On Tuesday I told you about my favorite program for putting
on muscle mass.

Truth be told, people have been ordering like crazy. Now, I
wouldn’t tell you to order this program because you’re
going to get jacked. That’s up to you.

But, if you missed my email, I want to give you another
chance to get your own copy *and* get the 3 great bonuses
only being offered until midnight Eastern today, August
13.

Here is what I sent you on Tuesday:

Understanding how to design strength training programs for
athletes is important.

But sometimes you (or your athletes) just want to lift for
size and appearance. If you compete in sports like American
football or rugby, you actually need to put on some size.

Trust me I get it. I’ve been there.

There is no shortage of resources on the market that advertise
significant gains in muscle size and strength. Some of us have
a hard time gaining muscle, so we don’t want to waste our time
with junk workouts. So what program should you follow if that’s
your goal?

I’ve experimented with a few in my day. And the one that I
go back to time and again when I’m looking to quickly add
muscle mass and size is Jason Feruggia’s Muscle Gaining Secrets.

==> http://www.musclegainingsecret.com

From now until midnight EST tomorrow (Thursday August 13) Jason
has added 3 killer bonuses to an already loaded program:

The first is Renegade Cardio. This is for everyone who wants
to get as ripped as possible while maintaining ALL of their
size and strength. This is not your traditional
sit-on-the-bike-and-watch-Oprah-nonsense.
 
The second is the Advanced Mass Building Guide. Jason took
some guys who have trained with him for years and tried
something really off the wall. These were guys who had
already built up quite a bit of size and strength.
Theoretically the days of gaining 30 pounds in just a few
months were behind them. But each of them made some of
the best gains of their lives. One guy even gained 21
pounds of muscle in six weeks! And he’s been training for
almost 20 years!
 
==> http://www.musclegainingsecret.com

The third and final program Jason created is Armed &
Dangerous: How to Add 2 Inches to Your Arms in 8 Weeks.
One of his long time clients has always had arms that were
disproportionately smaller than the rest of his body and
he needed to take desperate measures to change it. He has
also been training for over a decade so Jason knew it
wouldn’t be easy. He recruited two training partners
to go through the program Jason created for him and at the
end of 8 weeks all three of them had actually added an
average of two inches to their guns! I was blown away when
Jason told me that story and knew I had to share this
program with the rest of you.

You can claim the 3 f.ree programs with your Muscle Gaining
Secrets order.

But only until midnight Eastern on August 13th.

==> http://www.musclegainingsecret.com

To your success,

Latif Thomas

NOTE:

Since I first posted this article, the
response section has taken on a mind of it’s
own. I don’t want to put any ideas in your
head before you’ve made up your own mind,
but some have taken offense to the posting
of a person calling himself ‘Vincent’ which
starts in the ‘Leave a reply’ section with
response #7.

I think you will find it (and all the responses)
to be quite entertaining.

—————————

Surprisingly, I get asked this question more often
by high school kids than by their coaches. That says
a lot about the state of coaching at the high school
level.

But I digress…

First, let’s define ’sprinters’. I call a sprinter any
athlete whose primary event is 55 meters to 400 meters.
Yes, the following article includes your 400 meter
runners.

So should sprinters run cross country? No. And yes.

It’s pretty simple.

Sprinters should NOT run traditional cross country.

A sprinter running 40 - 80 miles per week with the
kids who run the mile and 2 mile the rest of the year
is a terrible, terrible idea.

Did I mention it was a bad idea?

I’d rather have my sprinters sit on the couch all
fall eating bon bons and buckets of mayonnaise than
have them run all that counter productive mileage.

I’m not saying they shouldn’t play a sport during the
fall. Play soccer. Play football, field hockey, whatever
they want.

That, of course, is far better than nothing. (If the
coach of that sport has the knowledge to provide a safe
and effective training environment.)

But some kids don’t play a fall sport. Others *want*
to train for winter and spring. If the means exist,
the opportunity should be available.

Funneling kids into a sport they don’t want to play
is silly. Preventing a kid from ’specializing’ sounded
good in the past. But it’s an outdated concept.

Think about it. Even in your standard cross country
program, not every athlete is going to be doing the
same program. You’re not going to have your top 600
or 800 runner doing the same mileage as your best
2 miler.

You’re not going to have a freshman 2 miler running
the same mileage and workouts as your top senior
2 milers. There is going to be a scale based on
experience, talent and primary event group outside
of the fall season.

I’m simply arguing that if you have sprinters who
choose to focus on track and have no fall sport or
want to change sports, your best option is to provide
a modified program for them.

It’s not a revolutionary or controversial subject.
It’s what the best programs and coaches are already
doing. And have been, for quite some time.

As coaches our job is simply to put our athletes in
a position to succeed and not screw it up for them.

That’s why I’m a proponent of MODIFIED cross country
for your sprint types.

Modified cross country is where you allow your sprinters
to join the cross country team. They follow all the
rules of the team and even compete in the races if
those are the rules of the team, school or league.

But they don’t train for cross country.

They use it as a formal General and early Special
Prep period to get them ready for winter and spring
track.

It’s basically running a college program for high
school kids.

So the training will be general. And some sprinters,
depending on primary event group, may bump up to to
run a few traditional cross country workouts.

But for the most part they train on their own, running
workouts appropriate to their event groups, improving
hurdle and jump technique, etc.

Powerhouse programs often incorporate modified programs.
The last school I coached at condoned such a program
and we turned out dominant 200, 300 and 400 runners,
4×4 teams, etc.

One of my coaching mentors used modified cross country
as part of the system that led to 4 All State Championship
Team Titles in a row…out of the smallest division in
the state.

That’s how beneficial a properly structured modified
cross country program can be for your sprinters/jumpers.

Let me put it like this:

If a good team in your league runs a modified program
and you don’t, your team will never win again. Case
closed, cancel Christmas. Your sprinters (and team)
are running for second place. And, as the coach, you
can’t look your kids in the eye and, with a straight face,
say you’re trying to build a team that wants to win
anything important.

Modified cross country gives your hardcore kids (what
I call ‘10 percenters’) a chance to train like real
track athletes, go after the school records, state
titles and scholarships they covet.

I’m a huge proponent of the fall program for sprinters.

So should sprinters run cross country? Absolutely.
If it’s modified cross country. And only if it’s
modified cross country.

Otherwise, get them a tub of mayo and tell them you’ll
see them in December.

To your success,

Latif Thomas USATF II (Sprints, Hurdles, Relays)

P.S. Want to run a modified cross country program or
fall training program for your sprinters? Want to get
’sprints only’ articles, videos, Q&A and other info?

Check this out.
 

The cross country season is just around the corner.

You’ve probably been sending your athletes their
summer workouts and plotting out your progressions
for the upcoming season.

Good! Because the most successful coaches and
programs are doing the same thing.

But my question for you is this:

Because that’s not going to work. Not in today’s
sports environment.

Last year I had my most successful track and field
coaching season of all time. And I’m planning to
make some major changes to my system this year just
so I don’t fall behind the competition.

If I’m updating my program, you can be sure the
competition is too. Especially at the higher levels.

So if you want to ensure your cross country athletes
take their performances to the next level, this
is the resource I highly recommend.

Simple. Straightforward. Cutting edge.

All the things you need to run a competitive 21st
Century program.

And Complete Track and Field Conditioning for the
Endurance Events is the answer to your questions.

To your success,

Latif Thomas

P.S. I’ve been getting a lot of questions about
whether sprinters should run cross country. And
I’ve got a surprising answer I’ll be sharing with
you on Monday. So keep an eye out for my email.

But for now, take a serious look at: