Day 192: Power Speed (Medicine Ball, Weighted Sled and Downhill Sprints)

Today’s workout is taxing, albeit the short duration of energy spent per effort. It’s all about the power and the explosiveness, harnessing one’s energy and converting it to speed, shaping and training the fast twitch muscle.

The first half of the workout I did was a simple home workout, it’s been a week since I put any effort on my upper body and abs, so I did an exhaustive yet short-burst of training on that specific body part.

I don’t think such pre-workout to the actual workout in mind, will affect my training later on. It is somewhat linked, and I’ve always been a stickler about conditioning, even during the off-season.

After the home workout, I walked to my nearby field and did medicine ball. This works my explosiveness, and at the same time my plyometrics. It’s an all-out effort, don’t reserve any. The recovery time for each person differs, as for me, I recovered quite fast as I’ve been working on my fitness for the past year.

Next I proceed to towing of the sledge. Such resistance runs will work on my acceleration. Always drive hard through your legs and pump vigorously with your arms. Again it is an all-out effort, don’t hold back. So have full recovery at each run.

If you do it continuously, with little rest time, it defeats the purpose of the training. You must be somewhat ‘fresh’ at each run.

Workout of the Day

1. Home Workout
6×20 abs, short recovery per set
3×40 shoulder press (5kg dumbell)

2. Medicine Ball (A)
Focusing on arms to Core
2×10 – Standing Side Throw
2×10 – Overhead
2×10 – Back Toss
My rest time is around 1 minute per set

3. 3×4x30m sledge
Using 5kg plate
Rest time around 2-3 minute
80-90% recovery before each effort

4. 2×5 Downhill Sprints
Slope around 15 deg. incline
Get up to full speed 40-60m, then try to maintain the next 40m
My rest time is walking back
As long you’re recovered 80-90%, proceed with each effort
Focus on running form

The first half of the training took around 45 minutes. I walked back home, drank my third can of caffeine filled RedBull, and slowly jogged to my next training location. That’s in total 150mg of caffeine for today’s exhaustive workout. I do hope my body will adapt, and it will not affect my sleep pattern later on tonight.

The slope for the next part of training was near The Sports School, and adjacent to Woodgrove Secondary School. I found by chance when I jogged past it last month. It has a delightful incline, perfect for downhill sprints.

The first part of the sprint, well I was short of runway, and nearly ran into the large drain each time, so during the rest-time, I remeasured the distance, and now had more running space for me, running diagonally down the slope.

From the photos, I’m still exhibiting bad running habits, so I guess it’s a slow process of correcting myself over time, and hopefully I’ll get better in the future. Move your feet fast, although there has been studies found that downhill or elastic pull sprints is not making any difference, personally I beg otherwise.

Again it’s an all-out effort, run fast, and to a certain point if your back hurts, well it’s a side-effect of doing over-speed acceleration training. Try to slant downwards slightly more, running towards the downward force, as compared to resisting the gravitational pull, thus making your back hurts. The slope forces your limb and body to a greater speed than usual by use of external devices/factors.

I ended today’s training with Active Recovery of jogging back, and the usual long stretch. Pheww what a workout today, I’m sure I’ll feel it tomorrow.