This started from another thread but I figured a new thread would be best for my questions:
Excuse my ignorance as I have asked some of this before, but can somebody explain to me why this is the case. It seems with many of us, we don’t overload ourselves with volume to possibly increase our sprint speed, we just go balls out for a few sprints at a given distance. So, how do we increase our speed with just sprinting? I say just sprinting with the idea in mind that lifting will rise as a result of the sprints. Is the intent of trying to go faster in our sprint workouts enough to increase speed?
Lastly, if we are getting stronger through sprinting and the necessary muscle size is in place, why are we lifting? I thought we lifted to get stronger, but this is already being taking care of through sprinting from what I am reading.
Here’s the rub:
The value of sprinting as a contributor to overall strength rises exponentially with sprint performance BUT first you need to have enough performance to generate the output required. For that, you need a well developed musculature in place, which comes from good general prep, med ball, general total body weights, etc.
The weights should never be emphasized to the point that current sprint performances suffer but there’s no reason that performance should suffer from a well rounded weight program in the early development stages because the output capacity from all training elements is limited.
Thoughts?
From my understanding, improvement of sprint performance is the result of the total high intensity stimulus, both direct (sprinting) and indirect (weights, med ball, etc.) due to general cross over adaptations. The higher the total high intensity load, the greater the adaptive stimulus (assuming proper recovery requirements are met).
However, there are limits as to how much work the specific motor units and musculoskeletal structures involved in the sprint action can handle. This limit forces the athlete to stop specific training (speed work) before the total CNS work capacity has been reached. Therefore, the main benefit to the general work (e.g., weights) is to expend the remainder of the high intensity work capacity.
As the athlete develops, his specific work capacity increases relatively faster than total work capacity, allowing the sprinting to constitute a growing percentage of the high intensity work, leaving less work capacity remaining for the general work. As sprinting constitutes more and more of the high intensity output, it makes sense that it would begin to be the leading indicator, with general strength trailing, simply because that’s where most of the high intensity stimulus is being applied. By the same token, specific work capacity is unlikely to ever reach 100% of total high intensity capacity, thereby always leaving some room to be topped off by general work.
same thing applies to olympic weightlifters , I think… At the first steps of their career, the primary CNS stimulus comes from squats and various pulls(non specific), but when technical efficiency in OL’s is maximized and they actually start becoming GOOD at them, C&J/snatch become the primary CNS stimulus and gains in strength in the OL’s lead the expression of strength in squats and pulls. In fact, many weightlifters totally exclude back squats from their program late in their career and just focus on C&J/snatch/frontsquat ( intensification)