Stephen Francis in Sydney

[John]

@speedster2002

Sorry if i was not clear, the sled pulls would not be during the fef or fly ins they would be after if the athlete was not tired,

i.e warm up, 1x20m acc, 4x20m flyin, then sled pulls 5x30m 4min recovery

The reason i am thinking to put then at the end of the session is so the athlete will be fresh for the top speed work and the sled pulls would be maintainence of the power developed in the gpp hills.

why not do it at the satrt in place of some / all accel ?

[kitkat1]

@John

why not do it at the satrt in place of some / all accel ?

I think Speedster is thinking of using sleds to improve specific strength or strength endurance in the ense of asking the athlete to deliver good technique while carrying some fatigue from an earlier depletion run, then re-loading with back-up runs pulling a light sled.

If that’s what you’re thinking, it could work but you’d better be very clear with the athlete about the objectives of this kind of sled session because there is a risk of injury. Then again, if you keep the sled very light (maybe even unloaded) and ask for a controlled effort gradually building up speed and into a tall, upright posture I think there is plenty of merit in the concept.

The only sled work I did was 1x60m sled; 1 x 80 alternate high skips (take-off every third step) over about 80m; and 1 x80m-100m controlled sprinting buildup. That was one set (not necessarily in that order) and we often did two reps of each activity. Then we’d do from 4 to 6 sets for the session. It fell in the speed-power second two-weeks of the 6-weeks general prep phase.

[eroszag]

@pierrejean

20kg sled for 10m. This was for a fast and powerful 85kg athlete who is able to move that thing.
Heaviest MB 8kg but only for a few exercises with a 90kg guy in the fall, we use mostly 3 or 4 depending on my mood, 5kg when i’m tricky.

Hi Pj…were they sprinters?Or Rugby players? ( I only rememeber one big dude frenche sprinter, who was also a bobsled guy)

[100m001]

@Youngy

I suspect that the main reason for your hamstring injuries lies with your last comment and less to do with with any weight room deficiencies. Training at 80% and then expected to race at 100% is a recipe for disaster.

Once into the comp phase the training intensity needs to replicate that expected in an actual race, and competing should be like a day at the office - it’s all been done before in practice.

Yes, that’s correct.

[lr1400]

@gofast

Here is my report of what was asked from the floor and answered by Stephen Francis (SF)…

Q. What does your GPP look like; take us through a weekly set up?

SF. Well, firstly, it’s a 5am start. I do this to control the night time activities of my athletes. If they have to get up early for training then they don’t want to be in bed too late…anyway, we do 7 day cycles, 3 weeks hard and 1 week easy. The 4th week is no reps but we do testing here instead.

So a typical week looks like

Mon
5am
Hill sprints to 40m
Stretch
Ab work

3pm
Weights
Plyos

Tues
5am
Long speed endurance
400’s, 350’s or 300’s
(or 800’s, 600’s, 500’s for 400m athletes). No more than 6 reps done here.
Ab work
Med Ball

3pm
Technique work (mainly drills and some form runs)

Wed
5am
Long hills
250m, 200m or 150m
(300m for 400m athletes). No more than 8 reps done here.

3pm
Weights

Thur
5am
Circuit training (bodyweight exercises - burpees, press ups etc)
Drills for endurance
Med Ball

3pm
Technique work (mainly drills and some form runs)

Friday
5am
Sled work
Stretching
Ab work

3pm
Weights
Plyos

Saturday
5am
Weights
Slow speed endurance (is that possible??), anyway, 200’s

p.m Rest

Sunday
Rest

The weights done are free weights mainly with cleans etc, very little machines.

Q. Is it a long to short program?

SF. Yes it is really. High volume, short recovery leading on to low volume, long recovery. We don’t do much low intensity work either. I read in a book a while back that to run longer than 20 mins continuous will affect your speed so the longest run we do is 20 mins.

The women tend to do 20% less volume than the men.

I believe you can work hard on successive days if you are working different energy systems, e.g sprints to 30m one day and then speed endurance the next day.

The athlete needs to do a certain amount of work and this is more important than any theory about CNS and its recovery. I think you need to do 15 distinct sessions per week and so sometimes it is not what the theories agrees with but that’s just how we do it.

Q. What is done in the 4th week or the light/rest week?

SF. Testing is done. 2 tests/day with 4 exercises/day, 2 in the morning and 2 in the afternoon). So, for example, we might do a 12 min run on Monday morning and SLJ or VJ in the afternoon. Or we will test the 1000m one day and then the next day we will test the 800m. Over time these distances get less and less, so we might be doing a 400m on one day and a 300m on the next.

We also test med ball throws - overhead backward and forward, or jump, jump throw etc. We believe over time we have built up some good correlations or measures for what is needed to be a world class sprinter.

The testing is normally won by the slow twitch aerobic guys, but that makes them feel good because when it gets to the important part of the season they are not winning anymore.

From Jan 1 the weekly set up changes a bit.
Mon becomes speed endurance
Tue becomes sled work
Thursday becomes sled work
Saturday is long hills if they are not competing

Does anyone know what Franno does on Wed and Fri when he changes to this setup on Jan 1?

[flettotenko]

4 masseusse for 80 athlete so 1 per 20. So each masseusse is busy 10 hours each day after pm session(30 minute massage X 20) or 5 hours(15 minute massage X 20)?

[PhilG]

@flettotenko

4 masseusse for 80 athlete so 1 per 20. So each masseusse is busy 10 hours each day after pm session(30 minute massage X 20) or 5 hours(15 minute massage X 20)?

Must have fingers of steel.