I am a freshman sprinter in college and have grown curious about west side and its principles ever since first learning about it on charlie francis’s site.
Now I know its geared towards powerlifters (obviously) but how would one modify, periodize, and assemble the west side template into a track program (specifically 55m-300m indoors, 100-200m outdoors)
the basic template i would be using is the following
Since track is obviously going to be your main focus. You would have to split up you training into, idealy you would want to train for sprints in the morning and lift at night. And you wouldn’t actually be using westside as it is geared towards powerlifters, but the conjugate system that westside is based on would work very nicely.
I would maybe try something like this.
Monday
ME lower body day
Wednesday
ME upper body day
Friday
DE lower body
Saturday or Sunday
DE upper body
If you want i can post more about specific exercises later or you can shoot me a PM and i can give you some ideas, dont have time right now. I’m a little confuses as to what you mean regular template and GPP i’m assuming you mean GPP is pre-season and the template is in season.
I’m confused as to why you want a use a Westside template and not CFTS? I’m definitly not trying to criticize, I’m just curious, especially since you learned about it on Charlie’s site. What didn’t you like about Charlie’s methods?
jtr, i’ve done CFTS since junior year, and though I will continue to use his template for sprint training… I feel I have stagnated with the system of weights that he uses and am simply looking for a new stimulus.
Yes it would be wise to put lower body days on speed days thats what i was getting at with my post. Plus lower body max effort and dynamic training is very taxing on the CNS as is speed training, therefore you want to keep them on the same days so you dont overstress your CNS. I’m not even sure that you would need a DE upper body day since you are a sprinter and all your strength comes from lower body. I might even consider a tier training program if i were you. I’ll PM you with more details.
I think the point is to put all of your CNS-intensive work on one day. If you are putting intensive weight work on your tempo days I think you will not allow your CNS time to recover. Obviously you could put the ME lower day in the PM session, whichever you need to focus on (probably speed, but you seem concerned with your strength levels).
binford,
You would be surprised how much a sprinter generates from the arms with proper mechanics. Obviously nowhere near as important as lower body, but still a factor. Also, as they get into their taper, they will a lot of times drop the running volume, but keep the upper body intensity the same or even increase to maintain CNS stimulation.
yea, i am concerned with strength levels right now because I know I have the speed right now (6.69 in 55m, havent peaked yet)I just need to keep maintaining my strength since this is my first year lifting weights while inseason (previous years I stopped lifting during the season but last year during my senior year i picked up lifting again around midseason and saw a drastic drop in times and was able to hold my peak longer)