I was wondering how certain activities impact the CNS. I currently lift every other day, and am looking to add energy system work (and other stuff) on the odd days. My question is, how would you rank the following activities, on a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the hardest, based on their effect on the CNS:
Heavy lifting (1-5 rep sets, at ~90% 1RM)
DE work
Hypertrophy work
Sprinting (~30 m acceleration work)
Tempo runs (~75% best 100-110 m)
Plyos
Med ball work
Tabata-type work (front squats, most likely)
O-Lifts
I am trying to formulate a routine where I am doing something 6 days a week or so, while not completely thrashing my CNS. I understand that this is a pretty vague question, and there are a lot of other varialbes involved, but I would like the best approximations you guys could offer. Thanks.
If you want to do sprints, do them on lifting days. Do tempo runs on nonlifting days (they’re actually restorative method for sprinters- see charlie francis’ website). I’d go with M-W-F or T-T-Sa with wed or thurs as your heavy or maximum strength leg day which you do not do sprinting at all.You do some form of sprinting on monday and friday depnding on the sports you’re playing Your CNS should stay fresh that way with 4 days of rest.
I’m limited for time, and as of right now I really don’t want to work out twice a day (be it lifting and running, or whatever it might entail). I read on CF’s site that you want to alternate high- and low-intensity days, so that is essentially what I am trying to accomplish. I was thinking something along these lines: Lower body limit strength on day 1, Med ball work on day 2, Upper body limit strength on day 3, Tempo runs on day 4, Lower body hypertrophy on day 5, Plyos on day 6, take day 7 off, Upper body hypertrophy on day 8, Acceleration work on day 9, Tabata front squats on day 10, then repeat. This obviously isn’t set in stone, as I am inquiring about it, but this is the general idea that I have. I keep the volume pretty low. Suggestions, criticism, etc., would be appreciated.
I would put the O-Lifts as the most demanding on the CNS so I would give them a 10.
Plyo’s I would consider pretty low on the CNS but they take awhile to recover from. These work the stretch reflex mechanisms in the tendons(mainly) and muscles. When I was looking things up 2X a week was stated to be about best performance dropped after that. ?4-5 out of 10?
Med ball work depending on the weight of the ball also is pretty low 3/10. Lighter balls become restorative and speed recovery.Heavier balls will be more taxing.
Hypertrophy work I would give maybe a 5 since you are doing more damage to the muscle to cause growth than motor unit recruitment efficiency training. Do you need to do this? What are you training for?
Max. effort and dynamic effort I would give 8-9 out of 10. Although the less rest between sets the more taxing it becomes, also your performance will drop.
Sprint (I pressume 100% effort) and tempo work again depending on the rest between sets and the number of sets and the position starting from can alter how demanding it is to the CNS. Were you planning on doing the Tabata on the same days as sprints? When I did further looking up of this method I didn’t find any mention of supplemental work they did but they did no other “speed work” that I could see. Sprint/Tabata I would give up towards 7-8, tempo about a 5.
What are you training for?
Hope this helps.
Peace,
T-Ren
if you are sprinting there really is no need to perform DE work. Heres a possible schedule for people who do not want to sprint and lift on the same day.