Creation of an Explosive Mofo - My Training Journal :)

[d-dub]

Good bench press, is that getting close to max?

Maybe you could market the van-steering-wheel CNS tester

 

[coolcolj]

that was pretty close to max for that day, I have done 295lbs before, so I'm close, but I am definitely weaker than before, back then I also did 285x2, although the 2nd rep was a long ass grind, and 275x3

see if I can regain that as I lean up...

 

[coolcolj]

Thursday 28th April - Cycle 3 Get Lean+Maintain Strength - Week 5 DELOAD - Day 3 Morning - Tempo and Energy Work - Microcycle 1

Bodweight at home - 216.5lbs
Workout Rating - 7/10
Workout time - 30 mins all up

Warmup

warmup - dynamic swings
RFI hops - 2 legged alternating forward/back and side to side
SplitLeg front to back and side to side

Run complex 50m forward and back x 5 - increasing in speed each run - 1.5 mins rest

straight run, into lateral run leftside, then rightside, back into forward run, rotate into backwards run, rotate back to front. Turn around, repeat back to start

then 50m accleration runs to 60% speed 2x2 - 2mins rest


Tempo Runs + Energy Work

105+ metres @ 60% speed with proper standing start
Walk back to start = rest 1.5 mins
1) 23 secs
2) 22 secs

One less run than last session, 2 days ago, a tiny bit slower, but I did em in my sneakers today, left my touch football shoes at home.
Finally able to do 2 sessions of tempo stuff in a week without shin/feet issues. Lighter bodyweight and stronger lower leg/feet is definitely noticable, more zip and spring. Definitely becoming more of a pull/hammie runner than a push/quad+glute runner. Another 5lbs of fat off, and I'll really start to motor!

 

[coolcolj]

Thursday 28th April - Cycle 3 Get Lean+Maintain Strength - Week 5 DELOAD- Day 3 Evening - Lower - Microcycle 1

Good workout, felt ok, despite the fact I did run this morning. Strength was Ok too. Looks like I'm not getting weaker, if anything my lower body is slightly stronger than a month ago.

Bodyweight at the gym - 220lbs
Workout Rating - 9/10
Workout time - ?

reverse backextension BWx8
situp complex on swissball
back extension BWx6 + 6 twisting to each alternate side
warmup complex with 30lb bar

Rotating Sets between each exercise

Resting 30secs to 1min on warmup sets and then 3 mins between each exercise

Athletic Full Back Squats - in Oly Shoes - RAW

Warmups - semi explosive - BWx5, Bar x5, 95lbs 2x5, 135x5, 185lbs 2x3, 225lbs 2x2, 275x2, x1, 315x1

resting 3.5-4mins between the heavier singles
Rotation 1) 335lbs x 1
Rotation 2) 365lbs x 1 - 1.667 sec concentric, 3.267 sec total time
Rotation 3) 340lbs x 1
Rotation 4) 375lbs x 1 - 1.934 sec concentric, 3.667 sec total time
Rotation 5) 345lbs x 1 - 1.333 sec concentric, 3 sec total time

Again I used a bit of waveloading. I was definitely worried I wouldn't be able to hit 375lbs, because 365 wasn't that easy. But I nailed it. 375lbs was a bit wobbly on the way down for some reason, slight grind on the way up. Stopped at the 2nd wave, 345lbs felt much easier than 340lbs, so maybe I could have tried 385lbs to equal my PR.
Form on the 2 heaviest weights was much better than a few weeks back, none of that good morning type thing on the way up. Guess that means my hammies are a bit stronger now - not a surprise given the stuff I have been doing, tempo/agility/backward running, jumping and split leg RDLs etc. Looks like my hammies have been the weak link all this time. Will try for 385 in a few weeks time, more of the same till then I guess.

Lets see if I can get my fullsquat to 425lbs as I lean down to 185-190lbs, a smidgen over double bodyweight. That will allow me to clean deadlift 500lbs raw as well. That should give me enough base strength to vertical jump over 40 inches and acclerate like a scalded cat. Well I'd be upset if I don't, at 185lbs, considering I can already jump a bit over 30inches at a flabby 220lbs! Ideally I want a 44inch standing VJ, so I can dunk 2 handed standing under the ring, which would rock at 5'9"


Snatch Grip Deadlift - RAW - Hookgrip

warmups - 89lbs x 2+3sec ISO, 155lbs 2x1+3sec ISO, 205x1+3sec ISO

Deadlifted up and lower to ISO an inch off the floor
Rotation 4) 255lbs x 1 + 10 sec ISO
Rotation 5) 295lbs x 1 + 10 sec ISO

A bit stronger than a few weeks back, and after heavy squats too. Looks like my max is still around 385lbs, if my grip holds that is


Lat Machine Situps

warmups - BWx 8, paused+ explode - BWx3, 10lbs x3, 25lbs x3

Lower down, 3 sec ISO hold just above parallel, explode
Rotation 4) 55lbs x 3
Rotation 5) 55lbs x 3


Cooldown

Oly Fullsquats 185x12 - 2 sec pause at the bottom
Standing Single Leg curl - 5plates x 12 - 2 sec pause at the bottom
Reverse Back extensions - BWx12

Bulgarian splitsquat stretched ISO hold - BW x 35secs
Calf raise stretched ISO hold - 4 playes x 35secs
Medium stance snatch RDL stretch ISO hold - bar x 35secs - from knee down to floor

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

clip from today

Right click on clip and save to avoid errors

squats, snatch grip deadlift

http://www.members.optushome.com.au...5_345_SnatchGripDeadlift+ISO295_28April05.mpg

 

[coolcolj]

d**n I'm really sore now! Upper hammies especially!

I did some single leg quarter squat ISO holds today to get some blood flow into my legs and work the VMO and ankle muscles a bit. Not quite a proper ISO as the balance requirements cause the whole body to flex on and off to stablise. Seems to work well for the reasons I'm doing em - just a few 10sec holds though
Might even work well as a lower body type warmup before one gets into the dynamic stretches etc

 

[coolcolj]

Wow, most of the overall soreness is gone, hammies and adductors still a bit sore though, but I have never recovered from that much overall soreness so quickly before! Feeling pretty good now, body is bouncing back, legs and feet feeling snappy. Should be ready to fly tommorrow, hopefully I'll jump an inch higher

 

[Jim Ouini]

Sorry if you've explained this earlier in this thread, but can you explain the ISO holds? I may want to try them

 

[coolcolj]

Sorry if you've explained this earlier in this thread, but can you explain the ISO holds? I may want to try them

Isometric holds, grab a load and hold for time. Usually in the stretch range of any exercise

 

[coolcolj]

awesome article by Dan John on the training journals

Ed never won a state championship. With a couple of years of hindsight, I am now convinced that he gave it away by missing the most important tool in the athlete’s toolbox…the training journal. His journal would have helped him with the single most important key to athletic success: Try to only make the same mistakes over and over again a couple of times.

What? Simply, we tend to repeat our errors. We want to be successful, so we increase our volume and intensity to make the big leap, then find ourselves hurt, injured, and sick. Of course, a week or so after the flu, we hit our season’s best mark. Next year, we do it again…train too hard, get hurt, then improve. By the third year,…well, now it is “fool me twice, shame on me.”


Without a journal, Ed relied solely on others to discover his path to success. He didn’t understand one of the reat keys to athletic success: Mining your Journal. Your training journal is goldmine of information…if you take the time, daily, to record your workouts, your attitudes and your life in general.

Years later, you can sift through this material to iscover what makes YOU tick! Sometimes, the answers aren’t apparent. For example, in 1991, I was coaching at the Upper Limit Gym here in Utah. So, I had access to great facilities, lots of training partners and great enthusiasm about the strength sports. I began to really push my ack Squat poundage. There were weeks when my squat would go up by twenty and thirty pounds as I was shamed into lifting more by excellent powerlifters. I topped out at 605 for three reps…I remember realizing that the weight was bending my ribs…and I also noticed something else. This increase in squatting weight did not add one foot to my discus throw. I threw 190 at Utah State and never went over 405 in the squat, yet 605 got me to 181. Two years later, talking with John Powell (twice bronze medalist in the discus at the Olympics), he told me that he had quit squatting heavy years before he began to really “bomb ” the discus. He felt that heavy squatting “didn’t feel good,” so why do it?

That made no sense to me at all. I was stronger, so I should throw farther. Then, in 1994, after not squatting heavy for three years, mostly rapid squats up to sets of eight and lots of hill sprints, I dropped a 184 throw. I weighed less, my waist was smaller, I felt better…I threw farther. So, how do I “mine my journal?” I went back to 1991 and I looked at the videos of my throws. I
compared them to 1994. I looked “healthier,” but it was hard to see any other difference. Then, I thought about the hill sprints. In 1994, my finish was smoother somehow, I held together better. Could all the hill sprints have been the key, or the dropping of heavy squats?
You know, I don’t really know the answer, but my journal entries found no injuries in 1994, lots of energy, lots of inside jokes and fun with the group. 1991’s entries talk about buying ankle wraps, knee wraps, wrist wraps, and biweekly visits to the chiropractor. Clearly, increasing the load with my squatting got me hurt with little pay off. Maybe, it was simply what I thought about a month ago: heavy squatting makes your hips and legs strong…but the body is one piece. When you throw, you snap off your whole leg and you are only as strong as…your ankle. If you cave at your ankle, you lose your finish. Hill sprints seem to be an ankle/calf builder with no peer. As John Price reminds me often of the only key in athletic success: you are only as strong as your weakest link. For me, and probably everyone, the goal should be to strive to bring your weak points up to a point that they become your strong points!


So, we have seen the first technique in Mining Your Journal: Reviewing one season in the light of another. Big deal, everybody does it…or do we? How often have you cracked open your old journals and looked at them carefully? I would argue doing this at least twice a year. The off season is obviously a time to harvest the knowledge you earned and forgot in the past. I think the next best time is just before peaking. What gems have you forgotten, what mistakes are you about to repeat?

My favorite in-season use of the journal is the
“Countback.” I take the four weeks prior to a “hot” performance…a day where nothing goes wrong or you just are in the groove…and look at the month. In 1991, I posted these workouts, just before my breakthrough in Olympic Lifting:

5-25-91 25 throws with new Red Obel at the U with John, John, and Kjell. Some excellent throws. “Hang” that disc and right leg out there.

Upper Limit
Pwr. Snatch (hang) with Kjell
135 x 5
195 x 5 x 5 x5
Squat
225 x 5
315 x 5
405 x 3
455 x 2
Bounds x 7

5-27-91 Upper Limit
Pwr. Snatch
135 x 3
205 x 3 x3
225 x2 x 2
245 x 2

New Guy: Paul, lives at BFS
Pwr Push (Push Jerks)
135 x 3
225 x3
315 x 2 x 2 x2
Frog Jumps
5 jumps x 4

As I trained through this month, I knew I was
overdoing it…look at this interesting entry:

6-22 Ben canceled the meet at the last minute, but I threw with Jeff, Monette, John et al with a bunch at 184! I have outrageous inflexibility in my right shoulder. I spoke to a National Convention on weight lifting here in SLC
today…snatch, clean and speed. I snatched 225 for a bunch of easy one’s. Working on USOC talk that L. Jay asked me to give in Colorado Springs.

Start considering:

1. One squat workout a week alternating with
push jerks
jumps
bounds
overloads

2. Microperiodize the snatch each week…5-3-2

3. Move up to five minute rests

4. Seven sets…45 minute workouts

5. Increase protein.

6. Add stiff dl, good mornings.

A week later, I tossed 181’7” in a left handers wind, put 50’9” and snatched 314 (clean and jerked 358, cleaned 402 and missed the jerk) in a three day period. Then, I went into a six month tailspin of injury upon injury.

What did I learn? Well, I thrived on Power Snatches! But, the heavy jerks and heavy squats all led to injuries. You can see that I was leaning towards more and more protein, but the nutritionists at the USOC told us to eat
High Carb. It would take a couple years to really mine this season! Another tool for mining your journal is to Look for insights…that you may need to rekindle.
Jeff Armstrong came over last weekend and I noted that he needed to ease off on his 56 pound weight tosses as he seemed to have a Speed Barrier. He was aware of the Soviet Drill, from my book, “The Contrarian Approach to the Discus Throw.” For those of you who missed it: “Yes, I know…no more Soviets, but the drill is called “the Soviet Drill.” I learned about this drill years ago as a way to break through the “speed barrier.” After marking the best throw, step off about 15 feet for most high school athletes…some 20-25 feet…back towards the ring and put a large marker there. Cones work great, towels and bags are fine. If you have many throwers, you might have a little colony out there. The Soviet Drill is simply a series of twenty full throws trying
to just hit the marker as easily as you can! Many thletes
simply can’t do this! Yet, once they get the hang of throwing with less, they soon find that that they can easily surpass their previous one throw mark, but using good technique and rhythm. Also, this drill comes in handy when the pressure is on to qualify for the finals at a meet.”

Jeff, like most strength athletes couldn’t grasp how easing off could help you throw farther. Then, I asked him: “Do you max squat every day?” As the words came out of my mouth, I thought to myself, “you know, you should practice what you preach!” I have a journal entry where this concept whacked me on the head
again:

November 7, 2000
Great trip to Las Vegas and Phoenix. Really enjoyed watched ASU come back from 35-6, only to lose in double overtime. My Cardinals defeated the over-inflated Redskins, as well. While at the Orleans, I got in a nice workout with two fiftypound dumbbells. I did about an hour of clean and press, one arm snatches, and one arm presses. Last night, after getting off the plane, I did a nice workout of Power Snatches (six singles with 155), Power Clean and Push Jerk (six singles with 195), then some real snappy Clean Pulls and Romanian Deadlift Clean Pulls (a bunch with 235).

This is the kind of workout that seems to give me a lot of long term benefit. When I drop back to “one lift a day” style of training, it really helps to have this volume with snappy, fast workouts in my quiver. I had a nice talk with John Powell on this trip. We ate three meals together and went bowling for a couple of hours. We
both agreed that one of the real secrets to increasing your throwing distance and your lifting maxs is to push your 60- 80% lifts/throws up. In throwing, you try to see how easy you can toss 80% of your best. In lifting, you try to dominate those lighter weights. If you have the patience to back off, you can shoot ahead later.
This doesn’t mean what most people think. We have a
saying, “I said it was simple, not easy.” It is simple to do, but not easy. For me to back off, I have to have something to back off from!!! Too many guys don’t put the heavy training in early, so they can back off later. I wouldn’t consider this method of training until you at least snatch bodyweight. These fast snappy workouts should still have some nice weights on the bar, too. Don’t use vinyl dumbbells from Sears to do your “heavy” day squats, if you know what I mean.

Use your journal minimize the number of times you make the same mistakes. Sure, you won’t nip every mistake in the bud the first few (five, ten, fifteen) times, but if you take some time each year to review your journals, it is like mining a vein of pure gold. Try comparing one season to another, try the countback when you peak, and keep looking for those insights that you may have forgotten. It is part of the road to
success.

 

[gjohnson5]

awesome article by Dan John on the training journals

Ed never won a state championship. With a couple of years of hindsight, I am now convinced that he gave it away by missing the most important tool in the athlete’s toolbox…the training journal. His journal would have helped him with the single most important key to athletic success: Try to only make the same mistakes over and over again a couple of times.

What? Simply, we tend to repeat our errors. We want to be successful, so we increase our volume and intensity to make the big leap, then find ourselves hurt, injured, and sick. Of course, a week or so after the flu, we hit our season’s best mark. Next year, we do it again…train too hard, get hurt, then improve. By the third year,…well, now it is “fool me twice, shame on me.”


Without a journal, Ed relied solely on others to discover his path to success. He didn’t understand one of the reat keys to athletic success: Mining your Journal. Your training journal is goldmine of information…if you take the time, daily, to record your workouts, your attitudes and your life in general.

Years later, you can sift through this material to iscover what makes YOU tick! Sometimes, the answers aren’t apparent. For example, in 1991, I was coaching at the Upper Limit Gym here in Utah. So, I had access to great facilities, lots of training partners and great enthusiasm about the strength sports. I began to really push my ack Squat poundage. There were weeks when my squat would go up by twenty and thirty pounds as I was shamed into lifting more by excellent powerlifters. I topped out at 605 for three reps…I remember realizing that the weight was bending my ribs…and I also noticed something else. This increase in squatting weight did not add one foot to my discus throw. I threw 190 at Utah State and never went over 405 in the squat, yet 605 got me to 181. Two years later, talking with John Powell (twice bronze medalist in the discus at the Olympics), he told me that he had quit squatting heavy years before he began to really “bomb ” the discus. He felt that heavy squatting “didn’t feel good,” so why do it?

That made no sense to me at all. I was stronger, so I should throw farther. Then, in 1994, after not squatting heavy for three years, mostly rapid squats up to sets of eight and lots of hill sprints, I dropped a 184 throw. I weighed less, my waist was smaller, I felt better…I threw farther. So, how do I “mine my journal?” I went back to 1991 and I looked at the videos of my throws. I
compared them to 1994. I looked “healthier,” but it was hard to see any other difference. Then, I thought about the hill sprints. In 1994, my finish was smoother somehow, I held together better. Could all the hill sprints have been the key, or the dropping of heavy squats?
You know, I don’t really know the answer, but my journal entries found no injuries in 1994, lots of energy, lots of inside jokes and fun with the group. 1991’s entries talk about buying ankle wraps, knee wraps, wrist wraps, and biweekly visits to the chiropractor. Clearly, increasing the load with my squatting got me hurt with little pay off. Maybe, it was simply what I thought about a month ago: heavy squatting makes your hips and legs strong…but the body is one piece. When you throw, you snap off your whole leg and you are only as strong as…your ankle. If you cave at your ankle, you lose your finish. Hill sprints seem to be an ankle/calf builder with no peer. As John Price reminds me often of the only key in athletic success: you are only as strong as your weakest link. For me, and probably everyone, the goal should be to strive to bring your weak points up to a point that they become your strong points!


So, we have seen the first technique in Mining Your Journal: Reviewing one season in the light of another. Big deal, everybody does it…or do we? How often have you cracked open your old journals and looked at them carefully? I would argue doing this at least twice a year. The off season is obviously a time to harvest the knowledge you earned and forgot in the past. I think the next best time is just before peaking. What gems have you forgotten, what mistakes are you about to repeat?

My favorite in-season use of the journal is the
“Countback.” I take the four weeks prior to a “hot” performance…a day where nothing goes wrong or you just are in the groove…and look at the month. In 1991, I posted these workouts, just before my breakthrough in Olympic Lifting:

5-25-91 25 throws with new Red Obel at the U with John, John, and Kjell. Some excellent throws. “Hang” that disc and right leg out there.

Upper Limit
Pwr. Snatch (hang) with Kjell
135 x 5
195 x 5 x 5 x5
Squat
225 x 5
315 x 5
405 x 3
455 x 2
Bounds x 7

5-27-91 Upper Limit
Pwr. Snatch
135 x 3
205 x 3 x3
225 x2 x 2
245 x 2

New Guy: Paul, lives at BFS
Pwr Push (Push Jerks)
135 x 3
225 x3
315 x 2 x 2 x2
Frog Jumps
5 jumps x 4

As I trained through this month, I knew I was
overdoing it…look at this interesting entry:

6-22 Ben canceled the meet at the last minute, but I threw with Jeff, Monette, John et al with a bunch at 184! I have outrageous inflexibility in my right shoulder. I spoke to a National Convention on weight lifting here in SLC
today…snatch, clean and speed. I snatched 225 for a bunch of easy one’s. Working on USOC talk that L. Jay asked me to give in Colorado Springs.

Start considering:

1. One squat workout a week alternating with
push jerks
jumps
bounds
overloads

2. Microperiodize the snatch each week…5-3-2

3. Move up to five minute rests

4. Seven sets…45 minute workouts

5. Increase protein.

6. Add stiff dl, good mornings.

A week later, I tossed 181’7” in a left handers wind, put 50’9” and snatched 314 (clean and jerked 358, cleaned 402 and missed the jerk) in a three day period. Then, I went into a six month tailspin of injury upon injury.

What did I learn? Well, I thrived on Power Snatches! But, the heavy jerks and heavy squats all led to injuries. You can see that I was leaning towards more and more protein, but the nutritionists at the USOC told us to eat
High Carb. It would take a couple years to really mine this season! Another tool for mining your journal is to Look for insights…that you may need to rekindle.
Jeff Armstrong came over last weekend and I noted that he needed to ease off on his 56 pound weight tosses as he seemed to have a Speed Barrier. He was aware of the Soviet Drill, from my book, “The Contrarian Approach to the Discus Throw.” For those of you who missed it: “Yes, I know…no more Soviets, but the drill is called “the Soviet Drill.” I learned about this drill years ago as a way to break through the “speed barrier.” After marking the best throw, step off about 15 feet for most high school athletes…some 20-25 feet…back towards the ring and put a large marker there. Cones work great, towels and bags are fine. If you have many throwers, you might have a little colony out there. The Soviet Drill is simply a series of twenty full throws trying
to just hit the marker as easily as you can! Many thletes
simply can’t do this! Yet, once they get the hang of throwing with less, they soon find that that they can easily surpass their previous one throw mark, but using good technique and rhythm. Also, this drill comes in handy when the pressure is on to qualify for the finals at a meet.”

Jeff, like most strength athletes couldn’t grasp how easing off could help you throw farther. Then, I asked him: “Do you max squat every day?” As the words came out of my mouth, I thought to myself, “you know, you should practice what you preach!” I have a journal entry where this concept whacked me on the head
again:

November 7, 2000
Great trip to Las Vegas and Phoenix. Really enjoyed watched ASU come back from 35-6, only to lose in double overtime. My Cardinals defeated the over-inflated Redskins, as well. While at the Orleans, I got in a nice workout with two fiftypound dumbbells. I did about an hour of clean and press, one arm snatches, and one arm presses. Last night, after getting off the plane, I did a nice workout of Power Snatches (six singles with 155), Power Clean and Push Jerk (six singles with 195), then some real snappy Clean Pulls and Romanian Deadlift Clean Pulls (a bunch with 235).

This is the kind of workout that seems to give me a lot of long term benefit. When I drop back to “one lift a day” style of training, it really helps to have this volume with snappy, fast workouts in my quiver. I had a nice talk with John Powell on this trip. We ate three meals together and went bowling for a couple of hours. We
both agreed that one of the real secrets to increasing your throwing distance and your lifting maxs is to push your 60- 80% lifts/throws up. In throwing, you try to see how easy you can toss 80% of your best. In lifting, you try to dominate those lighter weights. If you have the patience to back off, you can shoot ahead later.
This doesn’t mean what most people think. We have a
saying, “I said it was simple, not easy.” It is simple to do, but not easy. For me to back off, I have to have something to back off from!!! Too many guys don’t put the heavy training in early, so they can back off later. I wouldn’t consider this method of training until you at least snatch bodyweight. These fast snappy workouts should still have some nice weights on the bar, too. Don’t use vinyl dumbbells from Sears to do your “heavy” day squats, if you know what I mean.

Use your journal minimize the number of times you make the same mistakes. Sure, you won’t nip every mistake in the bud the first few (five, ten, fifteen) times, but if you take some time each year to review your journals, it is like mining a vein of pure gold. Try comparing one season to another, try the countback when you peak, and keep looking for those insights that you may have forgotten. It is part of the road to
success.

What is
1. your vertical leap
2. your 40
3. your mile time