Team Sustain: French Contrast Method

Graph depicts the difference inrate of force production and power output of an elite athlete and and advanced athlete. The area between the red and the blue line shows the increases time it takes for the advanced athlete to accelerate compared to the elite athlete

In the 1970s, Bulgarian weightlifters would use a variation of the contrast method with the snatch and clean and jerk, working up to a max and then reducing the weight to get in some quality reps. They would perform this system frequently and would determine the weights for those multi-rep sets by first performing a max (or near max) attempt. We will save this concept for our next block.

Olympic Lifting:

We are going to use the Olympic lifts as a primer for the French Contrast Strength sets. The explosive nature of the Olympic lifts will help activate the CNS and prepare us for the work to come.

Snatch: We have a significant focus on locking out the overhead position as well as working on the pulls in this block

Clean: Hang cleans in the first two weeks to focus on the speed under the bar. Weeks three and four will see a complex of power clean and squat clean to focus on a nice high pull and then the speed under the bar

Jerks: On the snatch day we are working on the lockouts with snatch and snatch jerks. We also have some eccentric push press in the upper body day, plus handstand work. There is significant overhead pressing action during the week, and therefore we will no be adding specific jerk work this block

Gymnastics

As mentioned above we are focusing on handstand conditioning in this block and hopefully finding alignment and balance. We are working bent arm pulling strength on two days a week in this block (bring on the pull-ups). Mixed in with the French Contrast Method of explosive strength we will be doing kipping handstand push-ups after the eccentric push-press, enjoy the triceps PUMP!!

There is slot foundation gymnastics movements to maintain shoulder and spine health.

CONDITIONING:

DAY1: Lactic Accumulation:

A 2011 study looked at the effect of doing four all-out sprints in decreasing order (400,300,200,100, meters) with rest intervals of 4 minutes following the 400, 3 minutes following the 300, and 2 minutes following the 200. Results showed:

A more significant increase in growth hormone (GH) and blood lactate, indicating this protocol was more metabolically taxing and could lead to more fat loss over time

A significant testosterone response, suggesting the protocol was effective for muscle building.

A greater insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) response—a hormone that further enhances muscle adaptations

Greater stimulation of the GH-IGF-1 axis, highlighting that more time spent training anaerobically will produce a greater metabolic effect and more body fat loss.

DAY 2: Aerobic Sprint Intervals:

Researchers from Canada compared the effect of a 3-day-a-week, 6-week interval program on body composition and time trial performance. The interval protocol was six 30-second all-out sprints with 4 minutes rest.

Athletes lost an impressive 12.4% body fat and 2 kg of fat mass and improved 2K time trial by 5%

DAY 3: Short Rest Sprint Intervals

If your primary goal is to improve peak power and anaerobic conditioning, shorter intervals with less rest are the way to go. A 2011 study done on wrestlers showed a 5% increase in power and a 32% increase in maximal work capacity with a similar protocol to this.

DAY 4: 30min Aerobic Capacity

Sustainable and repeatable efforts 80% intensity. You should be able to hold a conversation at any point during the workout, find and maintain this pace. The goal is to continue moving for the full 10minutes of each exercise. This day contains 3 x 10min workouts.

REFERENCE:

1 – Dietz, Cal, and Ben Peterson. “Specialized Methods of Applying Training Means (French Contrast).”  Triphasic Training: A Systematic Approach to Elite Speed and Explosive Strength Performance. Hudson, WI: Bye Dietz Sports Enterprise, 2012. N. page. Print.

2 Meckel, Y., Nemet, D., Bar-Sela, S., Radom-Aizik, S.  Hormonal and Inflammatory Responses to Different Types of Sprint Interval Training. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. 2011.

3. Koral, J. Oranchik, D, Herrera, R, Miller, G. “Six Sessions of Sprint Interval Training Improves Running Performance in Trained Athletes”, Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 2017.

4. Franchini, E. Julio, U. Panissa, V. High-Intensity Intermittent Training Positively Affects Aerobic and Anaerobic Performance in Judo Athletes Independently of Exercise Mode, Frontiers in Physiology, 2016