ARE PARACHUTES WORTH THE INVESTMENT?IF SO HOW SHOULD ONE USE THEM :rolleyes:
Depends…are you planning on jumping out of a plane 
I fully agree with xlr8. Parachutes are definately worth the investment when you jump out of a plane! Furthermore, if you land in the middle of an episode of survivor, you can use it to build a shelter, and you will be very popular then, and have less of a chance of getting kicked off the island.
Blacklion,
I suggest you invest in Charlie’s DVD before you spend money on gadgets. One segment is on hill running (which is free by the way if you can find a hill somewhere), which in my opinion can be used to replace whatever purpose one may have for using a parachute. The value of the DVD is beyond compare to that of a training parachute.
Guys, I’d like your opinion on this statement tudor bompa made about hill training:
“Hill running is not good, or rather, it’s good for your heart, but not good for developing power because it’s too slow.”
What do ya think?
Though his concepts of periodisation are great, he isn’t a sprint coach.
I think it depends on the hill and how you use it. A gentle slope is all that is necessary. No need to run up steep hills! For any kind of resistance running, you don’t want to go much slower than 10% off your unresisted pace.
Generally hill running is not so good for speed development but can help with the acceleration portion because it allows an athelete to more easily achieve the angles (with respect to the ground) necessary for efficient acceleration while the necessary strength capacities are still being developed. Works quite well in a short to long program.
Bompa said it is not good for developing power. That is all he said. You won’t get fast if you are just running up hills, but as Charlie explains on the DVD, it is there to aid the acceleration technique, specifically with athletes who are not quite elite, and who are not strong enough to perform the required angle on a flat surface. The fade/blend editing job is quite good with this example. He has a runner who is accelerating at a proper angle, and then takes the hill runner, superimposes that runner on the same angle, and then switches to the hill runner altogether to demostrate his point.
Weren’t we talking about parachutes?
Yep, just figured I’d ask while I had your attention.
When implementing hills for acceleration development purposes into a given training program during GPP, would you do these workouts on a “normal” acc. dev. day, such as a Monday or Friday, or would it be better to put it in the middle, like on a Wednesday or Thursday?