I kno its not good to stress the CNS too much in a given training session. But what if you did sprinting, plyos and weight training in two seperate sessions with 9 hours between? Would this cut down on CNS stress to a point where you could have both sessions stressful, and then light temp/rest on the days between? Answers are appreciated.
The longer rest between sessions would likely allow you to increase the overall intensity of the second session as you would not be as fatigued as if you did one right after the other. However this rise in intensity is not without a price. You would need more recovery time to deal with the greater intensification. Factor in that you have to add 9 hours to the recovery time simply because of the spacing of the workouts, plus the time and energy cost of doing a second warmup, you would have to consider if it’s really worth it.
I understand your point, but why would it take so much longer to recover between sessions? What if the days in between where rest days, rather than tempo days/recovery activity days? Would this be sufficient recovery time with the inclusion of stretching and abdominal work? I read before that static stretching immediatly after a workout can cut 4 hours off of required recovery time. If this is true then technically this would just about eliminate the extra time needed to recover? As well if the sprint distances were kept short(60m and under) would this allow for a shorter recovery time as well?
A complex question that leads to more questions:
How much travel is involved to create the spread in sessions? That’s a major consideration and that’s why split sessions are often reserved for training camp situations.
It’s true that post session stretching can shorten recovery times by 4 hrs, but this shouldn’t change the dynamic with the CNS- only with the muscular recovery.
While 48hrs is the standard recovery period between speed sessions, there must be some leeway to allow somewhat shorter spreads when using split sessions and the smaller volume within each session will alter the height x width (intensity x volume) impact of each segment.
Because speed work is usually most effective a minimum of 5 hrs after rising, the order of high intensity elements may have to vary and that may alter the selection of pre-speed work lifts. Thoughts?
Interesting thought that a minimum of 5 hours after rising seems to yield better speed sessions. My partner and I do speed on Saturday or Sunday at noon because of scheduling conflicts, often only 3 hours after rising. We have mixed results. We do however, warm up extensively. Is this a body temperature issue? Or something to do with our circadian rythyms? Sometimes training after work is tough mentally too. I’ll change it if it’s in our best interest to do so.
I would think it’s mainly a body temp question. perhaps you could speed up the process by doing a few sit-ups etc immediately upon rising to get the metabolism going, eat a little less, and supplement with somethine like L-Carnitine to get the fat-burning process going.
Appreciated. I agree that a little extra activity of some sort at waking gets you going. Body fat isn’t so much of a concern as I consistently test around 5-6% with a variety of methods-[underwater at UBC, skinfold, infrared]. Also-people laugh-but I wear my snowpants for a few minutes while doing my warm-up. I’m cooking in 10 minutes!
So your saying that there should be less time between sessions and also more than a day off between workout days? I sprint in the first session and lift in the second. I thought that both being low volume and high intensity would fit best, as much people do one right after the other. Is this assumption correct? As far as traveling I dont except for thanksgiving to visit family in michigan(i live in VA) and one to visit family in california so i am not to sure how big a factor my traveling is. As well because of this approach i figured to only do low intensity abdominal work and stretch on off/recovery days as it was also my assumption that it would be okay to have two short low volume high intensity sessions in a day as long as they were spread apart. Again thanks for the answers.
I thought it might be helpful to post a structure of my workout also. I can go into more detail if you think it would help more.
Morning
Speed Work(distances up to 60m, no more than total meters)
Afternoon
Weight Work(Focus is on RFD with all lifts, having lifts where bar speed(ie Power Snatches, DE Box Squat one day, limit strength another)
As well another question, would it be ok to do limit strength weight days on days of sprints(ie Mon AM Sprint PM Limit Strength Legs, Tues PM Upperbody lighter weight with high bar speed and visa versa with Thurs Limit Upper, Fri High bar speed, lower weight lower)? As well I think its important to mention the light Upper body day is bodyweight exercises(pull-ups for speed and reps, plyo push ups, DE Bench Press). I think i feel like this would be appropriate, because of the low volume and medium intensity in different body parts(upper and lower). Am I wrong in this? Im sorry for all the questions.
Heres my specific program as written. I tried to do a high CNS stress, medium, then high approach over three days a week with only ab work being done on off days. I do sprints first thing in the morning, then plyo. Then in the afternoon I do five lifts plus an extra upper body thing on leg days, the upper body thing is light. The rest i use because i used them before and they seemed to help me a lot with my speed. Please let me know what needs to be changed.
Weeks 1-3(Week 4 cut volumes down by 25 percent)
Day 1-Acc. Dev.
10x20m@95% (2min recovery) 10min recovery
2x5@95% flying 30’s (3min recovery between reps, 5 min between sets)
Day 2-Acc. Development
Repeat Mon
Day 3-Hills
8-10 Hills@85% (4-5min recovery)
Weeks 5-7(Week 8 cut volumes by 25 percent)
Day 1-Top Speed development
10x50m@95% (5 min recovery) rest 10 min
2x5@95% flying 55m(5.5 min recovery for reps, 5min between sets)
Day 2-Acc. Dev
10x30m@95% (3min recovery) 10min recovery
2x5@95% flyin 30m(3min recovery between reps, 5min between sets)
Day 3-Top Speed Development
10x50m@95% (5min between reps)
Weeks 9-11(week 12 cut volume by 25 percent)
Day 1-Endurance Runs
10x60m@80% (1.5min recovery between reps)
Day 2-Acc. Dev.
4x30@95% (2 min between reps, 5 min between sets)
3x20@95%
2x15@95%
Day 3
10x30m@75% (1min between reps)
Plyo
Day 1-Monday
A-Post Running Plyo
1.Step-Up Jumps 3x5(add 1 rep per 2 weeks)
2.Depth Jumps 3x8
B-Pre Lifting Plyo
3.Explosive Box Squats 3x3(add one set per microcycle)
4.Box Jumps 3x8
Day 2-Friday
A
1.SLJ into 10m sprint 5x
2.STJ into 10m sprint 5x
B
3.Altitude Landings 4x5
4.Box Jumps 3x8
Day 1-2xAs Many reps as Possible in 10 sec, with 2 min between sets/exercises
1.Power Snatch
2.Snatch Grip Pull off Podium
3.DE Box Squat
4.Explosive Reverse Hypers
5.Single Leg Hypers
B
1.Pull-Ups
Day 3-2xAs many as possible in 10 sec with 3 min between sets/exercises
1.Pwr Clean+Push Press
2.Heavy Clean Pulls
3.Trap Bar Deadlifts
4.OH Squats
5.Glute-Ham Raises 4x5
B
1.Plyo Push Ups
2.Depth Push Ups
Day 2-Same as Legs Day 3
1.Bench Press
2.Incline Press
3.Pull Up
4.DB Rows
Core-High reps and low intensity
Ab Cicuit-50reps per exercise right into next on Tues and Thurs.
Knee Raises
Crunch
Side Crunch Left
Side Crunch Right
Superman
Sit Up
Bicylce Sit Up
V-Up
Add one set per week for two weeks, then in week four set/rep scheme switches to 5x1 w/ 30sec between sets, then 3 min between exercises. This is to emphasize max strength in all the lifts. As well plyo and high rep DB lifts, and strongman activity is dropped for this week. First weeks of next session start at one set higher than the previous session.
Sled Dragging/Strongman Activity/Conditioning
High Rep DB Snatches and Clean and Presses are done at the end of each specified wourkout. These are dropped in the 4th week.
Day 1-Monday
DB Snatch-2x10(each hand)
Day 3-Friday
DB Clean and Press-2x12
Sled Dragging
Day 1-50m, 30 sec rest
Forward Drag for Pwr
Day 2-Same
Walking Lunge for power
Day 3-Same
Backward Drag for power
Strongman Activity
Day 1-50 m and back, 30 sec rest, 5-10x
Car Push
Day 2-50m and back, 30sec rest, 5-10X
Farmers walk
Day 3-2x15 for speed, 2 min between
Walking Deadlifts
As you may be aware, I recommend avoiding the medium intensities in training as they are too low to be specific to needs and to high to recover from in the time available, interfering with the ability to repeat high quality training the next day. Thoughts?
Well what about three high intensity days with a day of rest between where only core work is done? Would that workout?
The training manual and the forum review cover this subject in detail and are available from the site store. In a word- no.
Thank you for all your responses, i know that all of this is in your books, i just thought that i possibly had a slight enough grasp on the subject to clear up those couple details. I have been planning on purchasing your book, but have not had money lately because ive had to pay for diet, insurance, gas…and as a student i dont get to often to work. Thanks again though and i plan on purchasing your books.