How to program sprint intervals?

[Mark Rippetoe]

Can you not learn these things for yourself, by trying various methods and paying attention to what happens?

[RussB]

Most of us understand that you can't progress without stress but do not understand how to program it especially in congruence with strength training. The common advice to "just do a few prowler sprints" and then not saying how to program as you adapt to the stress is not going to improve your conditioning past a certain point. Maybe a conditioning book should be in order in accordance with peoples goals?

Death by Prowler
by Matt Reynolds and stef bradford

[Eric Larousse]

Isn't that basically saying the same thing as "walk up to a barbell and figure out what to do yourself?" I do not think this is true sense you wrote an entire book on the subject of barbell training.

[jillingworth]

Can you not learn these things for yourself, by trying various methods and paying attention to what happens?

Of course not! Squats are easy compared to thinking and planning for yourself!

That being said, I know it can be daunting to start off with a gold mine like Starting Strength which lays everything out clearly and then have to figure something new on your own. I see it with my students all the time. They can learn how to figure a right triangle and all of its geometry, but applying it to a real-life activity, like surveying, posses more of a challenge than one would expect. Of course, we could just link to the Prowler articles on here and what-not.

[dynomite]

Can you not learn these things for yourself, by trying various methods and paying attention to what happens?

Because that would take TIME Rip...and effort. Who wants to waste time on trying something new when they can just demand that you tell them...for free.

[Mark Rippetoe]

Isn't that basically saying the same thing as "walk up to a barbell and figure out what to do yourself?" I do not think this is true sense you wrote an entire book on the subject of barbell training.

The prowler has much more in common with wiping your ass than it does with barbell training. The prowler cannot really be done wrong, technically. You load it, you push it 50 yards, you see what happens. Then you either lighten or heavy it, push it longer or shorter, and do either more, less, or the same.

[Paul1]

Most of us understand that you can't progress without stress but do not understand how to program it especially in congruence with strength training. The common advice to "just do a few prowler sprints" and then not saying how to program as you adapt to the stress is not going to improve your conditioning past a certain point. Maybe a conditioning book should be in order in accordance with peoples goals?

I'm no expert, but lay out your variables:

Frequency of sprint workout
Duration of workout
Number of intervals
Duration / distance / time of each sprint
Duration of rest
Incline (if you're using a treadmill)

There are only so many things to modify. It stands to reason that you should keep it once a week for maybe 15 minutes total -- and time your rest and sprint durations such that you 1) recover enough to blast your next sprint, but 2) still have a high heart rate the entire time. That seems like a pretty good workout. And then scale the other variables within this once weekly 15 minute session. So if you, say, sprint one minute / rest two minutes (for a total of 5 intervals in a 15 minute session), then maybe after a week or two you change it to sprint one minute / rest 90 seconds.

So I think intensity should logically increase first, duration of workout second, and number of workouts per week third.

Maybe I'll write a book.

[Eric Larousse]

thanks for the info fellas......i will now go construct a two day conditioning program prowler program by loading it with 800 pounds and do 300 yard sprints to failure then the other day i will do sprint intervals starting with 400mx5 with 3 minutes rests until i am able to run 400x55 with 1 minute rests as fast as i can...sound like a good goal? i really want to be an mma fighter, powerlifter, strongman competitor, NBA player, and a pitcher in the MLB...also i want to be a teacher of french as well as a lawyer and i will preach on sundays....Will this conditioning protocol allow me to have substantial conditioning for all of the aforementioned activities?

[vanburen]

http://startingstrength.com/index.ph...itive_training

[Eric Larousse]

http://startingstrength.com/index.ph...itive_training

sounds great but I call BS on a lot of that....theres not many people who are going to walk up to a barbell and know what to do with it as far as progression....the science cannot be denied when it comes to any athletic endeavor and the same holds true for conditioning