Coach's cardio...

Hi

I'v read, and re-read the (fantastic) book by Coach Sommer, and he says that when he `retired` from gymnastic conditioning, and started going to the gym and doing weights etc, like every one else- that he ran 20 miles on the spur of the moment, with it seems, no prior cardio/ running training and did a 5:37 mile.

These times would impress me for someone who had been running for years- let alone someone who it seems, never really did much in the way of cardio vascular conditioning!

Does anyone know if this running/ cardio ability was gained from just gymnastic training (it occurs to me that in floor routines etc, there must be a cardio element), and if so, can I expect some improvements in my running ability, from Gymnastic Strength Training™

(I'm awful at cardio stuff at the moment, I went for a 3 mile run a while ago... I have never seen my pulse so high, it's usually at 63 ish... was above 120, which is normally very hard to do for me, and it took me over 25 minutes, and I even had to walk some of the way...)

Thanks

No, I would not expect any improvements in your running. Coach was probably doing 3-4 hour sessions per day with lots of tumbling. That's my guess.

You especially should not expect any improvement if you already have a good amount of cardiovascular conditioning.

If you look on the board, Coach wrote a bit about it. I forgot what section though. But basically he explained how the dynamic work made him run really efficiently he didn't realize he was sprinting. I am sure his cardio was great too but it was also due to how powerful he was. (Gymnastics before used to be done on wrestling mats and not sprung floors like now which makes a huge different.)

I have gotten some run improvements from the dynamic leg days I believe. I seem to almost push off each step a lot easier. You may experience the same!