Other/Mixed Q&D Sprint Protocols - thoughts and limitations

[Georgiaoutdoors]

Strange, I thought this barefoot/minimalism thing had its shine removed and lo and behold a radio documentary popped up in the car. Quite a nice overview I think:

Sliced Bread - Barefoot Shoes - BBC Sounds

Are barefoot shoes better for your feet?

www.bbc.co.uk

Hill sprints. Do they alter your posture and decrease ground reaction times? Easy on the hamstrings whilst developing metabolic machinery? Are you a posterior chain driven runner/sprinter or anterior chain? There are trade offs. What's the most important training outcome? If a met con slant, go for it but if doing it for running prep to ease hamstring strain then what will happen when running at speed on the flat?
Pros/cons etc.

As far as minimalist shoes go, ive run in quite a few different shoe brands over the years. Both traditional and minimalist. Traditional shoes have not reduced any of the common running issues for me. Personally what I’ve noticed is that I feel best with zero drop shoes, wide toe box, and limited cushioning. Altra and Xero seem to be the best for me.

Hill sprints - it’s always a trade off. As a trail runner and backpacker, I rarely have a need to all out sprint in general or all out sprint in flat ground. So it’s about the best bang for the buck all things considered. Things I have noticed over the years:
-I have pulled/strained hamstrings doing flat ground sprints at a local track/field more than once.
-I have never pulled a hamstring doing hill sprints.
-doing hill sprints helps me to cruise up hills at a comfortable pace during regular trail runs.

 

[ali]

rarely have a need to all out sprint in general or all out sprint in flat ground. So it’s about the best bang for the buck all things considered. Things

I'd agree there, certainly and there is a good carry over to general sports applications.

 

[JPCross]

What's funny with the Airbike (and I don´t know what to make out of it) is that if I go 100% I will slow down after 5-6 seconds. So I did it with 100% effort and 5-6 seconds but I also did it with 80%-90% effort and 10 seconds which gives me a little bit more of a burn.

However I feel more energized after training and even the day after if I go the 10 second rounds than if I do the short 100% rounds.

The duration piece seems to be pretty well in line with energy system durations (ATP-CP --> Glycolytic) but its surprising to me that you feel more energized after the latter and not the former.

 

[Erik W]

Yeah, I grew up sprinting. Used to wear track spikes for that. I've gone through a few phases since then, but never stuck with it. I suppose my Inov-8 trainers or my Vivobarefoot shoes might be okay.

Now that I think about it, I might have done a season of sprinting in my old Vibrams many years ago.

It's just fun to go fast. The tricky part is not going 100% the first time out. If I give it a go, I'd imagine just starting with short sprints, like someone mentioned earlier in this thread. And I'd probably do it maybe once every week or two. I already do plenty of other stuff.

 

[Don Fairbanks]

As far as minimalist shoes go, ive run in quite a few different shoe brands over the years. Both traditional and minimalist. Traditional shoes have not reduced any of the common running issues for me. Personally what I’ve noticed is that I feel best with zero drop shoes, wide toe box, and limited cushioning. Altra and Xero seem to be the best for me.

Hill sprints - it’s always a trade off. As a trail runner and backpacker, I rarely have a need to all out sprint in general or all out sprint in flat ground. So it’s about the best bang for the buck all things considered. Things I have noticed over the years:
-I have pulled/strained hamstrings doing flat ground sprints at a local track/field more than once.
-I have never pulled a hamstring doing hill sprints.
-doing hill sprints helps me to cruise up hills at a comfortable pace during regular trail runs.

I'm usually on crushed granite for my carries and accelerations. Nice to have the rock guard in the Altra Superior when carrying a couple of bells and stepping on a rock.

 

[Georgiaoutdoors]

rock guard in the Altra Superior

Altra Lone Peaks have been my go to trail running shoe for a long time. Less rocky trails I go more minimal.

 

[serjetto]

I'm surprised that no one mentioned the sprint protocol of the Iranian wrestlers mentioned in the Q&D

 

[Jacobcutt]

I'm surprised that no one mentioned the sprint protocol of the Iranian wrestlers mentioned in the Q&D

That's the exact protocol I use for sprint training. They were using velo bikes. Pavel mentioned the protocol showed good results with 2 arm overspeed eccentric kb swings as well.

It goes like this:

5 second sprint interval, 10 second rest interval, repeat 6 times (total 30 sec sprint, 1 min rest over the interval series)

:: (side note, that's exactly the work/rest ratio the US Army uses for 30/60s and 60/120s, but optimized for power and avoiding acidic waste from longer exertions) ::

After each interval series:
Rest for 3 min

The three-minute rest allows for a more complete recovery. There is great detail in the Quick and the Dead book about the theory of the underlying processes.

As a soccer player, it's a great bang for the buck. I feel like my acceleration on the field is much sharper, while I get some endurance benefits as well. The total time for a practice session is 20-30 minutes, including some warmup and cool down.

 

[BJJForever]

I am a little bit confused with the wrestler protocoll. In Q&D it had a higher volume but when I found the original study it says only 6 sprints of 35 meters with 10 seconds break and that was done twice a week.

Physiological and performance changes from the addition of a sprint interval program to wrestling training - PubMed

Increasing the level of physical fitness for competition is the primary goal of any conditioning program for wrestlers. Wrestlers often need to peak for competitions several times over an annual training cycle. Additionally, the scheduling of these competitions does not always match an ideal...

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

 

[psmith]

I am a little bit confused with the wrestler protocoll. In Q&D it had a higher volume but when I found the original study it says only 6 sprints of 35 meters with 10 seconds break and that was done twice a week.

Physiological and performance changes from the addition of a sprint interval program to wrestling training - PubMed

Increasing the level of physical fitness for competition is the primary goal of any conditioning program for wrestlers. Wrestlers often need to peak for competitions several times over an annual training cycle. Additionally, the scheduling of these competitions does not always match an ideal...

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

See the full text:

This protocol was performed in 2 sessions per week and consisted of sets of 6 35-m sprints at maximum effort with a 10-second recovery between each sprint. In the first week, 3 sets were performed, with 3 minutes of rest between each set. A set was added in each subsequent week with the same 3-minute rest between sets. Each SIT session consisted of a 10-minute warm-up, followed by sets (3-6) of 6 × 35-m sprints with 3 minutes of rest between sets and then a 10-minute cool-down period.

 

[BJJForever]

So here is my experience. I was doing one 10 seconds all out sprint 5-7 second every three minutes for a few weeks which felt very good. I was able to create a lot of power ( I use the Airbike) and wasn´t slowing down when I was doing 10 sprints.

After that I did the snatch protocol from Q&D with the Airbike 5 seconds all out sprints and 10 seconds 90% sprints. Felt good too.

Today I was doing the iranian wrestler protocol which felt very different for me. I was much tougher I was out of breath much more and the exhaustion was bigger. After the workout I felt pretty chilled but it was tough and very different from the two others.

I feel sprinting every 3 minutes is were I can do most of the quality work and highest power output.
The Q&D snatch protocol is kind of a mixture of quality work and power but also some endurance work.
The wrestler protocol is heavy on the endurance site and I can not generate that much power due to the exhaustion.

 

[mar2safety]

"This protocol was performed in 2 sessions per week and consisted of sets of 6 35-m sprints at maximum effort with a 10-second recovery between each sprint. In the first week, 3 sets were performed, with 3 minutes of rest between each set. A set was added in each subsequent week with the same 3-minute rest between sets. Each SIT session consisted of a 10-minute warm-up, followed by sets (3-6) of 6 × 35-m sprints with 3 minutes of rest between sets and then a 10-minute cool-down period"

Has anyone run this protocol for a few weeks/months?

I tried this today. Warmed up with some pylo jumps, hops and bounds. Ended up planning on 3 sets of 3 reps each, timed as written in the text. The very last rep was when my speed started to slow, so time to stop. My plan was to run this twice a week, progressing as such:
session 1 - 3 sets of 3 sprints
session 2 - 4 sets of 3
session 3 - 5 sets of 3
session 4 - 6 sets of 3
session 5 - 3 sets of 4.........and so on until 6 sets of 6

Would the same benefit come from throwing a die to determine sprint volume in the session?

 

[K2S5R]

I do all my walking and running in shoes from xeroshoes.com - very happy with them. I deadlift in SpeedForce - very minimal, I walk and run in HFS, which is slightly more shoe, and also own a pair of Prio, the least minimal.

-S-

I’m a big fan of Xero Shoes, specifically Prios and HFS. Eager to try some of their new ones out, and glad I got a pair of Alston’s for work before they discontinued them.

 

[Jacobcutt]

"This protocol was performed in 2 sessions per week and consisted of sets of 6 35-m sprints at maximum effort with a 10-second recovery between each sprint. In the first week, 3 sets were performed, with 3 minutes of rest between each set. A set was added in each subsequent week with the same 3-minute rest between sets. Each SIT session consisted of a 10-minute warm-up, followed by sets (3-6) of 6 × 35-m sprints with 3 minutes of rest between sets and then a 10-minute cool-down period"

Has anyone run this protocol for a few weeks/months?

I tried this today. Warmed up with some pylo jumps, hops and bounds. Ended up planning on 3 sets of 3 reps each, timed as written in the text. The very last rep was when my speed started to slow, so time to stop. My plan was to run this twice a week, progressing as such:
session 1 - 3 sets of 3 sprints
session 2 - 4 sets of 3
session 3 - 5 sets of 3
session 4 - 6 sets of 3
session 5 - 3 sets of 4.........and so on until 6 sets of 6

Would the same benefit come from throwing a die to determine sprint volume in the session?

I have been working with this protocol for a couple of months. I do it to practice running. I am in the Army and I play soccer. I feel like this is one way to keep my speed, acceleration, and general running ability up with minimal impact and maximum gain.

I see why Pavel does only swings and dips. I feel like you're going to get a better bang for your buck there, if I'm honest. This is accessory work. Yet, as far as accessory work goes, I think it's pretty good.

I do the sprints on flat ground. I warm up with general movement like kicking the soccer ball or doing skill work, maybe a few bounds to release the hamstrings. Once I am ready, I do the five second sprint, and rest/walk for ten seconds. I repeat that five more times. At the end of the last one I rest for three minutes. I do three to six of these series. I decide how many I will do before I begin. A dice roll would be good here. Every fourth week is a deload week, so I only do three series.

Focus during the sprints is acceleration quality. I want to scoot right by the other player on the soccer field or run that ball down. If I feel the quality isn't there, I reassess my attitude and reengage so I can give high quality accelerations. During the three-minute rest, I juggle casually or kick against a wall. I try to do relaxed skill practice. I'm sure you could just walk around or do fast and loose.

I feel it helps keep running skill high for minimum impact. Cycle the load so you get the big series of six in there once a month. I feel like the volume is key to continued progress.

 

[mar2safety]

Focus during the sprints is acceleration quality. I want to scoot right by the other player on the soccer field or run that ball down. If I feel the quality isn't there, I reassess my attitude and reengage so I can give high quality accelerations. During the three-minute rest, I juggle casually or kick against a wall. I try to do relaxed skill practice. I'm sure you could just walk around or do fast and loose.

Thank you. I haven't paced out the 35 yards, so I usually sprint as far as I can accelerate. There's a soccer field near my house that is empty at 530am. The soft grass is key for me, as I'm over 90kg. I'm using this to directly impact skating during hockey games. I want to beat my opponent to loose pucks, so I can relate to the sports example.