Creation of an Explosive Mofo - My Training Journal :)

[coolcolj]

FATASS!!! Do not worry - you are well on your way to joining the ranks of Chemerkin & Rezazadeh.

Nice powercleans by the way - still working on speed? or are you cycling up in weight again in the near future?

LOL those scales are not accurate, but I think if halve that figure that would be pretty close to the mark

Right now I'm just working on power and reactivity, trying to close up my power to strength deficit, but after I do a strength phase, and then back into power, I'll max out and hope to hit 264+ lbs on powercleans, and maybe 200lbs on the powersnatch

 

[coolcolj]

did
1) balance on one leg with eyes shut - 6x10secs each leg
2) 20+min walk
3) Walk on hands and knees - 1 set of forward, backward, left to right, right to left. Pumps up the pecs, arms and shoulder girdle and upper back! This is my bench boosting secret exercise

 

[coolcolj]

I asked
My Jump - what does this say?

1) a 5 sec paused jump is 1.5 inches lower than my regular counter movement VJ

2) one step VJ is 2 inches higher than standing VJ

3) and a depth jump off 18inches is one inch lower than my standing VJ. Haven't tested any other height drops.

So does this mean I have sufficient strength and still lack reactivity as far as increasing my standing VJ?

I've been doing the power template for a while now, and gains have petered out, so I'm just a bit baffled. On one hand my reactivity isn't great yet, and still plenty of room for gains there, but I haven't seen much of a return from the work I do there. I'm sprinting faster though.

So I'm thinking maybe I'm just not meant to be a reactive person?

Right now I'm thinking of returning to the power prep template and bringing up my strength a bit and see if that helps


--------------------------------------------

the answer -

It tells me that your not using your plantar flexors in conjunction with your hamstrings very well but that doesn't mean that you're not explosive or anything, you're obvoiusly a darn good athlete, but you are overly quad dominant. You see, when you do a down and up vert or a reactive jump or particualrly a unilateral jump, you gather energy in the hams and gastrocs like a loaded spring. These muscles are very fast twitch and thrive much more off reactivity much more then the quads. So the fact that your CM jumps are pretty close to your paused jump, along with your sprint video, tells me you're not using them all that well. Which isn't uncommon at all. Some of that is just due to structure and the rest is from training influence. Nearly every athlete I work with who's spent any time at all in the weight room has the exact same problems.

What I've found is the good cure is a steady diet of the following exercises that really emphasize engagement of the pf and hamstrings at full extension:

single leg hf jumps
bounding drill
single leg backwards pf drops (at full extension)
straight leg sprints (prime times)
flying sprints
single leg triple jumps

Rest assured, when you get your single leg triple jump up to around 3 x the distance of your bilateral standing broad jump, your problem will be cured.

 

[coolcolj]

felt a bit sleepy earlier, but not too bad now. I was pretty eager to train yesterday, but I stuck to my schedule.

Alrighty progress on the fat loss front, waist down a 0.25 inch to 38.75inches!
Once I get down to 38inches, hopefully there will be an improvement in power to weight ratio. I certainly feel "tighter"
I also doubled my intake of fishoil from 1 to 2 caps per meals yesterday, so 8-10 per day from now on.

Spinal erectors and lower leg a bit sore, from the walk I did yesterday, walked a longer uphill slope. Will probably do an easy walk today either before training or a few hours after.

 

[coolcolj]

suggested template in regards to the post I made a few posts above

----------------------------

Personally I would have you on the track running at 2 days per week anyway....not necessarily at full intensity though. It takes more frequency and volume when you're trying to change movement patterns etc. Maybe something like this:

Day 1- lower body
warmup- high knee, butt kick, skips, lunge, buildups etc.

short sprints - 10-30 yard varieties - 180-200 yards worth
bounding drill - 4 x 40 yards

weights:
snatch pull- 3-4 x 3 @ 80-85%
glute ham drop - 4-5 x 4-5

Day 2- off

Day 3- plyo, agility, + upper body
warmup- same as before
plyo, agility

stiff legg prime times- 4 x 40 yards

single leg triple jump - 4 sets per leg

low lateral depth jump- 3-4 x 6 (bounce left and back up on the box, then right etc.)

agility drills- pick a couple of varieties and do them for a few sets

Upper body- your choice

Day 4- off

Day 5- speed/lower body

warmup- same as before

speed work-
30-60 meter runs- total of ~300 meters divided up into any fashion. (here's where you'd do some flying runs etc.)

prime times- 3-4 x 50 yards

plyo - single leg standing triple jump - 3 sets per leg

Weights-
Clean - 3-4 x 3
Loaded Reactive Squat- 40-50% x 4-5 x 3
Rea glute ham- 4-5 x 3

Day 6- vigorous warmup LB- UB weights
(just pick any easy fun activity for LB to pump some blood in there)
upper body- your choice

You can adjust volume and implement AREG in some fashion but that'll give you an idea. You oughta be able to easily tolerate the volume cause you're not doing anything all that heavy and if you do everything on grass it'll be easy on your joints.

The bounding drill I believe someone around here ougtha have a video of. Prime times are hard to do at full effort, they're more of a technical drill then anythign....well actually so are bounding. Basically the entire focus would be on getting you to use your hams more as movement generators.

If you stand on one leg, keep it completely straight, and rise up on the ball of your foot you oughta feel your hamstring kick in. Now, go back down, bend the plant leg an little bit and do the same thing, rise up on the balls of your foot, but with the plant leg a little bent. Feel the difference? You oughta feel your quads and glutes kick in a lot more. Basically you want to get away from the 2nd situation and into the first. You gotta get that leg extended when it impacts the ground.

 

[coolcolj]

Tuesday 15th February - Cycle 2 Get Lean + Maintain Strength - Week 30 - Day 2 - Upper 2 - Microcycle 7 - workout 4

Good workout. Bodyweight down a bit at the gym, even one of the gym instuctors there said I looked leaner
Oscillatory Isometric heavy workout today. I don't really enjoy doing em, since it feels hard to quantify the work. Short rests today, lots of pump.

Bodyweight at gym - 222.5lbs
Workout time - 1.25 hours
Workout rating - 8/10

Rotating Sets between each exercise

Resting 30secs to 1min on warmup sets and then 1.5 mins between each exercise


35 degree Dumbell Incline Bench - palms facing

Oscillatory Isometric style
Rotation 1) 65lbs x 16 OI
Rotation 2) 60lbs x 16 OI
Rotation 3) 60lbs x 15 OI


Seated Pulley Rows - U Bar Close Palms facing grip

Oscillatory Isometric style
Rotation 1) 45kg x 22 OI
Rotation 2) 40kg x 22 OI
Rotation 2) 40kg x 17 OI


Decline Tricep Extensions - palms facing grip

Oscillatory Isometric style
Rotation 1) 35lbs x 22 OI
Rotation 2) 30lbs x 22 OI
Rotation 3) 30lbs x 17 OI

Single Arm FacePulls on Free Motion Pulley Machine

Oscillatory Isometric style
Rotation 1) 60lbs x 16 OI
Rotation 2) 60lbs x 13 OI
Rotation 2) 60lbs x 11 OI

Standing Dumbell Curls

Oscillatory Isometric style
Rotation 1) 25lbs x 15 OI
Rotation 2) 22lbs x 13 OI


Cooldown and Cuffs


Cuff complex - no rest between each exercise/side

Not to failure - rest - 2 min between each complex

Dumbell Cuban Snatch Raise -
A1) 5kg x10
B2) 5kg x 10

Side Lying Dumbell abduction to 45° - thumbs up
A1) 2 sec hold at each end, lowered in 3 secs - 3kg x 10
B2) 2 sec hold at bottom, up to Oscillatory ISO, bounce to top, hold for 2 secs and lower in 3 secs - 3kg x 8

Elbow supported single arm dumbell Cuban Rotation
A1) 5kg x 12 OI
B2) done the same as 2nd set of lying abduction - 5kg x 7


Free Motion High Pulley 2 handed Lat Stretched ISO hold
120lbs x 1min

Pushup/Dip Stretched ISO hold - Knees on floor
BW x 1min

Shoulder Dislocates pec stretch with wooden staff

 

[Tagio]

Hey CCJ, good to see you're still at it and making progress!
Saw the recent hang/powerclean vids, looking leaner and more solid and obviously not losing any strength

I'm down with mono for another week at least but looking forward to getting back to the gym and passing you in oly lift numbers sometime this year (since passing you in any other lift is out of the question )

 

[coolcolj]

I'm still a fat ass

Olys aren't a major emphasis anymore, but they should still go up from general strength speed gains
I find the speed and reactive work having a positive influence on the olys, than just gaining raw strength - which doesn't help as much after a point in time

Man yesterday's workout kicked my ass a lot more than it should. All that straining before the release on the OIs, must be the cause. Feeling moderately drained, but not too sore.

 

[coolcolj]

yesterday I did some restoration work

Miniband - one set of 20, partial ROM, light tension - closegrip rows, face pulls,cuban rotations, tricep extensions, curls.
Bodyweight lying LFlyes x 20.
2x30sec ISO holds for front of neck

 

[coolcolj]

Thursday 17th February - Cycle 2 Get Lean+Maintain Strength - Week 30 - Day 3 - Lower 2 - Microcycle 7 - workout 4

Disappointing workout. I did my usual warmup stuff etc.
Then worked up to a maximal vertical jump and it was 2 inches lower across the board!
I tried and tried, but I just couldn't get up there, and I weighed 221lbs today, 3 lbs lighter than last session. So my CNS wasn't firing like it should. Did a few warmup sets with powercleans and squats, but there was no pop. So I called it a day, no point in beating a dead horse.

Looks like I haven't recovered yet, I might do it again tommorow. But I think I will just leave things be and let myself recover fully for the next session on Sunday, high volume upper, and Tuesday, high volume lower.
I don't really feel trashed though...but 2 inches is a lot to lose!

Bodyweight at the gym - 221lbs
Workout Rating - 2/10
Workout time - 30 mins

Warmup

1) Reverse hypers - BWx8
2) Twisting Back Extensions - BWx5 normal, and 4 twisted to each alternating sides.
3) Incline situps x1 held with 5 twists each way + 5 with Russian twists to each side at the top - arms held outstretched
4) Ankle Hops - 3x15
5) Some altitude drops off 6 inches

6) Olys - did one of each in between the warmup sets of the rest of the exercises

PowerClean + 4 Hang PowerClean - 89lbs


7) Farmers walk with two 65lb dumbells to and from powerrack


8) vertical jumps - worked up to a few maximal jumps. 2 inches lower than normal!!!


Rotating between each exercise

rest - 30secs to 1 min for warmups. 2 mins between each exercise after warmups.


Overspeed (LightBands) DiveBomb Back Squats - in Oly Shoes - RAW

Using Light bands, cinched around a 65lb dumbell, just in the top third adding about 40-50lbs resistance to slingshot down the bar

Warmup sets - Barx8, with bands, Bar x ,5 95x5, 95x3, 135x5