)

One thing I have noticed is that my CNS seems to respond and maintain explosiveness better if I concentrate on explosive movements during my workouts immediately after speedwork. (deemphasize the negative and really try to apply max speed and force to the bar during the positive portion of the movement) This also seems to help my recovery as well.

Thanks again guys I REALLY appreciate your feedback. If you could go over the 3-1-3 strength cycles for me that would be great!

thanks for the tip on the E-Book download as well!

cheers,
Chris

5

LOOKS GREAT!

6
  • 3 reps x 2 sets x 50 meter lying start sprints (3 minutes rest in between reps. 5-8 minutes between sprints. All timed if possible)

3 minutes rest here is not enough … for 50 meters I would like 6 minutes at least.

1.5-2 minutes per 10 meters is a good rule.

7

Great thanks!

8

3 minutes is ok. it may be slightly touching speed endurance however. but the important thing is that he has full recovery between sets which he does 5-8. id stay closer to 8 minutes.

9

Another question as well:

What are some good core excerises I should be doing? What sort of feeling should I be aiming for when performing them (explosive, controlled etc)

Also are there specific mesocycles I should be looking at for a peak around next Jan indoors? That is where I am most confused… the 3-1-3 and different prep phases.

thanks!
Chris

10

I just found this link for rest intervals at the old forum:
http://www.charliefrancis.com/board/philboard_read.asp?id=476

11

Originally posted by chris30
Another question as well:

What are some good core excerises I should be doing? What sort of feeling should I be aiming for when performing them (explosive, controlled etc)

Also are there specific mesocycles I should be looking at for a peak around next Jan indoors? That is where I am most confused… the 3-1-3 and different prep phases.

thanks!
Chris

re: Core Excercises
Take a look at that thread I posted

re: 3-1-3
This is a standard max strength cycle. 3 weeks on, 1 week off, 3 weeks on with 80%+ Intensity.

12

Is the one week off a 95% plus week? ie: singles and doubles in core excerises?

Or is it an easy week? When would you recommend high intensity in the weight room? (+95%)

thanks,

Chris

13

Originally posted by chris30

Can you go a little more in depth with the 3-1-3 format for me? I am not familiar with it. Is it a rep/intensity regimen?

3-1-3 is a max strength cycle involving 3 weeks of increasing intensity, one easier week and then three more weeks of increasing intensity. It is based around the concept of dimiishing returns. That is, you will see the most improvment in max strength over the first 4 - 8 weeks, after that, you will see less progress and perhaps even injuries and regression. So we cycle our training to avoid this.

There was a graph in CFTS something like this that shows graphicall what the cycle looks like:

14

Originally posted by chris30
Another question as well:

What are some good core excerises I should be doing? What sort of feeling should I be aiming for when performing them (explosive, controlled etc)

I like to do squats and benches as my basic ‘heavy’ exercises. For variety and to work around injuries, I will substitute deadlifts, box squats and incline press, db bench.

If you can do the olympic lifts, there are lots of choices. I like power snatches and power cleans, but lots of people like the hang versions.

I will also add in a posterior chain exercise to complement my squatting. Good choices are SLDL/RDL, good mornings, glute-hamstring raises and reverse hyper-extensions if you have access to a machine.

I always go for explosive in the concentric phase of the lift and try to move the weight as fast as possible.

xlr8

15

Originally posted by chris30
Is the one week off a 95% plus week? ie: singles and doubles in core excerises?

Or is it an easy week? When would you recommend high intensity in the weight room? (+95%)

thanks,

Chris

Generally, I would look at the following breakdown:
Week 1: 80%
Week 2: 85%
Week 3: 90%
Week 4: 90% but drop volume by 25 - 33%
Week 5: 90%
Week 6: 95%
Week 7: 100%+

Note that these % are based on your week 1 max, so by the time you get to week 7, you may exceed 100% because your max has gone up!

I generally keep the reps to 3 or less and the sets from 3 - 6. Don’t go to failure.! Leave one or two reps for every set ‘in your pocket.’

xlr8

16

Thanks for the info that is great!

When I meant core work I meant trunk training.

I perform power snatch, jump squats, GM’s, back squats, front squats etc religiously now.

After week 7 I go back to week one correct after establishing my current max in each particular exercise?

Thanks for this information, it really helps :slight_smile:

Cheers,

Chris

17

One other question…

Week 1: 80%
Week 2: 85%
Week 3: 90%
Week 4: 90% but drop volume by 25 - 33%
Week 5: 90%
Week 6: 95%
Week 7: 100%+

In weeks 5,6,7 do I keep the volume down 25-33% and leave the intensity at 90-95-100% Or is that only for week 4?

thanks,
Chris

18

Only week4

19

Excellent thanks Charlie!

In comparision my old training regimen looked more like a 400 meter program than a 100meter program!!

One more question for you…

When would you consider it wise to bring in Speed Endurance?

I will be running mostly 50-60 meter races indoors (Masters) and several 100’s outdoors. (I am looking to peak for the indoor season next winter and carry on to compete outdoors)

Should I sacrifice one of my speed workouts a week and trade in Speed End?

Unfortunately I work full time, have an hour commute each way and often work 60 hour weeks. :frowning:

Getting enough time to get these workouts in is going to be a challenge.

Considering my focus on 50-60 meter with the occassional 100 meter outdoors would speed End even be necessary?

I naturally tend to have good endurance at the end of the race but that may have been more of a result of my previous training program than natural ability.

Thanks again for your advice!

Chris