It is not a matter of ignoring everyone, it is a matter of adapting principles rather than following specific methods. Logic and mindfulness is the mediator. The “logic” people find in elite methods beyond very basic principles is rarely much more than expectation bias. There is a difference between descriptive data and inferential analysis that you can apply.
What is best practice? We are referring to the practice of elites not best practice necessarily, talent and setting and facilities and drugs and training background included.
Best practice for who? where? in what setting? with what background? The answer is not as simple as the “elite practice”.
The Jamaicans run on grass and now this is the secret for speed
The Kenyans run on shitty dirt tracks of non-regulation length and roads with holes in them, maybe Western runners need this for better aerobic conditioning…
The Jamaicans do a lot of hill work for accels and now high volume hill work is the trend
The Kenyans do a heap of hills so maybe that is the difference, besides the fact they live at 1800m and every road is up and down so you couldn’t avoid hill work if you tried.
Many elites have a day off every week so perhaps this is necessary… unless it is only for religious purposes.
The “logic” many find in the methods of elites is simple bias talking, put the method on an unknown source and that “logic” disappears. Problem is not that this won’t work for the elite, but that if you don’t have any real logic or understanding we are just transplanting elements we don’t know how to teach or incorporate in the whole program.
Layering components out of context will bring you unstuck. There is a fairly prominent S+C coach on the internet who once promoted Westside Barbell + Charlie Francis for footballers, recently he has claimed to have tempered his weights in variety and intensity to match the speed work, added med ball circuits and core work in high volumes, moderated speed work and we actually have a program for the footballer not training a Powerlifter + Sprinter simultaneously with conflicting means. At some stage we have to start training what is front of us and with time results come.
Too many bandwagon jumpers, Davan seems not to be keen to answer whether he is following the Jamaican program, perhaps this is why:
Anyway, I do a program that does plenty of flies, fast 50-60m work, fast-easy-fast, etc. I do this in large part because I don’t have access to grass (I do more work like Powell & Co when I have access to grass and likely will change it even moreso next year when I’m in warm weather).
If I get in warmer weather, 2/3 of my ‘off/pre-season’ would be 2x a week accel to 30-40m at very high volumes on grass/hills/etc. and 2x a week “CSW” type workouts from 80-300m, going from longer and slower to shorter and faster, but all with fair rests.
Best practice or an about face to satisfy the latest “elite logic”. I hear Britney Spears has a great new diet…
Too much biography, too little biology.