You could do that. We'd actually do these exercises at least once a week as a unit in a workout for the first two thirds or so of the prep season i.e. from Oct to March. I base my training sessions around units of what could be called drills (but are really specific conditioning exercises), these agility, eccentric ones, cycling drills, reactivity ones, plyometrics, take-off drills and so on. We may then finish the session with some 90% effort 60's and/or broken runs. I always like to maintain speed and power throughout the season. Hope this makes sense. As long as you don't overly fatigue then plyometric type movements can prime for sprints as you indicate. Hope this makes sense. Thanks for the comment!
Yes it did help thank you so much for responding. I'm always looking for better ways to develop my athletes, especially here in NYC where we only have access to a track Tuesday and Thursday come indoor season in November. The challenge is what to do with my sprinters/hurdlers/jumpers the other days when there is no track or much space available especially when it gets cold out.
+Trackguy77 okay I see, well, yes you could therefore do this session on the days when you can't use the track. You could also do drills - such as leg cycling combos and reactivity work (drop jumps) and of course weights on those days,which I'm sure you do. We also do balance work as well and other exercises that form a pre-training workout. I may pull a video together on that. Best of luck
In short I would turn the session into a series of games - relays, obstacle courses and other 'challenges'. So we might have to run then jump over low foam hurdles from two feet, do combinations of 1 and 2 foot jumps, which are 'created' by the children. "Jump from one to two feet and stop" "Now do the same in a different way" "add a quarter turn" and so on. As the session progressed I'd add some very basic teaching points. If the session was more formal I'd do very similar but would add in over a number of weeks more coaching on technique... but I have found with that age group, unless it's a ultra motivated group i.e. In a tennis academy, that the emphasis should be on fun. Hope this helps.
Yes, I'd start with the jump from one leg to the other variants after the dynamic and then add individual races and relays involving the ploys and agility exercises. Probably add in some fun coordination and balance drills to at points to try to calm them down!
I would probably add this to your drills sessions and aim to do it once to two times a week, for a couple of months and then once a week. I will also add some of the drills i.e. Not the complete session into various other sessions - pit-work; etc. So you can keep topping up what these sessions develop (developing greater injury resilience in the main). I use a "unit" approach to training with more range of activities being done on each day rather than a single element focus i.e. Sprints. This video will provide more info: ruclips.net/video/nJrm-1or-HI/видео.html Hope this helps and all the best with your training
John Shepherd track & field coach - author & editor thank you so much Coach. I’d also like to ask one more question. How should we prepare on race day... as in how and when to do warmups accelerations. Considering it’s a multi day event and I’ll be running no more than 2 races per day. What are the things you would recommend to do between the races( usually have around 2-5hrs of break between the races). Should I warmup again for the 2nd race? Would love to hear how you go about race day with your athletes
Very very under utilized. Thank you for the tips. More ppl should be doing this for injury prevention
Great video post! Would you do this type pf work a day before you wanted to do some acceleration or speed work? Sort of a primer?
You could do that. We'd actually do these exercises at least once a week as a unit in a workout for the first two thirds or so of the prep season i.e. from Oct to March. I base my training sessions around units of what could be called drills (but are really specific conditioning exercises), these agility, eccentric ones, cycling drills, reactivity ones, plyometrics, take-off drills and so on. We may then finish the session with some 90% effort 60's and/or broken runs. I always like to maintain speed and power throughout the season. Hope this makes sense. As long as you don't overly fatigue then plyometric type movements can prime for sprints as you indicate. Hope this makes sense. Thanks for the comment!
Yes it did help thank you so much for responding. I'm always looking for better ways to develop my athletes, especially here in NYC where we only have access to a track Tuesday and Thursday come indoor season in November. The challenge is what to do with my sprinters/hurdlers/jumpers the other days when there is no track or much space available especially when it gets cold out.
+Trackguy77 okay I see, well, yes you could therefore do this session on the days when you can't use the track. You could also do drills - such as leg cycling combos and reactivity work (drop jumps) and of course weights on those days,which I'm sure you do. We also do balance work as well and other exercises that form a pre-training workout. I may pull a video together on that. Best of luck
Hey coach big fab of yours, I have a question. How would you design/ plyo progressions for a group of 8-10 yr olds?
In short I would turn the session into a series of games - relays, obstacle courses and other 'challenges'. So we might have to run then jump over low foam hurdles from two feet, do combinations of 1 and 2 foot jumps, which are 'created' by the children. "Jump from one to two feet and stop" "Now do the same in a different way" "add a quarter turn" and so on. As the session progressed I'd add some very basic teaching points. If the session was more formal I'd do very similar but would add in over a number of weeks more coaching on technique... but I have found with that age group, unless it's a ultra motivated group i.e. In a tennis academy, that the emphasis should be on fun. Hope this helps.
Thanks coach, they are hour sessions so would you do a dynamic first then add these types of games? Maybe teach arm mechanics in there to?
Yes, I'd start with the jump from one leg to the other variants after the dynamic and then add individual races and relays involving the ploys and agility exercises. Probably add in some fun coordination and balance drills to at points to try to calm them down!
Awesome thanks!
Should I do this on speed work days or as part of my off day technique drills day?
I would probably add this to your drills sessions and aim to do it once to two times a week, for a couple of months and then once a week. I will also add some of the drills i.e. Not the complete session into various other sessions - pit-work; etc. So you can keep topping up what these sessions develop (developing greater injury resilience in the main). I use a "unit" approach to training with more range of activities being done on each day rather than a single element focus i.e. Sprints. This video will provide more info: ruclips.net/video/nJrm-1or-HI/видео.html
Hope this helps and all the best with your training
John Shepherd track & field coach - author & editor thank you so much Coach. I’d also like to ask one more question. How should we prepare on race day... as in how and when to do warmups accelerations. Considering it’s a multi day event and I’ll be running no more than 2 races per day. What are the things you would recommend to do between the races( usually have around 2-5hrs of break between the races). Should I warmup again for the 2nd race? Would love to hear how you go about race day with your athletes