"power" sprinting question

I just moved to a place near a park, and my friend and I have started sprinting every saturday. I was wondering what would you guys think the maximal distance should be for, power/speed? We figured less then 1/8 mile?

 

I've done 30m (~90ft) sprints for power with good outcomes.

1/8th mile is a long way.

 

I go about 60 yards per sprint.

It's about 60 yards too long, IMO.

 

eh 1/8 mile is ~200meters, which as far as track goes is still a pure sprinting event. but for strength/power i think 60 meters is probably better, since you will be able to do more.

 

Dan john reccomends the following workout for power development:

Front squat 405 8 times
sprint 400 meters
Repeat 3-5 times.

Can't do that? maybe you should start by looking at getting to that level first.

edit: I can't find a source saying this, and have instead revisited the litvinov workout article where dan john makes reccomendations quite to the contrary.

 

Do you have a link to where Dan says that? I'm curious to check out his reasoning.

I'd say for strict speed/power development you'd want to keep it less than 100m with sufficient rest in between sets. Sprints of 50m or less could be even more beneficial, in my opinion.

 

^ I agree with you Monger for the average person. But if you are a sprinter who can front squat 405 for 8 reps 50 meters won't be hard enough. you'd probably be running the 400meter the same way the rest of us run 50s

 

It's no different than lifting weights in the sense of how speed and power are developed. Current strength is irrelevant. Speed and power would be developed through increased force production and maximizing motor recruitment efficiency. Both of which are attained in short, high intensity training. Not to mention the fact that once a person runs out of their alactic energy system max power can no longer be attained. That's going to be sub 20 seconds and for most people, sub 10-12 seconds.

 

hmmm... I guess I was thinking of the Litvinov Workout... and only he only says Litvinov did the 405 thing. in fact he goes on to say that he's found 400 meter sprints too long for his athletes, and instead reccomends 5 second sprints, maybe "a little longer." So 60 meters is probably closer to the mark.

I will edit my initial post so people know I was full of shit, thanks for calling me on this monger, that would have been some terrible advice to let just float out there.

 

Do it again Urban, and I'll bust you down to Assistant to the Assistant of Mschatz.

 

*looks at join dates*
*considers how much longer he's been moderating the forum than Lusst*
*chuckles*

 

That's cool. I wasn't really calling you on this as much as I just thought it might be an issue of being in the wrong context, which seems to be how it turned out. Thanks for looking into it and the link you posted was interesting so it's not a total loss.

 

If your goal is speed, I would keep most of the sprints between 10-40m

EDIT: Rests should be long as well. About 1 min per 10m sprinted.

 

for sprints i like to do 30/30s 30 second sprint 30 walk 30 sprint etc. 10before workout 10 after. it helps my recovery time alot

 

sprint workouts can vary by a lot, it's important to do them at different distances.

I would keep them inbetween 30 and 400 meters

30 is really short, most people cannot reach top speed in that distance

400 is long for a sprint and you wont be able to keep a full sprint that whole time.

I would reccomend something like this

100,200,300,400,300,200,100

 

Sprinting up hill is a great exercise that adds alot of spring to your legs.

I live near some woods that have a huge kettle hole in the middle of them.
Its just a big hole in the ground thats like the size of a 711 parking lot.
There are three different trails that lead to the bottom.
One is about 30 deg steep, one is like 45 and theres another thats about 60 deg.
I just rotate those over and over till I feel like Im going to throw up or my legs just cant do it anymore.
Doing that once a week has added to my squat and helped my shots get more explosive.
And its a fun way to get your cardio in.

 

400 is a quarter mile and I doubt most people can sprint that. If your not an elite sprinter, your gonna end up jogging it.

From my experience, if your just looking to use sprints to build power, not endurance, then 100 or less is a good start. It's like doing a bunch of singles and doubles when lifting. Sprint a short distance, rest and do it again.

 

Sprinting can be an effective form of conditioing, but if the purpose is simply to develop strength/power for MMA then there are more effective and more specific alternatives for MMA training than sprinting. Try explosive bounds, stadium stair jumps, depth jumps, med ball drills, etc. If you are going to use sprints for power, then you should keep them to 5 seconds or so and do not go over the anaerobic threshold.

The method of using a maximal effort exercise and then a speed-strength exercise in series is known as the Stimulation Method and it's been around for a long time. I've seen it mentioned in Russian literature as far back as the early and mid 80s so it's definitely not something new.

The most effective and most intense form of this method uses a maximal effort exercise with a shock exercise in series. Keep in mind the stimulation method is extremely demanding on the CNS and is a very advanced method that should not be used except by experienced lifters. If you do use it, it should not be for more than 2-3 weeks at a time or you'll burn out your CNS quickly.

The way Dan John describes the method in the article is also not how they are performed by eastern european athletes. Instead, you perform 2-3 sets of a maximal effort exercise for 1-3 reps, then you perform 1-3 sets of the speed-strength exercise. This is considered 1 series and typically there are 2-4 total series done in a workout with 8-10 minutes rest between series. There is absolutely no reason to sprint or do the speed-strength exercise with no rest at all after each set of the max strength exercise as he suggests, in fact this would hinder explosive power development.

When done properly, you should see an acute drop in your strength and power during the concentrated loading phase followed by a strong rebound when you back off. There are probably not many people on this board who should be incorporating this method into their training but it is an extremely effective method when used properly.

 

EZA touched on something but didn't explore it completely:

The way you should train sprints depends on what you're trying to improve.

If you're a shortstop and you're trying to improve your first step quickness, then 5 second sprints or less should be what you focus on.

If you're trying to improve your top speed, then you train to the distance or time when you are no longer accelerating. You should also train on a 3% grade downhill slope (according to DeFranco) - uphill doesn't do much to improve your form or top end speed.

For just cardio intervals, you can just pick a relatively short distance or time and increase the time or your speed as you improve.

 

Not sure about the speed part, but I've heard/read that running uphill forces good form.