42 Day Block Completed and Results!!

So for the last 6 weeks I've been training like a mad man where I managed the following:

 - 30 sprint sessions in 40 days

 - 27 squat sessions in 41 days (would have been more if my pelvis didn't discombobulate!)

 - 35 hip thrusting sessions in 41 days

Yep block training gone mad!

Obviously the focus was on sprinting speed so why didn't I just sprint and go home?

Hip Thrust Strength + Back Squat Strength + Sprinting = Speed

You could probably just do these 3 exercises in your life and be faster then 90% of the people on your Facebook page (even the one's you "don't" know.

So the results?

I tested my 10 and 40 meter sprint about a week and half before I started the program which was actually the Tuesday before out last game but considering I barely trained this year and basically only played on a Saturday my readiness was fine (no soreness from the weekend and also not run down from a long season).

10 Meter Sprint = 2.2 seconds

40 Meter Sprint = 6.22 seconds

Bloody slow!!

With these times you can work out of you need to work on strength or speed which courtesy of Kelly Baggett, looks like this:

Step 1 - Test 10 meter sprint

Step 2 - Depending on your 10 meter time you'll add a specific amount of time to it

 - 1.6 - 1.7 seconds add 3.25
 - 1.5 - 1.6 seconds add 3.10
 - 1.5 seconds or less add 3.0

Step 3 - Test 40 meter sprint

Step 4 - Compare your estimated and actual time

 - if timed is slower then your estimate then work on speed / max velocity
 - if times is faster then estimate then work on strength / acceleration

Step 5 - You can go a step further for further clarification and do a split time of 20 meters (which I didn't do):

 - if first 20 meters is faster then your second 20 meters then it conforms you need to work on speed / max velocity
 - if your second 20 meters is faster then your first 20 meters then work on strength / acceleration

So for my pre-program sprints looked like this:

Step 1 -  2.2 seconds

Step 2 - 2.2 + 3.25 = 5.45 (if you're slower then 1.7 seconds then you're meant to drop fat and get stronger which is what I was planning to do anyway during my 42 day program so my estimated should have been slower then this as I was so far off to start with)

Step 3 - 6.22 seconds

Step 4 - Timed 40 was sslloowweerr then estimate so my focus needed to go on speed / max velocity.

Now here's what happened some 55 days later:

10 Meter Sprint - 1.6 seconds

40 Meter Sprint - 5.56 seconds

An improvement of just under 25 and 11% respectively (if my math is correct which it probably isn't)

Assessing them again:

Step 1 - 1.6 seconds

Step 2 - 1.6 + 3.25 = 4.85

Step 3 - 5.56 seconds

Step 4 - Again my timed was slower then my estimated indicating I still need to work on speed.

The encouraging thing is that my speed did increase as you can see here:

Pre Program Test

40 meter time (6.22) - 10 meter time (2.2) = 4.02 seconds for last 30 meters

Post Program Test

40 meter time (5.56) - 10 meter time (1.6) = 3.96 seconds for last 30 meters

You can also see that my 10 meter sprint decreased by more then 25% which was helped by taking my back squat from 113 to 128.5 for 1 rep during the 42 day program. I also increased my romanian deadlift from 95 x 3 to 115 x 4, Squat Clean from 20 to 65 x 5, high pull from 45 to 75 x 5 and bench press from 100 x 1 to 100 x 3 using a sub maximal high-ish volume program.

So now I have developed another 5 week block that will take me up to Christmas where I am running another cycle of Triphasic Training but only for 5 weeks to top off my high frequency squatting for the last 7 weeks.

I must also thank Bret Contreras, Joel Smith, Christian Thibaudeau and Kelly Baggett (linked from above) who all had some input on this program through some emails we exchanged.

So the moral of the story is if you wanna get better at something then do it, and do it a lot!