Any Sprinters?

johnhanlonmoralles wrote: »

I run the 100,200 and 400m and wanted to get advice on any workouts, diet or weight training/ conditioning that can help me and others improve. Any suggestions/tips will be appreciated

I actually coach track and field. It all depends what phase of the season you are in. If you don't compete till sprint I wouldn't do too much volume of high intensity sprints. I've seen cases where athletes thought they would get a jump start months season and end up with stress fracures or shin splints before the season even started. I would use the off-season to stay in good cardio shape and build strength and power. The sprinting I would keep at 75% intensity at the most and increasing volume as the season approaches. Tempo runs would be good to do here. Figure 1600m of volume. One day run 4-400m at 70% speed with 2 min rest in between. Lift the next day. Then do 8-200m the same way. Rest day. Then 16-100m. Then lift next day. And so on.

Do plyos. Real plyos are ones where you drop from a platform and spring from the ground with the least amount of time in contact with the ground as possible. These only have to be done a couple times per week, and the sessions should be pretty short. You're not trying to wear yourself out, just develop quick twitch muscle fibers that will form while you rest.
Practice your technique: Reaction time for the start, drive phase, acceleration and maximum velocity. There is a lot of information online about the the different phases of sprinting and the proper form for each.
There is a lot of sitting around at meets. Many make the mistake of overdoing it with their warm up routine.

mgalovic01 wrote: »

Do plyos. Real plyos are ones where you drop from a platform and spring from the ground with the least amount of time in contact with the ground as possible. These only have to be done a couple times per week, and the sessions should be pretty short. You're not trying to wear yourself out, just develop quick twitch muscle fibers that will form while you rest.
Practice your technique: Reaction time for the start, drive phase, acceleration and maximum velocity. There is a lot of information online about the the different phases of sprinting and the proper form for each.
There is a lot of sitting around at meets. Many make the mistake of overdoing it with their warm up routine.

Yes!!! Should have mentioned plyo. Do Olympic lifts if you know them. Squats and deadlifts are good staples. Eccentric hamstring exercises would be good as well.

Isometric exercises would be beneficial to you, as you would need the combination of fast and slow twitch muscle engagement to excel at your events. You would need to isolate the full range of motion of your running style for your sprints and middle distance events and execute the proper isometric joint/angle strengthening to enhance your performance.

As far as increasing sprinting speed goes it's about increasing stride frequency and length. Work sprint mechanics for stride length and increase power for frequency. It's that simple. Best way to increase power is what has already been mentioned above. Lifting weights at high intensity and plyometrics.