Sprinting

In the interview I read, it said you did sprints a few times a week. I love sprints for how fast they drop my bodyfat, but my legs get so burned out that I find it difficult to train them some weeks. How often did you sprint and what formula did you use (HIT, timed, distance…) I am really curious to know. BTW it would be cool to see some updated pics, I have heard that you have gotten even better!

I sprint 3 times per week.

1 acceleration workout (4-6x 30m full speed)

1 top speed workout (flying 30-50m … gradual speed build up for 20m then 30-50m full speed)

1 60m workout (generally 4-6x 60m at full capacity, 6-10 min. between runs)

I don’t do this for body composition per se. This is a sprinting workout, not an energy system workout. I find that the second session is hard on my legs but the two others aren’t that bad. I do have lowered my lower body strength volume though, performing squats and dead once a week each for 5 sets of 3-5 reps.

I tend to about the same stuff during a given training week, but since a major injury…no running at all for me. Once I am back at it, I will obviously be a bit heavier than before. If I wanted to regain my past body comp, while still running these types of sessions in a week…How would I include some interval running into my schedule? Iwas thinking of doing a couple of IBUR type sessions on my off days, but this seems like alot of track work on top of my weight sessions. What do you think Christian?

Christian,

Thanks for revealing your schedule - it looks very sensible and really fun.

One question that always bothers me when planning out my sprinting is whether it’s better to sprint on the same day as my leg workout (8hr. later) or a separate day (at which point one may be sore from the leg day)?

Thanks a lot!!!

BTW, do you have any sprinting programs in any of your books??

It depends, a sprinter should train his lower body after a short and intense (acceleration or top speed) workout. This way you avoid having 4 CNS-intense days for the lower body, giving you one more day to recover.

It should be on the first day of the week.

We will often do the weight workouts in the same session (ther is a weight room right next to the indoor track) or 6-8 hours afterwards.

An athlete who doesn’t have the chance of doing two sessions per day will have to use the lower body sessions on different days. In which case it should be as far as possible to the most grueling sprinting workout.

huh Im way off:

I have done sprint workouts as follows:
Monday
60m x2x4 90%
weds.
200m x 4 75%
Frid.
30-50m x 8 flying starts

Oops, thank god I don’t do this anymore.
Seemed to work ok though.

A

I am a powerlifter trying to decrease bodyfat without long distance cardio.

I am going to try tabata sprints on a bike 3x week after weights, (4 days weights) including leg day. Is this stupid or will it give me results without overtraining?

Read Dave Tates article on sled dragging.

Artic, that’s not WAY off. In fact it’s pretty good is you ask me. There’s more than one way to skin a cat you know!

Any form of relatively intense energy system work will help you loose fat. Diet is probably the most important factor though. Watch for signs of stagnation. If you feel yourself getting weaker reduce the amount of energy system work.

CT,

I was wondering, what type of weight does a good sprinter work up to on the RDL in training (on average)? Can hamstring strength be a good predictor for a potentially good sprinter? I’m asking b/c I went to a track meet last week and felt that I could’ve gotten in there and beaten some of those guys. I’ve always been explosive and I easily handle 3 wheels on the RDLs for upwards of 8 reps w/o a belt (current bw is ~170). My ass is kinda high and my torso short too. I’m just curious in an objective kind of way.

thanks!

It is kind of an indicator, powerlifters have very strong hamstrings but are not fast. Body weight to strength adn power ratio is important in sprinting and limit strength tends to indicate a good start and quick acceleration while good performance in oly lifts(a sign of RFD) is a nice indicator of top speed I believe.

It’s not just a matter of strength and power, but how efficient at how you are at applying thoses capacities and how neurologically efficient you are at sprinting.

My friend Nick has about the same power clean and power snatch strength as Pascal Caron, but the later is 0.6 seconds faster on 60m.

You cannot predict sprinting speed with an isolated (or even compounded) strength test. There are very strong sprinters and very sprinters of very average strength.

Predicting running speed with a RDL would be like predicting deadlift performance based on a sprint!

Yes i know, but i was saying those could be signs…not that they are for sure

Oh yeh by the way how has training with him been going? Has he run any races lately/has one coming up?j