SECOND HAND INFORMATION: CHARLIE FRANCIS

Charlie Francis died on May 12, 2010, at the young age of 61. I turn 61 in February. I knew nothing of Charlie Francis with the exception of the Ben Johnson steroid scandal of 1988. Ben Johnson was stripped of his gold medal in the 100m (9.79) and his coach, Charlie Francis, was banned by Canada Athletics following his admission in 1989 that he had introduced Ben Johnson to steroids.

Sometimes I forget how old I am. The 1988 Olympics in Seoul seems like yesterday to me. I was 29 with a laser-like focus on basketball (head coach Harrisburg HS). As assistant track coach at a school that got shut out in the Sectional, I thought about track less than an hour a day in the spring. I spent much more time reading books about Bobby Knight, Jim Valvano, Gene Keady, and Rick Pitino. In 1988, I had only two kids, Adrienne (4) and Alec (2). Chris Korfist was a teenager in 1988. If you are too young to recall the Ben Johnson story, “30 for 30” *9.79.

Two things led me to read Speed Trap six years ago. First of all, people kept telling me that things I say reminded them of Charlie (we all want validation, right?). Second, when you ask someone in the S&C field to name a sprint coach, seems that 99% of them will name Charlie Francis first. Many of them can’t name a second speed coach. My theory is this… Ben Johnson was JACKED… one of the strongest looking sprinters of all time. If strength is your business, who’s your favorite sprinter? Ben Johnson! Who was his coach? Charlie Francis! I needed to know more about this Charlie Francis guy.

The following was not written by Charlie Francis. This is a summary of notes taken at a clinic many years ago in Australia. I would give the note-taker credit but he didn’t put his name on this online document. I will gladly give credit if someone sends me the name of the author. The statements directly from the document will be in bold, my comments in regular text. I repeat, this is not a verbatim transcript of a Charlie Francis presentation.

I don’t know the date of these notes, but I know that Charlie Francis did a clinic in Australia back in 2005.

Here goes.

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The best way I can relate my understanding of the CNS is that it is like a cup. You never want it to overflow! This means you should always play it safe. You are better to slightly under train than over train. Less is more (almost always).

This is a pillar of my “Feed the Cats”. As my good friend Keir Wenham-Flatt once said, “Never burn the steak.”

Never have back to back high CNS days.

Same here. If you sprint three days in one week, best to do it Monday, Wednesday, Friday. IMO, the most you should sprint is four days in one week, every other day.

Flexibility is imperative. You simply can not achieve the necessary positions without it. Incorporate stretching as part of your warm up. A shortfall in flexibility should be addressed with stretching after a session however you have to do what is necessary. 

This has not been a part of my coaching for many years. In the early nineties, I had my team stretch after workouts (never before workouts). It’s been at least 15 years since I’ve encouraged stretching. Stretched rubber bands don’t shoot as far. In the modern world, static stretching is NOT practiced by any sprint coaches who, in my opinion, know what they are talking about.

Athletes should never be sore from training. In contact sports they will obviously get aches and pains but it should not be not from conditioning work.

Love this! Totally consistent with “don’t burn the steak”. This is blows people’s minds. Every coach was tortured as an athlete. Soreness was daily. I once heard a professional athlete say that he “was never pain-free”. Let’s just say, you don’t see posters saying, “NEVER LET TODAY RUIN TOMORROW” in locker rooms or weight rooms.

If you use coffee don’t add sugar or artificial sweeteners. Ben (and most West Indian’s) were not big coffee drinkers so he got a real boost from a cup.

As a sprint coach, I believe coffee is huge. If the CNS is the key to sprinting, let’s sprint when we are alert! I’m a “Bulletproof” guy… coffee with ghee (butter) and Bulletproof High Octane Brain MCT Oil. I don’t push this on my athletes but if I could redo my athletic career, I would definitely be bulletproof! (My recollection of my days as an athlete… I was always tired.)

You should increase the efficiency of directional changes by sprinting in a straight line and playing the sport, e.g. tennis. Zig zag type drills are detrimental to performance due to stretching of the ankle region.

Interesting. I never liked agility drills. Love multi-sport athletes.

The focus for most sports should be on increasing speed reserve.

Amen! Charlie was way ahead of his time!

SPEED RESERVE IS A ONE WAY STREET. Absolute speed affects speed endurance directly, but speed endurance does NOT affect speed directly.

Yes. When you raise the ceiling, you raise the floor. My good friend, Latif Thomas, told me back in 2012, “Increasing your max-speed increases your sub-max speed.” Too many track teams *run* every day but never *sprint*.

Weights always follow track running never the other way round. That way you can adjust the weight volume (or even drop it) to manage the CNS. Sprinting moves weights up not vice versa.

I’m 100% on board here. I assume the statement, “Sprinting moves weights, up not vice versa,” can be translated to sprinting improves a weight workout, lifting does not improve a sprint workout. If yes, I agree 100%.

The higher the level of the athlete the less need to change the weight program. Don’t be afraid to keep it simple. Some weight sessions were only 20 minutes long. Weight training is general not specific.

Quality over quantity. Do less, achieve more. Champions are NOT born in the weight room. The weight room is a tool to create athleticism, not speed. Athleticism to me… the traits and skills that make an athlete good at their sport. Size and strength are good traits.

If you do weights immediately after sprinting there is less need to warm up.

Yes! Yes! Yes! Sprinting is a terrific warmup for the weight room. It’s also a terrific warmup for football practice, basketball practice, etc. Get that CNS revved up! Warm ups are not about getting “warm”.

No plyos for basketball players as they are already getting a high volume via practices and games.

I absolutely love basketball players. Basketball players are plyometric professionals.

When sprinting you should only ever be thinking about up and down, not pulling or pushing.

Vertical force is the holy grail. Well said.

Charlie’s squad had the best starts in the country and didn’t own blocks. All work was done via drills and med ball work. Drills and med ball work avoid paralysis by analysis in blocks.

Agreed. My guys work on starts and accelerations every day, but rarely in blocks (maybe once per week in-season only). Work on starts, not blocks.

Testing in sports… On the first day of the seminar there was a newspaper article about how 3 players on the Australia’s Rugby Union team were sent home for not passing an endurance based test on the first day of training after the off-season. Charlie brought up several points and highlighted a test which he said would be very effective for identifying the best athletes in strength and power sports. “Have all of your athletes run a mile – the ones who come last will be your best, most powerful athletes”

Ok, I might really share some DNA with Charlie Francis. I love this. I should have used it my controversial article, Stop Doing Mindless Conditioning.

Train fast or slow, NOTHING in between. Charlie’s athletes train greater than 90% max speed/intensity 35% of the time and less than 75% max speed/intensity 65% of the time. They never train in the 75-90% zone. Medium intensity training interferes with and distracts from high intensity training. The work at less than 75% intensity/speed is “chicken soup work”. Tempo runs (and some pool work) are ideal but as long as it’s not stupid it doesn’t matter too much.

I agree but also diverge from this. We max speed train three days a week, but the other days are NOT tempo. WE DON’T DO TEMPO. Instead we do X-Factor work as our “chicken soup work”. (X-Factor is low dose, alactic, plyos, strength, mobility, etc).

My disagreement with Charlie is this… if medium intensity training interferes with high intensity training, WHY WOULD YOU EMBRACE LOW INTENSITY TRAINING? ***CATS DON’T JOG***

One more thing, coaches of the ball sports (football, rugby, basketball, etc), in my opinion, WANT to practice with INTENSITY. Encouraging speed is a daily priority. However, due to incomplete rest and high volumes, every damn practice ends up being in the dreaded “medium intensity training” zone. No matter how much yelling and screaming for intensity, tired athletes will only give you high effort, not high speed. To some coaches, high effort is high intensity. They are wrong. Too Many Priorities.

Kids can/should start weights at about 16 years of age. It’s not compulsory by any means though. Med ball throws will go a long way to getting the job done. In fact Charlie’s athletes didn’t use weights until much later as they simply did not have access and made do with med balls.

Everyone sees Ben Johnson and thinks, I need to get my 10-year-old into the weight room. It’s sad that this over-rides what should be done… SPRINT.

Positive reinforcement is massive… do NOT put an athlete in a race they will do poorly in. Pick your events and opponents carefully to ensure a good experience.

Track coaches, let your kids win a slow heat. WINNING is huge. Time kids in practice to allow them to see progress. RECORD-RANK-PUBLISH

The best sprinters have a dopamine-induced reckless confidence. This is not the result of poor performance. Dopamine comes from sunshine, sleep, and winning. (Dopamine also allows for faster limb movement!)

Ben Johnson would train alone for speed sessions because if others trained with him they either became demoralized or injured.

Yep. That’s why we time guys in practice solo. NO ONE EVER LOSES.

The percentage of high intensity work must decrease with time (rather than just volume). Young athletes are incapable of overloading their CNS because they can’t reach high output levels. A much greater percentage of work as a youngster can be high intensity in nature without burning out.

Brilliant. Alec Holler addressed this in The Forgotten Ingredient of Feed the Cats.

The more you think, the slower you act. The forebrain (cerebrum) is slow and involves thinking. The hind brain is fast and involves natural movement and reactions. Stop thinking!

Attention football coaches. Complexity slows your team down. The fastest football teams play instinctually. This is why I DON’T cue my kids at track meets. I don’t want them thinking. I want them sprinting with their “lizard brain”.

I use the slide above in my football presentations.

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As I said before, we can not be 100% certain of what Charlie Francis said in Australia. However, based on the quality of the notes published online, I think we can be reasonably sure of their authenticity.

I found this project to be fun and I hope that others will benefit. If you liked this, share it. If you really like it, maybe there will be a part-two.

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By Tony Holler
@pntrack
tony.holler@yahoo.com
630-849-8294

UPCOMING EVENTS

Coach Holler will be speaking at all of the following.

TFC-Chicago, Dec 6-7, Elmhurst College… featured speakers: Vince Anderson (sprint guru) and Brian Kula (track coach and trainer of Christian McCaffrey)

Feed The Cats Seminar (first of its kind!), Wichita, KS Dec 13-14 (11 presentations, early bird only $100, staff rates available). Seven sessions will appeal to football coaches. Presenters: Tony Holler, Alec Holler, and Quinn Holler

Georgia GATFXCCA Coaches Clinic Jan 10-11, Atlanta, GA

Central Illinois Track Clinic Jan 17-18, Unity High School, Tolono, IL (only $50 pre-registered!) Special event… Coach Holler and distance coach, Andy Derks will co-present, “Cats vs Dogs”.

Minnesota Track Clinic January 24, Minneapolis, MN

TFC-Dallas January 25-26 (Amazing Line-Up!), Jesuit Prep, Dallas, TX… featured speakers: Vince Anderson (sprint guru) and Brian Kula (track coach and trainer of Christian McCaffrey), Steve Jones (112-7 at Kimberly HS, WI)

TFC-St. Louis February 7-8 (Maybe best-ever TFC lineup!) Festus H.S., Festus, MO… featured speakers: Kevin Kelley (200-29 at Pulaski Academy of Little Rock, team averaging 57.4 ppg, doesn’t punt) and Kurt Hester (author of Rants of a Strength and Conditioning Madman)

TFC-Chicago June 2020 (date TBA)