Get as fit as an athlete with the French Contrast Method

How’s this for a lower body routine: back squats with weights for about six to eight reps, followed immediately by six to eight jumping squats with light dumbbells, and then four 15-20m sprints where you walk back to the starting point. According to a Sports Illustrated article titled Intense Lifting Is Building Bishop Gorman Gootball Into National Power, it “combines complex and contrast methods.” Former Mumbai FC and Kerala Blasters footballer and now a fitness professional, Karan Sawhney, can vouch for the effectiveness of the routine. Pierre’s programme also triggered something Sawhney calls a “mindset shift”, which uses principles of the late Kobe Bryant’s ‘Mamba Mentality’, where people push themselves a little every day to get even better at what they do, all the while enjoying the process.“You will be working out three times a week for the first three weeks, then go through de-loading for a few weeks, before resuming full-scale workouts again for the next four weeks. A research paper on the efficacy of the French Contrast Method and its effect on “explosive strength and kinematic parameters of the triple jump”, published by the US National Library of Medicine concluded that the method was effective for increasing muscle performance, muscle contraction, rate of force development and better explosive movements. Complex training likely has a better impact on coordination and movement skill compared to traditional resistance training, as you are required to perform exercises with different demands within a short period of time.” Sawhney agrees, saying that while the loads may differ, long distance runners and sprinters can both use the method to their advantage.