Stephen Francis in Sydney

[kitkat1]

@tankhammers

I’m new here so if this is not the forum for this question, or it has been answered already, I appologize. I’m not a track coach but train all types of athletes. Some trainers I’ve worked with live and die by the 10% rule, whether it’s actual weight or how much it slows down the athlete. I’ve worked with others that used weight that was as heavy as the athlete could manage to move without negatively changing their technique. I lean more towards the latter but only if (1) the athletes has the musculature and frame to use the weight, and (2) if they are in a hypertrophy phase of training. What are your thoughts?

I think there is a case for a variety of loading depending on the objectives of the exercise and capacity of the athlete.

I used the sled initially to ground the athlete just sufficiently for him/her to get a feel for applying an impulse during the acceleration phase.

I also used the sled as a power-endurance enhancer, with the objective of trying to get the athlete to run tall when fatigued under a slight load (sometimes just the sled, sometimes with a light plate - weight would vary according to the ability of the athlete)