[Josh Gray]

Good morning! I am in the middle of my early base training using the big vert plan. I have found that I get very sore and beat up from the ME workouts as well as the steep hill sprints (done on an 40% slope) even 5 weeks in. I have to take at least 3 min vs the prescribed 2 rest for sprints or the intensity just feels too much.  I’ve heard you say that these training modalities effect athletes differently based on the muscle fiber type and training history.

In my early years I played a lot of ball sports and was a sprinter & long jumper in track. I had a 11 sec 100 meter and could dunk a basketball at 5’10. For the last 16 years I’ve engaged in just endurance sports training mostly all in Zone 1 & 2 and my strength training has been mostly sporadic but  it only takes me about 8 weeks to go up in strength significantly (box step ups  +100% of my body weight and pull-ups with 50-60 lbs) I’m curious as to why both of these training modalities on different ends of the muscle spectrum beat me up equally? Also any advice going forward with your experience coaching any athletes with my background. Thanks!

 

• This topic was modified 9 months, 2 weeks ago by Josh Gray.
• This topic was modified 9 months, 2 weeks ago by Josh Gray.

[Scott Johnston]

Josh:

You are not alone in getting very sore from the ME workouts.  I suspect that in the past 16 years of endurance training you had a lot of muscle fiber type shift to more ST from FT. That is a well documented phenomenon.  The ME makes people sore due to the eccentric loading in the jumping exercises.  To mitigate the soreness: Do fewer sets,  jump less dynamically and do not add extra weight.  You can still make good gains with a less aggressive approach.  Hopefully even with the soreness you have seen some performance gains on your easy runs.

As for the hill sprints:  I’ve not heard of people getting sore for those. It might be that these too need to be dialed back in intensity to allow you more time to adapt.

Soreness from the ME and soreness from the Hill Sprints might be carrying over from one of these workouts to the other and causing you not to adapt.  Don’t blindly follow the plan (or any plan).  Adjust it according to how you respond to it.  That Big Vert plan was one of our best selling plans at UA and we got a great deal of very positive feedback about its effectiveness.  We coach using those same principles. So we know the principles work. But, if you are not seeing gains or failing to adapt you need to be willing to adjust to make it work for you.  The first place to start is to dial back on the intensity of these 2 workouts so you are not so sore.

I hope this helps,

Scott

[Josh Gray]

Thank you Scott,

 

I will scale back things with the ME and see how things go. Regarding the hill sprints, I’m curious if it’s possible I’m still neurologically wired to exert that maximum force/speed from my background hence it feeling so intense. I also feel maybe I’m exploding too much in the dynamic portions of the ME session

• This reply was modified 9 months ago by Josh Gray.

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