Well, by now everyone in the world knows that Usaine Bolt is not a human being. At least not by the standards we have been using for the last couple millennium. His 100m performance of 9.69 was just mind-boggling. 9.69 beat Bolt's previous world record by 0.03 seconds and is faster than the WR of just last year by 0.05 seconds. That's like a swimmer breaking a world record by 4 seconds...never m [...]

A couple days ago it occurred to me that I had one more blog entry to reach 400 and figured it would only be appropriate if my 400th blog post was about the 400m (thanks to Nick for the suggestion). The 400m is one of the weird birds of track and field. Probably more so than any other event (other than the 800m) the 'Many Roads to Rome' concept seems to hold true. I'd like to take a look at why [...]

At this past Olympics, Jamaica put on a show. The tiny island with a population of less than 3 million people won more Olympic medals than every other country not named USA, Russia or Kenya. And when you consider the QUALITY of their medals, things are even more astounding. Consider these points:If we use the point system I described HERE, Jamaica (24 points) is actually the 3rd best track and fie [...]

We've recently been spoiled by the amazing feats of Asafa Powell's 9.72 personal best in Lausanne and Usain Bolt's string of sub 9.85s. So much so that it's easy to forget that someone other than these two actually produced the fastest 100m ever. EVAR. Tyson Gay. Remember him? He's that guy who didn't make the final at the Olympics due to lack of race fitness caused by an injury at the U.S. [...]

On my way back from Sarasota today I came up with a list of the top ten myths I hear about sprinting mechanics. Check it out and let me know what I left off. The elbow angle must stay at 90 degrees. Who came up with this? What’s the rationale? What’s the benefit? Ask someone to provide answers to those questions next time you hear that ridiculous idea. Not only is it not beneficial, it [...]

Yesterday I posted a couple videos with some insight in to what MVP club coach Stephen Francis is doing with his athletes. The discussion on this blog entry got me off my butt to write another blog that I've been meaning to write for some time – The Reasons Why Jamaicans Dominate the Sprints. In case you were in a cocoon in 2008, you witnessed one of the greatest sprint years by a single count [...]

This weekend I had the chance to speak with Coach Loren Seagrave on his thoughts about absolute strength. Loren is a former LSU sprint coach, founder of Velocity Sport Performance and coach of some of the fastest individuals in the world. I've had the privilege of doing at least one speaking engagement with Loren each month for the past couple months and I've been able to pick his brain on topic [...]

If you browse the forums much you know I'm a crusader for squats. I like the exercise. In fact I like it so much that for most of the athletes that I work with I actually keep it in the training plan for the entire year with a minimum frequency of once every 10 days and an average frequency of just under 2 times per week. Here's a list of my primary justifications for using the exercise year rou [...]

Over the last few months I have watched the Bear Droppings thread grow to 11,000 views, great sign that people are investigating the importance of maximum strength training and the influence of speed and power athletes, specifically sprinters. Since I came up with the original post I will state my purpose is not to undermine the importance of strength training, but to share the reality of what is [...]

Why are people not creating a buzz with Japanese training? You would think the hype would be huge as the 4x100m went 38.03 and that is faster than the Soviet record. With wins in swimming and other sports such as wrestling, cycling, and gymnastics why do they get shafted? It doesn't matter but I think we need to embrace everyone's methods and not gravitate to the Yuri lemmings. Right now I am co [...]