Alan Webb was the latest guest on the CITIUS MAG Podcast and among the things that most people were curious about was his weight training and how he managed to get to huge before some of his big races. Chris asked him about it on the show and Webb went pretty in-depth on things.

Here’s a transcription of some of his comments:

That was a fine line that I occasionally did well and it worked for me and occasionally I didn’t do well and it didn’t work for me. That was the year [2007] that I got it right. I did this cycle, where I would do upper and lower lift.

I would do it twice a week and cycle through it so one day I’d do 14 and the next session I’d do 12 and the next session I’d do 10, the next session I’d do eight and then I’d do six. I would add five pounds every time as I went down. The reps got lower but the weight got higher. I cycled through that. I never did well with altitude but the weights were kind of a similar altitude-type thing, where if I took it away and rested from that then that’s when I saw these huge results in my speed. It was like a rubber band was let go that was holding onto me. It was like BOING! And I’d be able to GO! I got that bounce right because by the time I got to the sixth rep time, I’d do it on these intervals where I’d do a set every two minutes. The rest was limited when I was doing the higher reps. When I was doing the lower reps, I got a little more rest and so it felt easier during those sessions. After the six-rep session, I’d rest and give myself like a 10-day break from the lifting to let my body recover.

I did that cycle through 2006-07 and when I rested at just the right time then I had I had these moments where it was clicking. My speed was awesome. My power was just awesome and that’s what you saw at the end of that race. I had let myself rest a little bit and I absorbed some of that stuff. I was able to use that on the track. I got to the end of that race and the year before I was injured so I wasn’t even at the U.S. Championships. It was kind of an unbelievable moment, a year later, to win it and beat Lagat and Leo – who are two of the best runners ever, medalists and American record holders. I was kind of like “Oh my gosh! I can’t believe this is happening.” I was pretty happy.

Listen at the 57-minute mark for his specific benching and lifting numbers.