>In article <
[email protected]>, Les wrote:
>> Can anyone identify what joint actions and prime movers
>> are involved in sprinting? What main muscles are involved
>> in assisting these actions and in stabilising the
>> actions?
>
>Nearly all parts of the movement are multi-joint. For
>example, when you push off, you get the quads and glutes
>and calves (gastroc/soleus) firing closely followed by the
>hamstrings and hip flexors -- much like doing a power-clean
>with weights (if you're thinking of weights for x-training,
>power cleans are a good place to start).
>
>But this is already an over-simplification because you get
>one leg going up while the other toes off (to counter-
>balance back-momentum of the leg that toes-off) and arms
>moving in time with the opposite leg to counter-balance
>torque at the hips. The forward movement of the arm
>includes the "pushing" muscles -- the anterior delts, and
>pecs. There is also concurrent movement at the elbow joint
>(biceps). Then when the arm moves back, the "pulling"
>muscles: lats, posterior delts, are used. I think the
>biceps and triceps need to work to stabilise the elbow
>joint during this phase.
>
>So that's why sprinters have good overall muscular
>development.
>
>The above is a termendous over-simplification partly
>because I don't know enough to explain it properly, and
>partly because even if I did know, I could fill a book with
>the answer to that question.
>
But you really don't think about it in terms of isolation
exercises. Powerlifting-type workouts in sets of 3-5 reps
with long rests are very effective--if you're a powerlifter.
But you only have a certain about of central nervous system
resources and heavy weight/long rest workouts consume a lot
of CNS resources. The problem, if you're a sprinter, is that
max speed sessions also consume a lot of CNS resources, and
if you leave it all in the weight room, you don't have it
for the track (which is more important).
So most sprinters do just a few exercises, with emphasis on
compound movements. Everyone does bench and squats, and
different people do different things for the rest. Some do
Olympic lifts, some don't. Some do quite a bit of heavy
weight; Others, like me, concentrate on hypertrophy (I
normally do 4 sets of 10-12) and do sets of 3-5 for just a
few weeks. You HAVE to get the upper body strength to get
your body moving out of the blocks (so every good sprinter
has to bench areond 300 or higher); everything else comes
down to getting as much useful strength as possible while
reserving enough CNS resources for the track.
Mauice Greene's weight program (midseason):
Tues and Thurs....Upper Body (no more than a minute rest
between sets)
Bench Press....5 X 10, 8, 6, 6, 6 Incline DB Press....3 X 15
Rear Delt DB Flyes....3 X 15 Straight-Arm-Front DB
raises....3 X 10 Arm Running motion with DBs....4 X 4 (15
lbs, 10 second burst, 30 sec rest) Dumbell Curls....3 X 15
(45 lbs, alternating arms) Lat Pull Downs....3 X 10 (wide
grip) Dumbell Shrugs....3 X 10
Mondays and Fridays....Lower Body
Squats....4 X 10, 8, 6, 3 (each rep is held at the bottom
for 5 seconds, then explodes up) Power Cleans....5 X 3
(start at bottom in deadlift position, ****** BB up top
chest, drop the BB back down on floor) OR, Clean/Front
Squats....5 X 5 (start same as power clean, ****** weight to
chest, then squat. Dont do squats or cleans when including
this exercise) Single Leg Curls...3 X 10 Single Leg
Extentions....3 X 10
Lyndon "Speed Kills...It kills those that don't have it!"
--US Olympic Track Coach Brooks Johnson
