From personal experience, I think you need to momentarily forget about the GCT or stride length when using a towing method and think primarily on the CNS stimulation and rfd required.
As mentioned above if using this in a contrast method, IMHO sled, assisted, unassisted is a very productive potential ion session that I have used very successfully with a number of guys
Wouldn’t any stimulus which allow the Nervous System to process faster signals than those processed during a given event be considered over-speed? If the stimulus is always GENERAL first and only then specific in its effects as Charlie maintained throughout his training philosophy,shouldn’t we broaden the overspeed method well beyond towing ? If that were the case,then an interesting example and quite successful example of overspeed (general) training may be that of the speedball as used in his training by Allan Wells,maybe worth discussing:
“As the ball moves extremely fast,the brain has to send messages to the muscles much faster than it would during a race and so when the athlete comes to race ,the body has already been conditioned to move at speed. Not only does this help in the preparation for running fast,but it also helps to cut out the injury risk.” (Margot Wells - The Allan Wells Book of Sprinting,1983).
The very same injury prevention effect seems not to be generally present in most overspeed running specific drills,which by definition require much higher level of preparedness,given the forces involved.
During witch training period do you like to place whose contrast method workouts with assisted sprinting? I hear some coaches saying that assisted sprinting might be effective. I saw a female sprinter in a city where I coach being towed last winter for a few sessions before European indoor champs in Paris. Before her 60m PB was 7.31 for a few indoor seasons but coincidence in Paris she made 7.28 and 7.27 in semifinal. Bad news was that she got injured in hamstring area right at crossing finish line. With 7.27 she was eighth and could run in a final but of course she didn’t. The thing is she didn’t use assisted methods before and never had hamstring injuries. Maybe she could escape that if she had proper therapy witch she doesn’t have in our city.
A couple of points. I don’t think CF was anti-overspeed as much as he was anti- most overspeed methods. He did talk about running downwind to get an overspeed effect. He didn’t like towing etc. or downhill running, although he did make favorable comments once when it was suggested that you could use a hill to reduce acceleation time/energy leading into a flat Max V rep. Along those lines, I think one of the best overspeed methods is assisted acceleration leading into a flat, non-assisted, slightly overspeed (1-2%) Max V fly.
I agree star, safety has to be paramount, in the form of athlete conditioning.
I used extensively in the pre 4 week period to a major comp for a 21 y/o he went from a pb of 10.66 to 10.43 ( obviously we tapered correctly n there were other elements involved)
He has since ran 10.34 and 6.63
I think pakewi your right any element that gets the body used to moving at a faster rate is overspeed… Funnily I use fast feet drills with all my athletes (and myself)
Gatlin/kim jong ill overspeed lol: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=058JKqiSuMI
9.64 then 9.45, now it’s only a matter of strength endurance through a lil bit of heavy weights as well as intensive tempo, straight leg bounds and high knee over 80 m
Faster rate is only one way to accomplish overspeed training. I as usual like to look at it from a pure signal point of view.As such many other methods are available.
Key in my coaching and consulting has been a number of overspeed training methods,and provided all the athlete’s systems are prepared to support the level of stimuli and consequent adaptation this training generates,they always paid off,no matter the sport and event,both recovery and performance wise.
Also,with this type of training,plateaus,as well as injuries,in my experience always resulted primarily from an inability of the individual physiology to keep up with the exponentially increased rate of adaptation demand such training creates. That is why I think it is important that if overpeed training is to be used,it has to be a backbone of the overall plan,always present to some degree,not just a last minute (or comp/pre comp phase) element or quick fix. Just like the speedball was an integral part of Allan Wells’ training cited above.
Oh okay, it’s the japanese taking part in this overspeed session and not the koreans. It looks like florida grass and one of those power boat fans/turbine blowers
44 strides for the 9.64 and then 43.5 strides for the 9.45. Stride frequency increased and his stride length basically remained the same as was this past year(2011)
Just did a quick count of gats strides at us trials and world champs and he was pretty consistent at 43 strides over 100m
Couple of comments…
Overspeed isn’t just any method that deals with faster movement; the movement has to be done in a similar context i.e. high force output. Stick drills are not overspeed, IMHO, because the force output is so much lower. If such a thing could translate, we could just have athletes take tap dancing, because the contacts are extremely quick. But there would be no transfer, of course. Stick drills may be beneficial, but not in the develpment of RFD, stiffness etc., when force outputs are much higher.
Secondly, when counting steps and extrapolating to stride length, you need to be careful since changes in early steps (start phase, acceleration) can influence the number. Shorter strides in the early phase could offset longer strides in the Max V phase making the total number of steps the same, even if Max V stride length has lengthened. A better method might be to estimate the distance being covered with the longest 10 strides in the Max V phase, say somewhere between 60m and 80m, and compare those to earlier, slower, races.
In the case of running with a tailwind, Charlie maintained that it wasn’t really a case of assistance (unless the wind was really strong) as much as reduced resistance, similar to running at high altitude.
I like the concept of reduced resistance,a it smoothly moves the emphasis towards the “a” part of the F=ma equation,way too often overlooked in the force output consideration.
the right youtube address is now there to view the gat assisted runs
I don’t understand what you’re saying here. Its always about the ‘a’, meaning that to increase Max V, the net horizontal force has to be slightly greater allowing a new equilibrium to settle in (a new Max V). Mass doesn’t change, so to increase acceleration further beyond Max V, more net force must be realized. I don’t see how wind assistance is any different than towing or downhill. All three increase the net horizontal force available to accelerate the mass to a higher velocity.
Sure. I was only referring to how generally most of the emphasis is put on training means and methods which center around M variables,more so than A ones.
Stephen francis should do this with his top group of sprinters but up that steep concrete incline and regular incline. Asafas drive phase will be off the radar and when he hits top speed that will be off da chain
Ultra contrast training: turbine fan wind assistance up steep incline; turbine fan wind assistance down slight incline; turbine fan wind assistance up the slight incline from previous reps
Oh-wee-nag, the video has been removed
personally, the towing band didnt do anything for me, but i saw huge improvements doing the contrast training with a steep incline and slight decline