Stephen Francis in Sydney

[kentcounty]

@rj24

A-J, the psoas works in generating hip flexion, so it’s working when we’re driving the leg up. As for why hip flexion is so important, that’s a bit tougher to answer.

One line of reasoning is that strong psoas muscles, combined with equally strong abdominals, could facilitate better/more efficient front side mechanics. With strong hip flexors and abs, the trail leg will not trail behind the body as much, and this point leads to two more sub-points.

Sub-point one is that stopping excess backside mechanics will put one in better position to run at top speed. If we look at the greatest sprint performers of this era (Bolt, Powell, Gatlin), the one thing that really stands out is amazing front side mechanics.

And sub-point two is that eliminating the backside mechanics will mean the legs are cycling over a smaller ROM. Since that’s the case, there will be more air time in each stride where the muscles aren’t contracting. During this extended air time, the body will have slightly more time to regenerate ATP and therefore running efficiency will be improved and endurance will rise (ie. you’ll be able to sustain higher speeds for longer periods of time).

The other line of reasoning is that during acceleration a powerful hip flexion will lead to a powerful hip extension of the opposite leg. There’s a thing called the inverse-extension reflex, and it makes it so when one leg is forcefully extended, the other other leg is forcefully flexed and vice versa. In this way, a more powerful hip flexion during either top speed or acceleration would lead to a stronger reflex-potentiated hip extension of the opposite leg.

And Goose, pretty much regardless of what muscle group is being trained, heavier weights and intermediate reps (think bodybuilding) are the best at generating hypertrophy. Therefore sets of 8-12 of weighted decline situps would probably be the fastest way of enlarging and strengthening the psoas.

Excellent point. My experience has been that the imbalance of these two causes plenty of problems with efficiency, which in turn leads to injury, eg. hamstrings.

[major]

here is a quote from “supertraining” p 239:

“Yushkevich found that good sprint times correlated more closely with swing leg strength than push-off leg strength”

[Hawiian_Surferboy]

@martn76

The following exercises will develop psoas muscles and other hip flexor muscles.

Step-ups.
Cable hip flex machine
Sit-ups
Hill runs
Hanging leg raises touching hands with the foot.
Multi hip machine
Hurdle walk overs.
Weighted pants (doing high knees)
High knees for strength endurance

Tendon compliance and be developed with ballistic stretching.
Short duration static stretching.
PNF stretching.
Grass sprints.
Plyometrics (low volume).

Tendon stiffness
Large volume of strength training
Resistance work
Plyometrics (high volume)
Sprinting on hard surfaces.

Nice summary. However wouldnt step ups be better as a hip extensor exercise since the hip flexion movement isnt really resisted its the hip extension movement that will move the weight?

[flettotenko]

@a-j

how much of acceleration and top speed development can we attach to the size and strength of the psoas major? Also there has been rumour of bolt using heavier sleds than arafa

can remember reading the caribbean forum and seen something on there about this poster(cant remember this posters name)seeing him pulling something in area of 105,115,135, (maybe, can’t quite remember the exact specifics of the weight but remember it was a little more than 100lb.) also it was the day he ran the 45.XX PR from highschool champ record(might of been the morning of the race or a few hours before or something. Can also remember it was over short distance(20-30m).

[martn76]

@Hawiian_Surferboy

Nice summary. However wouldnt step ups be better as a hip extensor exercise since the hip flexion movement isnt really resisted its the hip extension movement that will move the weight?

Yes, that is what I thought for a long time until I came across a piece of research by a Japanese team that suggested that the exercise develops the psoas muscle and hip flexors. 1 piece of research isn’t enough but if you consider that S Francis believes in doing a lot of them there maybe something in it…

[TopCat]

A lot depends on how you perform the movement. If you straighten the back leg and dorsiflex the toes (weight through heel) then you HAVE to use the front leg to lift yourself onto the box. This changes a lot of things - one being the amount of weight you can lift.

[Goose232]

@martn76

The following exercises will develop psoas muscles and other hip flexor muscles.

Step-ups.
Cable hip flex machine
Sit-ups
Hill runs
Hanging leg raises touching hands with the foot.
Multi hip machine
Hurdle walk overs.
Weighted pants (doing high knees)
High knees for strength endurance

Tendon compliance and be developed with ballistic stretching.
Short duration static stretching.
PNF stretching.
Grass sprints.
Plyometrics (low volume).

Tendon stiffness
Large volume of strength training
Resistance work
Plyometrics (high volume)
Sprinting on hard surfaces.

Thanks for the reply martn76,

With the step ups, would you say it is the lifting of the foot up on to the box, or the pushing yourself upwards, that best trains the psoas?

As the person lifts their foot up on to box, their obviously working hip flexion, including the psoas, expecially if it is a high box. (as you know)

But when the person actually pushes up their body in the step up (contracting glutes / hip extensors, and quads) , the psoas may act as a stabilizer of the spine. So which part of the step up move would you suggest gives the greater stimulus to the psoas major?

Anyone?

[Hawiian_Surferboy]

@martn76

Yes, that is what I thought for a long time until I came across a piece of research by a Japanese team that suggested that the exercise develops the psoas muscle and hip flexors. 1 piece of research isn’t enough but if you consider that S Francis believes in doing a lot of them there maybe something in it…

I may suspect that it is better as a exercise to train hip extension.

No matter, Im sure we can agree that it is a great exercise, and I like to include it in my routine.

[flettotenko]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bYrLVtcmGo&

at 0:50 it show powell and co. running w/weights on sled. Looks like powell pulling 2- 25 lbs. plate, looking fast and relaxed state unbothered by weight.

[nycjay01]

@flettotenko

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bYrLVtcmGo&

at 0:50 it show powell and co. running w/weights on sled. Looks like powell pulling 2- 25 lbs. plate, looking fast and relaxed state unbothered by weight.

I wonder how much the sled weighs… The lightest I’ve seen is 25lbs. So if that’s the case he’s pulling 75lbs… that’s much heavier than the 20% of Body weight that’s normally recommended…

I wonder if this irratated Asafa’s ankle recently. I had a sprained ankle over the winter and after using a sled a few weeks ago it flared up again…

[100m001]

@nycjay01

I wonder how much the sled weighs… The lightest I’ve seen is 25lbs. So if that’s the case he’s pulling 75lbs… that’s much heavier than the 20% of Body weight that’s normally recommended…

I wonder if this irratated Asafa’s ankle recently. I had a sprained ankle over the winter and after using a sled a few weeks ago it flared up again…

In the video that you posted it doesn’t look like he is pulling a heavy weight to me. Look how it’s moving around. Regardless, and I’m speaking on limited knowledge, sprinting with a sled (up to 30m) makes make sense because as Charlie Francis said; sprinting alone is a body weight exercise.

So think about it; how much stronger could you get in the gym if you could only use body weight exercises? From what I can see the sled pulls is working because once Asafa gets to about the 30-35m the race is pretty much over for the rest of the field.

More specifically what I’m trying to say is, the sled training/weight training has to be key ingredient to producing the powerful block clearance along with the powerful few first steps to separate yourself from the rest of the pack early.

[flettotenko]

@100m001

In the video that you posted it doesn’t look like he is pulling a heavy weight to me. Look how it’s moving around. Regardless, and I’m speaking on limited knowledge, sprinting with a sled (up to 30m) makes make sense because as Charlie Francis said; sprinting alone is a body weight exercise.

So think about it; how much stronger could you get in the gym if you could only use body weight exercises? From what I can see the sled pulls is working because once Asafa gets to about the 30-35m the race is pretty much over for the rest of the field.

More specifically what I’m trying to say is, the sled training/weight training has to be key ingredient to producing the powerful block clearance along with the powerful few first steps to separate yourself from the rest of the pack early.

now that i watch video again it is not 2- 25lb. plates, must of been seeing things that day, can’t really tell how much weight is on the sled.

[nycjay01]

@100m001

In the video that you posted it doesn’t look like he is pulling a heavy weight to me. Look how it’s moving around. Regardless, and I’m speaking on limited knowledge, sprinting with a sled (up to 30m) makes make sense because as Charlie Francis said; sprinting alone is a body weight exercise.

So think about it; how much stronger could you get in the gym if you could only use body weight exercises? From what I can see the sled pulls is working because once Asafa gets to about the 30-35m the race is pretty much over for the rest of the field.

More specifically what I’m trying to say is, the sled training/weight training has to be key ingredient to producing the powerful block clearance along with the powerful few first steps to separate yourself from the rest of the pack early.

Thanks. I just needed info on the loading of the sled. after looking at the video, it does look lighter than 75lbs though. Looks more like a single 25lb or 35lb plate. And very easy.

[lkh]

@nycjay01

Thanks. I just needed info on the loading of the sled. after looking at the video, it does look lighter than 75lbs though. Looks more like a single 25lb or 35lb plate. And very easy.

I’m not even sure there’s a real sled there. Looks to me like literally pulling 50 pounds (2 25 pound plates).

But if you’re doing short-long (which Asafa isn’t it appears), do you really want to run 30m that slow with that much weight?

Obviously it works with l-s when you haven’t done the real speed yet.

[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?

[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)

[Charlie_Francis]

@kitkat1

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)

I would agree, provided the higher loads are restricted to very short distances and the load diminishes as you go farther out (as KK describes).

[trackfan1010]

would a prowler be suitable for a contrast affect where the distances are short 10 yards with full revocery. Do not have a sled and would use this as a general specific exercise during certain times. If this is not suitable could a toe rop with a waist belt be ok if the resistance is low enough that is does not impede form?

[nycjay01]

@lkh

I’m not even sure there’s a real sled there. Looks to me like literally pulling 50 pounds (2 25 pound plates).

But if you’re doing short-long (which Asafa isn’t it appears), do you really want to run 30m that slow with that much weight?

Obviously it works with l-s when you haven’t done the real speed yet.

Looks like a metal plate with the plate tied to it… I love it… Looking at MVPs track and equipment Id bet Franno would like my Canadian cave man weights in my avitar LOL The only thing missing would be Charlie’s cinder block med balls…

[kitkat1]

@nycjay01

Looks like a metal plate with the plate tied to it… I love it… Looking at MVPs track and equipment Id bet Franno would like my Canadian cave man weights in my avitar LOL The only thing missing would be Charlie’s cinder block med balls…

Franno has volunteered that a friend of the group makes the sleds. They are just a thin sheet of metal with a bar on which a light plate can be placed for load. He said he was on the lookout for some sleds but was quite happy with what he had.

I used tires for a few years before I’d ever seen a sled, but the main thing is that whatever you drag doesn’t swivel all over the track…