Peaking the Back Squat in Track and Field

By: Cal Dietz and Matt Van Dyke

As a coach in track and field, it is essential to know the proper times to
peak your athletes in their different abilities; this includes certain abilities
developed through proper strength training in the weight room, such as
maximal strength. Gains in maximal strength lay the foundation of
performance that will increase an athletes power output and rate of force
development, which are crucial to improving all of their running and jumping
abilities. As a runner approaches maximal velocity, ground contact time
decreases substantially. With this concept in mind, a runner must be able to
apply the same force into the ground during a much shorter ground contact
time if they wish to maintain their velocity. There are many methods of
improving power output and rate of force development, but one of the
foundational approaches to increasing these potential abilities in sport
performance is making gains in maximal strength, or 1RM, particularly in the
back squat.
An athlete must increase their strength levels before they have the
ability to increase their power outputs. Improving the maximal strength of
an athlete in any movement allows for greater force to be produced across
the entire force-velocity curve for that movement. This knowledge can
become especially important for improving ground reaction force in running
by utilizing the back squat. An increase in the 1RM of the back squat allows
a runner to produce more force through the ground, even as the ground
contact time becomes significantly lower at high velocities.
The utilization of the modified undulated triphasic training not only improves
the function of the stretch-shortening cycle, but also increases maximal
strength. This program lays the foundation for increased power output and
rate of force development. Based on the competition date there is a proper
time to peak maximum strength of the back squat within triphasic training.
This proper time occurs within the concentric phase of training. The
concentric training is the final phase of the triphasic model, meaning it
occurs after the stretch-shortening cycle has been improved due to the
eccentric and isometric training phases. The improvement in the stretch-
shortening cycle allows the maximal amount of weight to be lifted through
the dynamic motion of the back squat. This increased ability is the reason
that the final week of the concentric phase is the optimal time to peak the
back squat in triphasic training.
With the increased residual effect of maximal strength, the maximum
strength of the back squat can be peaked, and maintained, at this time
leaving enough training time to utilize the 55-80 and below 55 phases
properly before the competition event. The residual effect of training is the
length of time that an ability, such as maximum strength, can remain
adapted before decreasing back to its pre-trained levels. Maximum strength
levels have a residual effect of 30+5 days. This allows more than enough
time to add more track specific training to lifting sessions such as improving
power output and rate of force development in your athletes. These
adaptations are necessary for success and can be further peaked through
the use of the sport-specific back squat, and high velocity training
The sport-specific back squat is executed with the feet directly under the
hips. This causes the squat to be much more sport-specific as the force is
transferred into the ground directly beneath the hips, the same way force is
transferred in running. Your athletes strength levels will determine when the
transition to a sport-specific back squat should be made since there comes a
time as athletes become more advanced that sport-specific speed strength is
more important to absolute strength. For this reason, your advanced
athletes should utilize this more specific squat through the entire duration of
training. For less advanced athletes, you have two options when applying
the sport-specific back squat. First, you can treat these athletes just like well
advanced athletes and allow them to peak using the sport-specific back
squat through the entire phase. A second option for less advanced athletes
is to make the transition a few weeks before competition in order to increase
specificity. This will allow greater increases in strength because a normal
back squat is used during the majority of training.
By increasing the strength of your athletes and improving their stretch-
shortening cycle used in the back squat, they are given a greater ability to
produce power and force quickly into the ground, especially during the
acceleration and transition to top speed phases. Once maximum strength
has been trained and the competition approaches, it is necessary to peak
power outputs using the idea of high force at high velocity. This can be done
using either a normal back squat, or the sport-specific squat, depending on
the needs of your athletes as previously discussed. Power is determined by
multiplying force and velocity together, so the faster the bar in the back
squat is moved, the higher the power output of your athlete. It has been
shown that when loads below 55% of 1RM are used, the resistance is too
low to generate high power outputs, while loads above 80% of 1RM decrease
the velocity of the bar, thus lowering power outputs for athletes. Keep in
mind there is a difference in power outputs and high loads between most
athletes and elite power or Olympic lifters. Power and Olympic lifters have
the ability to produce power at heavier loads than athletes, but this skill
alone does not make them elite track athletes. With these important findings
in mind, the 55-80 block was created and is used to maximize power with
high force and high velocity. The loads between 30%-50% are used to
improve the velocity of the contraction while higher loads near 80% are used
to recruit high threshold motor units that allow high power outputs. High-
quality neural work is of vital importance in this stage as well. If the
repetitions are set too high your athletes will be training work capacity due
to neural fatigued factors, rather than peaking power output. It is important
to note that power outputs begin to drop after the third repetition in a set.
Biometric training can also be applied in this block to ensure all athletes are
receiving the necessary stress to see adaptations, while guaranteeing none
of them become over-trained.
After maximum strength and power outputs have been optimized and
competition approaches, it is important that your athletes learn how to use
their new increases in power. This is done by continually adding specificity to
exercises in your strength and conditioning program, which will increase
transferability of training to their specific event. When a specific exercise,
such as the back squat, is progressed through an entire cycle, the training
transfer to sport is much higher. The below 55 block uses high velocity
peaking and trains your athletes at speeds just below, just above, and at the
exact speeds used in track and field.
With these processes in mind, the squat jump can replace the back
squat for continued sport-specific peaking. The squat jump has an increased
transfer of training due to its specificity to track events since it uses a similar
range of motion to the squat while implementing the power output and rate
of force development necessary for maximal velocity sprinting. It should be
noted that the range of motion of the squat jump should be modified to
replicate the specific event for each of your athletes. The below 55 block is
necessary for peaking, particularly for advanced athletes, who no longer see
improvements in their event when increasing maximal strength due to
minimal ground contact time.
The antagonistically facilitated specialized method of training (AFSM)
also can be utilized in this high velocity peaking phase. The AFSM is used to
train the antagonist muscle to relax more rapidly, allowing faster
contraction. Once again maximal strength and power output levels make this
high velocity, high transfer of training possible, so the first two phases using
the barbell back squat set up this process.
The peaking of the back squat from maximal strength to sport-specific
training is vital for increasing power output and rate of force development,
which are absolutely necessary in maximum velocity running and jumping.
Peaking maximal strength lays the foundation for power output and rate of
force development to be further enhanced when using the sport-specific
back squat, the 55-80 block, and below 55 block. The sport-specific back
squat can be applied to further increase the applicability of the back squat to
athletics. This increased specificity allows for greater force application just
beneath the hips, which will further improve performance resulting from the
peaking of the back squat. The 55-80 block continues to enhance power
outputs using high force at a high velocities, while the below 55 block allows
for high velocity peaking and continued improvement of rate of force
development, which is the most crucial factor in track events due to ground
contact time decreasing, as maximal velocity increases.