I realize all three of those are different sports with different constrains
I’m curious what does say squat programming for sprinters in particular look like. Are they doing heavy 5x5s (I think this counts as large volume weightxfrequency)? Explosive movements at low weights?
I think of boxing and most swimming strokes as endurance (ie freestyle 1500m) but how about something like training for a knockout or butterfly/backstroke 500m/200m respectively.
Keeping it to compound movements, what should a program in each of these situations look like?
Not only are those very different sports, athletes and strategies within those sports differ greatly.
With all three, however, you can think of a general model of moving from less specificity and greater general volumes to more specific exercises, intensities, and volumes.
So, you may have a sprinter in the fall (i.e. their offseason) working on heavier, slower squats, transitioning to more specific exercises and training during the winter indoor competitive season; as an example.
it should go without saying that volume, intensity, and execution would vary greatly from athlete to athlete.
With all three, through the yearly training, a coach may include squats on a weekly basis to limit the delayed onset muscle soreness that would come if you took too long between repeating exercises. But, the volume and intensity would probably be far less than someone in a barbell sport might think is ‘enough’.
the rule of thumb is do only do as much general training as you need and no more; so you have more resources to spend on specific training.
Younger developmental athletes should spend a greater % of their time in general training than peak athletes.
There’s no one answer but there are literally millions of easily google-able examples.
Thank you this is not clear to someone without a background in some of these sports. It makes sense though. You can’t really max 5RM one day to go and sprint track the next day. Although I remember on theraceclub or in a Phelps training video, he did have a good 70% RM one some days where’d the Olympict eam would then have an afternoon swimming session
there’s a principle of consolidating stressors that most modern coaches adhere to. Put simply, it’s separating the intense and specific work from the low intensity general work - so the high intensity, specific work can be of the highest quality, and that the general work doesn’t interfere with it. so you could easily see how a sprinter’s season could go from:
Off season - 3 general workouts a week + 2 specific workouts a week
Pre season - 3 specific workouts a week + 2 general workouts a week
Competitive Season - 4 specific workouts a week + 1 general workout a week.
With Boxing or other combat sports, the same principle applies. If you have a fight coming up, most of your training time will be mitt/pad work and sparring. If you don’t, it’s going to be more road work and shadowboxing and the bags.
Swimming is a special case because the activity itself is so different from most other human activities. You kind of need a lot of practice with the specific strokes you’re competing in, but the general principle would still apply. You wouldn’t be doing a ton of technical drills or heavy weights in the competitive season, you’d be focused on race modeling.