Rest & Recovery
Charlie Francis has produced some excellent material, his books Speed Trap and Charlie Francis Training System and the GPP Essentials & Vancouver 04 DVDs are recognised as classics and must haves for any serious Coach and/or athlete from practically any sport. I will be presumptuous and say this is at the same level. :eek:
In just under 40 minutes Charlie provides a whiteboard session that is best summed up by him I think we’ve covered a lot of material, it gives you a lot to think about and you realise how many options you have …talk about an understatement!
If you have ever attended one of Charlie’s practical sessions or seen them on film you may be surprised at the amount of time and effort he gives to therapy, this is because it is so important. The movie explores different recovery options using the general terms passive (time off doing nothing) and active (exercise that helps flush muscles and assist recovery). One telling point is that the first 25 minutes takes you through planning when and why to allocate a recovery block. This reinforces a common theme in his teaching that many people ignore, what you do must be tailored to the athlete and the situation. Charlie assists in determining this by giving different scenarios including
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Training background
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Specific body types (lightly muscled, moderate and heavily) and how the mix of passive and active is split
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Specific levels (NCAA, International, Beginner) and how you need to plan in and around the competitions
This reinforces the need to not only plan but also look at your situation so nothing is left to chance. As an example Charlie gives scenarios for 2 NCAA athletes, both compete at Nationals, 1 makes the team and the other doesn’t, how does this affect their season from then on?
Charlie then provides a day by day menu of options over a 10 day recovery block outlining what could/should be done and when. This can be applied to and will be of benefit to an athlete of any level.
If you want to compete at your best this is a must have!