How much volume do you cut from your sprint workouts during your unloading week? Is it necessary to cut volume of speed workouts at all?
I know that weight room work is done at 75% of the normal volume, while intensity is slightly lowered (or at least not increased).
Yes you MUST cut the volume during an unloading week. You can also slightly drop the intensity depedning on how you feel but i prefer to keep the intensity and drop the workload.
If a week before my unloading week i was doing 200 200 150 150 (700 meters total volume) for my unloading week i may do 200 150 100 (450 total volume)or 3x150. For my speed work if i was doing 3x30 3x30 fly’s and 2x55 (350 total volume)for my unloading week i may only do 2x30 2x30 fly and 1x60 (220 total volume).
During unloading weeks I keep the intensity high, if not raise it (usually not, though), and I lower the volume. I also increase rest periods.
I.E. - Special Endurance I
Takes the place of a speed endurance workout but the volume is lower because of the demands of the longer sprint, and the rest time is up for the same reason as well.
Also, speed work. If I you go up to 800m (never done by me before…volume too high for a youngen, but it is mentioned in the USATF Coaching Manual) I give 3 min rest and work on anaerobic work, but during unloading I will drop the volume to a max of 600m (again rarely done) and give 5 min rest to work on the alactic system.
So, yes you drop the volume and no you don’t drop intensity.
Cheers. I will probably cut speed volume to about 60% of the work done in the third week. (8 reps of 20m instead of 14 per session). Also I will cut weights volume by about 50% (1 set per exercise instead of 2), while not changing the intensity.
Is there such thing as cutting too much volume on an unloading week? My unloading plan seems a lot lighter than conventional.
Go by how you body feels. You really cant cut tooooo much volume during and unloading week but be realistic about it. The problem arises when you start to cut too much volume is each mico/mesocycle. That is when “peaking too early” becomes an issue.
Well said, Quik.
You know, we should team up together and start saving lives one confused track runner at a time 
!
BTW, you have really helped a lot Quik, thanks. Some of the things I do are based around things you have said and do yourself. I wish you luck in the upcoming season.
Thanks alot 400Stud,
I appreciate the kind words.You are really getting the hang of things. Just from Reading your posts i see you have come a long way. And quickly! You will be suprised, your knowledge will carry over and have a positive effect on your performance. You now know what to do and how to do it and im sure you are more in tune with your body. Best of luck to you too. We’ll be in touch.
Originally posted by David
[b]How much volume do you cut from your sprint workouts during your unloading week? Is it necessary to cut volume of speed workouts at all?I know that weight room work is done at 75% of the normal volume, while intensity is slightly lowered (or at least not increased). [/b]
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Charlie wrote in the new ebook:
question was – Does an unload week permit recovery and restoration due the decrease in volume and/or decrease (even if just slightly) in relative intensity (from say 100% down to 95%)?.
I think this is somewhat problematic (or maybe simplistic). Some athletes crash when you drop the volume too low. It’s either not enough stimulus to keep things going or thet they’re just used to a “certain amount of work”. So sometimes coaches will keep the volume of the speed-pwoer work the same and just put more recovery days in btw and increase the recovery methods. Other times we just do the normal training plan with everything (from a a volume standpoint) dropped by anywhere from 20-50%. And sometimes we’ll keep the intensity low.
Some of the factors to consider:
I’ve had athletes who responded very well to rest and others where it leaves them very flat. When in doubt rest, but you’ll soon learn the rhythms and particularities of your athletes and be able to group them.
Originally posted by ktolbert
[b]=======
Some athletes crash when you drop the volume too low. It’s either not enough stimulus to keep things going or thet they’re just used to a “certain amount of work”. So sometimes coaches will keep the volume of the speed-pwoer work the same and just put more recovery days in btw and increase the recovery methods. Other times we just do the normal training plan with everything (from a a volume standpoint) dropped by anywhere from 20-50%. And sometimes we’ll keep the intensity low.Some of the factors to consider:
- what does the athlete respond to?
- for how long are you trying to unload (3 days or 3 weeks)
- what’s coming up (i.e., an important competition or another training cycle of different/the same emphasis)
I’ve had athletes who responded very well to rest and others where it leaves them very flat. When in doubt rest, but you’ll soon learn the rhythms and particularities of your athletes and be able to group them. [/b]
While I agree on the need to individualize almost everything,isn’t the unloading scheme very much dependant on the loading one?
If this is the case,when an Athlete of mine crashed after unloading,I would surely look at what has been done before,not at the unloading scheme itself as first thing in the morning,as the athlete is possibly overtrained,if still in need of a “certain amount of work”.
Am I just on the wrong path,Kebba?
All unloading schemes must consider the duration and level of training/fitness to determine how much unloading can take place without a sacrifice in fitness.
Hey guys,
This got me thinking again. If ‘peaking too early’ is not a concern, is it okay to really have a complete rest week after 3 weeks of loading? eg. I usually feel much more refreshed if I can spend a week just doing tempo + upper body weights, and then hit it hard for another 3 weeks. I don’t feel this is due to over-reaching. Could be perhaps just a mental thing.
Can this cause you to lose conditioning during that week? (eg. have poor performances in the first couple of sessions back to full training).
The loss of training effect is in direct relationship with the amount of training time. If you were to shut down every fourth week of the mesocycle, you would severely limit your annual progress. The amount of drop on the fourth week operates linearly (if not exponentially) over time, year after year, and as you advance through the training cycle (it takes a very slight drop after mesocycle one, but significantly more after mesocycle five). Likewise, as the need for recovery rises, so does the capacity to take it, but the ability to shut down totally would not occur more than once or twice per year and only for the most advanced athletes.
Charlie do these priniciples change much over an extended 3 week unloading phase, or can the volumes and intensities remain linear across the week?
I’m a bit confused with the question (as with most things!) Can you outline a detailed example for me for comment?
Sorry Charlie for the muddle,
I am just finishing off my second 3-1-3 cycle and I plan taking 2-3 weeks unloading or maintaince before starting another 3-1-3 cycle (I have no comp coming up in the near future) and I’m confused as to how to handle the intensities or loads during these 3 weeks …
I’ll drop the volumes by about 25%, but do I do that for the all of the 3 weeks?
Should I work at higher intensities for 2 or 3 sessions of the of the 3 weeks etc?
Hope this helps …
We’re talking weights. Think of it this way. The maintenance phase is to hang on to the current strength level (at least as much of it as possible) with the minimum amount of lifting work possible, in order to utilise the freed CNS and muscular capacity to maximize other high intensity qualities. That said, the numbers of near maximal lifts possible during the maintenance period must drop, to some degree. This will be highly variable, depending on the amount of background ( the amount of drop will be directly related to the percentage of change during the max strength phase and the greatest differential from start to finish of that phase will be for the beginners). Also the strength gains and drops will be moderated for 400m athletes by the increased endurance related training elements.
-sigh- if only I didn’t get an enforced ‘off week’ one every 3 or 4 weeks from injuries.
Yeah I know proper preparation will prevent most injuries but how to prepare for a big man trying to inflict as much damage to you as possible. :eek:
Ok thanks Charlie
Reading this brought up a question for me…
During an unloading week, could you just go with 2 hard days and 3 easy/recovery days (tempo) as a way to drop intensity while maintaing workload? Could this be effective?
Good question, but I think you’ll be well ahead by using the three high intensity days with less content as the means to maximally spread out the CNS load. Like the build-up period, you may have a further option during the maintenance phase. As the demand is a height (intensity) x breadth (volume) issue, it’s very possible to divide these very small volumes of sub-maximal weights into daily sessions with an upper/lower split. (Please note- this applies to the maintenance period only and I wouldn’t suggest this for a down week in the max strength phase.) Thoughts David and others?