Introduction to Feed the Cats | Sprint Training

This video is a full presentation I did for the Texas H.S. Coaches Association in May of 2020. My target audience... coaches who had never heard of "Feed the Cats". It gives an introduction to my philosophy as a coach and gives insight into how I've sustained success during my career. If you're interested in learning more, there is full certification program with more details around workouts, mechanics, meet preparation and more.

The link to the first full course can be found here:

Thanks for watching, and I'll see you on the next one!

[KatrinaDancer]

Dang! I wish you'd been my coach! I was blessed with quick twitch muscles and was faster than the boys in my class. Coaches always wanted to make us sprinters run miles. I grew to hate track. They trained the speed right out of me.

[brendanmcgoldrick]

Coach- thank you so much for this! As a distance guy forced into coaching sprints for the first time in 10 years I'm really loving this content and looking forward to putting this system into place for my school.

[john_coleman]

Thank you! I respect you so much man. For a long time I have been preaching that less is more and people look at me like Im crazy. Last week I took your course on CoachTube and I was so happy to find a guy with tremendous results having the same train of thought. Thanks again man! You’re a legend!

[bigd]

I am a new coach and former sprinter that was grinded into dust at practice and I fully embrace FTC. The kids love it but many of the parents doubt it. COVID hasn't allowed for competition proof but the electronic times we record and publish support your training philosophy. Can't wait to show off FTC in a meet. Thank you!

[MCordell]

Coach Holler is the Hal Mumme of track and field - a true innovator and forward thinker - coach Mumme did more to modernize football than anyone and yet in his time, his approach was mocked and dismissed. Now everyone is running mesh and Y Cross and seams. Same thing here for track - history will validate your methods Coach Holler

[tcsaheadcoach]

Coach this is exactly what I have been saying about coaching. Thank you for adding to my coaching tool box..

[anthonyherbert]

Appreciate the share coach! As a new assistant trying to help get my alma mater off the ground, this is real insightful/inspiring.

[chrishayes]

This looks amazing. I wish we had this when I was a sprinter!!!🥰

[vtafuto]

Hey coach,

I liked the video and also read your post online about the 400/800 continuum. I’m a former college sprint swimmer (I did a little bit of middle distance swimming in high school as well). I now run track as a hobby and am always looking for ways to improve, I may eventually specialize if I find that I’m having a lot of success in one race and have a shot at doing something big. Anyway, my focus is 100-800 (big range, I know - I’m not at a spot of specialization yet, so I’m doing a wide variety of training and racing to break up the monotony as I know first hand what it’s like to overtrain and over-focus on one race). So, I’ve taken the approach of:
Monday - lift weights & 4 mile run (maintain strength and keep a decent aerobic base)
Tuesday - SE2 lactate (reps of 300-600, keeping volume always at 1200 meters of intensity)
Wednesday light bike or jog just to flush out the lactate and get a decent aerobic pump
Thursday - max speed (40s from block, 30s pulling sandbag, 50s from fly all with spikes and lots of rest between reps, 600 meters total intensity volume) + lift weights
Friday - 5 mile easy run including tempos
Saturday - SE1 shorter lactate (reps of 100 to 300, keeping total intensity volume 1200 meters or less)
Sunday - off

I’ve taken some concepts from you and am working to stretch speed to the 400 & 800 rather than treat these races as middle distance and will be dropping Aerobic and lifting volume in the coming months as my main competition approaches to sharpen things up. I think I have a good balance of high quality intensity work and easier low aerobic maintenance/recovery work which allows me to feel fresh for my important workouts, but am always looking to get better.
Thoughts here? Appreciate any insight you can provide and best of luck with your season.

[colbyross]

Thank you for all the info. In terms of volume, it’s very hard to get information regarding volume of pure speed work a session/week. would greatly appreciate any information regarding this.

[curtispoole]

"Well, maybe you should practice lay ups" lol, I'm weak.

[joaniguzman]

Hi Coach! Thanks for sharing all your insights! I see the course
is for off-season training. Is there a course for in-season that includes the lactate training?

[phantomgaming]

We need to do squats and weight squats for increasing speed or not

[Chad_Hart]

What is "feed the cats?"
It's the daily routine of most unmarried women over 30 years of age 😂

[doitwisely]

What about weight maintenance? With the young guys their metabolism probably takes care it but could you see Masters age sprinters engaging in some aerobic exercise for weight management and recovery? The grinding thing has always been dumb and it’s great your spreading the word.

[A.I.-]

(Regarding basketball reference): I remember training for basketball and it hit me one day, when I was very tired and cramping at 2am in the morning, in bed.
"Why am I running for 2hours to do cardio, when my basketball competition last only 40min and I only get around 30mins court time???"
"Why am I running for an hour, when I can do layups and basketball court drills for an hour, which contains running???"

[akthebeast]

My standing long jump is 2.90 I m 19 years old, I don't have any experience of jumping and sprinting, just weight training experience, will sprinting events be the best for me ??

[ethanryan]

What are your thoughts on flying 20 meters?

[markusschuster]

Greetings from Munich, Germany!
Sitting at home (in isolation with corona) I watched a load of your videos yesterday.
Two thoughts crossed my mind:
1) Can you incorporate that programm into / before football-practice?
2) Do you have any experience with FTC for masters sprinters?

[tommybarksdale]

Being a science guy what are your thoughts on what has been proven that if you run for at least 20 mins continuously you create a bigger heart (because you are forcing blood through your left ventricle), which is creating a bigger engine? Then when you do what you do then you are or can send more oxygen to the muscles. Would this help you get faster? Maybe for 2 or 3 weeks build up to 20 mins so you build a bigger heart/ bigger engine and then going to your program? I’m just thinking.