[bodaggin]

bodaggin on April 12, 2009 at 6:32 am #15605

I didn’t know which category this should fit under but I would like to get some opinions from some of the more experienced people in the sport about this. There isn’t much info on the net but every thought and opinion is welcome!

The CNS:

1) how is it trained best (obviously max strength and plyo speed work are included but what about specifics from personal experiencee {depth jumps, blocks etc}), as well how long can it take for a noticable neuromuscular adaptation to be noticed?

2) from your experience, how long does the CNS take to recover from a heavy workout or training load, and for a season peak (again personal experience, i’ve heard extremes of people doing essentially nothing for up to 3 weeks outside of the comp, and ive heard of people doing a set of cleans in between heats and finals of a same day 100m in Olympics)

3) this may be more on the mental aspect of competing itself but what have you found gets you ready for a comp? Relaxing, psyching up etc. I know personally I don’t even want to see a track or talk track for the week leading up to a big meet so that i can bring a fresh outlook and attitude to the comp. So any techniques or ideas that have worked for you or you have heard of working, especially radical ones, would be fantastic.

Fire away!

Thanks

[Craig Pickering]

Craig Pickering on April 12, 2009 at 6:43 am #81190

In terms of point 3 – I like to feel psyched up the whole week before a race. I like to feel good in practice, and go to bed thinking about my race. I like to feel excited, and count down the days before I race. I just love racing, so get really excited when its close. Having said that, I ran my seasons best last year after the major champs which I was trying to peak for, when I was eating more and generally letting myself go. So I guess both approaches work!

With point one – I read an article that stated that CNS fatigue is one of the most important components of loss of speed at the end of a 100m race, and one way to overcome this was to stress the CNS during training. The best way the article suggested to stress the CNS in training was via multiple acceleration runs, although I do suspect top speed runs also stress the CNS somewhat.

With point 2 – I know of a 10.1 runner who often goes to the track the morning of a comp to do flat out sprints, so he feels better come the race. Im the exact opposite, i like to do nothing on the day of the race, although I do like to train fairly hard in the days up until the race.

I hope this topic takes off, the influence of the CNS is something I am only really becoming aware of very recently, and would love to find out more.

[cccp21]

cccp21 on April 12, 2009 at 10:22 am #81203

Hello,

Besides the joint/ligament system does not everyone(or anyone) think that CNS is the achilles” heel of training?
Recovery specific(CNS)supplements(piracetam,adaptogens,DMAE,choline) as well as variability in the training process (first set wide grip,second set narrow grip,third set staggered grip let’s say in the bench) provide for much greater results.
Brandon Green

[Daniel Andrews]

Daniel Andrews on April 12, 2009 at 5:25 pm #81253

I think some of this topic can be taken in with the Omegawave thread. However, the easiest way to monitor CNS fatigue is by heart rate. If an athlete has a resting heart rate (when they get out of bed, similar time each day) say 8+ bpms higher than the average of the three days prior and it continues to stay elevated then you can be sure the CNS fatigued. We can be sure that CNS fatigue is the primary cause in the absence of injury, malnutrition, sleep deprivation, and several other factors resulting in a elevated resting heart rate.

There is a lot variability in how we handle stress, not mention the many types of stress and stress responses available at any given time. Training is a stress, but the stress response can be both good and/or bad. I find it more useful to use heart rate monitors on sprinters, jumpers, and multis than I do for distance running purposes (800m runners excluded). If an athlete is doing repeats full recovery they should recover their heart rate to less than 80 bpms within 5-6 minutes of the longest reps about 60m which includes acceleration and maxV training or special endurance work which ranges from 12 minutes to 20 minutes between reps. Interval training which is incomplete recovery an athlete should recover their heart rate to less than 120 bpms within 2-3 minutes for intensive tempo work, 4-5 minutes for extensive tempo work, 6-8 minutes for speed-endurance.

With jumpers and multis doing jumps I find that athletes who are working above 80 bpms 3-4 minutes after attempt are close to injury,injured, or fatigued.