Due to a number of circumstances, I will have no access to a track or field for the next month or maybe longer. I only have gyms available to me.
What can be done in these circumstances to improve speed? Training has been going very well and I don’t want to lose my gained speed.
I was thinking of doing a high volume of plyometric jumps in place followed by the usual weight training three times per week. I was also thinking of including fast feet drills in place to somehow keep my body used to sending out quick signals. Thoughts?
You can still tempo right?
What space do you have in the gym?
We have a similar situation during the winter as well. Some days we might get some gym time to do 30m crouch work and AnT runs.
However it is not unusual for my sessions to include narrow, short ramp accelerations and short hall runs to firm up LJ runups.
Scissor jumps in place or step up jumps. Stair runs perhaps if you have access to an office or apt. building.
If you get the opportunity talk to a couple of successful race horse trainers.
Thanks for all the suggestions. I do very little tempo to begin with, but tempo probably would not be possible, unless I did it on a treadmill or ran on the street. I have enough space in the gym to do jumps in place etc.
Sady, I can’t tell if you are being serious? Why would I talk to a race horse trainer?
Major - basement tempo could be appropriate or even bike session (see CF store for both) for you tempo sessions.
They use tempo. The last post by DMA is on the ball
Focus on accel. Plenty of room for 20m accels in a gym. Also, take this opportunity to learn to bound really well. Can easily be done in the gym and is one of the few things that may actually transfer to Max V.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tUIsmLrtVpk&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bQuLV1MFSQ&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILQ1LzoqcXo&feature=results_video&playnext=1&list=PLBFC193ED621D876B
If othes have good bounding vids I would like to see those as well.
Star61
those are good bounding video’s to watch.
thanks for posting.
Major
Focus on what you can do and don’t worry about what you can’t do. Charlie always emphasized the importance of getting as fit as possible especially when cirumstances might prevent normal training. ( Injuries and or weather or both). Innovate and be creative with what you know and you would be very suprised what you can accomplish.
Box jumps are good. If you have not been doing them as much you can use some time to build up your progression. Have you ever done explosive box jumps with same leg and or explosive box jumps alternating legs? I don’t know if you know what I am talking about and I don’t think any of our products show this but we did this a great deal esp in the fall and winter training.
I would do extensive medicine ball work built into my warm up and around the power speed drills ( btw you can do power speed on a matt if you have no distance to travel… not ideal but better than not doing it). Bounding would be great if you have the space but this is why I thought the explosive box jumps might work better as you need less space.
Sometimes gyms have rooms where you can do some of the explosive med ball throws or drills. This is enough of a chunk of time you could do 3 sessions a week repeating some circuits before you lift and there are many choices of drills and exercises to choose from. I would make sure you are building in your back extensions and reverse hypers but be careful on these to add in over time with proper progressions. YOu mentioned loading in plyos which is good but you still have to step load and not add all things in all of a sudden. FInally I would make sure you are doing depletion push ups once a week and see how you do with this.
Thank you Angela for the detailed reply, some great suggestions in there.
“Have you ever done explosive box jumps with same leg and or explosive box jumps alternating legs?” <–I think I know what you mean, are you talking about step up jumps onto a low box alternating legs? e.g a standard step up but done explosively? I will definately add them in. I have been doing normal box jumps but forgot about those step up jumps. What volume and frequency per week would you recommend for hypers & rev hypers? Currently I do standard hypers 2 times per week for around 3 sets of 5-8 reps. Should I bump this up due to the lack of hamstring stimulation from running?
I guess I can use this time as an opportunity to work on my lagging general fitness. Maybe I won’t lose too much speed after all!
I think the explosive step ups are a great exercise. It’s a great bench mark exercise as well to see how elastic you are feeling at any given moment. I think we are on the same page with this drill. I think the hypers need to be done consistently and would go from 2x wk to 3x a week and you can progressively but carefully build your numbers over time. Are you doing this with both legs? Or single legs ( which is harder… yes I know as soon as I say this the males love the notion of more is better and harder has to be best ) If you are doing double legs you can grow that 5 to 8 rep up to 15 reps. I’d add 2 a week to be ultra progressive and 1 a week if you are doing single legs. CHarlie was not such a fan of almost anything single leg for the simple reason of high risk vs benefit and there is always something you can do that is safer so why wouldnt you. ( I know lots of people like to argue about this idea and that’s ok too). Down the road when you have achieved some back ground on the hypers and rev hypers you can add some load and resistance depending on your set up. If you get any cramping or too much soreness ( you will likely get a bit of soreness re introducing this if you have been away from it for a while) then your progression needs to be re evaluated and or you need to look at the entire training a bit differently.
Any point in your career you performed speed work in cold weather-30 degree (F) - if so what tips can you provide?
RB
I would never do speed work in that kind of weather or recommend it but I would say you can do volume based work and all types of fitness related work.
Is it really essential to train outside in these conditions? If not than make alternative arrangements.
You will need to make diet changes for cold outdoor training. The fats you take in will come in handy and are essential but maybe some of the diet people have more to say on this.
Dressing properly is essential contrary to some thinking running in shorts in sub zero weather is ok. I value quality of performance and I just have a very hard time moving effectively once the scales get too low.
This type of cold is generally just too cold for high performance. Stick to power speed and long runs if training outside is a must.
The workout went well lastnight - I was surprise how fast I felt. I decreased the rest between runs and kept all runs submax with a 30m intensity limit.
yeah that is a good idea to shorten breaks and keep things sub max
When ever we did late fall ( into mid November in Toronto / Ontario / Canada) or early spring when snow and cold temperatures are constant keeping rest intervals short and keep your self relaxed and the work controlled. Wearing high tech gear, albeit expensive, pays off in this scenerio because too much clothing is heavy and annoying.
" Speed work is done year round, with varying VOLUMES, but always at HIGH
INTENSITY (weather permitting). " by Charlie Francis
( Key Concepts - Elite Edition. pdf. 6.1 MB) = this product is essential for anyone interested any kind of speed training for any sport. )
agree 100%.