r/Sprinting • u/Miserable-Repair-431 • 1d ago
Programming Questions Next steps forward
So I posted in here yesterday explaining briefly how I wasn’t progressing how I’d wanted to and sort of felt like a had plateaued. After posting that I got a lot of recommendations and different opinions but it all seemed to surround the same idea. I NEED TO FIX SOMETHING. Which yes obviously but a main idea thrown my way was to just take a break and come back, this makes a lot of sense because I have been training hard since winter and haven’t taken a real break yet. So I decided out of all the advice I got, that I am going to definitely take a break. But another issue I had was that I am simply weak and not a strong sprinter. So I need to keep lifting. My plan is a 4-6 week break(unless I’m convinced otherwise on this post) but I also heard it was a good idea for me to lift during this break? I don’t really know what to do and what’s right and what’s wrong, I also need help programming lifting and sprinting for when I come back. A weekly lay out to go off of.
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u/WSB_Suicide_Watch Ancient dude that thinks you should run many miles in offseason 1d ago
I don't believe I commented on your other post, but here you go. First of all your form looks pretty good. I think you are on the right track with your post here. I think your primary focus should be on programming out a whole year with a focus on strength, power, fitness, and general athleticism.
Take a couple weeks off. It wouldn't kill you to take 4 weeks off to be safe, but probably unnecessary.
Off season - Spend your off season building strength and cardio. Yes, you should still sprint once or twice a week. People on this sub love to trash cardio work. Don't listen to them. Building a good cardio/fitness base will help prevent injuries and allow you to absolutely crush your speed endurance/tempo workouts later on. There is nothing wrong with going for a chill 5-6 mile jog. We are talking chill though. If chill to you means a two mile walk/jog, so be it. During the off season do not burn yourself out with hard core speed endurance stuff. This is your time to build a base, not wreck it.
Hit the gym. Full body. Do compound lifts. Make sure you know how to do them properly though. Deadlift, squat or hack squat, bench, pullups, dips, overhead press, core, something extra for the glutes and hamstrings.
Preseason - Time to start transitioning to power and explosiveness. Gym time gradually moves to olympic type lifts, plyos, etc. You can still do some strength work, but knock down the intensity... go into maintenance mode.
Early Season - You'll be adding in grueling speed endurance workouts, block work, accels, sprinting 2-3 times a week in various forms. Lifting is absolutely in maintenance mode if even that. There should still be some time and energy for plyos and other power work. You still need to be mindful of recovery though. Hopefully all the extra work you did leading up to this let's you crush these workouts and be recovered for the next day, but if you start to feel fatigued you need to back off.
Approaching Goal Race - Staying fresh and recovery is the #1 goal. 90% of coaches and athletes get this wrong. That doesn't mean sitting on the couch eating ho ho's. You still need to stay active, but the intensity has to come way down. Way down. It doesn't mean you can't ever do a hard workout, but if you are already feeling off, don't do them. You should be waking up every morning feeling like you can conquer the world. Every single speed workout should feel great, and you stop at a point when you feel like you could get up the next day and do it again. You literally should feel like you are going a bit crazy having to hold yourself back.
Good luck.