Creation of an Explosive Mofo - My Training Journal :)

[coolcolj]

My gym has this unit, that locks the shins perfectly vertical, feet within 6 inches of each other so that you can squat up and down with the torso perfectly erect. The knees can't move forward at all

I tried a similar movement on my bed just then to see what it would hit. Ie calves pressed into the side of the bed. And it feels like a hammie heavy squat type move, with some VMO at the top.
Sorta like a squat move to isolate the hip extension part of the hammies.

A bit like this
http://www.newyorkbarbells.com/pro93165.html

 

[coolcolj]

Hamstrings and glutes are a bit sore from me doing that squat thing on the edge of my bed yesterday! Plus I also did a lot of quad stretches, kneeling over a chair, and on my bed while stretching the tibs and feet, which has made those muscles a bit achey as well...

Tibs have gotten quite big from all those toe curls I've doing on the lying leg curl machine..big bulge on the front of my lower leg..probably why I no longer get shin splint type aches anymore

 

[coolcolj]

Tuesday 24th May - Cycle 3 Get Lean+Maintain Strength - Week 2 - Day 2 Morning - Tempo and Energy Work - Microcycle 2

Started ok, felt good, springy and snappy, but then my blood sugar crashed and I felt as hell! Bad meal timing....

Bodyweight at home - 215lbs
Workout Rating - 6/10
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 increasing in speed each run to 50% speed - 1.5 mins rest

3 sets - trying to stay as smooth, relaxed and fluid as possible

50m straight run, 10 sec rest
5m accleration into 90 degree right direction change into lateral run,
Right to left 10m, then left to right 10m, rotate into backwards run 10m, rotate back to front and run 10m (47 secs total up to here)

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

Tempo Runs + Energy Work

220+ metres @ 60% speed with proper standing start - 3x180 degree turns to make up the distance
rest 3 mins
1) 55 secs
2) 52 secs

Felt hard due to low blood sugar. Otherwise, my legs felt a lot looser and fluid thanks to all the quad and tib stretching yesterday.

 

[coolcolj]

Tuesday 24th May - Cycle 3 Get Lean+Maintain Strength - Week 2 - Day 2 Evening - Upper - Microcycle 2

Felt queezy, but did feel better when I got into the heavy stuff. These 2 sessions a days don't seem to jive with me.

Bodyweight at gym - 219.5lbs in winter clothes
Workout time - ?
Workout rating - 6/10

General warmup - scapular pushups on bench 2x8, pulldowns 30kg 2x8

Rotating Sets between each exercise

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

14 inch Grip bench - shoulder blades pulled together, no arch or leg drive

Warmups - Bar 2x8, 95lbs 2x4, 115x4, 135x4, 155x3, 185lbs 2x3, 225x2

Controlled for max reps
Rotation 1) 245lbs x 5 --> last rep a hard grind
Rotation 2) 265lbs x 2 --> last rep a moderate grind
Rotation 3) 185lbs x 12 --> last rep hard

Bench only a tiny bit up. Didn't feel that good until I reached 225lbs.
Maybe I need to wack my triceps

45 degree Chest Supported T-Bar Row - palms down grip

warmups - Bar 2x8, 25lbs x4, 45x4, 70x4, 90x4, 115x3

Assuming bar weighs 20lbs

Controlled for max reps
Rotation 1) Bar+135lbs x 6 ---> last rep hard
Rotation 2) Bar+150lbs x 3 ---> last rep hard
Rotation 3) Bar+90lbs x 12 --> last 2 reps hard

gotten stronger on these

Standing Dumbell Curls

warmups - 2kg x10, 4kg x5, 15lbs x4, 30x3, 40x2

Controlled for max reps
Rotation 1) 50lbs x 4 --> close to failure
Rotation 2) 50lbs x 3 --> close to failure
Rotation 3) Chins BW x 7 --> last rep hard

stronger - up one rep

SCM/Upper Trap and Suboccipital/Levator Scapulae Stretches

All warmup sets and Rotations - 5 to 15secs each side and stretch


CoolDown, Cuff Stuff and ISO Stretches - EQI

Cuff circuit

2 min rest between each

Lying single crossbody lateral - warmup 4kg x 6
4 sec ISO hold at parallel each rep on the way down
A1) 7kg x 5 B1) 7kg x 3
way stronger, up 3 reps!

One Arm low pulley L-Flyes - warmup 10lb x 6
4 sec ISO hold at halfway each rep on the way up
A2) 27.5lbs x 5 B2) 27.5lbs x 3
up 2.5lbs and stronger

Scapular Pushups
2 sec ISO hold at top and bottom
A3) BW x 8 B3) BW x 8
Hard, body was shaking, killer on the core!

Closegrip Lat Stretched ISO hold on pulldown machine - 50kg x 1min
Shoulder dislocate pec stretches with wodden staff

 

[coolcolj]

decent sleep, but not great, due to going to bed 2 hours later than normal. Just doesn't feel as fresh when you go to sleep later for some reason.
Upper body is moderatley sore all over, some soreness in my posterior chain and calves. Those supported rows do smack my posterior chain quite hard!

Anyway my feet/ankles and shins feel so nice and loose and ache free!
This is the first time I've stretched the muscles in my feet, quads and shins before and after tempo work - coincidence?
Makes me kinda tempted to do some light and low volume tempo today, then just do lower body by itself tommorrow, and then a moderate level of tempo the day after that. Leaving one day of rest before I BBall.
So I can acclerate my fat loss, getting my waist down to 37inches, bodyweight to 210lbs ASAP, and thus get me another 3 inches on my vertical jump!

 

[Topside]

im thinkin about tryin out for my school's bball team, DII. For speed, quickness, agility, and endurance im running 3 miles, jumping rope, sprinting(suicides), lane shuffles, line jumps, and 17s 3 days a week. Im also doing madcow's 5x5 3 days a week, on top of ball handling drills, shooting drills and playing pick up games.
So I:
run 3 miles at a moderate pace
40 mins of sprint work trying to inc my number of sprinits done in 40mins
lane shuffles for 30 sec intervals
line jumps for 30 sec. trying to increase my number per set
17s--trying to get my time to under a minute (17s are up and down the court 17 times. Touching each baseline counts as one)

Im also trying to continue to put on muscle but i think its gonna be hard to with all that running and playing so if i can maintain or just put on a few lbs. i'd take it.

 

[coolcolj]

can you even recover?

may need to cutdown every 3 weeks for 2-3 weeks to deload to allow you recover and make gains....

Your doing a good job at draining your CNS and breaking your body down, but you have to let it build back up and "refill" the CNS to get the gains you want.
If your vertical jump is getting lower every week then you know why

please read this article - gotta be smarter with your training
http://www.higher-faster-sports.com/PlannedOvertraining.html

Most Athletes Are Already Implementing the 2-Factor Theory and Could Benefit by "Under-Reaching" For a While

Ok. Now the important thing to note is that most athletes are already over-reaching slightly even though they don't realize it! They never allow recovery to take place and some haven't been fully recovered in years. Basketball players are among the worst here. They are never recovered daily, they never allow recovery to fully take place, and thus they don't make gains due to chronic over-reaching. Therefore, I almost always start athletes off with more recovery so that they can allow all the fatigue they've been acumulating during their previous months or years of training to dissipate.

It's also important to realize that recovery doesn't have to be "complete" between training sessions in order for one to experience gains. People are rarely ever 100% completely recovered but still make gains. Athletes in most sports are always experiencing some level of constant fatigue. What you want to do is maximize those gains which you can do by intentionally manipulating the relationship between fatigue and fitness.

 

[coolcolj]

Need more sleep, but feeling OK. Legs feel good, lower legs and feet feel better than it has in years, all thanks to stretching
Still pondering wether I should do tempo work this morning or leave it till tommorrow, while I do only lower body workout today...hmmm

 

[coolcolj]

Thursday 26th May - Cycle 3 Get Lean+Maintain Strength - Week 2 - Day 3 - Lower - Microcycle 2

Good workout! I decided not to do any tempo work this morning. I'll do it tommorrow, and as a result I felt a lot fresher, the workout was much more productive. But if I get real sore tomorrow, it will be tough. Which I think I will, because my hammies and VMO got caned!

For the last few weeks my knees have been aching a bit at the reversal point in the squat during the warmups, but goes away in the worksets. Well a few days ago I started to stretch my quads, tib and feets a lot and everyday. Boom, knee pain completely gone! I always thought I had good quad flexibility, I guess not. Seems like the quads were pulling the kneecap in too tight or something.
Looks like the Bulgarian splitsquat ISO hold doesn't do much for quad flexibility at all, but does work wonders for the hip flexor and glutes.
The stretch I've been doing is where you kneel down on a bed, shins on the bed and feet hanging off the edge. Or I will keep the feet on the bed, and point them to stretch the tibs, or pull the feet up to stretch the foot muscles.
I think a lot of knee pain people feel, where its under the kneecap, rather than patella tendon or quad tendon tendonitus, could be due to ovelly tight quads and hip flexors.

I used to stretch a lot, but have slacked off a lot in the last couple of years, guess I'll get back into it. But there are some msucles I won't bother with too much like my hammies, which get a lot of stretching as is from RDLs, plus I don't want them too flexible for stiffness/reactivity reasons for sprinting and jumping

Bodyweight at the gym - 218lbs (in winter clothes)
Workout Rating - 9/10
Workout time - 1.5 hours

Warmup - Prehab

dynamic swings etc
reverse backextension BWx8
situp complex on swissball
back extension BWx6 + 6 twisting to each alternate side

warmup complex with 30lb bar - RDL onto toes with shrug, military press, explosive good morning onto toes, snatch grip behind the neck partial press, hang powercleans, powerjerks - 10 reps each, except cleans and jerks, 5 and 3 reps respectively

Hip abduction and adduction on Keiser air machine set on level 2 x 10
mulit-direction lunge - 5 ways each leg, 2 reps each direction
Lateral stepup - 6inch step BWx10 each leg
Seated Calf raise - 40lbs x10 + 30sec ISO hold

Rotating Sets between each exercise

Resting 30secs to 1min on warmup sets and then 2.5 mins between each exercise

Athletic Full Back Squats - in Oly Shoes - RAW

Warmups - alternating set with each type of squat - 45secs to 1min - semi explosive
Fullsquats - BWx5, Bar x5, 95x3, 135x3, 185x3, 225x3, 255x1, 285x1
frontsquats - 95x3, 135x3, 185x3, 225x3
Wide stance squats - 95x3, 135x3, 185x3, 225x3

Explosive - 80% of (1RM(385lbs)+85% of Bodyweight)
Rotation 1) 275lbs x 3 - 0.8, 0.8, 0.867 sec concentrics
Rotation 2) 275lbs x 3 - 0.8, 0.8, 0.867 sec concentrics
Rotation 3) 275lbs x 3 - 0.8, 0.8, 0.867 sec concentrics --> feeling tired
Power PR, heaviest load moved in 0.8sec concentric!

I was gonna use bands with 265lbs today, but I left my bands at home! 285lbs shot up pretty quickly, so instead of using 265 like last week, I went up to 275lbs, and I could move it pretty quickly, even though it didn't feel that light on my back. No way I could have moved it like this for 3 reps a set a few months back, back then the third rep would be way slower.
Hmm does this mean I can powerclean 275lbs now, a 30lb PR...?
Wouldn't surprise me as my vertical jump is 3+ inches higher than back when I powercleaned 243lbs

Reversal felt much more springy, and I was able to get a little bit deeper, although my hamstrings still limit depth
From the stretching? One thing for sure is the front squats felt so much better after all the stretching. I was able to get down a bit deeper and it felt easier to settle in the bottom, with my back fully locked tight. I could really feel my VMO activate in a way I haven't felt in a long time!

I really like alternating different types of squats during the warmups, gets me nice and ready for the worksets, and allows me to keep the groove of the other squats as well.


Single leg Split RDL - RAW in Olyshoes - Hookgrip

warmups - 89x3, 111x2, 155x2, 175x1

Deadlifted up - explosive, 30 secs rest between each side
Rotation 1) 205lbs x 4 each side
Rotation 2) 205lbs x 4 each side

Up 5lbs, this weight feels about perfect, not too heavy and too light. Considering my 1RM clean deadlift was 455lbs, this is just under 50% of that.
Worked my rear obliques quite a bit.

Lat Machine Situp

warmups - BWx8, 25lbs x3

Dumbell on chest, toes pressed into floor, down fast to just above parallel, explode up
Rotation 1) 70lbs x 4
Rotation 2) 70lbs x 4

Up 5lbs from last week, felt good.


Cooldown - Prehab

External Hip Rotor stretched ISO hold - 25lbs x 1min each leg
Lie over swiss ball to stretch spinal erectors x 1min

some stretches

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

clip from today

Right click on clip and save to avoid errors

all 3 sets of explosive full squats
http://www.members.optushome.com.au/blitzforce/Movies/CCJ_ExplosiveFullSquats_275_3x3_26May05.mpg

 

[coolcolj]

Hmm feeling ok, just have that lingering feeling that my CNS has worked hard the day before. Feel pretty strong. Light soreness all over, and moderate soreness in my upper back, erectors, VMO, hammies, calves and glutes.

Forgot to work my tibs yesterday, and I feel I should have done some explosive leg curls as well.
Tempo work today, since its by itself, I can do a bit more volume I think.