Feed the Cats: Speed Training Through a New Lens

Feed the Cats: Speed Training Through a New Lens. This presentation covers the fundamental concepts of a Feed the Cats program and speed training. I discuss how to develop speed, focus on sprinting, and how to leverage the weight room without interfering with speed.
Speed is the tide that lifts all boats.
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Amazon affiliate links to recommended books:
- Twin Thieves: amzn.to/47n61wr
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- Atomic Habits: amzn.to/4602Rz4
- The Practice of Groundedness: amzn.to/43TtP9T
Feed the Cats is a revolutionary way of training, coaching, and teaching that values specificity, essentialism, performance, and love. After gaining a world-wide following in Track & Field, FTC has now gained a foothold in American football, along with other sports.
Thanks for watching, and I'll see you on the next one!

[@speedcoachbates]

This program works. We did max speed training year round starting in July after 10th grade year. We trained in hallways due to cold. 3 reps of short sprints year round. Times 11.17 before max speed. 11th year dropped to 10.52. 12th grade dropped to 10.41 twice and 10.24 once.

[@coachtonyholler]

Wow!

[@joshflores7162]

I can second this. Im the jumps coach at a high school and we as well did max speed, Plyos and technique twice a week since July and many of our athletes got tremendously faster and more explosive

[@coachtonyholler]

@@joshflores7162 ⚡️⚡️⚡️

[@Andrembramwell]

wow! how far were your sprints?

[@joshflores7162]

@@Andrembramwell I hope this answers your question but we did 20m up to 50m sprints and sometimes a 60 thrown in there. I keep the volume around 120-200m total volume for the workout. And when quality had a large drop off we would kill the session. Still following FTC principles such as timing and recording every session, plyos, full speed and full rest. Twice a week.

[@MojoMoneyMajor]

"Dumb is undefeated against dumbER" gets me every time😂

[@dankie_spoed]

Feed the cats works ! In my off season a few months ago i did a maximum of two speed workouts a week. Opened my season with 21.7 indoors now 21.2 indoors. Still on two -three workouts a week.

[@mooshethe4th745]

How many days apart would those workouts be? And what workouts?

[@donnybrooklads]

I'm masters sprinting level runner, 62, and am introducing this program into my routine. Makes more sense for us senior athletes because we need to avoid over training more so to avoid injury. Thanks coach Tony!

[@BurlingtonTownship5thGra-dr3xy]

I plan of implementing many of these principles this summer and next season for my travel basketball team; especially "Make practice the best part of the athlete's day"

[@markusgp]

So many great lessons that can be applied even beyond sprint. Work smarter not harder.

[@choogafantastic5946]

We’re gonna give this a shot, my kids are not getting improving their speed with the “traditional” method… rather their ENDURANCE is the only area of improvement as you mentioned

[@SPEED4EVER100]

You got me hooked - I will give this a real try - in the pool - the arch enemy of all speed and sprint workouts --- Jan 1 of my most important year of swimming - I did 30x400 set - imagine a 800 runner doing 30x1500 run - as a fun practice ... that's swimming -- but I may ask you to rename it for swimming ... feed the SHARKS :)

[@fidru]

really liked the presentation. for a mid distance athlete it's probably very hard to sprint ever completely rested in a normal MD training cycle unless you periodically do sprint weeks were you only do little or no endurance running at all.

[@chrisdufour9934]

Using your atomic workout with my 5th and 7th grade girls who are currently in season athletes. (Lacrosse and hoops). After months of endurance work, They are responding well to the speed drills infused with sprints.

[@maximilianu.n.o.2733]

32 years old male overseas from denmark here, who never really learned to run, let alone sprint as a child..been doing this on my own for a few months and stopped doing any distance work and are about to or already broke into the late 11s....have been smoking hash (cannabis) more or less everyday since i was 16, and i even smoke cigarettes at work (construction)

[@shannonphilpott214]

The FreeLap system update automatically give you MPH now just go into setting.

[@daviddepalma362]

Hey coach I started speed training a few high school kids. I’m doing it with a stop watch for now. I’ve been doing the 40yard dash’s with a jog in start. Should I be doing them from a two point stance ?

[@coachtonyholler]

2-point.

[@allenjenkins4807]

Coach any advice on implementing a feed the cats program with no track and our longest straight away is a basketball court.

[@coachtonyholler]

Diagonal in gym, long hallways, go outside.

[@davidx5828]

I would like to see how the athletes peak during the year? General wisdom is they can peak twice a year?

[@coachtonyholler]

@@davidx5828 I reject general “wisdom”. In a FTC program, we are always peaking, never drifting from a performance state. 📈 Our best performances come at the end of the season due to accumulated improvement, not tapering.

[@davidx5828]

@@coachtonyholler I have watched a few of the videos you are in, to include the one with Jonas Dodoo. I think the majority of your concepts make sense and probably work. My only concern is with peaking at the wrong time. We have seen many professional athletes who run fast early in the season and start dragging around championships time. That was my only concern, no criticism. Thanks for the response.

[@coachtonyholler]

@@davidx5828 Hundreds of schools now feed the cats. Peaking is progression, not strategic. We don’t destroy athletes with high volumes early causing poor performance… then reduce volumes later and brag about “peaking”.

[@ink23796]

Just found your channel and loving it. When doing timed sprints during workouts/practice, how close to their fastest 40/20/10 time are you looking for?

[@coachtonyholler]

We try to break records in every sprint. We perform in practice.

[@cyumadbrosummit3534]

The single most important factor in speed is who your parents are (not discussed). You can run gassers and bench press everyday with elite sprinters and they'll still win state. Your program will be more successful if you learn to identify and recruit genetically elite runners than if you do the perfect workouts with non elite sprinters.

[@coachtonyholler]

Yes, but EVERYTHING is GENETIC. Training is the only controllable.

[@HamidBibak-bj5jp]

Hello Sir Sorry for the unrelated question. How many hundreds of seconds is the difference in running time of 100 meters in these two cases? 1) Spikes, Synthetic track, Starting Blocks 2) Vaporfly sneakers, Dirt track, Using a hole in the ground as a foothold for starting Is there any study about this? Thanks Great Coach

[@coachtonyholler]

No study.

[@HamidBibak-bj5jp]

​@@coachtonyhollerThanks. According to your experience what is the difference between this two situation approximately? 🙏

[@coachtonyholler]

@@HamidBibak-bj5jp Not enough data.

[@dennismickey3996]

Great stuff and our athletes have utilized this over the winter and we are seeing great improvement. One question Tony. How do you warm up for the lactate workouts?

[@coachtonyholler]

Guys are told to warm up like they do for a race. (And I watch them closely.)

[@dennismickey3996]

Thanks Tony. do you use the drills from the Atomic Workout to warm-up or something else.@@coachtonyholler

[@JohnJohn8909]

Good evening, coach. I didn't see any email for you, but I'm interested in getting the formula for the 10m fly to mph, thank you.

[@coachtonyholler]

22.37 divided by 10m fly time

[@JohnJohn8909]

@@coachtonyholler Thank you kindly, coach! I love your philosophy behind speed work. I trained many years through burnout and thought I had lost my skills but this is what I knew existed but never had evidence of. Brilliant work!

[@lukaivicic7205]

How long does it take for speed improvement?

[@coachtonyholler]

6-10 weeks

[@lukaivicic7205]

@@coachtonyholler Thanks coach

[@stuartgilbert8619]

Just one question also Mr Holler. Would you see ten metre hill sprints / starts / accelerations as X factor work, or something else?

[@coachtonyholler]

Yes, X

[@taramyrick1573]

Coach T, my 2/4 fatigued after his 4 (52), i pulled him from 2 for 4x4 (53 split). How do i ensure he gets thru 4x2, 4,2,4x4 (Missouri)? Thx

[@coachtonyholler]

Stop doing three events in March. Build capacity as the season goes on.

[@Jacobsprints]

I have started doing rpr to myself for the past 3 days, when do people notice the biggest results from it?

[@coachtonyholler]

Should be instant if you are good at it.

[@JungelsPerformance]

I’m interested in the spreadsheet coach, working with 2 different high schools right now trying to make speed the focus. Would you mind sharing it with me?

[@coachtonyholler]

docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/18cnM6v5maaa-T-1btT2k9wPgKDiDSg4fGEZAsodyPfQ/edit

[@JungelsPerformance]

thank you very much coach. As always, I appreciate you sharing everything you've learned with us. @@coachtonyholler

[@mooshethe4th745]

Our coach follows this program and now alot of our guys are injured with shin splints. Going all our 100% of the time all the time for 5 days a week injure alot of our guys

[@coachtonyholler]

We only sprint twice a week. 2 x-factor days. 3 days off. No shin problems.

[@Johnpaul.dabon22]

You most certainly did not follow this program. Sprinting 5 days a week 100% all out isn’t smart by any logic. This program sprints 2x a week max speed. There’s no doubt your athletes are injured after doing 2.5 times the amount of sprinting this program has

[@mooshethe4th745]

@@Johnpaul.dabon22 i totally agree, i just wish my coach would put his ego aside and prioritize health over fitness

[@chrisdufour9934]

Burnt the steak bro!

[@briansass4865]

I was reading that and thinking: 5 days a week isn't what he preaches. Rest is a huge part of the program.

[@antrikshsharma3701]

so what can we do regarding aerobic development of Sprinter

[@coachtonyholler]

Aerobic focus is a waste of time and detrains speed.

[@antrikshsharma3701]

@@coachtonyholler .....so we focus on alactic and anaerobic capacity only

[@26Bibles]

aerobic capacity only makes sense if your resting heart rate is 60+ because then it limits ur ability to recover@@antrikshsharma3701

[@zannon7]

Hey coach, so im running 100m in 12 seconds rn and I was wondering if I did only 2 sprint sessions a week with 3-4 max sprints of 60-80m per session, is it possible to make an improvement atleast by a second within 6-7 months? (I do plyos before sprint sessions and very minimal lifting) other than that I play soccer everyday

[@jfitness432]

Seems like you shifted and grown as a coach which is good to see, you seemed to disparage the weight room a few years back saying it makes you slow

[@coachtonyholler]

It does make you slow in the absence of sprinting!

[@jfitness432]

What’s your recommendation for a 40 year old Rec athlete who wants to add sprinting into their training?

[@fidru]

​@@jfitness432 retire! 😉 just kidding. Same here, wonder if the coach would suggest the Plyo training (which I successfully do) to older athletes as well because it brings higher risk of injury.

[@coachtonyholler]

@@jfitness432 2-3 weeks of ramping up. Do Atomic Speed Workout. Stay microdosed. SLEEP.

[@adilsuleiman6862]

Hello sir. I have a question about the weightroom. Should a 16 year old lift, not heavy but around 30-60 kg range while being explosive, or should you wait? if so what should a 16 year old focus on instead and when should he start lifting?

[@performancecartel]

They should absolutely lift