INFLUENCE OF STRENGTH TRAINING ON SPRINT RUNNING PERFORMANCE - CURRENT FINDINGS AND IMPLICATIONS FOR TRAINING

Today, it is generally accepted that sprint performance, like enduranc e performance, can improve considerably with training. Strength traini ng, especially, plays a key role in this process. Sprint performance w ill be viewed multidimensionally as an initial acceleration phase (0 t o 10m), a phase of maximum running speed (36 to 100m) and a transition phase in between. Immediately following the start action, the powerfu l extensions of the hip, knee and ankle joints are the main accelerato rs of body mass. However, the hamstrings, the m. adductor magnus and t he m. gluteus maximus are considered to make the most important contri bution in producing the highest levels of speed. Different training me thods are proposed to improve the power output of these muscles. Some of them aim for hypertrophy and others for specific adaptations of the nervous system. This includes general (hypertrophy and neuronal activ ation), velocity specific (speed-strength) and movement specific (spri nt associated exercises) strength training. In developing training str ategies, the coach has to keep in mind that strength, power and speed are inherently related to one another, because they are all the output of the same functional systems. As heavy resistance training results, in a fibre type IIb into fibre type IIa conversion, the coach has to aim for an optimal balance between sprint specific and nonspecific tra ining components. To achieve this they must take into consideration th e specific strength training demands of each individual, based on perf ormance capacity in each specific phase of the sprint.