High-rep squats for sprinters?

[shesprints]

I've been building strength since January and just began incorporating some explosiveness and speedwork as well. What are the opinions here on doing forced high-rep squatting? My speed is starting to come back, but I may want to run the 200 and 400 at the Master's Track meets this summer and my speed endurance is not quite there.

I am also doing some longer sprints in workouts as well as 1.5-2 mile harder runs (sub-7 pace).

I can't quite find the kind of workout I'm thinking of online. It may just be training-room legend--forced reps at a weight you shouldn't be able to handle, to train muscular endurance. Anyone know what I'm talking about?

[DCSpartan]

forced reps are just another type of rest-pause training, which is a great hypertrophy tool, dont know if it would reflect in better speeds.

Nice to see you still training hard.

[jamalfudge]

I'm not a sprinter but I haven't had speed gains from squats. I think high rep squats will help with conditioning but not speed. What helped my stride on the pitch the most were sled drags and hip thrusts. But I don't have any science to back it up, and I'm slow so take my advice with a grain of salt.

[ballzofpeaze]

don't think it will be beneficial in doing an event like the 200 unless performed in the off-season while working in rep-ranges with the goal of hypertrophy.

[Mr.Serpent]

Squats are best used for strength, hypertrophy and also provide a solid base for power production. But I personally wouldn't put much stock in using them as a tool for muscular endurance. I'd stick to using them for strength gains and use more specific conditioning methods for 200/400.

[theFutureD]

If the goal is to build some muscle, then yes. If that's the case, you're better off doing one set of 20 reps with a weight you could do for 10 easy reps.

Still.. for improving your 200-400 meters, you need to rely more on your glutes and hamstrings... especially the glutes as the distance increases. So the one staple exercise that you should do is barbell hip thrust. Load it up and go for 5+ reps. Use it as the main effort exercise to improve your sprinting in the gym. It will pay off. Get super strong on this... something like 2xBW for 10 reps. You will enjoy the benefits after it.