Whats your goal? What are you training for? What kind of volume have you typically been doing in a week that you consider to be “little to no strength work”?
Just being consistent is important, even when doing very little strength work. I’ve made the mistake in the past of letting the weights go in favor of greater speed sessions. Taking the time to do some maintenance sets can go a long way.
An almost 200lb increase in squat in 10 month would be quite the accomplishment. It also depends on your current speed level. A slower person could probably get away with more strength work with speed sessions due to the muscular/CNS capacities.
my current max isn’t 220. Probably around 270 because I’ve been lifting for a month or so now… and I will be up to where I was a year ago (315) pretty quick (by the end of the year).
I play football, so I need mainly to focus on acceleration (40 yards) with an emphasis on conditioning. Although the conditioning won’t start until next summer.
When I said I was doing little to no strength work- it varied… kind of just when I felt like it- then once last summer started i stopped cold turkey to just do speed work (as recommended by a few people on here).
I’ve been my fastest when Im at my strongest. So an increase in strength- IMO- will do wonders for me.
So my question: Need I do speed work now? During the winter and early spring- or should I just hold off and totally focus on building lean muscle strength by boosting up my squat and dead lift?
Im leaning toward either NO speed work or 1x week sled pulls … like 6x30-40 yards. To be done ON lower body strength days.
Why does it have to be all running/no lifting or all lifting/no running? You should be able to do a brief acceleration session twice a week and still be able to do some quality lifting and bring strength levels up.
Charlie’s way was to lift after speed. That way, you maximize the recovery time before then next major CNS hit, and you know how tired you are after the speed session, and can adjust your weight workout accordingly.
If you lift first, you MUST hold back on the weight routine. If you lift hard, and THEN have a hard track session, your CNS can be cooked for days (this is the negative side of the HSI approach that you don’t get until you’ve been there, done that).
The other way, which I actually did last year and this following Bolt, is to have a part in the offseason where you emphasize weights specifically. Then, as you phase in the track intensity, you phase down (not out) the weight load. This wasn’t the CF way, but keep in mind that at least those big bench numbers for Ben that you read about around here (something like 2X10X365) actually came when Ben was injured.
I would try and keep some sort of accel volume in year round. It wont take much to include 1 accel/week and have it not impact your strength training. This is the basis for vertical integration somewhat.
If you play football keep in mind how many accels you perform in a game. Although the intensity is probably lower. This counts too.
You could count accels and some dynamic work as a dynamic effort day, which can be included to help increase strength.
will do. 1x week acceleration. Thanks for the replies.
I just want to make sure Im going to be as strong as possible by the end of next august. Strength = Great potential/base work for some serious acceleration speed. …Just ask ben.
I agree that strength to weight ratio is a really big part of acceleration. Equally important is maintaining the proprioceptive, technical/mobility and recruitment aspects of acceleration instead of letting it de-train and trying to build back up from a lower level just like your strength.
Set up your perioridization schedule for strength when YOU want it, which in your case would not be following a schedule built around indoors. Some programs (including HSI) set it up with BB type weights now, and the weight load goes up to 90% (but the volume goes down to 2 or 3 reps) as part of tapering.
Build up some mass (hypertrophy) now and turn that mass to strength later when that strength will do you the most good. As others have stated, many sprinters stay with BB/hypertrophy type weights most of the time because it leaves more CNS for the track.
what has worked best for me in the past: 2x week lower body strength, 1-2x upper. But Im kind of tweaking that toward kelly baggets’ recommendation: U-L-U, L-U-L … 3 day per week split.
work up to 5 rep max on squat. Deadlift every other wednesday. Heavy barbell bench on day 1 and then the following bench press day: no barbell work, just dumbbells and core stuff.
I’ll probably do (5)x5 squat until my progress stalls, then switch it up. Will do sled pulls every other leg workout.
How much accessory work do you guys do? During GPP I’ve done 2x per week heavy squats and once per week deadlifts. Anything else has been some easy hamstring work + lunges here and there…
Can you elaborate more on what you did regarding the weights?
“you emphasize weights specifically”, do you mean actual specific weights e.g simulating a sprint stride with added resistance or are you referring to a period where you just emphasize the weights in a general fashion?
What do you know of the Glen Mills camp with regards to this?
Thanks.
which would help my acceleration the most? (Assuming bodyweight remains steady.)
-Getting as strong as possible or
-Balance of strength work and speed work
Hemann, I think you can get the best of both worlds. I would eliminate neither strength or speed. You just have to find the balance. If your speed is for football, the way I have my athletes do it a little different. Because football is neither all strength or all speed, you need to train accordingly. Training strictly like a track guy will mess you up. Because I have very short off seasons with my players. I tend toward to a conjugate method of periodization. I would likely use block if I had more time, but that isn’t the case. When the season is over, I let my kids have a few weeks of “ME” time. When we start to work, its kind of a recuperative period. When we get the kinks worked out, I do a bastardization of Wendlers 5/3/1. We do short accel work 2 days per week. Maybe 200 yds of 10’s and 20’s. With weights, its the same format as 5/3/1 with more balanced work as opposed to triceps specialization work. We do Upper 2 days and Lower 1 day in mid week. Lots of rest and chilling out on off days. Kid’s have made tremendous gains. I have seen kid put on 20 lbs lean and improve their 40 times. They routinely go to school and test out at the very top. When we have occasional blips in schedule, I will stack weights and accel. I back the volume off, but not intensity. No recovery issues whatsoever. Hope it helps.
(1) I know that in the year that Bolt broke the 100m WR the first time, he said that he lifted weights in the offseason.
(2) I know that Bolt has talked about the 10+12 rep thing that some here have wanted to laugh at. But what hasn’t been mentioned is that Bolt talked about the weights helping strength endurance. There hasn’t been talk from Bolt or Mills about big weight numbers or explosive bursts from blocks. Bolt, in fact, talks about him not being like smaller, more muscular sprinters almost derisively. The weights being used in the Mills camp seem to serve different purposes, and John Smith is somewhat like that with the higher rep work than the lifters here seem to favor.
(3) Remember that the big category here is strength training, not just weight training. We know that Mills and Francis use sleds; We also know that Francis goes up to 50 pounds on sleds and also uses steep hills, as well as accels out of blocks on grass. If you don’t do some of the non-weight strength work, then you probably need more emphais in the gym.
In “you emphasize weights specifically” I’m really talking about a concentrated period in Verkhoshansky terminology, where you are empasizing strength gains in the gym, and remember that Charlie has this in the early phase of his GPP. Mike Young has made the point that you have to be “strong enough,” but just strong enough as emphasis on high strength numbers that diverts resources from track training can be detrimental. But if you are NOT “strong enough”, you might need to emphasize strength (and less sprinting) for a while, because combination makes it difficult to make major strength gains.
I also believe that he lifts mainly in the 8-12 range on machine type lifts as much as he does barbells. Like hack squat machine and hammer strength bench and stuff. There are some photos of him in a hack squat setup, videos of him doing curls and machine bench. I posted a video of him doing close grip barbell bench in Paris with about 155 repping pretty fast. From discussing and asking questions to Jamaicans and coaches who have had athletes train with Mills the weights are geared toward general strengthening and injury prevention.
thanks for the response. i think we would both agree that there is no magic formula for every sprinter, but some major guidelines can be followed. Right now im of the belief that the best way i can improve is by improving my weak points. One of the weak points is definitely strength. i have had great success with improving my squat by doing them every 5 days… working up to a five rep max. Im not too strong; usually working with around 225-250 pounds, so i don’t think my CNS is stressed from it… thats what i have observed. I haven’t put on much mass either. (yet at least)
You say your guys are doing the 5-3-1 workout, obviously more stressful on the CNS: requiring longer rest periods (7 days). Now, i won’t be able to do 5 reps forever without my body adjusting, do i think the 5-3-1 would be a good change of pace. I’d knock it down to 1 workout per week.
This is where im at. weak. In a sport thats all about acceleration… it would behoove me to improve my acceleration. Thus: squats and deadlifts every 5 days … …and accels 1x every 15 days
So - you’re going to learn to run fast by hardly running at all??
Football - requires pretty much only Acc work, little to no top speed work and No Speed Endurance.
But you also have to be on your feet for a long time, doing stop start tempo type running.
If you’re spending all this time doing weights just to get Strong - you’ll do well for the first say Quarter of the game - then the “weaker” guys who follow a much more Concurrent training plan will run rings around you in the last 3/4 of the game.
You’re not training for say Shot Put - 1-3 blasts as hard as you can, game over.
Do you guys really think that would be the best bet for him…weak in acceleration yet don’t do accel but once every 15 days?
I don’t see Charlie, Pfaff, Glen Mills, Tellez, etc. advising this. I see them maybe advising less accel volume maybe a little more weight volume and upping the resisted accel volume.
You should hire an experienced coach, perhaps one versed in short to long or simply follow Charlie’s program adapted for your volume tolerance.