> Q: What do you feel are the areas that perhaps the general population who may partake in athletics recreationally could address most easily and get some instant benefits in their training?

> A: The average person who takes part in athletics recreationally will be in school, university/college, or full time work. It is therefore safe to say that these recreational athletes will be spending many hours sitting at a desk and/or computer. This usually results in: tight hip flexors, weak glutes and poor mobility in the thoracic spine (upper back). Addressing these areas will definitely improve performance. They may not achieve instant benefits though, since these imbalances have taken time to develop and so will take time to correct.

In terms of achieving instant benefits I would look at optimising the warm up. Most people simply think that they should feel warm in order for a warm up to be effective. This is not true since there are many more factors to consider than just raising core temperature. In particular the neuromuscular system must be fully activated in order to perform optimally in a high intensity training session. Rather than just jogging until they feel warm, one aspect that should be included in a sprinter's warm up is short runs of progressively increasing speed.

> Q: Can you briefly outline how a typical weights session and a typical technical session look like with you Tim?

> A: Obviously the precise details would vary depending on a number of different factors. One of the biggest factors would be the goal the athlete is working towards. Sticking with the theme of running speed, the different types of speed that can be trained include: starting speed, acceleration, maximum speed, and multi-directional speed (agility). Each of these have different requirements.

There are, however, certain characteristics that must be adressed with all of these. They all require high levels of force to be produced during a short ground contact phase with one leg at a time. An example of an exercise that would be beneficial for all of these types of speed is the split clean. This is because the Olympic Lifts are very good for improving force production capabilities within the short time frames required for sprinting,and receiving the bar in the split position is conducive to developing the unilateral strength that is required.

In terms of factors such as the number of repetitions, sets, and exercises in a session, my philosophy is the same both in the weight room and with technical sessions on the track. You will not see me or my athletes performing vast numbers of different running drills. Instead, I prefer to focus on just a few of the most relevant exercises. Similarly, in the weights room a typical strength training session might have around five different key exercises. There may be additional low level corrective exercises as well, but the number of heavy strength exercises will be kept to a minimum. This allows a greater number of sets to be performed on the exercises that provide the greatest 'bang for your buck'.

> Q: Do you use any 'specific' exercises in the gym to improve your speed?

> A: I am always careful when talking about 'specific' exercises, as it tends to conjure up the image of trying to replicate sporting movements in the weight room. For example, I would be wary of performing the sprinting arm movement whilst holding dumbells or performing a leg drive with ankle weights (unfortunately, both are commonly seen activities amongst track & field athletes). These types of exercise tend to mimic the sporting movement too closely and so the added resistance tends to confuse the nervous system. This can result in altered recruitment patterns to the detriment of sprinting performance.

However, as I have already alluded to, the olympic lifts do feature heavily in my programming for speed. The standard lifts of the Clean & Jerk and the Snatch transfer into improved sprinting performance very well. In addition, the lifts are very adaptable. For, example, instead of starting from the ground they can be performed from the hang position in order to emphasise hip extension.

> Q: What are the best resources for learning about speed development out there at the moment?

> A: In terms of the best place to pick up  new tips and techniques on a daily basis I would have to point people towards my site www.sprintstrong.com.

There are also a number of great products on speed development out there at the moment at various price points. Some of these include: 'Complete Speed Training' by Latif Thomas and Patrick Beith; 'Running' by Frans Bosch and Ronald Klomp; and various products by Canadian sprint coach Charlie Francis.