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Burkhardt:

> Maybe this is good evidence that all those " speed gurus " who spend countless

> hours doing over-speed and various other drills would be better off spending

> more time doing to more explosive lifting and plyometric drills. In other

> words, exercises that improve RFD and elevate far right-hand side of the

> force-velocity curve.

If your running drills are not used to develop greater ground forces the

definition of " speed guru " should not apply. We still cannot overlook the

fact that you can increase Stride Frequency to optimal rates (optimal rate

will depend on individuals parents of course - have to choose wisely).

<<This article showing that human runners reach faster top speeds, not by

repositioning their limbs more rapidly in the air, but by applying greater

support forces to the ground

When it comes to rate of force development none of the above exercises alone

will get you any closer to a higher rate of force development (during maximal

velocity spriniting) than good old fashioned sprint training will. They are

still too heavy to let the nervous system unload completely to allow

unbridled, on the edge of reckless abandon, max velocity sprinting.

Now those exercises will help considerably in the acceleration phase of any

race or event. Note that Mel talks about reaching top speeds faster. This

suggests acceleration to me. Will have to read study. Question is what to

do after reaching max velocity. Hmmm! Only few guys in the world can answer

that one. Most on this list would be guessing!! So just for some lively

discussions. Lets have some good guesses.

Randy Huntington

Director of Sports Performance

Bellingham Athletic Club

1616 Cornwall

Bellingham, WA 98225

360-734-1616

360-676-1804x202 voice mail

hunt895wr@...

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Randy Huntington wrote:

> Question is what to

> do after reaching max velocity. Hmmm! Only few guys in the

> world can answer

> that one. Most on this list would be guessing!! So just for some lively

> discussions. Lets have some good guesses.

The answer is maintain perfect body position so that maximum power can be

delivered from the prime movers. As an athletics coach what I notice is

common among athletes is an increasing anterior rotation of pelvis which

decreases knee lift that develops late in the race.

Improving core strength has helped to decrease this effect in my athletes

especially when they have worked with a combination of swiss ball,med ball,

free weights. Much of the focus of development has been on the lower abs. I

have noticed that many of the worst offending athletes have very poor

ability to do leg lifts and maintain stability at the same time of the

lumbar region.

I have been using many of the methods that are recommended and taught by

Chek and have had good success at improving athletes maintenance of

better running position. Holding in the lower abs in drills and running

practise certainly has helped the athletes maintain their bodies in a more

powerful position with more ease of knee lift.

I am interested in developing better ways to control this problem ....as I

see that it exists in almost every running event. Some of the very best

athletes seem to have overcome the problem very well eg. Maurice Greene,

n , Kipketer, Hicham El Guerrouge, El Said Guerni, Haile

Gebresellasie.

Have also noticed many athletes have tight and " triggering " psoas and

glutes. Acupressure has helped in these areas but I am interested in ways to

decrease problems in these areas.

To be able to sustain maximum speed or sprint fast at the end of endurance

races it seems the best athletes have mastered this problem area i.e.. (loss

of form due to increasing anterior pelvic tilt).

regards

Steve

Head Coach Athletics.

Western Sydney Academy of Sport

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Randy Huntington wrote:

> Burkhardt:

> > Maybe this is good evidence that all those " speed gurus " who spend countless

> hours doing over-speed and various other drills would be better off spending

> more time doing to more explosive lifting and plyometric drills. In other

> words, exercises that improve RFD and elevate far right-hand side of the

> force-velocity curve.

>

> If your running drills are not used to develop greater ground forces the

> definition of " speed guru " should not apply. We still cannot overlook the

> fact that you can increase Stride Frequency to optimal rates (optimal rate

will

> depend on individuals parents of course - have to choose wisely).

>

Even if stride frequency is at an optimal rate, if the forces applied are not

sufficient, the athlete will not be able to reach top speed quickly, and top

speed

will not be very high (compared to an elite criterion). Zatsiorsky proposes an

index of explosive strength relative to bodyweight (sorry, forgot the term) in

his

book " Science and Practice of Strength Training. " This is essentially RFD /

load

of the object to be moved. RFD is simply the slope of a section of the

force-time

curve. Peak RFD can be very high even if peak force is not. If peak force is

not

sufficiently high relative to the load of the object, the object will not move

very fast. This is similar to thrust force (the force produced to accelerate

the

object ; F(thrust) = F(max) - ma [ma = weight of the object = mass of object *

acceleration due to gravity]). Garhammer and Gregor showed that thrust forces

were similar for a weightlifting movement (snatch) and a vertical jump. Peak

forces for the snatch were higher due to the greater weight of the loaded bar as

opposed to weight of the body only. I have not seen a similar study done with

sprinting but I suspect that similarities would also be present (if adjusted for

uni- vs. bilateral).

> When it comes to rate of force development none of the above exercises alone

> will get you any closer to a higher rate of force development (during maximal

> velocity spriniting) than good old fashioned sprint training will. They are

> still too heavy to let the nervous system unload completely to allow

> unbridled, on the edge of reckless abandon, max velocity sprinting.

RFD can be improved by either decreasing time of force application or increasing

force production (RFD = dF / dt). As ground contact time (GCT) is already very

small and can only be decreased slightly, and force can be increased greatly,

there is greater POTENTIAL to improve RFD by increasing force production. What

many people don't realise is that increasing force increases velocity. How?

Force applied is directly proportional to the acceleration of the object (since

F

= ma), therefore (for a relatively light object eg. the human body), it is

impossible to apply high amounts of force without having a very high

acceleration

of the object. Subsequently, velocity increases greatly (as v(f) = at + v(i)).

As an aside, my major professor ( Fry) asked a very good question a month

or

so ago in a discussion. Who has the highest peak force, a weightlifter

attempting

a maximal clean or a powerlifter attempting a maximal squat? The powerlifter

would have the higher average force, but I'm not sure that the peak forces would

be altogether different due to the greater acceleration of the bar in the clean

versus the greater mass of the squat.

What this all means is that increasing RFD or peak or average force production

is

best done by performing explosive-type heavy load movements and not through low

load ballistic movements or very heavy slow movements. Even plyometrics and

powermetric drills do not compare to explosive heavy load movements in

increasing

RFD, because the concentric load is not sufficiently high to recruit the high

threshold motor units. This is at least true for most athletes. Elite

sprinters,

jumpers, etc. may be the exception as they already possess a high level of

strength and are training other qualities (and who plyometric were originally

designed for). What load is too heavy and what is too light? If you can't

clean

it, it's too heavy, if it's not a slight challenge to power snatch it, it's too

light (which I would guess to be about 40-70% 1RM back squat).

> Now those exercises will help considerably in the acceleration phase of any

race

> or event. Note that Mel talks about reaching top speeds faster. This

> suggests acceleration to me. Will have to read study. Question is what to do

> after reaching max velocity. Hmmm! Only few guys in the world can answer

> that one. Most on this list would be guessing!! So just for some lively

> discussions. Lets have some good guesses.

Excellent question. Attaining peak velocity is an entirely different than

maintaining it. I would still suggest that high force production is the key as

it

is only the system that is maintaining peak velocity, and the individual

components (ie. limbs) are in a phase of rhythmic positive and negative

acceleration. Greater involvement of the SSC also occurs, thus training the SSC

would be necessary, however, I don't think the current trend or fashion of

overspeed, agility, etc. drills is required for most athletes.

Loren Chiu

Graduate Assistant

Exercise Biochemistry Laboratory

Human Performance Laboratories

The University of Memphis

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  • 11 months later...

>From: patrice.wilson@...

>Reply-Supertraining

>Supertraining

>Subject: Re: Re: Race and Sports

>Date: Tue, 25 Dec 2001 15:13:08 +0000

>

>Whit, I guess I'll bite and be one of those sprint

>coaches who wonder where you're coming from. I'll use

>the easiest example around. Maurice Green in high

>school ran 10.40 in the 100m. Post high school he ran

>10.20. His marks were good but not world record. He

>knew he needed to change the focus of his training so he

>moved to L.A. and his times gradually began to drop.

>

>Yes he was always faster than the average man, but if

>you think he would have broken the records by continuing

>the same training he had been doing, I've got a bridge

>to sell to you. Sprint training is hardly redundant. It

>is one of the most scientific disciplines out there. To

>properly train a sprinter, elite or not requires a great

>knowledge of several sciences (physiology, psychology,

>biomechanics to name a few).

I actually have to disagree with Patrice. Maurice made the US team in 1995.

He also had a windy sub-10 before moving out to LA to train w/ .

>[in addition, if technical sprint training tends to be rather redundant and

>sprinting

>ability is predominantly genetic, how is it that so many athletes gravitate

>towards

>certain renowned sprint or speed coaches? How do sprint coaches stay in

>business if

>their skills are largely redundant? Mel Siff]

In some cases athletes leave better coaches because the group they're going

with has better bargainig power with meet promoters and advertisers. It's a

lot easier to run fast if you can get in the races where the fast people

run. It's also a lot easier to train and run if you can make a living atn

it.

I think that a lot of the training technical training of sprinters is

somewhat redundant, much like weightlifting. You may have a different focus

from time to time, but there are generally one of a few areas you are

working on. At times your training focus will be directed toward " lagging "

physical qualities that may be holding back technical development. Redundant

doesn't mean simple in mym mind. It just means that training tends to fall

into one of a few areas -- especially with regard to technical aspects.

Of course there is a big genetic or basic talent component to sprinting.

Anyone who thinks otherwise is foolign themselves. However, there are a lot

of talented folks who have the genetic wiring to run at world class levels

that are lacking in other qualities (comittment, the mean to train after

college, the proper coaching/guidance). Genetics are just a part of

sprinting.

Kebba Tolbert (kebba_t@...)

=================

Men's and Women's Jumps & Multis Coach

Syracuse University Track & Field

_________________________________________________________________

Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp.

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I certainly agree with Kebba's conclusion that Maurice Greene was a

solid sprinter prior to his departure for LA. In fact, if my memory

serves me correctly, he ran 10.19 the season before he left. This is a

time that would just barely get him into the world top 50. However,

contributing his rise to become " world's fastest human " to this

relocation and 's " expert " coaching is utter nonsense!

Sure, there is a lot to be said for the concepts Coach conveys and

the training environment which he has helped create. But there is

absolutely NO WAY that this will take someone from 10.19 to 9.79.

Charlie Francis, the unfortunate poster boy for 'crooked' coaches, was,

to my mind, years ahead of his time and he had no choice but to rely

on drugs.

Many feel that these sprint " gurus " are sought after because of their technical

expertise. I tend to think it's often because they also may have pretty solid

drug pipelines in

place which not only procure the goods, but also help avoid detection. Possibly

more than any coach, such drugs are more likely to create the best sprinters

from the best potential.

By the way, that white sprinter from Kentucky's name was Casey Combest

and he was also a very thin lad.

Tolman

Boston, MA

-----------

" Kebba Tolbert " <kebba_t@h...> wrote:

> >From: patrice.wilson@a...

> >

> >Whit, I guess I'll bite and be one of those sprint

> >coaches who wonder where you're coming from. I'll use

> >the easiest example around. Maurice Green in high

> >school ran 10.40 in the 100m. Post high school he ran

> >10.20. His marks were good but not world record. He

> >knew he needed to change the focus of his training so he

> >moved to L.A. and his times gradually began to drop.

> >

> >Yes he was always faster than the average man, but if

> >you think he would have broken the records by continuing

> >the same training he had been doing, I've got a bridge

> >to sell to you. Sprint training is hardly redundant. It

> >is one of the most scientific disciplines out there. To

> >properly train a sprinter, elite or not requires a great

> >knowledge of several sciences (physiology, psychology,

> >biomechanics to name a few).

>

> I actually have to disagree with Patrice. Maurice made the US team

in 1995.

> He also had a windy sub-10 before moving out to LA to train w/

.

>

>

> >[in addition, if technical sprint training tends to be rather

redundant and

> >sprinting

> >ability is predominantly genetic, how is it that so many athletes

gravitate

> >towards

> >certain renowned sprint or speed coaches? How do sprint coaches

stay in

> >business if

> >their skills are largely redundant? Mel Siff]

>

> In some cases athletes leave better coaches because the group

they're going

> with has better bargainig power with meet promoters and

advertisers. It's a

> lot easier to run fast if you can get in the races where the fast

people

> run. It's also a lot easier to train and run if you can make a

living atn

> it.

>

> I think that a lot of the training technical training of sprinters

is

> somewhat redundant, much like weightlifting. You may have a

different focus

> from time to time, but there are generally one of a few areas you

are

> working on. At times your training focus will be directed toward

" lagging "

> physical qualities that may be holding back technical development.

Redundant

> doesn't mean simple in mym mind. It just means that training tends

to fall

> into one of a few areas -- especially with regard to technical

aspects.

>

> Of course there is a big genetic or basic talent component to sprinting.

> Anyone who thinks otherwise is foolign themselves. However, there are a lot

> of talented folks who have the genetic wiring to run at world class levels

> that are lacking in other qualities (comittment, the mean to train after

> college, the proper coaching/guidance). Genetics are just a part of sprinting.

>

>

> Kebba Tolbert (kebba_t@h...)

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