Have you ever given yourself some time to rest and recover? Have you had any form of periodization (even if it just means changing up what you are doing a bit to promote adaptation) over this time?
Thanks guys…
I pretty much have the best facilities in my country on my door step. 60m indoor sprint track, 200m indoor jogging track, 400m outdoor, 50m pool, weights room with every piece of equipment you’d think of.
Everything bar a hill, but i have an isorobic with 40m rope to match that.
The thing is, Im studying medicine and its damn long hours. So i dont think i can really make training for 2 hours 5-7pm when the athletic team train.
I can manage 6:45 to 8:15am though. Unfortunately that means im on my own.
What id really like is a way of keeping the motivation up, and keeping my training fresh, and maybe progress from there.
Is it really essential to have a coach and a training partner?
I just cant seem to break through my current speed ‘plateau’
Im sure its a combo of
too heavy - 86kg @ 5’10
not flexibile enough
not strong enough. I can clean about 95kg, but i dont squat often due to knee pain. Prob squat 130kg. Max back squat was about 160kg a few years ago. I can get to that again, but i dont really know if that will speed me up.
awful running stride. I dont know this, as i cant see myself, but i think i waddle like a duck - far too low. Id love to fix this, but how do i on my own?
Is there any solution for the ‘self trained’ slow dude, who wants to get quick?
You haven’t really given enough information on your training. It sounds like the sprinting is really just a haphazard collection of just going out and doing some sprints 1-2x a week, without any real progression or planning involved.
Do you need a coach? No, of course not. Will it help a lot? YES, assuming the coach is competent.
If you’re training hard and having no progress, maybe you should start by writing out a solid plan and trying to stick to it and then go from there. At least, if you make a plan and don’t progress on it (and you’ve stuck to it), you’ll know what doesn’t work. If you aren’t recording and planning things, then you really might have no idea why things are/aren’t working.
Well, the GPP DVD provides a plan. In your situation (with medical school and all the stress involved, on top of not having access to a grass hill), it is likely too much, but you can use the basic frame work. Maybe instead of going 3x a week, you could adapt the plan to 2x a week sprinting and lowering the volumes a bit (but maintaining the same sort of progression and structure).
The main thing is to pick something, stick to it, and write it down. If things aren’t moving forward, then take some time to figure out whether or not you are doing what is best for you.
Hi there, I was in the same position as you were when I started out.
Maybe someone could provide a link to the MVP warmup, isn’t it only about 20 to 25 minutes? If time is a factor, perhaps that could help a little bit.
Do you have a coach you can perhaps approach to write you a training plan? If you want the best results and have the dollars, an email to Charlie about him writing you a plan would probably get you the most results. Still though, you need someone to watch your form from time to time. It is very tough to sprint train on your own.
Would it be possible to do even one (or two) of your speed days per week with the local team? It would probably help a lot to get realtime correction of your mechanics.
Ive watched the GPP dvd again, and laid out a new plan, starting tomorrow morning.
There is no way I could do all of whats required for even a beginner on the GPP dvd. Id love to know the level of what an intermediate athlete is?Weights 5x a week, hills 3x and medball 3x a week! It looks crazy. Warm up of 25 mins! How much time do these guys have a day?
I found 2 hills.
One is perfect incline but its only about 30m. It has grass, and steps(big, not much chance of falling) for a change up
The other, the incline is less, but its 50metres maybe
They’ll have to do.
So training 2x a week at 7am. Monday, Wednesday. My team trains Tuesday and Thursday with a game Saturday/Sunday.
So i’ll try make 2 sessions of my own, plus 2 of theirs. Monday, Wed, Thurs and Sat/Sun
Hills Monday and Wed. 5min jog to warm up. Lots of hip circles (Im extremely tight)
First 4 weeks on the steep incline hill. 10x10m, 10x20m, 10x30m
Jog back to gym, then 1 day of legs. 1 upper body day.
Max 4 exercises per day. 3 set of 5 i spose.
Dont really know what to do in terms of weights - exercises/sets/reps etc
Time is the killer. It all has to be done under 1hr 20mins!
ROM - stretch at the End of every session. Even if all you got is 1hr of practice, make the last 15min Abs and stretches time. Vital.
10-20min of warm up. 10min if ROM is good, 20min if bad.
Then just a few efforts over 30-35min.
Rugby = mostly 30m work. 60m requires a fair degree of Top speed work which you dont really need.
Hills and isorobic rope should be good.
Remember that Rugby requires good Aerobic ability, Tempo is needed and NOT 5km ability.
Other than ROM - i would worry about much else untill you have that sorted out. No ROM = no speed. And it might take you a good month or two to achieve it?
Thanks Bold!
Any particular stretches or stretching programs you’d recommend? Im probably the most inflexible man on the planet, no joke!
Any help on this would be really appreciated!
I’d love to get some of the pnf stretching in that Charlie does on his Gpp dvds etc, but ive no coach or partner…
