I once asked Ato about their speed work, with his response being similar to Coach Francis’ philosophy… Only difference was their avoidance of tempo runs. I asked, “Well what do you guys do between speed sessions?” “We do starts,” was Ato’s response.
Obviously, doing starts isn’t going to tax your CNS much, if at all, simply because your volume and sprint distance is very low/short. Plus you’re not having to run all that fast anyway. Still it seems to me that you’d have to do SOMETHING to keep lean.
Maybe Coach Francis or any one of his guys can answer this- Has Charlie always had his sprinters perform tempo runs? If not, then in the beginning what did his guys/gals do between speed sessions and what/who made him take another look at his view on the subject? Thanks fellas
With their genetics, they will be lean no matter what; tempo is not the decisive factor for having a razor sharp body. Now, it’s also possible to surrogate tempo with circuits and extensive warm-up/cool-down routines.
When looking for great body composition: look into high intensity 150-300m and weight training + of course, what you eat.
If I recall correctly, there is plenty of low intensity stuff in Mo’s training during the fall/early winter. So, when looking at their lack of tempo-type training, we’re probably looking at a small period of their training year, close to competitions or SPP. If anyone has their exact workout schedule, please correct me.
From my conversations with John Smith and looking at his athletes train the main difference is that his GPP uses more general strength exercises and his Tempo work is similar at times. When I saw Greene do 200s on 26 that was a shade faster than the 75% limit of Charlie’s protocol.
Smith handles CNS loading a bit different and seems to go High Medium Load and does not follow a pure HI/LO. Comp phases usually create a natural peaking process if the coach listens to te athlete and sets up the meets well.