This is the only point possibly worth some discussion here.And only if we cut it short as follows:
Now we might even start say SOMETHING.You guys appear to have LOTS of free time lately,lucky you!
What theory? That someone who at at least walks stairs will be faster than two lazy bums? I don’t get it.
Did I say something offensive? I picked up on the humor in the responses, but Goose’s question, whether or not it was a good analogy for sprinting or not, was a serious question. At least I thought it was. If the original question was a joke, I totally missed it, and I apoligize.
But my question for James, assuming that the original post by Goose and James’ response as quoted in my first post, were serious, still stands. I ask it because in several threads I keep hearing statements that fly in the face of empirical studies and even common sense, and I can’t get a grip on where he’s coming from. I’ve tried, but I can’t seem to get him to answer even some simple questions.
You seem to support James in most of the threads he posts in, so let me ask you if you will mind answering the simple question I posed to James. Again, if the original post by Goose, and James reponse as I quoted it, were tongue in cheek, then I totally missed it and I apoligize. If not, humor me, I’d like to hear a response.
Seems to me that you lack a bit of good humour…
There was no need for a response like that.
You may well be right,and I apologize. Didn’t mean to go overboard with anyone.
Again,my apologies where needed.
That somebody who does 1000 strides up steps per day (big strides, moving from stair 2 to 4 to 6 etc… missing out the in between steps, so as to take bigger steps strides.) 1000 strides up steep steps per day = 2000 steps. Why wouldn’t they develope 11 second 100m sprint speed with average genetics?
Why would they not be as strog as someone who does regular squats and power cleans?
I mean why would they not have world class strenght?
Why would striding up steps in this fashion not develope great leg thrusting strength and hip extension?
Why is this any less a good idea than squat and powerclean combo’s that every one recomends?
Why is this not better than skipping even? (think how many times they would have to jog back down the long staircase, = shock absorbing.) I went through the numbers in my first post.
There would be a carry over in to sprinting becuase of the high reps.
Would the carry-over be negative or posative?
…and mostly; what am I missing? A brain lol. But Seeing as I clearly and missing a major point about sprinting, what is the main weakness in the theory?
That the steps are not spacific?
(No less han squats and powercleans)
That each stride is low a leval on intensity?
(sit ups and ab work is generally no more intense.)
That it would convert too many fibres towards slow? (The general consensus on this forum seems to be; dont worry about “% fast twitch fiber make-up”.)
That it is WAY to aerobic? Would all his oxygenation weaken the power fibres?
(Ben Johnson was very aerobically fit,as was Michael Johnson.)
That it is not sprinting? (well, some sprinting would occasionally be done, for a few reps twice a weak, on non-step training days perhaps. Step work = 4-5 days per weak.)
In fact, I’ve got a feeling my idea might really suck, but I don’t know the science on why it sucks.
How do you determine 11 seconds?
Clearly stairs are used all the time by athletes, with much debate on the topic. I don’t get why you like this so much or believe it to be so effective that it alone(with sprinting) will produce a good 100M time.
no thats not what im suggesting at all. im saying “yea sure he will be faster that fat slobs, but thats not saying much” also they would probably adapt very quickly to the load and stop progressing very quickly. basically its not an effective means of training but it is better than nothing. you would probably be in good shape, but a sprinter… i doubt it.
ok here is the problem goose, your asking why it wont work instead of asking why would it work. ask yourself “what makes a person fast” until you understand that how can you ever hope to train right when you dont even understand the mechanisms of the problems. your question is kinda like saying “why wont push ups make me a world class bench presser” you got to wrap your mind around how the body works (anatomy physiology) and how its gunna adapt to the stresses placed on it. if you understand those basics you would understand how ludicrous this would be as an individuals only training for the sprints.
Ok, this might not help at all, if so I’ll just remove it, but this is my way of looking at training.
For arguments sake, if you were to take a completely sedentary individual and were planning on training them for the long jump. At first you can do anything with them, and just purely because they are doing something they will improve. Hey, doing bicep curls every day (or even isometric lunges 
) would probably improve their long jump performance.
Eventually any improvement would stop, so you need to introduce something more specific. If they then did sprint training this would again increase their long jump, to a point.
Once again as they plateaued some more specific training would then need to be introduced, and you could then teach them to long jump and you would then see them jump further than they ever had before. But again they would still be limited to a certain level.
From this point (using my interpretation of CFTS) you then need to utilise other training modes to increase physical capacity without being detrimental to the ability to perform the specific work, so weights, tempo, core medball etc. all get added and he wins an olypic gold.
Obviously this is not an outline of how to teach someone to long jump, but just an example of my thought processes after reading your post Goose.
I’m going to accept what you are saying, but my point is that training preperations are not clear cut.
For example;
A young 15 year old Mike Tyson, bench pressed 300 or 350 pounds in the first time he ever attempted a bench press in his life. No warm up or nothing. There are world class athletes who are 25 years old who have specialised in weights work who would struggle with that weight, including some sprinters.
The only training Mike had done before that point was… push ups, some dips, sit ups, shaddow boxing (Alan Wells anyone?), sparring and punch bag and running.
To say that practicing “A” gives result “B” is not allways the case.
For example, my best ever squat max, was after not doing conventional squats for 4 months and from 2 cycles of other methods such as weighted jump squats, single leg squats and glute-ham raises etc…
This gave me FAR better results than any actuall conventional squat technique training, on improving my squat performance max on testing day.
I dont do ANY barbell squats any more. I am currently including body weight exercises simmilar to Alan Wells style, including squats, and I do them FAST, for higher reps than what one would do in the weight room.
I am also experimenting with drop jumps or altitude jumps, not sure if there’s a differance between the two.
But then i remembered the steps by the beach cliff near where I live and I just thought to myself about the idea. I know, it probably wouldn’t work, but I didn’t know why it wouldn’t work. I tried to think of how it MAY work.
I thought it might greatly increase the neural pathways for leg thrust and hip extension.
James, don’t get me wrong, I take 99% of your posts seriously. (leaving “1 %” incase I disagree with something.), and one of your posts inspired me to include drop jumps or altitude jumps in my training. I put them in my program 4 days ago. I don’t know if what I did is called drop jumps or altitude jumps but I will have a question about that in another thread, I think the low bar squat thread.
lol do you understand what you just wrote lol. the thing is your looking at exceptional individuals. these individuals are so blessed with ability that they adapt to be stronger after a hot shower. its genetic, but that doesnt mean the rest of us cant be great ahtletes too we just werent handed it. the thing is if you have a great enough understanding event A does lead to adaption B. speceficity of adaption is what im talking about! increase recruitment rates in th efirst 23/1000th of a second… no problem. we can by understanding of the human body effect that change, to the point that it is predictable. eastern bloc coaches have been doing it for years. the days of training and hoping for an adaptation are over, that is like a hit or miss situation.
“our acts can be no wiser than our thoughts, our thoughts can be no wiser than our understanding”
You should check out West Side Barbell methods. They advocate doing variants of the big lifts and working on weaknesses in order to improve the big lifts.