Coach Davies – First let me thank you for answering questions on this forum.
My question is: to what degree do you believe speed is hereditary, and to what degree do you think it can be trained? Of course there are countless aspects to this question, but in the broadest possible sense what is your view?
By the way, I am in total agreement with you that "speed is king" -- I've never heard an athlete referred to as "fast and weak." I am decidedly not fast, but I have a powerful desire to improve.
You can develop speed to your genetic potenial.Does that mean anyone can be a decent sprinter, yes (4.6,4.7 40, 11.0 100). Can anyone be world class, no.
Athletes are made - speed can be maximized so that you can perform at quality level. Now I know some will disagree saying they are born but I have proven over and over that you can radically improve speed. Finally, I would love to talk more of this - it is nice to hear from who understands that the sport is the most important asset. In faith, Coach Davies
Personally, from my experience in high school and college weight rooms, no one works the hamstrings and glutes nearly as much as they need to be. Everyone does squats (most dont go to sufficient depth) but few do GMs and RDLs religiously. It was just this past summer that I truly devoted myself to RDLs to build up my hamstring strength and my 100 meter time went down more than half a second.
So everyone who thinks they were born slow IMO just dont work their hamstrings enough.
Coach, I’d like to talk a little theory with you. I want to how you can improve absolute speed with minimal rest(the same for strength but let’s do one at a time)?
the development of absolute speed is a process of proper training protocols. Through my athletes results that few coaches (in football) develop “the wheel” of development needs. As far as the minimal rest, try to focus on the only work of mine published on t-mag as it concerns 1 half of one day. It might be misleading for you. I would like to discuss more and share how my athletes have made their gains. Do you coach as well? In faith, Coach Davies
I’m a personal trainer, my gym’s a nice mix of fluff and hardcore. It’s a start(I’m 20yo). Anyway, I’d be extremely interested in talking to you about the theory behind your training. For starters, your rest periods, in King’s literature he states that after 1m or rest 75% of ATP is restored and after 30s only 50%. Also he says that this would be best suited to training metabolic-end hypertrophy, how can one expect to improve his maximal weights in the snatch with 1m of recovery? Second, your rep brackets, you often recommend up to 20 or 25 reps, In Poliquin’s and King’s writing this would labeled as muscular endurance work and lead to metabolic adaptations, as opposed to central nervous system work. But I noticed it’s usually in “accessory” movements such as glute-ham raise and reverse hyper, are they to be performed in an explosive fashion hence the weight will be 50-75%? I want to understand, I would appreciate your response.
thanks for the info, although I am not positive about your clients. In developing a speed program, you have to first evaluate your clients performance level. Once you understand this you can prescribe there cource of action. Are you coaching presently or intending to get into the profession. Let me know and I will be pleased to assist. In faith, Coach Davies
My main client right now is myself. Only I don’t have any speicfic goals, other that stronger/faster(40-100m). I have a tennis player and we’re working on his agility, a lady who trains for general fitness and I talked her into sprinting and a guy wants to put on 10lbs. I would like to be a strength coach someday and I know a very good trainer but his gym’s a little out of my league, but I’ll work up to it.
as you see by the workouts I have been prescribing, I tend to believe most “athletes” arnt in the type of physical shape they should be in. Raising the work capacity of an athlete is a central theme. Since you are prinipally interested in yourself, provide some general details and I hope I can help. Have you tried any of the workouts? In faith, Coach Davies
I’m having knee problems(that story can wait) but the chiropractor/ART Practitioner/Chek Level 2 said to do whatever feels okay. So I incorporated some of your ideas in yesterdays workout. If you remember I’m doing Westside so I kept the upper body like it was, but for lower I’m cutting out the Max day and doing two dynamic days and one sprint session(80-150m, 1-2m rest, all linear). Yesterday went a little like this: Jump Rope 1m rounds w/pushups, chinees, jumping jacks, and stretches mixed in. Weights:(1)Power Clean 3x3@60%w/1m rest (2)Dynamic Box Squat 3x3@50%w/1m (3)Good Morning 3x8w/1m (4)Reverse Hyper 2x15 @30Xtempo w/45s (5a)Frwd MedBall Toss 3x3 (5b)Bkwd MedBall Toss 3x3 (6)King DL, but my right knee felt weird so I didn’t do these. Last, PNF stretches and cold shower, no time for GPP, but it’s been included last 2 workouts. Good times.
I take “raising work capacity” to be raising volume/intensity to a point, deloading, then working back up, wavelike.
My apologies on not getting back to you earlier - a number of system problems but let me move on. (I will keep specific names out of this post) Your brothers school - tremendous choice! Speak to the strength coach there - a good friend and mention our communication. Your question raises a good point - yes, I agree that RDL’s are better for Olympic weightlifting but are they “better” for football players. I prefer GluteHams above both but would tend to choose Good Mornings over RDL’s. I hope that helps, let me know if I can answer any other questions.
In faith,
Coach Davies
no injury is too small to tell me about. I wouldn’t be worth anything as a coach or mentor if I didnt urge you to discuss that first before prescribing a training session. Please get back to me. In faith, Coach Davies
Right knee problem: 1)outside tendons are tight, insides are loose, so my knee cap doesn’t ride in the “groove” but high to the outside; 2)My right hip is apparently turning oblique causing my right foot to externally rotate, so instead of my knee bending in line with my foot, my foot points to the right while my knee goes straight. This just makes constant irritation and it finally started hurting. Sprinting today felt alright and I’m still doing legs only nothing that involves heavy weights and knee extension(ie. heavy squats/dead). Let me know if you have suggestions, and I’m still interested in talking theory with you. Thanks.
ahh, I lost track of this post for a bit. I am reluctant to post too rigid of training without your knee being completely healed. However, I have been posting some sprint intervals in the “Renegade” post for the benefit of a few athletes who asked. Try todays running portion, with 90 sec rest intervals instead of 60. If the knees bothers you stop training and get it looked at. Once we get past that we can begin to put together a training model for you - okay? In faith, Coach Davies