Posted In: Blog Discussion
Since moving to Vancouver to work with an MLS club, I no longer have access to my own world class training center. And because the team I coach for won’t be in our new training center until next year, we’ve been bouncing around between several training sites….only one of which has a dedicated weight room. So much of the time when I want to train, I find myself forced to go to the local health
ELITETRACK Founder
Mike an athlete I used to coached coined a term and boy does it stick. Those individuals in the gym we call them “N.A.R.P”- Non Athletic Regular People. I see them and just shake my head. Miss my old gym that had an actual PowerRoom. Heavy Metal, chalk, platforms and men/women who were really into workingout. Now its no more dropping weights, cant grunt, and no bags on the floor. Its all a business now.
Unfortunately I don’t think these issues are limited to commercial gyms. In fact, I would say an intelligent high school athlete who is willing to do some research and talk to several experienced lifters might have a better chance to figure things out at the local Y than at his high school. My kids graduated from a very good school in a suburb of Dallas. Our 14000’+ facility is probably one of the best in the country for high schools. You can see it here https://schooldesigns.com/Project-Details.aspx?Project_ID=1117
If you scroll the pictures you will find one of the weight room.
However, even though we have been ranked in the top 10 nationally in the past couple of years, and two years ago lost only one game, and that by one point in the final second to Trinity, the #1 team in the nation, and this year, last I checked, ranked #17 in the nation and #4 in Texas, and we do have some exceptionally quick and a few fairly strong kids, the truth is they know very little about weight training. My son played football for CHS, graduating last year, and I routinely questioned all of his buddies about their training. They are not educated about training and the workouts they do are not designed towards mass, strength or power. The workouts described to me are simple, generic weight training anyone might do. My son was best friends with the top three or four basketball players, and I’m not sure they even knew where the gym was. I know the baseball and track athletes have no idea where the gym is, unless that is they played football. The kids are so incredibly busy, and many playing multiple sports, AAU, summer ball etc. etc., a long term weight lifting program is not on most agendas.
Bottom line, unless there is a motivated, educated, informed strength coach around who can educate and motivate the student athletes to learn how to train, its going to be pretty much hit and miss in the gym for most high schools and small colleges. At least in my experience.
“High knee in-place running with dumbbells”
Actually I’m a proponent of this exercise; the force-magnitude and force-time is similar to actual sprinting. In addition, the muscle recruitment pattern is almost identical and this exercise can encourage preactivation if coached properly. Furthermore, if executed with great frequency and for increasingly longer time this may induce changes within the sarcoplasmic reticulum (maybe enhance calcium pump speed and capacity) allowing for longer bouts of sprinting before noticeable fatigue.
Jeremy-
On what basis can you make those claims (equal force, force-time, recruitment patterns, etc)? In sprinting the foot would contact in front of the hips and the hips would pass over indicating MUCH more use of posterior chain than in a high knee action. EMG studies support this. Ground contacts are also MUCH faster. And if mimicking was the goal, why would you use DBs in the hands rather than a weight vest?
ELITETRACK Founder
Jeremy-
On what basis can you make those claims (equal force, force-time, recruitment patterns, etc)? In sprinting the foot would contact in front of the hips and the hips would pass over indicating MUCH more use of posterior chain than in a high knee action. EMG studies support this. Ground contacts are also MUCH faster. And if mimicking was the goal, why would you use DBs in the hands rather than a weight vest?
The part of sprinting where this might apply is somewhere around the 5th step where the posterior chain is not the main contributor. Force-contact times would be anywhere from 130ms to 100ms and the use of DBs would change body lean dependent on where you hold them. Take a picture, draw the force angle acting through the hip, tilt the picture slightly to match the 5th step (or thereabouts) and see that it is pretty close. From that picture you can then change some of the biomechanics to better match sprinting. The main reason why you would do this is to be able to replicate the 5th step (or thereabouts) for enough repetitions to gain a learning effect. The types of learning effects that you may want to enable include preactivation and learning to reduce GCT whilst maintaining force magnitude; in fact you want to increase force magnitude over time. Using some simple physics equations you can calculate how much weight you need to lift (inckuding bodyweight) andthe height that you need to rise each step to math the force requirements of the 5th step (or thereabouts) in sprinting. If facilities allow, using a slight hill and marking each step may be a more accurate way to meet these requirements.
You can use a weight vest if you want…if you have a slope then you may not need to change the upper nody angle much.
I suspect any calculations would be horribly inaccurate. Is all that for one step? I think I’d pass on it.
ELITETRACK Founder
I suspect any calculations would be horribly inaccurate. Is all that for one step? I think I’d pass on it.
Its good for about 4 steps around the area where the greatest power is needed in sprinting. With slight modification to body position it may transfer for up to 8 steps.
However, it any mastery of this exercise will only staisfy about 25% of the requirements for that region of sprinting; another two exercises satisfy the other 75% and thankfully transfer across the board of the sprint race.
I think I’d pass, especially with hand held DBs.
ELITETRACK Founder
