" The closer anything gets to a sprint (i.e. cleans, plyo’s, etc…), you’re competing against the same resources that you need to achieve the goal (of more speed on the track)."
So cleans, plyo’s and the like can become a problem over time when sprinting performance improves to a high level. Charlies then goes on to give an excellent example of his famous vertical integration theory and how important it is to lower the volume of similar force/time characteristic components as speed improves over time.
If all you do is cleans, what happens when you get injured? Charlies recounts how Ben really got his bench press up at a point when he was injured and couldn’t perform sprints or leg work (i.e squats). The bench was enough to maintain his CNS capacity even though he couldn’t sprint fast for some time. Also, since sprinting is mostly a “pulling” activity for the arms, the pushing movements help strengthen the organism, again in a “general” sense but it still can lead to improved race times.
One final thing I found interesting was when Charlie mentioned how cleans performed after speed work would not be done well due to the high CNS demand they require. They would ideally have to be done on a low-CNS day (i.e. before Tempo work) which can add more complication to the training process. Of course this is really only a problem for the more elite sprinters. Most sprinters can probably get away with throwing a few sets of hang cleans in after their speed work IMO.
Keats Snideman
Thanks for the review. I’m not sure i understand the idea of doing the cleans on a low cns day. Aren’t cleans CNS intensive - hence the low cns would become a high cns day?