No wonder Cason ended up wrecking his achilles!!
actually… he hurt his achilles the year before he worked with Seagrave.
I think that warm up is very stupid. Who ever made it up was taking it abit too far.
The warm-up should be as consistant as conditions allow, with any extra work disignated as part of the workout itself. that said, there will be some need for variability in the initial jog, etc as it becomes easier to loosen up as training moves towards a peak.
Cason’s achilles injury occured when he was still with John Smith, which eventually cleared up. His chronic ham problems, which persisted occured under Loren, which I suspect were the result of towing (overspeed work) which he’d never done with JS and was the only big change from what he’d done before.
Does anyone know what happened to Cason in the '96 US Olympic trials? He ran a great first round, but pulled up with what looked to be an achilles injury in the semi final. At that stage, I believe he was being coached by Bobby Kersee. I never saw him compete in another 100m race after that. (He ran a couple of slow indoor 60m races a year or 2 after that, then disappeared).
In relation to his achilles injury which occurred before moving to Seagrave, was it a partial tear or complete rupture?
I believe it was a partial achilles tear and the 1996 problem was a hamstring.
When you say Cason, are you talking about Andre Cason? If so, I thought he left the track scene much earlier than that?
I have previously discussed Loren’s warm up in this forum. I think the ability to adapt is of significant value in the personality of the successful coach. Therefore my athletes use this type of warm up, but our own modification. And it works! I have more than 12 “injury free months” in my group!!
The big advantage of this dynamic warm up procedure is the fact that it is SPECIFIC - the athlete prepare his/ her body to react as quickly as possible, exactly the same reaction that the athlete will “ask” from his body in the race itself. How can one stretch a muscle for 15" - 20" (slow) and expect a quick reaction from the same muscles just after that in the race?
I use the full “warm up” as a circuit training. For the warm up - from league meetings to national to international meetings - the athletes have selected a few exercises in each of the 3 groups, that suits his/her needs. And the coach AND the athletes are happy!!
I have the full warm up available, but the “descriptive names” do not always tell exactly how to do the exercise.
A warm-up is precisely that- a warm-up of the system until a series of actions take place in the body, opening neural pathways, etc. To do specific actions as in the event, you must be fully warmed up beforehand (you have to warm-up to warm-up!)
Why can’t an athlete hold a stretch in the early stages of the warm-up? This is entirely dependant on ambient conditions and the status of the athlete.
I worked with top athletes myself, and they had three serious hamstring injuries in 14 years…two of them directly related to a heavy travel schedule due to promotional requirements (three trips to Japan and back in two weeks!) over which I had no control.
That said-If this works for you- great.
Charlie, I’m almost relieved after reading that you don’t specifically oppose some static stretches early in the warm-up process. Upon advice of some, I switched to solely dynamic movements/stretches fearing I was not adequately preparing my nervous system for the most explosive possible 100m. All that happened was that I ran no faster, but felt tighter and less willing to completely open up my stride. I decided to trust my instincts and go back to doing my 20 sec. held static stretches early in my warm-up [with a bunch of dynamic warm-up following that to prime my nervous system]. I feel looser and less injury-prone now. Thanks for the confirmation that some reasonable static stretching pre-race isn’t the end of the world.
I’d say our results indicated that it isn’t necessary to warm-up exclusively with dynamic stretches- though they have a place towards the end of the warm-up for an athlete who isn’t tight already. Your results with this approach are more common than not!
Charlie, for those who perhaps may not respond very well to dynamic stretching - how about trying AIS for a period?
While it is not a combination of dynamic and static it has some similar synergistic effects that may be more beneficial pre-workout than static or dynamic?
There are many possibilities. If you want see my ides on the warm-up in action, you can pick up the GPP DVD - It’s in there.
Re-Andre Cason
Loren Seagrave did a seminar in France a decade ago and gave details about Cason’s preparation for Stuttgart’93.
Yes, it was a partial achilles tear. Seagrave explained that since sprinter’s tendons are very thin compared to muscles, force should be perfectly applied in order to prevent injury risks.
During the recovery, they noticed that Cason’s heal was special, i can’t tell you why exactly, but new shoes were designed for him in order to delete bad vivrations on his achilles. They changed the eat pattern and supplements, they reduced long runs at training and avoided curb sprints, that’s why Cason was placed in 2nd position in the 4x1 relay team.
Pierrejean, do you have any more information on Cason’s track and weights routines in the lead up to Stuttgart '93 (or any other time he was with Seagrave)? Thanks.
Seagrave didn’t gave a sort of diary where each cession is noted, it was more successions of anecdotes in Cason’s season, injuries, victories, and his role as a coach. Then, he explained in details his conception of sprint technique, then training for 400-400mH, and then nutrition.
He gave some sprint training details, without saying if that was what Cason did exaclty in 93.
Anyway:
Planification
- use mesocycle as most of body founctions work on the moon cycle (28 days = 4x7 days). Training load is increase during 3 weeks, and the 4th is lower.
- each cession starts with warm-up in order to wake-up biomechanical founctions whichw ill be used.
- jogging will be reduced to its minimum, replaced by “Jeane Fonda” exercises.
- many exercises used in order to prevent bore.
Weekly schedule
Monday - acceleration
Tuesday - general endurance
Wednesday - technique
Thursday - maximum speed
Friday - Force endurance mutlibonds
Saturday - general endurance
Sunday - rest
Weight training
- Weight training never more than 45min-1h as it hurts CNS. At the start of the season, weight training is placed after speed training.
- it’s important to use loads than athletes can move quickly
- During specific period, they rarely do more than 5 reps by sets.
- During competition period, use quick squat and cleans.
- squat: neuro-muscular coordination is very low, so they do more specific squat, using quick down/up
- 1/4 squat: use 4 or 5 x body weight in order to stabilize articulations during sprinting at touch-down and during start.
- snatch: in order to increase work capacity, don’t add weights, but bring closer your hands (this way, the distance of the load displacement is increase and power used is higher).
- emphasis on back muscles and hip extensors.
Speed development
- 3x30m flying with or without weights
- 3x30m flying towing or sloping
- 3x60m without breathing
Acceleration development
- 3x 20m standing start with weight vest
- 3x30m standing start towing
- 3xrelay starts
- 10 press-ups + 100m + 20 sit ups
Pierrejean, did he say what changes in Cason’s technique he made if any? Also, can you give that detailed explanation of his concepts on sprint technique he provided?
Thanks
i posted the message, it seems it has disappeared
Please re-post when you get a chance.
Thanks