Training for Power and Strength in Speed (Key Concepts Book 2)

This book was written by Coach Charlie Francis in 2008 to highlight the key concept of combining weight training with speed training. This book compliments the video training series Coach Francis created called "Weights for Speed". Training for Power and Strength in Speed is a concise account of Francis’ training methodology when it came to using weight training in conjunction with an overall sprint training program. Coach Francis makes the comment in this book that "The mistake made by many sprinters is to substitute increased weight work for increased speed work, especially when the training is of high intensity and CNS energy is in fairly restricted volume. No sprinter need be a perfect weightlifter… All of this said - and it is unfortunate that it needs to be drilled in so forcefully - strength training is one of the integral training components that will result into the grand 'conversion' to enhanced speed and acceleration, and the resultant of better times."

Similar to other books written by Coach Charlie Francis, Training for Power and Strength in Speed was written in relation to his training of track athletes. Later in life he successfully utilized his training concepts with professional Hockey, Football, Tennis, Soccer and Basketball athletes. Whatever your sport, using these concepts and learning how to integrate weight training with your speed training will improve your results and change the way you currently think about performance training. Coach Francis practiced ideas and theories that were years ahead of their time and are just now beginning to be understood on a broader scale. Francis’s own belief was that "science often trailed experience".

Some of Coach Francis’s most advanced training methods were based on his own experience as an athlete and his curiosity on how to improve from the mistakes he made which lead to early retirement from sport. Sheer frustration as an athlete forced him to question existing ideas about The Central Nervous System (CNS) and how it gets fatigued. While this book contains some information on this topic as well as his ideas regarding SuperCompensation in training, for the purposes of this book neither of these areas have been explored in depth. He brings them up in the context of highlighting the need to think 360 degrees in how your weight training affects your primary training goals. More information on these concepts can be found in the books Charlie Francis Training System, High Intensity Training: Expanding the Limits of Performance, Electronic Stimulation in the Training Model and SuperCompensation and Recovery. All of these books will be available on Amazon in the Fall of 2014. The video training series called "Weights for Speed" is available at www.charliefrancis.com.

Strength and power training inserted into a training regimen while respecting and complimenting the main speed training program will make an incredible difference in your performance.