Valeriy Borzov full trainings - from youth to elite

Expert Discussion Advanced Sprint Training
1

Hi All

after some years of searching I finally came across some articles where V. Borzov describes in details his trainings, from youth to elite, including his preparation up to the 72 Olympics. The articles are very long and in russian, they can be fed as they are into google translate for proper reading. Sometimes the translation isn’t good, so I would like to hear what other people understand / intepret from the articles. Especialy with regard to downhill running, he mentions many times it’s importance but it’s not clear to me if it was only used to reach max v quicker / with less effort and also the usage of “overspeed” (actually downhill) SE.

The volumes he mentions look very doable for an elite (esp. when compared f.e. with Pietro Mennea’s ones) and I can see some similarities to other training programmes of the 70s-80s.

http://uzathletics.uz/f/podgotovkalegkoatleta-sprinterastrategiyaplanirovani-yetekhnologii-2chast.pdf
http://www.irbis-nbuv.gov.ua/cgi-bin/irbis_nbuv/cgiirbis_64.exe?C21COM=2&I21DBN=UJRN&P21DBN=UJRN&IMAGE_FILE_DOWNLOAD=1&Image_file_name=PDF/NOS_2013_4_13.pdf

and his book “10 seconds - one life”

https://runnersclub.s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/attachment/30/10________-_______..pdf

There is also this file which I was not able to translate - my basic cyrilic tells me this is a biomech study

http://repository.ldufk.edu.ua/bitstream/34606048/4976/1/borzov_v_f.pdf

Some of the key takeaways:

[ul]
[li]2 weeks hard, 1 week unloading (50% volume)[/li][li]overall volume looks human[/li][li]real speed work limited to one time per week? Unless in competition phase[/li][li]Speed all year round[/li][li]Refers to V. Petrovky’s A-B-D models for speed development and rest [/li][li]More and more and more drills…[/li][li]Mix of different speed profiles during single workouts - I would even dare to say not that much high intensity stuff[/li][/ul]

5 times a week training in more or less following structure:
[ul]
[li]Monday: drills - max 60% intensity[/li][li] Tuesday: max speed, later in the workout reduce the intensity[/li][li]Wed: SE1 (speed endurance)[/li][li]Thurs: off[/li][li]Friday: SE 1-2 / int tempo (“specific endurance” in his words)[/li][li]Sat: tempo (“general endurance”) or se2 (only in competition)[/li][/ul]

Interesting:

[ul]
[li]aerobic base in winter, not that much what I would call extensive tempo[/li][li]long (up)hills[/li][li]long downhills!!! (int tempo / SE?)[/li][li] downhill starts[/li][li]assisted accels either with towing or incline, but not sure if he ever actually mentions using overspeed?[/li][/ul]

massive amount of drills / relaxation, working on:
[ul]
[li]hip position - Forward lean important, drill with 4kg bar on the back (if bar does not bounce while running, you have proper forward lean)[/li][li]agressive knee drive, (step over? Ankle close to butt)[/li][li]whiping motion of the leg[/li][/ul]

Otherwise:[ul]
[li]relatively short rests, must be based on high aerobic conditioning in fall / winter. e.g. 3x100m with 40s rest[/li][li]not affraid of some easy long jogging / XC, up to 10k or even 800m repeats (sadly no times given)[/li]li average strength levels, mentions once 130kg in the squat, otherwise focus on lots of reps done fast[/li][li]good plyos, excellent max v[/li][li]finishes workouts with jogging / 10 minutes, also varies speed actively during w/o due to fatigue[/li][li] lots of low intensity running leading with focus on tech[/li][li]times of long runs (SE1-SE2) are somehow slow for his PBs?[/li][li]importance of rest and doing other sports[/li][li]mentions changing surfaces in training - grass, track, running in the forest[/li][li]custom made adidas spikes with stiffer plate for Munich olympics [/li][li] tips on running the curve similar to what Charlie said (head position…)[/li][li] again massive toolbox of drills, lifts, plyos and gymnastics[/li][li] all types of start drills with different sounds and movements[/li][li] extreme awareness for his training - I don’t think that so many athletes have these in depth understanding for what they are doing[/li][li] this guy is obsessed with speed and technical perfection!!![/li][li] he saying not to follow the classical high volume soviet training as not to wreck your self[/li][li] I find no mention to what Charlie allegedly saw him doing in Munich (10x250m tempo…)[/li][li] lots of split runs during his youth[/li][li] kept the drills / special excercises done with coach Voijtas while training with Petrovski[/li][/ul]

BR

2

Thanks for posting…

3

Nice! thanks

4

Thanks for posting. Nice find for sure.*

5

Downhill running is overspeed.

Downhill starts?

It’s good to look at how successful athletes trained.

I think Tim and Marion succeeded in spite of excruciating volumes of work. Might their methods be repeatable for others?

Charlie talked about his own training with detail. The good parts and the less good parts. He also talked about why he had to stop doing what he loved which was sprinting. He had to quit his unrealized sprinting career due to serious injuries due to zero rest and lack of active recovery. This lead him to coaching after having an office job he disliked but was profitable.

Frustration drove his will to personally finance his athletes for decades. Long before his athletes used drugs most improved significantly at the national and international level.

His methods have driven this website since 2000 with zero advertising.

No time soon am I using downhill training without skis and snow. LOL

6

1982 Tony Sharpe cracks 10.2 with a 10.19 for the 10th fastest Man on the planet.

1983 Pan Am Games - BJ in lane 8 with a terrific start to win his heat in 10.49 into what I believe was a very strong headwind. In the next round, he may have been called for a false start. He’s no longer in the race…vid cuts out and he is not in the lane any longer when the vid resumes.
Desai W in Lane 1 for his heat.

[video]https://youtu.be/pN_GxH714VE[/video]

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Edit: Ben was in lane 7 next to Ray Stewart. The vid is out of order. False start for this heat is shown after. VHS issues. Been there, done that, as a kid in the early 80’s.

Some guy named Michael Jordan was Wow there in Basketball.

8

it’s cool to see these clips.

Long before I had met Charlie, Tony and Desai and Angella and Angie Bailey were featured often on the front page of the Canadian “Athletics” magazine. If you were a Ontario Track and Field Association (OTFA) member you would get this magazine.

Imagine most of these people who ran in the 80’s and before cell phones have little to none video let alone photos of their athletic life. Moi for example. Bummer.

9

That’s one crappy training program if I ever saw one. The Soviets didn’t know anything about training, they just found the genetic elite and doped them. Borzov was another genetically elite (or semi-elite by today’s standards) athlete who likely used drugs.

10

Back in 2002-2003 I would have Kate (who worked on many of CF’s clients) come to my place 1-2 times a week to work on me mainly to prevent any hamstring issues. She would always tell me that I’m ready, that it’s all in my head. I would pop in some training video and she would look to see what may need a little extra attention. Anyhow, she would always tell me stories about ppl she is working with. She never said they were working with CF but I knew. Big list of ppl of all ages in all sports.
One day she mentioned that CF was in Hawaii for a week or so chillin. The next day, I read on yahoo that Tim and Marion are both there also. I thought to myself I wonder if…nah, couldn’t be lol. Boy was I wrong lol
I was 31-32.

11

That’s really cool!

Who else did she name?

12

Only brought up Tim and Marion bc everyone knows about it already. Won’t say who the others are bc that’s none of my business.

I would always pay her more than she asked for and/or gave her vouchers for the movies, etc. She would say that it’s not necessary. I told her if you have two ppl asking for your services and it’s at the same time, who are you likely to see if you can’t see both that day?
Common sense? Maybe.
Learned that on this site though.

13

For those of you interested in learning more about a great sprinter from the days when Charlie was ranked number 5 in the world in the sprints.
It’s the 50th anniversary of the massacre at the Olympic Games in 1972 ( I was reminded of this by Charlie’s brother )