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Other/Mixed Sprinting progressions in middle age

Other strength modalities (e.g., Clubs), mixed strength modalities (e.g., combined kettlebell and barbell), other goals (flexibility)

guardian7

Level 6 Valued Member
Materials by Pavel and Geoff Neupert have got me more interested in the idea of focusing on power in training especially for middle age. In addition, I have timed my subway commute so that a short sprint allows me to get my transfer train earlier. I found I quite enjoyed this daily sprint. This video was also very interesting on the effects of sprinting

I used to play soccer competitively until 20 and have done Muay Thai for fitness in my late 40s to early 50s. However, I have not done any running due to plantar fasciitis, which is not severe but makes me quite sore after walking or standing for long periods--the reason I started KB training was a source of cardio because I couldn't jog and it is not bicycle friendly where I live. I enjoy rucking. I also tried walking backwards which I highly recommend. I am not overweight and don't have any knee or ankle problems apart from the minor foot problem I mentioned. I can sit in a deep squat.

In any case, I would like to gradually work up to sprinting again at age 54. What are some useful ways to progress up to a sprint? I have access to a 15 story apartment building stairs, a healthclub treadmill and bicycle, a rubberized track nearby, and a inclined path that is not well used off a nearby walking trail. There are also small mountains nearby. The weather will get colder soon, so I would probably start outside and move inside in late November.

Anyone have experience starting sprinting in middle age safely and in terms of programming?

UPDATE: I tried out hill sprints today. There is a path up to a trail that is about 60 M and it is perfect. It is a rubberized track like surface. I will go with hill sprint repeats as they are safer than horizontal. I had no difficulty doing them. In fact, I was quite pleased with the result and don't need to regress them. Felt great.
 
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I think AXE could do well.
First you need to decide which kind of sprint you would like to train, and develop your skills or techniques, or at least revisit them.
I would personally recommend the classic sprint run. As is said, it certainly has insane effects on the body.
Train 2 sessions a week.
This is what your session would look like:
Warm up, and start the timer. Sprint for about 5-6 seconds, stop when you are no longer accelerating, according to Pavel.
I would recommend that you rest OTM plus 1 minute, just to see how it feels after 10-20 sets. when you get strong, you can do OTM but rest no shorter than that.
Repeat, until you hit the SF Stop Signs.
You shouldn't be overwhelmed by this. I always get a sense of pleasant fatigue after my A+A(former name for AXE) session.
Over time, you will be sprinting faster, longer and more explosive. But in training never sprint more than 10 seconds. You might want to test your 100m or 200m run once in a while.
 
Luwuwu said:
I think AXE could do well.
First you need to decide which kind of sprint you would like to train, and develop your skills or techniques, or at least revisit them.
I would personally recommend the classic sprint run. As is said, it certainly has insane effects on the body.
Train 2 sessions a week.
This is what your session would look like:
Warm up, and start the timer. Sprint for about 5-6 seconds, stop when you are no longer accelerating, according to Pavel.
I would recommend that you rest OTM plus 1 minute, just to see how it feels after 10-20 sets. when you get strong, you can do OTM but rest no shorter than that.
Repeat, until you hit the SF Stop Signs.
You shouldn't be overwhelmed by this. I always get a sense of pleasant fatigue after my A+A(former name for AXE) session.
Over time, you will be sprinting faster, longer and more explosive. But in training never sprint more than 10 seconds. You might want to test your 100m or 200m run once in a while.
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Yeah I think 5 to ten seconds is plenty as per Pavel rather than the 10-20 seconds in the video. Ten seconds is a world class 100 M dash. I don't think every minute on the minute is feasible though. The Stop signs are what I would be guided by. The video indicates starting with sets of four but that is 10-20 seconds.
 
maybe like a+a format (multi sets with enough rest), and speed ramps up like in ladder fashion (normal - fast - faster?)
 
(I haven't watched the video)

Hill sprints are amazing. I get the "if it's worth doing I have to make sure I program them w. appropriate volume/frequency/intensity" thing, but honestly, I don't think there's a huge need to "program" them, as much as just make sure to include them often enough that they don't totally fall out of practice.

Don't do too much too soon w. hill sprints - warm up the ankles, calf muscles appropriately.
 
I faffed about in my early 50s with a botched sprinting plan. It wasn't until I met other sprinters and sprint coaches that my sprinting significantly improved.

There are different models and approaches to competitive sprinting, muddied by sprint interval training models for sports conditioning purposes, for fat loss, metabolic stuff etc And yes it is confusing....

So to start. If you look out to the horizon and ponder over 'should I rest for 3 minutes or 5'? then rest for at least 5. If you then quiz yourself over 4 times a week or twice, go for twice and evaluate keeping the option of once a week open. In other words, less is more.

It's not dissimilar to other strength training and think of sprinting as exactly that, strength training. Again, here you can focus on energetics, rest periods, force production etc and all of it is governed by your form....

For example. Run a 100m 6 times with at least 10 minutes rest. Not at maximum but 80-85%.
This is very SF vernacular and very important....you finish strongly and your first rep is as good as your last rep.

Now. It is very easy for anyone with a running/athletic base to run 6x100m. Without training though, the 4th set will get ugly and you will chase those remaining sets....and this will happen....

You will break at the waist, your arse will go back, arms will flail and your neck will stick out and you will push the effort. If any of those signs appear you should stop and go home. And so you stop at set 4.....you are not strong enough and you need to regress. (Also, you will be slow).

This is where sprinting splits from, er, sprinting.....where the emphasis is on metabolic rather than speed, if that is a somewhat crap differential, as there is some crossover at some point. But don't concern yourself with that, it's distracting....an analogy here with kb swinging, 10x10 with impeccable form v whacking out the reps in a ball of sweat where form goes, injury risk is elevated and you get through it but don't really progress. It's ok to really struggle through during a test or competition but not in general training...right?

So, a progression...
6x50. Add 10m a week. The goal is 6x100. Everything is governed by form. Rest is 1 minute for every 10m. This is conservative, you could do less BUT if you do and your form goes then you are not resting enough and or doing too much..
(This is a Charlie Francis model of rest for speed. It's a minimum usually reserved to max velocity but applies to speed development too).

You could say 'rest as needed'. For you, go for full rest if you've never done it before. As you are at 80-85 - a comfortable fast output - you could argue for less rest. And yes, if strong enough, experienced enough with good form, sure. But, well....you're not, yet. So keep the rests longer. That means of course that 6x100 with warm ups, drills, cool down is at least 90 minutes.. Hope for good weather.

6x50
6x60
6x70
6x80
6x90
6x100

Or begin at 30, to be safer/cautious. Why 100?

This is from an 18 week speed training programme for 50 something training for a short 60m competition or a handicap 110/100 (80m thereabouts depending on handicap).

Get to 6x100 before considering top speed. Twice a week. From there, intensity increases and volume decreases for another 6 weeks before volume reduces again as intensity is at maximum.

For the first few weeks, yeah do other things if you want/need. I can say with great confidence that you need to take care approaching higher volumes and you may need to streamline and monitor recovery more closely than the earlier weeks.

This will give you a good base. Other models are available of course. You may need longer than 6 weeks, or may not even want to get to 6x100. But don't progress by ticking the distances, do them strongly and well. If you get to 6x70 and you start failing with the 80s, stay at 70s for a bit longer. Or at 50, wherever you are at and build on it.

This works. It's what I do and its from a sprint coach devised specifically for the 50+ population. I'm 59. I've used this since 52/53 or so. You could argue it's cautious because it is. But, 6x100m with good form is the hardest part of the 18 weeks. So it's not as easy as it would appear. So be cautious.

Your energetic system will develop alongside tissue preparation for the higher forces present with max velocity training and it is excellent preparation. Sprint on grass if possible. Don't force acceleration, gradually build into it. Get into a nice upright posture, hold that position and relax. VERY IMPORTANT: decelerate slowly. NO sudden stops, so leave plenty of room to run into. You have long rests so no need to rush slowing down! Get some mobility drills to work on during the rests and relax. Do fast and loose drills, or similar or whatever if you have specific needs to work on. And, relax.
 
Agree with ali.
Some thoughts:
-Minimum 1 minute of rest for every 10 meters.
-Sprinting is not conditionning.
-Injury risk is very high especially for hamstrings and above all achilles tendons (often neglected by strength guys)
-Last point I need to adress in a strength training forum: there is a huge difference in PRACTICE between power and speed/velocity. Ballistic or explosive lifts won't prepare you for sprinting. You can be very fast and at the same time weak in lifting and vice-versa: Carl Lewis, Kim Collins and Erriyon Knighton (before 2023) never lifted weights and are among the best sprinters ever born . You can be beast in explosive lifts, lean and slow at sprinting. When I ran sub 11, I was skinny, didn't even squat once in my life. But I destroyed on 100m other sprinters squatting >150kgs.
 
Paotle said:
Agree with ali.
Some thoughts:
-Minimum 1 minute of rest for every 10 meters.
-Sprinting is not conditionning.
-Injury risk is very high especially for hamstrings and above all achilles tendons (often neglected by strength guys)
-Last point I need to adress in a strength training forum: there is a huge difference in PRACTICE between power and speed/velocity. Ballistic or explosive lifts won't prepare you for sprinting. You can be very fast and at the same time weak in lifting and vice-versa: Carl Lewis, Kim Collins and Erriyon Knighton (before 2023) never lifted weights and are among the best sprinters ever born . You can be beast in explosive lifts, lean and slow at sprinting. When I ran sub 11, I was skinny, didn't even squat once in my life. But I destroyed on 100m other sprinters squatting >150kgs.
Click to expand...
I always used hill sprints to avoid hamstring pulls.
 
Boris Bachmann said:
(I haven't watched the video)

Hill sprints are amazing. I get the "if it's worth doing I have to make sure I program them w. appropriate volume/frequency/intensity" thing, but honestly, I don't think there's a huge need to "program" them, as much as just make sure to include them often enough that they don't totally fall out of practice.

Don't do too much too soon w. hill sprints - warm up the ankles, calf muscles appropriately.
Click to expand...

Agreed. I tried it out yesterday and edited my OP. Definitely overthinking it. I tried it yesterday and went full blast and it was a blast! More interested in personal experiences in this forum. I was reading some interesting thing about the body's response to such max efforts in terms of releasing growth hormone. As we can see from the body composition of sprinters, it seems to be among the closest things to natural steroids.
 
Paotle said:
Agree with ali.
Some thoughts:
-Minimum 1 minute of rest for every 10 meters.
-Sprinting is not conditionning.
-Injury risk is very high especially for hamstrings and above all achilles tendons (often neglected by strength guys)
-Last point I need to adress in a strength training forum: there is a huge difference in PRACTICE between power and speed/velocity. Ballistic or explosive lifts won't prepare you for sprinting. You can be very fast and at the same time weak in lifting and vice-versa: Carl Lewis, Kim Collins and Erriyon Knighton (before 2023) never lifted weights and are among the best sprinters ever born . You can be beast in explosive lifts, lean and slow at sprinting. When I ran sub 11, I was skinny, didn't even squat once in my life. But I destroyed on 100m other sprinters squatting >150kgs.
Click to expand...

I have decided to stick to hill sprints to avoid injury.
 
guardian7 said:
As we can see from the body composition of sprinters, it seems to be among the closest things to natural steroids.
Click to expand...
That's not really a good litmus test for the relative muscle building merits of sports. Lyle McDonald (long ago now) had a spoof-piece titled something like "Pole Vaulting for Hot Bod!", and if you look at women pole vaulters, generally they are whippet thin and muscular - that doesn't mean that it should be your go-to sport however.

I'm NOT saying that people shouldn't do some kind of sprinting, mind you, because I absolutely think sprinting, jumping, etc are qualities worth maintaining or rebuilding into our senior years. Just, yeah, I don't think anyone should expect sprinting to be akin to TRT.
 
Denys Carthusian said:
I always used hill sprints to avoid hamstring pulls.
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guardian7 said:
I have decided to stick to hill sprints to avoid injury.
Click to expand...
I don't care for sprinting uphill as it feels like strength training and not sprinting, which is why I'm curious as to how sprinting on a hill reduces the risk of injury? (I have visions of doing some age-group sprinting competition sometime.)

Thanks.

-S-
 
Steve Freides said:
I don't care for sprinting uphill as it feels like strength training and not sprinting, which is why I'm curious as to how sprinting on a hill reduces the risk of injury? (I have visions of doing some age-group sprinting competition sometime.)

Thanks.

-S-
Click to expand...
It recruits more motor units because of the difficulty while slowing you down which is safer. Also, injury is often due to sudden deceleration, which is less of a problem going uphill. yes, it is a mixture of speed and resistance training in a good way. Think of it as the snatch vs swing to use a simplistic analogy.. You can swing much faster but doing the snatch builds a bigger engine. Why Hill Sprints Are The Fastest Way Of Getting Strong, Fast, And Lean.
 
Steve Freides said:
I don't care for sprinting uphill as it feels like strength training and not sprinting, which is why I'm curious as to how sprinting on a hill reduces the risk of injury? (I have visions of doing some age-group sprinting competition sometime.)

Thanks.

-S-
Click to expand...
Most hamstring tears during sprinting occur during the late swing phase, right before the foot makes contact with the ground. This stretches the hamstring to its near maximal length while simultaneously requiring it to contract. When running uphill you have to take smaller steps, the hamstring doesn't get stretched as much.

I would also add I think hill sprints are generally recommended because they are thought to be safer for people who have not sprinted in a while because of the above and because they are going slower, and because it is easier on your joints for the same reason a box jump is - there is a shorter "fall" phase.
 
guardian7 said:
Tell us more. And why did you stop? Sounds like that Dan John quip, it was working so well I stopped!
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This was before I started weight training and I've seen discovered I have some wonky injuries (which I'm now working diligently to remediate) that make it difficult to do consistently. Also, that was back when I was 45 and could do stupid things like spring 5 days a week uphill with only 30 seconds rest between reps.

I would love to add it back in but need a reliable protocol so I don't overtrain and some benchmarks that show me I'm not going to aggravate pre existing injuries.
 
Steve Freides said:
I don't care for sprinting uphill as it feels like strength training and not sprinting, which is why I'm curious as to how sprinting on a hill reduces the risk of injury? (I have visions of doing some age-group sprinting competition sometime.)

Thanks.

-S-
Click to expand...
Basically it eliminates hamstring pulls because you aren't running on a flat surface. Doesn't mean you can't get injured other ways, but you aren't going to reach your terminal velocity and leave low earth orbit running up an incline.
 
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