Question for Runningart2004

Please don't ask the know it all for advice and call him out in the thread name. Alan is the most arrogant person I have ever seen on these boards.

As for the weights go high rep low weight. As a distance runner there is no need to build very much muscle mass just muscle endruance. Also I would not hammer the legs due to the fact you will change the muscle make up. Do a lot of abs and back it is what you use to run with the most.

Oh goodness wrote:

Please don't ask the know it all for advice and call him out in the thread name. Alan is the most arrogant person I have ever seen on these boards.

Amen.

questions!!:

seen great improvements in my running (sprinter).

Oh goodness wrote:

As for the weights go high rep low weight. As a distance runner there is no need to build very much muscle mass just muscle endruance.

so are you a sprinter or a distance runner?

If you are a very short sprinter hammer the weights like a football running back.

I am a distance runner I really didn't think many sprinters posted on these boards. I should have read more carefully.

I am a sprinter, not a distance runner. I know there aren't many sprinters who post on these boards so no worries about the earlier post.

Seriously you will want to do a lot of heavy weight low rep to build muscle mass. Still though work the abs and back they will help you the most. If you are a sprinter and don't have a 6 pack then you need to get to work on that. Also running with a parachute or sled helps. Here is a good article on plyo's

http://www.therunnersguide.com/weighttrainingforsprinters/

Just go to google and type in weights for track sprinter and you will get more than you could ever read.

Running Art, you need to head for the f***ing Himalayas for a few years with a load of ex phys books tucked under your friggin' arms and bury your ass in solitary study if you're going to assume the role of Let's F***ing Run Dot Com physiology guru/whore. You seem to mean well but you spout all sorts of shit that's not even close to the goddamn truth. The bullshit you wrote about amino acids not being the same nutritionally as proteins in some other waste of a f***ing thread was bad enough - and I won't waste time explaining why - but this nonsense you cast the f*** forth about changing muscle fiber types through training is just irresponsible as all shitass. Recruitment of certain fiber types after others are exhausted of their f***ing fuel is not the same for c***'s sake thing as converting fast oxidative to slow oxidative or glycolytic to any kind of goddamn oxidative or vice f***ing versa or la de bung-sniffing da. Shut your damn cake-hole for a few minutes and read the linked shit, please. Egad.

Yea I wasn't sure if you were a distance runner whose sprinting had improved or a sprinter whose sprinting had improved.

I agree with Oh Goodness, hit the weights hard. Glutes, hamstrings, quads, hip flexors, abs, back, arms. Focus on lifting for injury prevention.

Oh goodness wrote:

Seriously you will want to do a lot of heavy weight low rep to build muscle mass. Still though work the abs and back they will help you the most. If you are a sprinter and don't have a 6 pack then you need to get to work on that. Also running with a parachute or sled helps. Here is a good article on plyo's

http://www.therunnersguide.com/weighttrainingforsprinters/

Just go to google and type in weights for track sprinter and you will get more than you could ever read.

Cool! Thanks for that. I am a short sprinter --60 indoors, 100 outdoors are my best events. I'm less effective at the 200/400. I do a lot of stair work at the stadium and I think that builds strength in my legs. I have the outline of a 6-pack (finally!). Core work makes a difference. But for resistance training I have been doing nothing but machines, stairs, and crunches for the past 18 months. Like I said, I've seen a lot of improvement so maybe "since it aint broke, don't fix it." I wondered if maybe I should take my lifting to the next level, whatever that is.

16 year old boys shouldn´t use a language like that!

I always wondered how you can actually SEE someone on a message board..."Alan is the most arrogant person I have ever seen on these boards". Interesting. For the most part the only thing I try to do is provide insight on topics of which I have a fair amount of knowledge. Seeing how I'm at least 10-15 years older than your average Letsrun poster I figure my knowledge is worth something. Every now and then I'll provide an opinion or two where it may seem like I'm talking out of my ass...and I usually am.

I'm not an expert when it comes to lifting, but I do have a fair amount of knowledge and at least moreso than most distance runners. When in doubt...find an expert who has worked with sprinters. I can only provide you the knowledge I have gained through academia and discussions with other trainers, fitness professionals, and strength coaches.

Lifting heavy, say sets of 1-6 reps, isn't the BEST way to gain mass. It is however the BEST way to gain STRENGTH. You can gain STRENGTH without gaining mass, but you won't gain mass (muscle mass anyway) without gaining strength. On a sidenote: If you are stronger, you will be leaner. If you want to lose weight you DO NOT lift light weights for high reps, you DO lift heavy (6-12 reps, every now and then even heavier) and to failure. If you are training to lose weight you are trying to change your entire body composition. To do this correctly you will be gaining a few pounds of muscle and dropping tons of fat. Even the best muscle mass gainers won't gain more than 15-25 pounds a year of true lean muscle mass.

First off, talk to your coach. See if he can find you a good strength coach who can teach you proper form. As a sprinter you need strength and power both in your upper body and lower body. You'll need general strength and power, and also specific strength and power. So you'll break up your weight lifting into 3 cycles: general, specific, and maintenance. The maintencance cycle should be done while you are racing.

General Phase:

As a sprinter you of course need strength and power in the legs, but you also need strength and power in the upper body, specifically the anterior deltoid and the latisimus dorsi and posterior deltoid. Sprinters tend to have large bowling ball shoulders and wide backs because of the powerful exaggerated arm movement needed to help drive the legs forward.

If you are relatively new to lifting this phase will need to take much longer than if you are an experienced lifter. In this phase you'll cycle from high-moderate rep body-building work down to higher weight and even single rep strength work. Then eventually to some power lifting.

Examples:

Weeks 1-2: 4 times per week; Mon/Thu upper body, Tue/Fri lower body; 3 sets of 10-12 reps

Weeks 3-4: Same as above, 6-8 reps

Weeks 5-6: Same as above, 3-5 reps

Weeks 7-12: Repeat above cycle increase to 4-5 sets

Weeks 13-24: Repeat above cycle with following power exercises:

1. Upper: Push Press, Push Jerk; one power exercise per training session; use variations such as single arm dumbbells opposed to barbells

2. Lower: Power Clean, Power Snatch; one power exercise per training session; use variations such as single arm dumbbells opposed to barbells

Exercise Examples:

Bench

Incline Press

Decline Press

Fly (incline, decline, etc)

Row (also incline, various grips, etc)

Shoulder Press

Lat Pulldown (incline, various grips, etc)

Leg Press (normal, wide, narrow, high, low, singles, etc)

Squat (THE BEST EXERCISE FOR AN ATHLIETE, lots of variations)

Lunge (various variations)

Step Up

Deadlift

RDL (aka, straight leg or near straight leg deadlift)

Good-morning

Glute-ham Raise

Calf Raise

Specific Phase:

In this phase you will switch to more exercises that place emphasis on running and sprinting motions. You'll replace the similar exercise above with the one listed. You can also introduce these toward the end of the general phase. You'll also spend some time on 1-3 rep ranges to maximize strength.

Examples:

Weeks 1-4: 3 times per week, total body, 3 sets of 8-12 reps. Start plyos

Weeks 5-8: 3 times per week, total body, 3 sets of 1-3 reps after good warmup. Specific exercises remain at 8-12 reps. Advance plyos

Specific Exercise Examples:

1. Single Leg Squats

2. Cable Knee Drive: Attach cable to ankle. Step forward so exercising leg is behind you. Grab something for balance if need be. Flex hip and bring knee up in a "running motion". Focus on powerful knee drive.

3. Cable Arm Drive: Attach cable to elbow/bicep. Drive arm upwards in a "running motion"

4. Reverse Cable Arm Drive: Same as above but driving arm behind you.

5. Cable Leg Curl: Similar to Cable Knee Drive except in reverse. Keep knee about 90 degrees as you push behind you.

6. Standing single arm cable row with hip flexion: In a nutshell, single arm row in a "running motion" while putting hip through "running motion".

7. Any multitude of plyometric exercises from hops to box jumps. Do plyos first before doing any weight work.

Examples:

Box Jumps, single leg hops, etc, for 20-30 minutes.

In weight room:

Power Clean: 3 sets of 5

Bench Press: 3 sets of 3

Squats: 3 sets of 3

Dumbell Row: 3 sets of 3

Cable Leg Curl: 3 sets of 10

Cable Knee Drive: 3 sets of 10

Maintenance Phase:

Very simple. Just maintance your strength and power. You don't need much to maintain strength and power. Just once a week. You'll be doing your intense racing during this period so don't worry so much about lifting.

Examples:

Various plyos for 10-15 minutes

Power Clean: 1 set of 5

Bench Press: 1 set of 3

Squat: 1 set of 3

Dumbell row: 1 set of 3

Cable Arm Drive: 1 set of 10

Cable Reverse Arm Drive: 1 set of 10

So....for a college or high school sprinter who typically finishes their season in May or June I would recommond:

March, April, May: Maintenance Phase

November, December, January, February: Specific Phase

June, July, August, September, October: General Phase.

As stated, these are just examples off the top of my head. If you would like more insight I can be reached at

atobin@humana.com

Alan

Meant to add this at the top when discussing how to gain muscle mass.

The best way to gain muscle mass is lots of volume of moderate rep work using a single muscle group. 3-5 reps, 6-12 reps. To gain mass you also need to eat...a lot. You need to eat a lot of protein as well. In fact while you are eating all this food and protein you will likely gain fat along with the muscle. So, what you do is that you lift and eat a lot, then you reduce your caloric intake so you can shed off the fat.

Gaining true lean muscle mass is very difficult and most of the time doesn't just happen by chance.

Monday: Chest

Tuesday: Back

Wednesday: Legs

Thursday: Shoulders

Friday: Abs

Saturday: Shoulders

Sunday: OFF

You would also use creative ways to "shock" your system and force yourself to do more total work:

Drop Sets:

Bench Press: 3 sets of 10 with two drop sets: Lift to 10 rep failure, drop off 5-10 pounds and continue to failure, drop another 5-10 continue to failure.

Super Sets:

Bench Press/Fly: 10 reps Bench then immediately into 10 reps fly.

Forced Reps:

Lift to failure. Use partner to help you force our a few more reps

Negatives:

Smith Press: Bench Press on smith machine. Lift up with two arms, down with one...:)

Run the Rack:

Fun with biceps: Start with a weight you can curl 10 times. Curl to failure, drop weight, pick up next lightest set and continue to failure. Continue all the way down the dumbbell rack.

21s and partial reps:

Lifting with only part of the movement. There are always certain "sticking points" during a lift. With the bench it is usually the top portion...so only lift that portion to strengthen that part of the lift. 21s are on a similar concept usually done with bicep curls. 7 reps on the bottom half of the movement, 7 reps on the top half, 7 reps on the entire range of motion.

Alan