The so called 10% rule is a guideline for applying resisted and assisted training as a means to making the athlete faster for their chosen sport. Here is the 10% rule as I have taught it and applied it over the years. In adding resistance it is best to not exceed a weight that that is greater than 10% of the athletes bodyweight or that will result in a time that is 10% slower than their best time
Getting Faster – The 10% Solution
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Participant
Preparing a running back to handle the coordination of pulling a defender while they are trying to tackle him and improving speed are two different concepts.
Vern, as do many others, have these guidelines because once you have altered mechanics, you are going to negatively effect the runner’s efficiency. While a defender pulling against the running back has merit, it is situational. What if the 100m had a 8m headwind? What if it is raining? What if there is a cross-wind? What if, what if . . . by all means, you want to practice these things from time to time, but the important thing is hitting the hole as fast as possible. Which, dragging a heavy all the time is going alter mechanics and wire the neuromuscular system to run slow and heavy. You want to optimize speed and quickness while occasionally working on other aspects. I would rather have the running back that doesn’t even give the guy a chance to grab the jersey or work on ways in which to avoid tackles.
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Participant
I got no results doing low resistance sleds (previously), but now trying heavier resisted sprints (with a tire) to see what happens.
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Participant
Preparing a running back to handle the coordination of pulling a defender while they are trying to tackle him and improving speed are two different concepts.
Vern, as do many others, have these guidelines because once you have altered mechanics, you are going to negatively effect the runner’s efficiency. While a defender pulling against the running back has merit, it is situational. What if the 100m had a 8m headwind? What if it is raining? What if there is a cross-wind? What if, what if . . . by all means, you want to practice these things from time to time, but the important thing is hitting the hole as fast as possible. Which, dragging a heavy all the time is going alter mechanics and wire the neuromuscular system to run slow and heavy. You want to optimize speed and quickness while occasionally working on other aspects. I would rather have the running back that doesn’t even give the guy a chance to grab the jersey or work on ways in which to avoid tackles.
I wouldn’t advocate pulling heavy sleds all the time for anyone. But what things, other than contact time, are altered when pulling a 20%bw sled vs a 10%bw sled? Keep in mind I’m talking about the first 2-3 explosive steps which are critical in many sports. Also, I remember some of the hills in CF’s GPP that looked steep enough that they would slow the athlete more than 10%.
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Participant
I wouldn’t advocate pulling heavy sleds all the time for anyone. But what things, other than contact time, are altered when pulling a 20%bw sled vs a 10%bw sled? Keep in mind I’m talking about the first 2-3 explosive steps which are critical in many sports. Also, I remember some of the hills in CF’s GPP that looked steep enough that they would slow the athlete more than 10%.
Posture and mechanics.
Football is about applying force quickly, at some point, you will be slowing the athlete down with too much weight as well. I wouldn’t think you would want to advocate HUGE pushes for a footballer anyway because they need to be able to cut. So they would need to actually alter mechanics in order to stay grounded. Football is a different than track in many aspects for that reason.
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Participant
Posture and mechanics.
Could you be more specific? What postural/mechanical changes are occuring with a 20% sled that don’t occur with a 10% sled?
Football is about applying force quickly, at some point, you will be slowing the athlete down with too much weight as well. I wouldn’t think you would want to advocate HUGE pushes for a footballer anyway because they need to be able to cut. So they would need to actually alter mechanics in order to stay grounded. Football is a different than track in many aspects for that reason.
The postural and mechanical deviations that occur during a ‘cut’ far exceed the differences that occur by adding a little weight to a straight line pull with a sled, wouldn’t you agree? I don’t worry about slowing the athlete down a little…all resistance exercises are slower than sprinting. Like CF used to say, work all parts of the curve.
If we’re talking just track and field I wouldn’t argue, but I believe that the first step or two are much, much more important in sports like football and basketball than they are in sprints, especially anything over 100m, so extra work on the explosive start is critically important, IMHO.
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Participant
Could you be more specific? What postural/mechanical changes are occuring with a 20% sled that don’t occur with a 10% sled?
The postural and mechanical deviations that occur during a ‘cut’ far exceed the differences that occur by adding a little weight to a straight line pull with a sled, wouldn’t you agree? I don’t worry about slowing the athlete down a little…all resistance exercises are slower than sprinting. Like CF used to say, work all parts of the curve.
Yes CF has said works all parts of the curve, but has he ever advocated heavy sled use? I think you are taking this quote a bit out of context.
Once the sled is heavy enough, you are going to effect the striking patterns of running and there is going to be excessive anterior lean of the torso and posterior pelvic tilt. I suggest filming your athletes to see.
And the difference between postural changes during a cut and the resistance of the sled is that the body is trying to align itself properly for a cut, while during heavy resistance, it cannot proper align itself due to the sled.
Have you charted or filmed the changes that occur with different sled resistances?
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Participant
CF has commented on use of heavy sleds in Bolt’s training program saying that it may lower the requirement for lower body weights. I think he mentioned that he himself would do similar to what has been mentioned here (decreasing load with increased rep distance).
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Participant
So, are we saying that a heavy sled is the best for a really explosive start? I’m not a fan of heavy heavy sled pulls myself and agree completely with Chad. What about throws and jumps from a static position? I’ve had some pretty darn explosive athletes, that would have been just fine on a football field, not using heavy pulls.
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Participant
Yes CF has said works all parts of the curve, but has he ever advocated heavy sled use? I think you are taking this quote a bit out of context.
Once the sled is heavy enough, you are going to effect the striking patterns of running and there is going to be excessive anterior lean of the torso and posterior pelvic tilt. I suggest filming your athletes to see.
And the difference between postural changes during a cut and the resistance of the sled is that the body is trying to align itself properly for a cut, while during heavy resistance, it cannot proper align itself due to the sled.
Have you charted or filmed the changes that occur with different sled resistances?
I haven’t done any filming, but I can see that the lean, and posture, of a 20% sled pull is not more than the first few steps of a well executed start. I realize CF never advocated heavier sleds, but he didn’t train athletes for the first 10-20m. Free throw line to free throw line is less than 20m. Most football plays are under 10m. Half a step in either is huge. The first 10-20m is key to many sports, much more so than any sprint over 60m.
My reasoning for using heavier sleds is that heavy squats and Olys are beneficial to the earliest phases of the sprint start, even though they are quite different from a biomechanical/postural point of view. For non-track athletes, I use the heavier sled (20%bw) for about 25% of our sled work as a bridge between the strength and explosiveness created and the unresisted sprint start. They may not be necessary, but they seem to help and most athetes like them. Keep in mind our sled has very little friction on grass. I will time some of them (its tough to time a 10m start with a stop watch) and see if we are breaking the 10% rule in terms of times.
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Participant
CF has commented on use of heavy sleds in Bolt’s training program saying that it may lower the requirement for lower body weights. I think he mentioned that he himself would do similar to what has been mentioned here (decreasing load with increased rep distance).
Could you expand on this? Do you have information about the sled/hill work used by Bolt?
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Participant
Wow, ive been way off then. Ive used 50% BW on average when doing sleds, and i did alot of sled work last winter. So this means i should just use about 7kg? The sled weighs more though…
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Participant
[quote author="Scott Thomas" date="1285788113"]CF has commented on use of heavy sleds in Bolt’s training program saying that it may lower the requirement for lower body weights. I think he mentioned that he himself would do similar to what has been mentioned here (decreasing load with increased rep distance).
Could you expand on this? Do you have information about the sled/hill work used by Bolt?[/quote]
There are some photos of Bolt with some weight plates on a sled running in trainers. Asafa does similar with up to 50 lbs per Stephen Francis. They do them from blocks as well in flats.
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ParticipantWow, ive been way off then. Ive used 50% BW on average when doing sleds, and i did alot of sled work last winter. So this means i should just use about 7kg? The sled weighs more though…
lol…don’t you have a coach?
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Participant
[quote author="star61" date="1285880477"][quote author="Scott Thomas" date="1285788113"]CF has commented on use of heavy sleds in Bolt’s training program saying that it may lower the requirement for lower body weights. I think he mentioned that he himself would do similar to what has been mentioned here (decreasing load with increased rep distance).
Could you expand on this? Do you have information about the sled/hill work used by Bolt?[/quote]
There are some photos of Bolt with some weight plates on a sled running in trainers. Asafa does similar with up to 50 lbs per Stephen Francis. They do them from blocks as well in flats.[/quote]Thanks. Do you have any idea about the speed (all out, moderate paace, tempo etc.) and the distance?
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Participant
There are some photos of Bolt with some weight plates on a sled running in trainers. Asafa does similar with up to 50 lbs per Stephen Francis. They do them from blocks as well in flats.
When I have an athlete who can run 10m splits sub .85 then maybe I would consider putting that much weight on the sled. Now everybody is going to take their 12.5 100m guy and strap 50lbs on his sled. Bolt, Powell, and Gay are guys that are exceptions to the rule, not the rule themselves.
IMO, If I were to have a workout like this with a heavy sled, I would make sure to put in some contrast type training where frequency is the emphasis as to not wire the system to work slower . . . could be somewhere else in the microcycle.
I would definitely end the workout with some unresisted runs or some fast sprint drills.
Also, I wouldn’t work more than 20m, maybe stretch out to the 25m depending on the number of steps taken given the athletes ability.
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Participant
[quote author="Brooke Burkhalter" date="1285884020"][quote author="star61" date="1285880477"][quote author="Scott Thomas" date="1285788113"]CF has commented on use of heavy sleds in Bolt’s training program saying that it may lower the requirement for lower body weights. I think he mentioned that he himself would do similar to what has been mentioned here (decreasing load with increased rep distance).
Could you expand on this? Do you have information about the sled/hill work used by Bolt?[/quote]
There are some photos of Bolt with some weight plates on a sled running in trainers. Asafa does similar with up to 50 lbs per Stephen Francis. They do them from blocks as well in flats.[/quote]Thanks. Do you have any idea about the speed (all out, moderate paace, tempo etc.) and the distance?[/quote]
I don’t know regarding speed. I would assume for shorter accels it is all out and longer runs like they will do out to 100 or so it is lighter and maybe not quite all out. From the reputable coaches I have talked to who know or have athletes who have trained with Mills and Francis the training is what we would all call old school.
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Participant
[quote author="Brooke Burkhalter" date="1285884020"]
There are some photos of Bolt with some weight plates on a sled running in trainers. Asafa does similar with up to 50 lbs per Stephen Francis. They do them from blocks as well in flats.
When I have an athlete who can run 10m splits sub .85 then maybe I would consider putting that much weight on the sled. Now everybody is going to take their 12.5 100m guy and strap 50lbs on his sled. Bolt, Powell, and Gay are guys that are exceptions to the rule, not the rule themselves.
IMO, If I were to have a workout like this with a heavy sled, I would make sure to put in some contrast type training where frequency is the emphasis as to not wire the system to work slower . . . could be somewhere else in the microcycle.
I would definitely end the workout with some unresisted runs or some fast sprint drills.
Also, I wouldn’t work more than 20m, maybe stretch out to the 25m depending on the number of steps taken given the athletes ability.[/quote]
Surely people wouldn’t copy exactly.
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Participant
…IMO, If I were to have a workout like this with a heavy sled, I would make sure to put in some contrast type training where frequency is the emphasis as to not wire the system to work slower . . . could be somewhere else in the microcycle.
I would definitely end the workout with some unresisted runs or some fast sprint drills.
Also, I wouldn’t work more than 20m, maybe stretch out to the 25m depending on the number of steps taken given the athletes ability.
I agree with all of this. Every all out sled or hill sprint is contrast (1 or 2 short sled/hill sprints, recover, 1 or 2 flat accels, then repeat. We also end every session with 4 x 30m unresisted or something similar.
Heavy sleds (20%) or steep hills are usually 15m, 10% sleds or less steep hill are 20-25m, and very light sleds or shallow inclines out to 30m. Occasionally we will use a very shallow decline out to about 30m, usually contrasted with a shallow uphill sprint of the same distance.
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Participant
[quote author="Brooke Burkhalter" date="1285884020"]
There are some photos of Bolt with some weight plates on a sled running in trainers. Asafa does similar with up to 50 lbs per Stephen Francis. They do them from blocks as well in flats.
When I have an athlete who can run 10m splits sub .85 then maybe I would consider putting that much weight on the sled. Now everybody is going to take their 12.5 100m guy and strap 50lbs on his sled. Bolt, Powell, and Gay are guys that are exceptions to the rule, not the rule themselves.
IMO, If I were to have a workout like this with a heavy sled, I would make sure to put in some contrast type training where frequency is the emphasis as to not wire the system to work slower . . . could be somewhere else in the microcycle.
I would definitely end the workout with some unresisted runs or some fast sprint drills.
Also, I wouldn’t work more than 20m, maybe stretch out to the 25m depending on the number of steps taken given the athletes ability.[/quote]
How many steps do you stretch things out to?? IE – If (unresisted) an athlete takes 13 steps through 25m, and with a sled that changes to 15 – how far out will you push resisted running?
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Participant
Star has some good ratios for sled weights and distances.
I estimate the number of steps when the athlete comes upright and keep that number in mind, and do not like to exceed that number. IMO, I don’t want to train the athlete to “drive” for too long when there should be a certain point when an athlete is upright and sprinting. Then after a rep or two, I place the cone for that particular athlete where it needs to be.
There begins to be a connection with that type “driving” later in the race to keep momentum going (with the longer sled distances), when that is actually going to slow the athlete down.
So I keep sleds and resisted runs short for that purpose.
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Participant
I haven’t been counting steps. One of the goals I’ve been working on for some football and a basketball player is to learn how to get into the drive phase and extend it. Too much upright acceleration. But I’m going to keep the points made above in mind and make sure to limit the number of steps in hills and sleds to that which occurs unresisted. I think that is already the case, but I’ll be more mindful and actually do some counting.
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