S-L or L-S for Beginner

Expert Discussion Planning and Periodization
1

I am a 21 year old beginner sprinter (only been sprinting for 3 weeks) currently weighing up whether I should follow a S-L or a L-S program.

I am currently very unfit as I have not been playing any regular sport since I badly injured my knee playing soccer four years ago (the knee is now completely fine). For this reason I was thinking of following a L-S program to get some fitness.

After watching the Vancouver 04 video I am now unsure if L-S is the best approach for someone at my current level. In the seminar Charlie mentions something along the lines of there is no point in going over 150m for beginners as the speed would be too slow.

My current stats (copy and pasted form another thread) are:

Age - 21
Height - 6’4
Weight - 180 lb
100m - 12.38 (hand timed on a wet track)
30m - 4.09 (hand timed in good conditions)
Squat - 220 lb
Bench - 220 lb
Vert (head measured) - 30 inches

I can’t say that I have any strong points at this stage but I feel that my biggest weakness is my speed endurance.

The major factors in favor of following L-S for me are:

  • I am Currently very unfit
  • Tall and Lanky
  • No access to indoor facility, relatively cold climate
  • No therapy

The main disadvantage of L-S for me is that longer special endurance work is possibly not suitable for beginners.

Has anyone on this forum had any success training beginners on a L-S program?

Is L-S suitable for someone of my current level?

2

I forgot to mention that my main focus is the 100m.

3

i think a l-s would be good for you.

4

So you don’t think that beginners should avoid distances over 150m?

5

l-s would be best for you. the main thing for you in the beginning is to do a pretty extensive gpp before you start your spp1. i think 2 months of gpp would be about the correct length. use this period to get into shape so you can get in shape. that means lots of tempo and lifting and hill sprints that are both short and long. also do some short accels on the track.

6

the 300-600 pace are gonna be slow, cf is talking speed end runs shouldnt exceed 150.

7

What do you consider the 300-600 runs? Are you saying that you would keep it above 300 and below 150? Just want to clarify.

8

im talking about the l-s graphs where the runs start out at 600m, the pace is much slower then a 150 sprint would be. also remember the example cf gave was for speed end for youths.

9

I think the OP was voicing concern about the long runs because the speed would be so slow (especially for beginners) that there would be little, if any, carryover to the 100m. What do you think? Have you done L-S with any of your guys? Would you use runs at all distances from 0-600m?

10

The speed shouldnt be an issue right now, i think his first year he should work on getting in shape and getting a foundation. We have to remember that the l-s plan is solid and if the 600 didnt have no carry over CF wouldnt have included them into the plan. Myself I perfer a l-s with most 99.99% of my rookie sprinters. I think many runners on this forum would benefit from a l-s plan but they dont like the longer runs so they force themselves to do the s-l.

11

Thanks for the advice guys. I was already leaning towards L-S but now I am convinced.

12

Sounds good.

I was already planning on following an 8-10 week gpp phase to get into decent shape before spp1.

13

I think a l-s plan for your first year would be best and after you can readjust. also at your strength levels you can see a performance increase just by getting stronger.

14

Thanks man, sounds like good advice

When you have an athlete following a L-S plan, during spp do you prefer to have them lifting on running days or on a separate day?

I know that Charlie’s athletes lifted on the same day as sprints, but with L-S I imagine it would probably be pretty hard to make good lower body strength gains after running 600s etc on the same day.

15

i would probably lift 4x times per week, upper on speed days and lower on other days.

ex:
mon speed/upper
tue lower
wed tempo
thur speed/upper
fri lower
sat tempo
sun rest

16

what does ur gpp look like

17

Looks good

I was thinking along those lines but wasn’t sure of the best way to organise the weekly setup.

Thanks

18

I haven’t gotten that far yet. I live in Australia so I won’t be starting GPP until June. I will probably get the GPP DVD this week.

I read in another thread that if you’re going L-S it’s better to include some longer hill runs than what are shown in the GPP download, so I will do that.

I will basically just modify Charlie’s sample GPP template to focus more on fitness for longer runs. The last couple of weeks of GPP will serve as a transition to special endurance so that I am prepared for the 600’s.

19

yeh first you may want to make ur gpp 8-10weeks, increase tempo volume, one short hill day, one long hill day, and maybe one special end day to prep you for the longer runs in spp.

20

sounds good,

Would you include one special end day the whole way through GPP or just towards the end?

Maybe I could start out with the two hill days that you mentioned + 3 tempo days for the first half of GPP. Later on in GPP i could drop one of the tempo days in exchange for a special end day.