Zellgaddis's initial comment led me to this interview that the website SpeedEndurance did with Vazel. I think you'll all find it VERY interesting. The quote is long but please read all of it:
Q2 – SpeedEndurance.com: In France weight training is often not maximal, yet one of the best experts (Cometti) is a big influence. Could you share how the culture of France and athletics is helpful and harmful for strength development?
PJ Vazel: It is a difficult question as I have never felt there was such thing as a “French school†for sprinting, unlike Pole Vault or
Triple Jump. In France, strength training has always been seen as suspicion. Traditionally, its practice has been associated with drug use and has been opposed to “technical training†(analytical training) which would belong to higher coaching competence.
In a nutshell, the reasons can be understood in both historical and geographical context. During the XIX century in Eastern Europe, the delay in the economical development increased the necessity of militarization within a nationalization perspective, which impacted the education system and sport practice. Pure strength was seen as a virtue, whereas in France, it was seen as one of the least important skill in physical activities, as French authors considered physical education as an aid to intellectual development. Hence they favoured agility and coordination over strength. During the XX century, the lack of theoretical education for coaches on strength training, reinforced by the language barrier, coupled with some good results – yet rare – by French sprinters who didn’t use much of strength training – if not at all – widened the gap between France and Eastern Europe or USA on strength consideration.
Now, you mention Cometti. He was one whose writings were popular in universities and well known by coaches for that he provided translations and vulgarization of research in the field of strength training theory (concentric, static, eccentric, etc). Moreover he proposed training programs for strength development, which were in extenso integrated by a few French sprint groups into their training plan. This reductionist approach, which doesn’t take in account the interplays and conflicts between the various training means, leads to overload syndromes in sprinters resulting in high rate of injuries. The other problem lies in the erroneous analyze of the sprinting activity. For the proponents of this method, the equation of sprint training can be sump up this way: more strength training = stronger athletes = faster athletes. If force production is the key cause of locomotor speed, from a biomechanical point of view, its link with muscle strength (as developed in the weight room) is complex. kinematic and dynamic analyses show that for the best sprinters running at top speed, the flight time exceeds 60 % of the step cycle and that during the reduced contact time, higher ground forces are generated. I analyze this paradoxal muscular activity during sprinting as a cyclic alternation of noise and silence, composing a unique rhythm, a unique music. Inter-individual and intra-individual comparisons using tensiomyometer show that the fastest sprint performances are achieved with faster rate of more intense muscle contractions as well as muscle relaxations. Also, injury rate is correlated with a lesser quality and quantity of relaxation. Excessive training loads in the weight room, especially during the eccentric cycle promoted by Cometti, result in tightness and soreness in the muscular system. While these effects are described by the author, they are ignored by the coaches who still ask the sprinters produce high intensity sprint performances at training while the muscle tone status is not appropriate. Muscle tone really is the condition for fast sprinting performance and guarantees physical integrity. All the training activities should be organized around this consideration. (Note: see
Dan’s interview for other insights)
It promotes the theory that sprinters need to learn how to relax, more than to learn how to contract. On that matter, scientific research backs up the coaching cues you can read on manuals published in USA one century ago!
Photo Credits: Gustau Nacarino, Reuters
Q3 – SpeedEndurance.com: Christophe Lemaitre is a BIG name in France. Could you share his development not being typical of the average elite? The JB Morin study of Christophe is touted as a landmark study while others cite Milan Coh has better data. What are your feelings about the development of Lemaitre and and the research of elites in general?
PJ Vazel: I’m not coaching Christophe but I’ve been observing his development for years. An interesting feature is that he is a pure sprint specialist. At age 16, during the same meet, he ran 10.77 at 100m but only long jumped 5,51 m and high jump 1,62 m. For a fast and tall guy, such performance discrepancies in power-speed events leave you wonder about how complex is the notion of talent and its detection. The most remarkable in this guy is that no matter the level of the competition, he manages to keep his composure and respect his own race musical partition.
