I recall him saying that he doesn’t believe in them at all. And that was on eurosport as well but that was straight after the race!
This comes under the heading of “Flavour of the month”
Collins wins in Paris last year and everyone hangs off his comments about not lifting, only working out when he want, enjoying life. Well, how’s that working out for him now?
Well I dont give much about that kind of statements that athletes give in interwiews…very often it’s part of image-building or even part of the pycho-game frustrating the opponents…
Putting it a different way he could have meant that he listens to his body and only avoids overtraining.
He is still agreat athlete and gold is gold, but if you look at his best 3 performances since 2000 there were always 5-15 men with better times who could beat him - exept for 2003, but he will never get gold so “cheap” again.
If he makes the final in Athens he’s more than lucky…
2000 10.02(w) 10.13 10.15
2001 10.00 10.04 10.06
2002 9.98 9.98 9.98
2003 9.99 10.00 10.02
2004 10.02(w) 10.10 10.14
Kim Collins is a good athlete he is not a great athlete. When people make comments about not lifting weights and all that bull, well…
He meant literally that he does not lift weights thats my interpretation. Why are people still questioning the validity of weights. Obviously a sizeable group of athletes and coaches are applying them wrongly, because there is still a big debate going on after all these years, people are still question the validity of weights.
I think athletes and coaches over complicate weights and some times think they are the be all. Lets all remember that we are athletes first.
Example: Most athletes and coaches will apply too much variation of reps and sets in a session like;
3x5x100kg, 2x3x120kg for say power cleans.
You talk to an OL about getting your cleans to 120 kg they are more than likely to give you a work out like:
8 sets x 2 x 80kg increasing by 5 kg each week until you achieve your target.
Very simple and very effective, easy to recover from and works.
This is just an illustration of can be done
martin76 I have never heard an OLer do a workout like this in my life except for assistance lifts like squats, press, etc… never for the dynamic lifts.
Rob
Kim Collins is a GREAT athlete, however he may not be the GREATEST. I could probably find a THOUSAND sprinters who lift as part of their regular training that couldn’t beat the guy. Of course, a lot of those sprinters would be ammature, and mediocer, but that’s my point. The guy is in the top 1% and he doesn’t lift. To totally discount his training methods as bogus for the simple reason that according to your “mantra” he shouldn’t be producing fast times is pigheaded, stupid, dumb, etc, etc.
I believe in 2002 Kim collins posted a 9.98 100m. That is why people are questioning the NECESSITY of weights. The VALIDITY of weights was never in question.
The main reason those athletes and coaches are applying weights wrongly is because of one simple reason. They fail to understand that every aspect of training has a purpose. Plyos have a purpose; pullups have a purpose; weightlifting has a purpose; the different KINDS of lifts have their own purpose. The point I’m trying to get accross here, is that no two exercises do the same thing to your body. You can’t be fast from lifting weights. You can’t be good at lifting weights from sprinting. That doesn’t mean the two aren’t complimentary, just that they are different and INDIPENDANT of eachother.
Had enough rambling?
Thought not 
If Collins is a great athlete then what is the definition of a man who ran 9.79 secs. Men who have ran 9.9 secs ten times? People bestow the word “great” on others too easily. THATS THE POINT I WAS MAKING.
WHY QUESTION THE NECESSITY OF WEIGHTS BECAUSE 1 MAN OUT OF THE TOP 20 OF SUB 10 RUNNERS DID IT WITHOUT WEIGHTS. ITS NOT EVEN STATISTICALLY SIGNIFICANT “pigheaded, stupid, dumb, etc, etc.”
YES COLLINS RAN 9.98 SECS IN 2002 BUT HOW MANY ATHLETES NEEDED TO LIFT WEIGHTS TO RAN 9.9 SECS OR FASTER, THAT YOUR ANSWER NOT THE ANOMALY OF COLLINS, AN ENIGMA, STASTICAL OUTLIER, CALL HIM WHAT YOU WANT.
IF GREEN AND A PLETHORA OF TOP ATHLETES CAME OUT AND SAID WEIGHTS WERE NOT NECESSARY THEN YOU COULD QUESTION IT.
YOU SOUND LIKE A FOLLOWER OF FASHION A TRENDY GUY, A FOLLOW MY LEADER TYPE OF GUY. DON’T YOU EVER MAKE IT PERSONAL.
COME BACK WITH SOMETHING NEW. 1 WORLD CHAMPION WHO DOES NOT DO WEIGHTS DOES NOT MEAN THAT WEIGHTS ARE NOT NECESSARY FOR OTHERS. IT SHOULD NOT EVEN BE A DEBATE.
SIT DOWN TAKE A PENCIL, WRITE DOWN ALL THE BENEFITS OF WEIGHTS AND DISADVANTAGES THEN YOU WILL HAVE YOUR ANSWER.
If Collins is a great athlete then what is the definition of a man who ran 9.79 secs. Men who have ran 9.9 secs ten times? People bestow the word “great” on others too easily. THATS THE POINT I WAS MAKING.
WHY QUESTION THE NECESSITY OF WEIGHTS BECAUSE 1 MAN OUT OF THE TOP 20 OF SUB 10 RUNNERS DID IT WITHOUT WEIGHTS. ITS NOT EVEN STATISTICALLY SIGNIFICANT
YES COLLINS RAN 9.98 SECS IN 2002 BUT HOW MANY ATHLETES NEEDED TO LIFT WEIGHTS TO RAN 9.9 SECS OR FASTER, THAT YOUR ANSWER NOT THE ANOMALY OF COLLINS, AN ENIGMA, STASTICAL OUTLIER, CALL HIM WHAT YOU WANT.
IF GREEN AND A PLETHORA OF TOP ATHLETES CAME OUT AND SAID WEIGHTS WERE NOT NECESSARY THEN YOU COULD QUESTION IT.
YOU SOUND LIKE A FOLLOWER OF FASHION A TRENDY GUY, A FOLLOW MY LEADER TYPE OF GUY. DON’T YOU EVER MAKE IT PERSONAL.
COME BACK WITH SOMETHING NEW. 1 WORLD CHAMPION WHO DOES NOT DO WEIGHTS DOES NOT MEAN THAT WEIGHTS ARE NOT NECESSARY FOR OTHERS. IT SHOULD NOT EVEN BE A DEBATE. IF YOU KNEW WHAT YOU WAS TALKING ABOUT.
SIT DOWN TAKE A PENCIL, WRITE DOWN ALL THE BENEFITS OF WEIGHTS AND DISADVANTAGES THEN YOU WILL HAVE YOUR ANSWER.
[/QUOTE]
Sorry to piss you off quite so much as I did. It wasn’t my intention and I am really trully sorry that I did it. If in the future you wish to cuss me out, PM me.
The point I was trying to get across was the weights aren’t a necessity. You can do OTHER THINGS besides moving bars of metal around to get stronger. You don’t HAVE to stick yourself in a sweaty stinky dark room for hours on end moving heavy chunks of iron ore to become a better sprinter. There are OTHER forms of strength training. There are OTHER ways of becoming a better sprinter, NONE OF WHICH require squats, benchpresses, or oly lifts.
I’ll tell you a dirty little secret. I LIFT WEIGHTS. Weights have produced results for ME. In one year I went from a 7.4 55m to a 7.055m I brought my 200 time from 24.76 to 23.85. My 400m time went from 53.22 to 51.3 during that same year. BUT I don’t attribute those results totally to lifting wieghts. I did other things to make me stronger besides lifting weights. I did pushups, pullups, hills, and lord knows how much manual labor, all in the hopes of becomoning stronger. That doesn’t mean weights didn’t help me become stronger. It just means that I chose to use weights as part of my training program. I didn’t have to use them. I could have chosen to do other exercises besides lifting weights as a basis for my strength regime.
Weights aren’t a complete necessity for every sprinting athlete, and I’m just trying to get that accross to everyone. Weights just work for a large number of people. They are a valid tool in the sprinter’s arsenal for becoming a stronger athlete (possibly the best tool for strength training). They aren’t the only one, and they aren’t an absolute necessity. If you, and the other readers here at CF.com don’t/can’t/won’t understand that. Well I guess that’s your choice and there’s really nothing I can do besides to keep writing “BULLSHIT”
I’ve had a enough rambling. 
YOU come across as very sunctimonious what do you mean by
"If you, and the other readers here at CF.com don’t/can’t/won’t understand that. Well I guess that’s your choice "
Do not make assumptoins about what I and others understand and do not understand. No one has said that weights are the principle component to running fast just that 1 or 2 out of 20 guys who ran 9.9 secs does not mean that they are or not a necessity. You make us sound myopic and dumb. I think you will find that the next time you choose to open up a debate by personally attacking a member you would do well to use your fingers to do a search on what people have posted before making decrees, like I said you have nothing new to say on the matter. What you have written has been thought by many who are members on this site.
OK everybody, let’s be cool!
Martn, some of the things I said were out of line. I never intened to hurt your feelings or make any false assumptions that could offend you. I merely tried to post my opinions and my interpretation of the facts. If that makes me deserving of a “tirade of abuse” then I’d hate to try and offend you.
I’m learning every day I post here. I just learned how easy it is to unintentionally piss someone off that I don’t even know. But that’s not what I want to do. I want to learn how to become a better runner. Debate and open forums are a great venue for such learning, but they’re also a great way to insult and humiliate people in front of hundreds of readers, but I have to stop writing before I demonstrate just how pissed I am right now.
Have a nice day.
I’ll never be done rambling.
Disagree! You take two indentical twins who have never sprinted in their lives and put one on a maxium strength program and see which one is faster in the 40. Also you can lift heavier weights from just sprinting take again the identical twin issue. The reason you can lift more weights if you sprint is because sprinting involves the use of fast-twitch muscle fiber which is NOT mutually exlusive to strengthlifting.
Power=Force x Velocity. Maximum Strength lifting and Sprinting involve both and they complement each other.
I don’t think you quite get my point, though. Let’s take the identical twin issue. If you have 2 twins that have never sprinted in their life, and put one on a max-strength program in the weight room, and take the other and use bodyweight exercises, plyos, and do sprinting and form work, he will undoubtably be the faster sprinter, because he knows how to sprint.
Power=ForcexVelocity. Maximum APPLIABLE strength is what matters. W/out track work, weightlifting is useless (except for putting on those bulging muscles the ladies so adore)
But, we could go back 2 pages on this topic and be having the same argument.
in order to make the max strength gained int he weightroom applicable you need to do track work, or at least some sort or reactive work. they do compliment each other though. and I will refer back to the David W performance. No sprinting, but performed max strength and reactive lifts, enabling him to run a 6.9 60m…so max weights with a reactive stimulus is what makes the strength applicable…
Yes numba your correct but palmtag you missed my point. Strength training does develop faster sprinters, the only question is how much time do you devote to it. I say that it should be more than 7 weeks CF gives it, I am referring to the accumulation phase.
What are you talking about?? If you pay attention, you’ll see that MAX STRENGTH is addressed in a season over three periods for 17 weeks! (7 weeks- ph1, 7weeks- Ph2, 3 weeks- phase 3) With either accumulation or maintenance for virtually all of the rest of the year.
Yes, but I believe that in phase 1 you make your biggest gains because you can devote more than 7 weeks initially. I am thinking 12 weeks and then afterwards you maintain until the next strength phase. This way you accumulate more in the beginning which will allow you to maintain a higher 1rm for all your lifts throughout the year. I believe that its better to accumulate more strength in the beginning and then maintain this higher level of strength throughout the year although I do realize that there is a tradeoff between sprint work and strength work. I just think the ratio should be higher.
But if you trained or had a brain you’d know how ridiculous your plan is. The longer you stay in a strength phase the longer it takes to recover from it and realize those gains on the track. Also, for the same reason (cumulative muscular and neurological fatigue) you’re more prone to injury and having your strength go in reverse during long max strength phases. Even powerlifters have to deload after 3 weeks and their sport is largely untested. The key to all athletics is making slow and steady improvement year-round with appropriate peaking and deloading for the competetive season. In phase 1 you make the most gains not because of length but because of lack of competing neurological stressors and because the athlete is fresh or even detrained.
Yes. It’s not just a duration issue!
I agree with most of what your saying but I believe you are incorrect. This month is probably my last for my 12 week Max Strength Phase. You may have interpreted my post wrongly. I due regeneration every fourth week and the percentages started between 70-80% for my first week and every week they have been slowly going up (usually 5% higher the next week for example 70/70/75/80 and then the next week would be 70/75/80/85). My strength has continually jumped by at least 20 lb on my bench and squat at the end of every 4 weeks after regeneration and so I will find out if my strength will continue this rise this month. 