Creation of an Explosive Mofo - My Training Journal :)

[coolcolj]

Dog woke me up at 2:30am, always around this time! Seems he has a itchy skin problem...feck.
Apart from the sleepiness I don't feel to bad, strong, and legs feel snappy - nice and light.

Went for a 20min walk yesterday
guess I spoke too soon, bodyweight is up a bit and so is my waist - WTF!
High rep upperbody prehab/acessory work today, which will also double as a depletion workout, then I carb up tonight and tomorrow

Everytime I got up after having sat/slept for a while, or go on a walk, my ankles would kill, especially my right ankle where I tore ligaments many years ago. But the ache would go away when I warmed up a bit. I knew something wasn't right, but I couldn't figure out why and just lived with it.
Well I've been stretching the hell out of my calves the last week or so, after workouts and after a hot shower. And my ankles feel so much better, almost back to normal!
So I have tight plantar flexors, probably why my body likes to turn my feet outwards. This obviously has a big effect on my sprinting, especially at the start - maybe why I have problems keeping low there...
I walk up a steep slope every day at my part time job, and it used to hurt a lot when I tried to walk up it with my heels flat, and just plain felt uncomfortable. Not so this morning. So now I can finally try some hill sprint start work next time I run, not something I was keen to do before

Wonder if years of wearing olyshoes are a cause of the problem...
Probably not, I think its to do with how I sit with my ankle locked and flexed for long periods of time. And my lack of stretching.
Damn just about every problem I've had form and pain wise can be traced back to a tight muscle! That's why I'm doing a lot of stretching in my neck/shoulder/pec and hip flexors/hips/ankles. Sitting down causes a lot of tightness in these areas. Although I don't stretch my hammies much to keep my stretch reflex snappy, and I don't have any problems grabbing my toes anyway, plus all the dynamic swings and exercises I do takes care of it.

 

[coolcolj]

Thursday 20th October - Cycle 3 Get Lean+Maintain Strength - Week 7 DELOAD - Day 3- Upper Prehab/Depletion - Microcycle 4

WOOT - lightest bodyweight at the gym so far! Even though I'm only down 2+lbs damn there is a big visual difference at the gym! I think it's because I'm losing pure fat now, as opposed to muscle+fat the last 6 months. More faint outline of veins showing on the forearms.
I'm certainly no weaker, and I'm surprised that even after 4 days of low carbs, I could still match my recent rep PRs! Had a decent bit of a pump as well, seems my body is pretty frugal with glycogen useage
Felt somewhat queezy though, just did one set of each exercise, but lots of em.

Time to carb up tonight and all day tommorrow!!

Bodyweight at gym - 205.5lbs
Workout time - 50mins
Workout rating - 8/10

General warmup -
1) dynamic swings etc
2) back extension BWx6 + 6 twisting to each alternate side
3) reverse hypers BWx12
4) Situp complex on swiss ball
5) usual bar complex with 30lbs barbell

Rotating Sets between each upper body exercise - rhythmic, all stopped short of failure

Resting 1 min on warmup sets and then 2mins between each exercise

Military Press - in Oly Shoes

Warmups - 30x8, 45x10, 70x8, 95x5
Rotation 1) 105lbs x 16

big improvement in range of motion and feel.

High Angle Rows

warmups - Rows - 30lbs x 10, Pulldowns 30kgx10+10scapular shrugs

Rotation 1) High Angle Standing DumbellRows to ribcage - thumbs facing, elbows out - 45lbs x 16

Closegrip Pushups - hands 4 inches apart

Rotation 1) BWx20
killer pec and tricep burn! Clicking elbows too...

Shoulder Width Pullups

warmups - Pulldowns 30kgx10+10 scapular shrugs
Rotation 1) (slight pause) BW x 9 + 20 scapular shrugs

Low angle Dumbell decline Tricep Extensions - palms facing

warmups - 2kg x 12, 15lbs x 10
Rotation 1) 20lbs x 18

Standing Dumbell Curls

warmups - 2kg x 12, 15lbs x 10
Rotation 1) 20lbs x 18

Face Pulls

warmups - 30lbs x 10
Rotation 1) 60lbs x 20

Dip Shrugs

warmups - bench dip style BWx15. On dip bars - lockout hold BWx12secs + 5 reps
Rotation 1) BWx25

External Rotation - Cuffs

warmups - Single Arm low pulley L-Flyes 10lbs x12
Dumbell Cuban Rotation - 4kg x 20


ISO Stretches - EQI

subscap stretched ISO hold - 6kg dumbell x 1min

Leg Supported Lat stretched ISO hold - On chin bar x 1min

Dip stretched ISO hold - Knee Supported x 30secs

 

[Anthrax Invasion]

In your above posts, I see you mention using a UD2 style setup for dieting. Is this Lyle McDonald's Ultimate Diet 2.0 you're speaking of? If so, how do you find it working for you? What about with your training, which obviously doesn't mimic his recommendations concerning depletion work and such?

I ordered the book a month ago. It's a great read. He's a smart man.

 

[Anthrax Invasion]

Another question, just to bug you:

I saw your reactive squat video, and compared it to an old one I found in my archives. It looks like you're going a lot more shallow on these than you used to. You stop and catch the bar at parallel or above now, so it seems. Is this how they were meant to be done?

And, when should one incorporate these? What is their prime purpose?

 

[coolcolj]

In your above posts, I see you mention using a UD2 style setup for dieting. Is this Lyle McDonald's Ultimate Diet 2.0 you're speaking of? If so, how do you find it working for you? What about with your training, which obviously doesn't mimic his recommendations concerning depletion work and such?

I ordered the book a month ago. It's a great read. He's a smart man.

Yeah but I'm not doing UD2. Just following the principals which a lot of other carb cycling diets use anyway. I would not do it exactly like he has laid it out - that would overtrain me and turn me into a slow person
Me being a fast twitch wired person with average endocrine system can't handle a lot of volume

I don't go to the extremes of his system. I'm not depleting my body so much that I have to take in 1400g of crabs in 30 hours! I don't know why you would need to do that, I sure couldn't eat that much.
I'm losing a pound a week, pure fat and no loss in strength, performance or muscle mass, infact I seem to be gaining some muscle, and the light bodyweight allows me to jump higher and run faster of course.

The calorie reduction as is will make you drop the fat, and keep the muscle if protrin is high enough, and then the carb up keeps the metabolism and leptin levels up

--------------------------
Crappy sleeping habits - grrrr
Whole upper body a bit sore, but not too bad. Carbing up today, probbaly get in about 400-500grams, whatever I can handle eating - which is tough when you get full so quickly!

Noticing new lumps and bumps, off course I'm getting leaner, but I seem to be gaining muscle mass as well....

 

[coolcolj]

Another question, just to bug you:

I saw your reactive squat video, and compared it to an old one I found in my archives. It looks like you're going a lot more shallow on these than you used to. You stop and catch the bar at parallel or above now, so it seems. Is this how they were meant to be done?

And, when should one incorporate these? What is their prime purpose?

I stop in the deep jump position. this obviously teahes my body to turn on muscles fast in that position to absorb the forces - up to 5 times the barweight

I have dropped lower in the past, to help my fullsquat more.

Your forcing the muscles to turn on fast, if they don't then you go splat
Since the force levels are high and very intense, it's mostly fast twitch fibers that get slammed on. It can help strength in some people - I've seen it in 2 cases - quite dramaticly as well but its mostly used to help increasing power in your lower body for jumping and sprinting etc
Not unlike speed squats, but obviously a lot faster since your freefalling down, and so targets a different quality

Just make sure your prettty strong before you get into em...2 sets of 3 is enough to seriously tax your CNS and make you sore for days...

 

[Anthrax Invasion]

What kind've weight should I use on them? Let's say my 5 RM for squats is 405 - what then?

I've messed with them before and they were fun, but I'd want to seriously start incorporating them once my back is 100%. Maybe 90%, I don't wanna wait that long.

 

[coolcolj]

try with bodyweight and the bar first and work your way up
It is a bit like doing a clean with the bar on your shoulders in terms of meeting and absorbing the bar

I mean you can have a 800lb fullsquat, but would you jump off a 6 feet height to depthjump? Obviously your not if your smart, so you start at 6 inches and work up. Same deal here

It's about force, and force absorbtion into reaction, and not bar weight. If you can't bang out a rep in under 1 sec then it's too heavy. It shouldn't feel muscled at all.

http://www.higher-faster-sports.com/jumpsquats.html

reactive squat- In this variation the focus is just as much on the negative eccentric contraction as it is on the "jump". Hold the weight tight against your shoulders and drop quickly from top to bottom. Focus on accelerating during the negative (down) phase so that you build up a lot of mechanical tension during the eccentric to concentric switch that occurs at the bottom. Your hips will get fairly low, somewhere around parallel. When getting started, think of finding the point where you get stretch reflexes from as many muscle groups as possible (glutes, hamstrings, quads, calves, etc). Get low enough to accomplish this. After you relax and free fall you then quickly gain full tension to stabilize the force of the load at the bottom.

This will develop explosive power in the entire lower body musculature and teach you to really turn on the power. If all is done correctly you should feel your body want to rebound to the top after the initation of force absorption at the bottom. You should feel your body respond with a reflexive "bounce" at the bottom. It can be beneficial to just focus on the negative part with lighter loads until you get the hang of the movement. Once you do, simply carry the reflex out of the bottom all the way to the top and jump. Reset yourself for each repetition. The loading on this variation will be between 30-60% of max squat depending on the goals and needs of the athlete. The rep range will fall between 3-10 per set.

 

[Anthrax Invasion]

They say to carry the reflex out of the bottom all the way to the top, and jump. What do they mean by "jump"? Just that the force you drive upward with will make you go up onto your toes, kinda like jumps in power cleans?

 

[coolcolj]

I don't know what he means, but I don't jump, I just explode up reflexively