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Sport Specific Workouts: Cross-Country Running – Weeks 7-12

The purpose of this program is to increase explosive strength as well as absolute strength while maintaining endurance and without overtraining the athlete.

Terrance Gant

Written by Terrance Gant Last updated on December 2, 2014

EDITOR’S NOTE: Terrance Gant is the assistant varsity football coach and defensive coordinator at Tempe high school in Tempe, Arizona. He also doubles as the head strength and conditioning coach for some of the sports programs.

Explosive and Absolute Strength for Cross Country Runners

While it may be obvious that distance runners need exceptional endurance, there are other skills and physical characteristics that are required to raise an athlete from “finisher” to “winner.”

Cross country running takes place over varied surfaces under a variety of conditions during the autumn and winter, making stability a key attribute. Research has shown that strength is also of great importance to endurance runners. Finally, the ability to produce copious amounts of power on demand (explosive strength) helps when sprinting is required.

This twelve-week program is designed to foster these attributes while maintaining a high level of safety for the trainee, and is appropriate for high-school and older athletes.

Getting Started – Determine Your One-Rep Max (1RM)

Begin by determining your one-rep max. There are different ways to do this, but one of the safest is by calculation. Follow this link, perform the exercises listed in the program, and plug in the load and reps to determine your 1RM for the program. The link provided also calculates all the percentages you’ll need for this program.

Be sure to record your 1RM for all exercises so you can compare later in the program. If you aren’t progressing, you’ll want to know.

Loading Scheme for Weeks 7-12

Week 7 weights are based off 80% of 1RM
Week 8 weights are based off 65% of 1RM
Week 9 weights are based off 70% of 1RM
Week 10 weights are based off 55% of 1RM
Week 11 weights are based off 80% of 1RM

The Training Program

Notes:

1. Glute-ham raises are one set to exhaustion. Lunges are one set to exhaustion per leg.

2. If you miss any reps during week eleven, your weight doesn’t progress no matter what you lift during test week.

3. There is no linear progression during sets. All sets use the same load for each workout.

Terrance Gant

About Terrance Gant

Terrance Gant is the assistant varsity football coach and defensive coordinator at Tempe high school in Tempe, Arizona. He also doubles as the Head Strength and Conditioning coach for some of the sports programs. Terrance got his start in the sports performance community when as an active duty Marine he started CrossFit training. While becoming ingrained in CrossFit and its methodology and training he decided to get certified. Terrance is CrossFit Level II certified and also carries specialty certifications in Olympic weightlifting, running and endurance, gymnastics, barbell, and kettlebell training.

Upon release from active duty in 2010, Terrance was looking for working in the field of his first love, football. While looking for a coaching position he was asked by a former high school teammate to run strength and conditioning camp for his team. After seeing the results, the school asked him to come on staff as the strength coach. The next season Terrance was hired as the defensive coordinator for the varsity football staff.

Terrance is in charge of the training and conditioning of the football, basketball, volleyball, and wrestling programs, as well as his coaching duties. In his spare time he attends seminars, clinics, and reads recent studies on sports performance training.

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