The Q & A with Stephen Francis indicated that general fitness plays a significant part of the training programme for Powell with 1,000m time trials, burpees and other calisthenic exercises going on until December (going on seemingly beyond the period elite athletes would ‘normally’ do GPP). He even indicated that it was a single periodized l-to-s programme (possibly to accomodate a lengthier than normal for elite athletes, GPP). Allan Wells had two 6 week conditioning blocks consisting of calisthenics, speed ball and plyos before he ventured (back) onto the track. Does this indicate that there are greater advantages to having the more extended GPP for elite athletes in terms of the general strengthening of the organism than has previously generally been recognised, and without a negative impact to overall performance due to the slightly shorter SPP.
the trick is to generate fitness but not at the expense of the previously developed speed and onlt to the extent required but no more. That means care that the additional fitness is gained in a gradual enough manner for the individual that it doesn’t overload the program.
I actually train people as a personal trainer. Nobody around here seems that interested in learning how to “sprint”. Ie, i offer sprint classes, and nobody puts their hands up.
However, i train them (the general population) to become a sprinter anyway. (even without them realizing it)
The issues i come across are
- they are horrendously out of shape
- they are carrying too much fat
- they are too weak
- they got no flexibility
- their posture is also horrendous
All these things i try to fix, using items you use to train a sprinter. Its like a long long GPP. Even the best guy, 30yrs old, after 6months of training, is now ready to enter a more traditional GPP set up. However, I need to teach him to RELAX for it to work, otherwise it too will drag on in time.
I got people who might be doing a “GPP” for 2yrs before they are ready to actually Sprint. But when they are ready, They will be ready!
My opinion is, that once somebody can actually sprint, then their goals will be pretty much realized.
1 - chicks will have a hot body!
2 - people will loose FAT
3 - peoples back pain will be gone
4 - people neck pain will be gone
5 - people will feel toned, energized and healthy.
sprint training works in so many ways.
A beginner, depending on their initial level, can take a long long time before they are ready to “Sprint”.
And there in a nutshell lies the art of sprint coaching!
Very interesting post Charlie,
Just a few questions.
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By fundamentals do you mean aerobic fitness & general strength?
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Would there be any special endurance sessions for the mentioned individuals?
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Would the training year for one of these athletes essentially be a GPP or would you include some SPP?
Thanks
1: Yes
2: A limited amount since these were high school kids at the time and the HS meets served for a great deal of special prep based on a limited tolerance they would have had at the time.
3; The SPP would be the high school comp period and again after a short break the summer meets. For such athletes, it woud be a matter of proportion, as there would be speed and some SE done but it’s proportion relative to aerobic and general conditioning would be much smaller than later in a career.
So for the high school athletes at this level mixing up spp with competition is ok? Would this be one high intensity session on the Tuesday and competition on Saturday (making up the second)?
Can be. Let’s say the athlete is running 100, 200, 4 x 100 on the weekend. You might do 2 x 150 or maybe 1 x 250 (depending on the athlete) sub max on Tues and a few starts Thurs with the rest being tempo and med ball/conditioning etc. The primary advancement of SE abilities of course is coming from the meets.
One has to also remember, that you need to explain to the beginners that RACING yourself into Shape only happens for a year or two! Then training becomes more organised.
Often, you get people who Race them selfs into OK shape, Then thats all they strive for yr after yr. They think, the only way to get into shape, is to RACE into it.
And there are no elites that “race” themselves into shape, bold? I don’t necessarily think that is ideal, but plenty do, especially if we consider L->S programs that will use meets to get a lot of their Speed and SE into place. It happens frequently at the collegiate level and there are plenty of examples on the pro level as well.
Hi Fogelson
I know from your statement that you are not advocating this yourself, but how successful are these particular programmes? Surely they are doing some (not insignificant) speed workouts before they commence racing?
Define speed work. Are we talking about them doing acceleration work and some form of SE? Probably, but it is far far from what most here would think about when talking about speed and SE specific to the 100m. I mean, if we look at more 200/400m oriented programs, I wouldn’t be surprised if MOST of them don’t do much “speed” work as would be defined on this site. Again, not advocating such an approach, but simply acknowledging it happens quite regularly and even in programs that have relatively high levels of success.
You just answered your own Question!
The biggest difference between the two sub groups at A grade to Elite level:-
Racing into shape is a short Peak at full fitness/speed/power etc. Good for a few races and the need for many many races at less elite level.
Those that train to get into shape, then Race to “Fine Tune” = longer season, more predictable performance, less injuries and bigger pay checks! Downside is its a year round plan.
Don’t get confused with doing a L-S plan, if done correctly, Your IN-shape before the season starts, you just need to Fine Tune your speed, SE etc with Racing. An example, is say Asafa, start of season roughly 10.0, then 9.8 to high 9.7’s by end. 0.2 - 0.3 of a sec = fine tuning.
Racing into shape might be running 11sec or even 10.80 now, and 10.40 or maybe the occasional 10.20 by in season with “maybe” a 10.07 or such PB done once.
How is going from from 11sec to 10.0 racing into shape but dropping more than 3 tenths isn’t? That is just nonsense. Show me one person who has ever done that. If your SE isn’t in place (as PJ has showed with splits) and then you use races to get it… you are racing into shape in one form or another.
And I said I don’t think it is ideal, but there are plenty of people who have run incredibly fast that did it.
10.07 here I come! LOL! I’m sure this is hypothetical really and I get your point… there are scores of athletes in the UK that race their way to form, as L-S programmes with a lot of early aerobic work and intensive tempo seem to dominate here. It’s as if they think they still have to train out in the cold! (even tho they are using indoor centres!)
The year that Dwain Chambers broke the World Junior record running 10.06 (run at end of July) he started his season with a 10.96 (I think run in early May). Now this was way down on his then previous best of 10.41. After he broke the record I spoke to his then coach and asked him how the hell did he get him down to that sort of time from the base he started the season. He told me that Dwain had started doing weights seriously that Winter and had yet to ‘absorb’ the effects!
Whatever his training, he’s going from 10.41 not 11 overall.
Give me a break. We’re talking about a 10.4 guy at worst and dealing with conditions in Britain in May (and the months preceding such).
Hey, please don’t shoot the messenger! 
Nobody mentioned that the athlete has a personal best of 10.9/11.0 and ends up with 10.0x. All that was asked is for an example of an athlete starting with a relatively slow time and ending up with a 10.0x.
Put him in identical weather and wind conditions and he runs much faster than 10.9-11.0.