What Zone would most sprints be in? Zone 1. ?
Or would block starts be considered Zone 2.
Towing a weighted sled? Zone 2 ?
Chris T,
I have purchased a Fitrodyne unit myself and mapped velocity force and power velocity curves also mainly on triple extension (i.e squats) exercises…One of the problem I encountered is the load to take in consideration to compute the power because it gives you two different curves for power…If you ony take the weight of the bar then you have a fine power curve with an apex that gives you the weight to use for peak power production whereas if you add to that weight the athlete’s bodyweight ( which is quite logical since I ask them to jump up to make sure they use full force), the curve does not come down…the peak power zone is the VJ zone (ie a squat with a broomstick)…
what happens then to the concept of zones?
what do you think?
This is very interesting and had me thinking…
I’m having seriouos trouble at the minute with CNS stress measurement.
Traning is going very well and I’m putting on weight well and strength is going up too - but I have planned badly - what I mean is that I rarely can train Friday Saturday or Sunday.
By the time Friday morning comes around I’m fired - completely and can’t make it out of bed (I train first thing in the morning).
I am having trouble managing the CNS stress combining …
- Speed Sprint Training
- Speed Endurance Training
- Strength Training
As the week continues I am gaining well - but I need the last 3 days of the week to recover and be fresh for Monday.
I know I’m really only benefitting from a supercompensation-type cycle.
As you say in your second post “A sprinter (IMHO, some will not agree) should not spend more than one weekly session in zone 4 in-season and might go up to 2 in the off-season”
- me ? Well - I’m trying to do 3 of those - no wonder I’m fried!!!
Just a few Questions CT:
In the first post you say - Zone 4 Limit strength (85-100% of max load):
“an athlete should use Zone 4 in conjunction with at least one of the other three training zones”
Do you mean in the one session?? or is weekly adaptation sufficient?
The combination of zones must be critical too …
For example would the combing of Zones 4 and 5 be very stressful and yet a combinatioin or of zones 4 and 1 would be very diverse and also poise another problem of moving from high tension to lower tension execrises and I’m not sure how nuscles might adapt to that?
What about Zone 5 (Isometric and Eccentrics) ??? I presume one would use Zone 3 with Zone 5 to minimse the effects of supermaximal lifting?
In your second post you state “It depends, zone 4 exercises should not be done prior to speed activities requiring a precise technique that needs to be maximized” - and I agree completely.
Yet - this is in contrast to the methods used by one well-known sprint group who lift before speed work - or am I wrong - do they use Zone 1, 2, or 3?
Charlie or CT - Have you any guidleines for duration of lifting sessions with regard to CNS stress.
I lift for 1.5 hours heavy, I want to try and fit in a speed session (approx 60 mins) before the lifting so I can keep all the CNS on the one day - Or is I just crazeee?
I worried - How much will my lifting suffer or will the lifting end up being too catabolic?
Could I offset and balance the catabolism with protein intake during the 2.5 hours?
Christian, when and where will your new book, the one in which Tom Mslynski wrote the foreword, be available?
James Smith
no23, sounds like you should look at scaling back to two CNS days per week and see how you feel.
Something like:
Monday - speed + weights
Tuesday - Tempo
Wednesday - Tempo
Thursday - speed end + weights
Friday - Tempo
Saturday - Tempo
Sunday - rest
4 time tempo per week? maybe he don’t bear a double daily w.o.
maybe, he could take this schedule:
monday: speed+plyo
tues: weights
wed: tempo
thus: rest
friday: (little) speed + special endurance
Sat: weights + tempo
Sunday: rest
Again, he could exchage monday-tues with friday-saturday
valerio
Thanks valerio and Xlr8 -
Yeh I agree Xlr8 - I probably should use only 2 CNS days.
I think I might try the plan with 4 Tempo days and one rest day for a while (to take 2 rest days a week would kill me Valerio) I also will use this chance to drop a little body fat!!!
I expect my strength and power will only remain static if I’m lifting 2x week?
What about these questions guys …
I lift for 1.5 hours heavy, I want to try and fit in a speed session (approx 60 mins) before the lifting so I can keep all the CNS on the one day - Or is I just crazeee?
I worried - How much will my lifting suffer or will the lifting end up being too catabolic?
Could I offset and balance the catabolism with protein intake during the 2.5 hours?
You can certainly do it all in one day. I have done 1.5 hours of track, then another 1.5 hours of lifting as a regular part of my program in previous days. However, I have come to realize that 1.5 hours of lifting after the track work is probbly too long. If you are hitting the bigs lifts (squat and bench) for about 5 working sets, and then 2 - 4 supplementary exercises (back, shoulders, hip extensors), you should be able to get it done in less than 1 hour and maybe even quicker if you can superset…I have taken to doing my bench work between my sets of squats. I do a set of squats, rest about a minute, then hit the bench, then rest another minute or two (I try to keep at least 3 minutes between sets) then do my second set of squats - lather, rinse and repeat 
Also, I don’t think that you will lose much strength working two days a week. As a matter of fact, you may find that you gain both strength and speed if you are recovering better and can work at a higher intensity!
True recovery might be better and I think I’ll try that, though I’m going to review and increase the during workout drink to include more protein to prevent catabiolism if I start to train for that long.