Sebastian Coe's weight training question.

Blazer123 wrote:

Does anyone have any info on what his lifting routine was like?

Coe was the best lifter I ever worked with. He loved lifting.

He and his dad wrote a book that contains his weight training. I can't remember the title, though.

Deanouk should have this one

I've seen two books that cover this. As I recall, Seb did a lot of plyos and strength routines.

1. Better Training for Distance Runners, by Peter Coe and David Martin (runs the gamut from very dry scientific rationale of strength training to specific exercises with photos modeled by Seb and Pat Porter)

2. Running for Fitness, by Sebastian and Peter Coe (popular book for non scientific audience, has section on some of Seb's gym routine).

Enjoy!

I can vouch for his phenomenal leg strength, as I was one of a number of slower, fatter runners he would carry up a grass hill on his bank during Sunday morning sessions. The rest of us staggered; he actually RAN up a steep grass bank with an adult on his bank.

His weights were set up by George Gandy and done by many other athletes.

As a general rule the Loughborough guys did a weekly group circuits session, with 2-3 circuits of 10 or so exercises. Google "George Gandy Circuits" and a PDF comes up which describes it. Kind of hard to do alone, so when travelling he would do stage workouts (finishing all sets of one exercise before doing the next).

What Peter Coe wrote in his books was "suggestions", not necessarily "what Seb Coe actually did". I have "Winning Running" to hand (his later, shorter book) and have pulled out some info here. He suggests weights involving 3-6 sets of 3-6 reps, using a variety of exercises. The book lists: Barbell curls, bent-arm pullovers, bench press, half-squats, alternate front lunges, vertical rowing and barbell step-ups. He says they are NOT maximum lifts - find weights where the session can be finished "without excessive fatigue". The weights, like everything else, were periodised, with one circuits and one weights session each week, weights getting harder until April then easier into the season.

I have seen no evidence that he was doing heavy lifts 3x weekly.

The weights advice is absolutely standard among UK track+field coaches. No magic here.

Great info - thanks!

You wouldn't happen to know his standing broad jump, would you? I know Winning Running suggests getting up to 25m on 8 hops on one leg, and that Coe had a tremendous SBJ, but I can't find even mere speculation as to what the distance was.

kanny wrote:

Great info - thanks!

You wouldn't happen to know his standing broad jump, would you? I know Winning Running suggests getting up to 25m on 8 hops on one leg, and that Coe had a tremendous SBJ, but I can't find even mere speculation as to what the distance was.

According to Pat Butcher's book, "The Perfect Distance", ...."Seb Coe would do twenty five metres in eight hops. Ten was considered good on each leg. Nine is very good. But eight is like a kangaroo."

That works out at 3.12m per hop, or just over 10 feet.

He also excelled at the sargeant jump in the gym. This is where you stand side-on to a wall, stretch your closer arm upwards, and make a fingertip mark on the wall. You then crouch and do a standing jump upwards, and tap the wall at the apogee of the jump. Frank Horwill, one of the founders of the British Milers Club" recalled,... "23 inches difference is considered astounding. They (Coe and Ovett) went through the bloody roof, ...In other words the 23 inches was almost 33 inches"