I don’t think it’s a major issue missing the odd session, and I agree it can make you fresh. I think it’s easier to over train than many people realise. Of course this is much easier to say from the outside looking in. I wouldn’t skip a session and I’d always rather do a bit more, I find it hard to take my own advice in this instance. In terms of squatting, my physiology lecturer at uni said he felt deadlift was a more appropriate lift in terms of firing sequence etc. Still a lift requiring high CNS demands and recruiting a significant amount of muscle mass.
If i remember correctly he was doing 225 with a pretty high step up. That is not very easy. I think that asafa nows what he needs to do to get faster. So far whatever he has been doin has worked. He isnt the fastest human to walk the earth for no reason.
you can say that again.
It’s a VERY fine line. As I’ve said over and over, each step upwards beyond human experience yields a new and unknown set of recovery dynamics. At his current level, there is no question he’s reached the point where training volumes will need to be dropping each year to allow for continued intensification.
i learned this with Ben as his total training volume- while large compared to most, needed to steadily drop each year after hitting its peak in 1985.
There seems to be a consistent theme whenever outside observers view the training of top athletes that their training isn’t anything special. I’ve also heard this about Carl Lewis’ training and even Charlie’s group. Do you think there’s a lesson there?
I think people constantly expect to see complicated training methods (which are constantly being marketed by various “experts”) and massive workloads, and what they actually observe is simple, straight-forward training and the athletes determining when they’ve had enough. When someone is performing at that level it doesn’t take much before they reach that point, which is not something observers who have not performed at that level really appreciate.
As for not squatting, there’s more than one way to skin a cat. Ben did very little plyo training, while other sprinters have done significant amounts of plyos but did not squat at the level Ben or Stan Floyd did.
Makes sense…
Charlie, when you get to those levels, you unload volume to free up neural resources in order to exploit any possible intensification. But where do you drop the volumes? Weights, plyos, or speed work volume? Or maybe in all of them?
My thoughts below, I wonder where Powell fits into it.
Theory would suggest that there are 3 phases of strength development.
- Increase muscle size (x sectional area) thro
body buildingtype volumes and weights. - Increase muscle strength thro max strength development. Hi weight, low reps etc.
- Increase [u]speed of muscle recruitment /u thro plyos.
These phases give you muscles that are big(1), strong (2) and fast moving (3).
Now lets consider 2 athletes at different ends of the spectrum. Ben J and Carl L.
Ben:
Natural build is squatter and powerful, did weights so had capabilities 1 and 2. However he did little plyos - apparently. However, hi intensity short rep sprinting is a form of plyos. Arguably more functional that bounding etc, and less liable to cause injury.
So Ben had all 3 components.
Carl:
Lean build, little weight trainig. Did lots of plyos via long jumping. So how did he succeeed without points 1 and 2 ?
Well perhaps his superb explosiveness meant he could recuit what muscles he did have very fast and efficiently. Plus his leaness minimised the weight he had to move.
The follow up argument is of course what could Ben have done with more plyos and Carl with more weights.
Well, perhaps Ben would have got injured, being a hefty guy doing a load of jumps/bounding.
Perhaps Carl would have got too heavy with more weighs.
A long story but interesting to see where Powell fits into these capabilities.
Interesting, from the article I read in the powell/gatlin training methods thread, he doesnt do any plyometric training? But does 4x per week weights in GPP.
Powell does plyos. You are getting some bad information.
its a thread on here, but thanks for mentioning this.
I disagree with this whole concept…
But i agree with the concept that there are different ways to skin a cat.
First and foremost, the sooner we realize that there are no hypertrophy ranges or strength ranges in the weightroom, the better it is.
Look. If you increase your maximal strength, and you eat slightly above maintanance calories, you will gain some muscle simple as that.
There is nothing magic in the 6-12 rep ranges, that will make you a musclebound monster. (they are however less CNS taxing, but that’s another pretty irrelevant point here)
There is nothing magic in the 1-3 rep ranges, that will make you the next Pyrros Dimas.
Get over it.
In fact, if you do nothing else but weights (not in the case with the athletes in this forum!), its the variability of training load PER SE, that enables continued progress in the weightroom even with advanced training age. You do a higher volume phase, and then when you increase intensity and drop volume , you reap the benefits, and vice verca etc.
Not that simple in case you participate in a sport, which if it is high intensity in nature, is the PRIMARY strengthening tool of the organism.
In fact, muscle and strength correlates strongly for a particular athlete, but this correlation weakens if we are referring to two different individuals.
But lets not get offtopic here.
It’s not a matter of “taking the media’s word” for anything. I spoke personally to Franno about all this.
Just because a guy that’s 6’2" with long arms can’t bench worth a damn doesn’t mean he’s weak. He’s just as strong, if not stronger, than the little midget at your gym with stubby arms who can bench 4 plates aside.
Blinky–
I call a spade a spade. He wouldn’t have had an easy time with 225 and he weighs nearly 200lbs. Don’t give me crap about how his arms are really long or whatever–they really aren’t that much longer than any other athlete of that height. He is weak in the upper body and not incredibly strong in the lower body either, is there a problem with saying that?
Now, he runs 9.7 and makes it look easy, which is what matters and the only thing really. Maybe if he tried hard on the weights he’d be strong, but based on the video and what some people here have seen, he just isn’t very strong. It shows that sometimes you just work towards your strong points and what is best for you instead of trying to fit in some model people make.
Powell hasn’t improved bench press numbers since 2005 at least. However, his PB still ranks him among the strongest in the current circuit.
Also read from a quote that Gay squats 225, obviously a lie. I might not take everything you see in videos or articles to be 100% accurate, Powell likely benches more than that video showed.
But the interesting thing I was pointing out was.
Tall sprinter supposedly at disadvantage in first 50-60m. Yet shows so much power and has such a incredibly acceleration.
BTW anyone have a idea on what Gay benches?
i agree whoever believe gay squat 225 is an idiot. 
unless he’s doing 40-50 reps for each stride in a 100m 
It’s time now for you to join “rainy.here” in the corner of the classroom and have a private conversation 
Tyson uses deep squats and he goes very deep. This explains why it is “only” 225. Only a few sprinters can go as deep because of lack of ankle flexibility.