just used the speedbag this week, spent an hour playing around in it. Man is this shit gonna take awhile to learn.
I trained under Jim for about 4 seasons (I had one year away in that time).
But I also dabbled in Jimâs methods before that and spent some time in Scotland training with one of Jimâs best ever runners, a fellow called George McNeil.
Anyway with Jim, I did a winter of gym work and run throughs and then started on the track about 12 weeks before the first meet.
The track is basic and little variation but it involves 50/20/50âs (FEF) and 60âs building up over a period of 6 weeks from say, 60% to flat out.
Once race fit, it is 60âs and 80âs and âflying 50âsâ with the occasional trial over 120m.
The quarter milers begin to eke out the distance in November (after 12 weeks on the track) to sessions like 2 x 2 200âs or 200/60/60 or a trial over 300.
It becomes more individual once we are in comp phase so it is depends on the athlete.
I just received my copy of jim bradleyâs book. It was a great read. I felt like I went back in time reading about the pro running circuts. The training is exactly as you have posted on this thread Youngy. What I found more interesting than the training were all the battle stories and secret âprepsâ for the Powderhall Sprint race⌠This book was a fun read Im glad I got it!!!
Good onya nycjay!
I get a small mention in the book, but donât blink or you will miss it! 
Is he running fast?
May be if his legs are like the womansâ in your avatar.
Mike Tyson once said he was not fast at running. Yet look how much speed ball he did.
This is why I have to take all this speed ball stuff with a pinch of salt.
Whenever a boxer competed in the âsuper starsâ television sports competition, they never did well in the 100 meters sprint, compared to say, the soccer players, rugby and cricket players.
Mike Tyson didnât sprint, and the boxers in Superstars probably didnât either, hence they werenât fast over the 100m.
Noooooo wise guy heâs hitting a speed bag 
Just for the record, after reading on this forum that Allan and Margot Wells may have abandoned speedball altogether, I made some enquiries. I have been very reliably informed by a person involved with the manufacture & supply of speedballs in Australia that Margot Wells said the suggestion that Allan would not use speedball if he ever had his time over again is âtotally untrueâ.
What would you expect a manufacturer and supplier of speedballs in Australia to say?
This person spoke to Margot direct and despite his obvious bias, is not a liar - if Margot told him that, then thatâs good enough for me.
He speaks regularly with Allan & Margot and provides them with speedballs. A scotsman (and scotswoman) is not going to spend money on products they donât use??? :rolleyes:
Iâve just had an email forwarded to me that was sent to a friend of mine in Melbourne; it is from Margot Wells. Part of which reads:
[i]âAllan NEVER said that or anything like that. He still trains with the speedball now and all my guys still use it.â
and
"Please tell [COLOR=âRedâ]XXX* that the statement is totally untrue and we use it for WELLFAST and still sing its praises."[/i]
[/COLOR]
- XXX - name not disclosed as I am not at liberty to make it public. PY
Can you please post the title and ISDN of Jim Bradleyâs book?
Thank you.
What a strange coment. Firstly, Mike Tyson did sprint in training. After his jog, he would finish with a series of sprints, when within 6 weaks of a fight.
He also did box jumps, so yes, he was working on explosive power. Do you honestly think that only track sprinters are the only people who sprint? The sprinters represent a very small section of the amount of people who sprint.
He was just not a good sprinter, and he could not sprint as fast as many basketball players, baseball and football players. That is what he meant. he meant that he was not fast enough for team sports.
If the speed ball work was as effective as what is being suggested, then boxers would be a little faster than what they are.
You say no boxers competed in the sprints in superstars program. All the athletes who competed xcould choose to omit two events from the total program. Boxers rarely did the 100 meters, because they knew they would get soundly beaten by the football players, cricket players and rugby players (of which none did any speed ball work.)
Add it up. Secondly, what sort of newbie, blissfully ignorrant belief do you have, that only people who do sprinting can be fast at sprinting. Some rugby and football players do more sprint work than your average amateur sprinter, but are still not as fast as your average amateur sprinter. There are also people who do no sprinting at all, yet are faster than a lot of people that do. Some weightlifters and a few Karate exponents have been known to cover the 100 meters in a split second over 11 seconds, with no sprint training. There is not a great deal of corralation between how much sprinting you do, and how fast you are.
You probably think Usain Bolt is fast only because he sprints. This is why I dont go on the sprint websites much any more. After 25 years of studying athletics, I still read and hear silly coments.
Your 25 yrs of studying athletics has been a waste of time. You would have been better off learning to read. I didnât say anything about boxers not competing in the sprints, I said the boxers didnât sprint in training, therefore wouldnât be fast over the Superstars 100m!
Bolt is fast because he sprints fast in training. Fact.
You ommited the FACT Tyson sprinted in training, you only mentioned speedball.
There is an undeniable correlation between sprinting and sprinting.
Whether I am a newbie or blissfully ignorant or both, If you are a sprinter and you want to be fast at sprinting you have to sprint. Weightlifters, Karate exponenets, Rubgy players, Footballers are irrelevant because they are not sprinters trying to be fast at sprinting.
The fact is Alan Wells did speedball, and was the 100m Olympic champion in 1980, so speedball worked for him.
If visiting these websites is so painful for you, why are you here?
You obviously donât like being questioned, hence the personal attack.
About skill transfer I have seen massive improvements in my athletic performances after having improved enormously in piano playing, after digging in some very hard chopin etudes that pump oneâs coordination up. And the better I am with peripheral view-piano playing the better I am while hitting the lj board. It also affected my stride frequency a lot, although I learned I do much much better from stride length.
Hello svincenz,
I sent you a private message a few days ago. Please reply when you have a minute.
I guess the point of the speed ball work is the same as speed work you do in the form of sprinting except itâs for the arms. Itâs to train your CNS to improve the speed at which you can pump your arms and itâs your arms that your legs follow when you sprint. If I had slow arm pump holding my legs back this would be very beneficial.