John Cook G.S./Hurdle Drills

I shared this in another thread, yet since this one is focussed on general strength I thought I would share it here as well as many of the exercises referenced up to this point are in the DVD, though they come in different circuits/routines and with different names.

We have a coupon code for 50% off that we're sending to certain camps and events this summer (Running Film Festival being one of them). When you purchase a DVD at RunningDVDs.com use the coupon code EGNKUW5G for 50%, good through Aug 15th 2008.

Also, for those of you who have never done General Strength (GS in some of these posts) here is a video of Brent Vaughn talking about how he's infused it into his training.

http://www.runningdvds.com/

or

http://blip.tv/file/1033289/

I had no idea he had been doing this work and then we went for run the Thursday before stanford (where he said "i want to be on Lagat's shoulder with 400 to go....i will not share my thoughts at that moment) and after the run he starts banging out the pedestal routine and his body angle are pretty damn good. I was shocked at how easy he made it look.

anyway, the video is a great resource for any of you who are apprehensive to add this type of ancillary work to your current training. However, unlike Vaughn, start by doing this work on your hard days until it becomes easier...but as Brent says in the video, it's crazy how it truly is restorative actually helps you recover.

anyway, hope this was helpful and hope this doesn't sound like and advertisement for the DVD.

- Jay

PS - If anyone who purchased the first DVD and knows the content please email me constructive criticism I'll send you a free DVD of Vol. 2 when it comes out in August as I'm editing it now.

PPS - I think everyone experiments with this stuff to fit the needs. I wanted a routine for athletes to do after easy days and after traveling to re-set their SI joint and loosen up. Below is an example of exercises I stole from other routines and put together in a short little circuit.

http://www.brightcove.tv/title.jsp?title=1568084508&channel=416418689

Here you go. Dan Pfaff's general strength, plyo's, and med ball routines:

http://web.archive.org/web/20040701024912/http://www.drtrack.com/CoachingEducation/SpecificStrength.shtml

It's funny to me that everyone is acting like these drills are state secrets. We did the exact same drills when I was a 5 year old in gymnastics. Now everyone goes on about magical pylometrics and so on and it's the same conditioning every competitive gymnast did every day of their life since god knows how many years ago and no-one made a big deal of it.

It works though, I mean, gymnasts are strong. And when I switched to running in high school it certainly helped.

Why are you all even interested in these drills? They are very tough and you will be back home watching American Idol and re-runs of Gilligans Island in no time.

The reason everyone is "freaking out" over these drills is that everyone is always looking for some new secret.

The reality is that these drills, plyos, core stuff, etc. has been around forever. They go in and out of style every decade or so. It's a nice little cycle of reinventing the wheel.

Just like everything else, some are really good, and others are probably quiet useless. That's where the art of coaching comes in. You've got to disect all these different fads and figure out what will actually result in improved performance.

Good stuff. Is there a general rule for how many reps, etc? And are they all the circuits done every day, or does it rotate?

These drills, like many others, will definitely help any runner not just 8-15 athletes. I was at Mason in the late 70's and early 80's and the person who started them was our co-head coach, Ralph White. Coach White worked with the sprinters, hurdlers, and decathletes and had great success. Soon the middle and distance runners started the program.

After Coach White's departure to SMU, Cook revised the drills a little but they were basically what White did with the athletes he worked with.

Do the exercises for any event and you will get faster and stay healthier.

To all, thanks for the tips, links, and advise

I ran under Cook up until he "retired" from Mason during his last XC season in '97. So take your guesses from that.

Anyway, I see that some alums expanded on this thread so in respect to coach I'm going to bow out and not scan anything.

Good Job with the girls coach!

Hey Scooter, did you happen to catch Lotwis during one of the races? (I think men's 10K). He was in the infield I believe.

Can someone give a brief description on the following, as I'm not 100% sure what the correct form is.

Yogis

Lunge Good mornings

Wrestlers Bridge

Cossack Extension

baatan wrote:

I ran under Cook up until he "retired" from Mason during his last XC season in '97. So take your guesses from that.

Anyway, I see that some alums expanded on this thread so in respect to coach I'm going to bow out and not scan anything.

Good Job with the girls coach!

Hey Scooter, did you happen to catch Lotwis during one of the races? (I think men's 10K). He was in the infield I believe.

You know what, I understand there's a big "honor" thing you feel compelled to notice, but this idea does not float with many in the coaching ranks anymore.

Personally, I've listened to Li and Mahon talk specifically about strength building routines, and seen a long powerpoint talking specifically about Hall and Kastor's non-running training.

The fact is, none of these drills are silver bullets that will make you an Olympian in and of itself. They're simply tools that can help almost any decent runner get better.

The thought of not sharing something that is more or less out in the public is just stupid and silly. I've never met a good coach that doesn't want to talk training, both to learn and to impart their knowledge on others...

look, these routines were designed by Dan Pfaff not coach Cook, coach cook didn't even change the names of coach Pfaff's routines, so these certainly aren't coach cook trade secrets.

and I am not saying that coach cook stole anything, i am just saying coaches all over the country especially those who have attended any usatf coaches ed, have seen and shared these routines for a generation.

any one of you can choose general strength exercises, create a logical order, and use common sense for periodization of reps and sets.

Worth bumping.

And, posting this vid, which clears up a lot of questions asked in this thread.

http://www.flotrack.org/speaker/308-diana-pickler/video/178880-trey-hardee-diana-pickler-episode-17-multis-edition