Creation of an Explosive Mofo - My Training Journal :)

[coolcolj]

Well since I've been averaging 5 hours of sleep a night the last few days, I've decided to take a short break from training

Still sore from my workout 3 days ago, especially my upper hammies, followed by my quad and erectors. Lack of sleep sure slows down recovery...
But the snap and pop is coming back, the small jump and throw I did this morning fellt so nice and easy. And the landing I didn't even notice, felt like nothing, no shock or impact whatsoever. Which is something I haven't felt at all this year. My feet arre definitely liking the break from running that's for sure!

There is this very steep driveway I walk up a few times a week, and this morning it felt much easier and lighter. The last time I felt like this was when I was around 200lbs or under, so I'm getting there.

Probably will play some BBall on Sunday and get back into. Might head to the court with lower rim to see what I can do

 

[coolcolj]

Sunday 11th Septermber - Cycle 3 Get Lean+Maintain Strength - Week 2 - Day 1 - BBALL - Microcycle 4

Decent sleep last night, but still felt tired due to me catching up on the poor amount this week. But overall I felt pretty good, legs and feet felt better than they ever have all year. The short break has been a good idea.
Lightest bodyweight at BBall as well, 2lbs down from the last time I played

Been 3 weeks since I played any BBall, and I went to that outdoor court with the lower rim. The last time I played here was a good month or so, and I was 4lbs heavier from memory. Since the court is sloped in 2 directions, I figure it's not a good idea to play here regularly lest I stuff up my ACL...
But I like to come back here to test my jumps and dunks on the sweet lower spring loaded rim

Bodyweight at home - 207.5lbs in shorts and t-shirt
Workout time - 40mins
Workout rating - 9/10

Nice session today, felt very explosive and shooting/dribbling/skills at the start of the session for 20mins were very good even though I haven't played in a month.
Overall fitness was awesome too, hardly breathing as heavy as before and able to string together lots of moves and jumps back to back

Anyway back to reason why I came
compared to the last time I was here -

One step two legged jump +2 inches

On the highest jump of day I was able to get my wrist 2 inches above the ring

Highest one handed dunk off a few steps with a dribble - wrist 2inches below the rim

Highest 2 handed dunk attempt off a few steps with a dribble - 2 knuckles over the rim

I only managed to get one dunk in, so I still need another 3 inches to dunk it cleanly either way - by then I'll be able to get just over the middle of my forearm on the ring

Extremely pleased with my progress so far. When I first came here at the end of last year I could only get the base of my fingers on the rim, now I'm getting up 6 inches higher. On target to make it 10 by the end of this year.
Even though I still can't dunk it, it's amazing how much a difference that extra 2 inches make. I can pop up to it so easily and pulverise it, and now I can finally grab the rim when I try a 2 handed dunk. I even cocked the ball behind my head today when doing it - it makes me more relaxed when I do it this way, and so I get higher. Manage to hang and seriously rock it for a second, no better feeling!

All the jumps felt like I hardly had to put any effort, and knee bend, soft steps and boing up I go. And the landing felt like nothing, I didn't even notice or think of the landing at all. No ache in my right ankle or anything - especially considering this court is sloped.
Still can't jump for crap off one leg though

 

[coolcolj]

Not a bad night of sleep, and my waking pulse is pretty low for a day after BBall. Not really all that sore either, mostly in my spinal erectors, biceps and upper back. Especially when you consider the break, and I haven't played any BBall in a while

waist finally under 36 inches - measured 35 7/8 inches this morning straight out of bed, and I weighed 93kg 204.6lbs in underwear. Definitely look leaner and feeling light now! Yet I still have a long way to go....
Upper body looks scrawny, legs still look huge.

 

[coolcolj]

Tuesday 13th September - Cycle 3 Get Lean+Maintain Strength - Week 2 - Day 2 - Energy Work - Microcycle 4

Did these pretty late, so only an hour or so before my workout today.
Felt kinda crappy leading up to this session, but after warming up, I felt better

No more football marks, or goals, they replaced the field with a cricket pitch in the middle...

Workout Rating - 7/10
Workout time - 30mins

Warmup

warmup - dynamic stretches and swings, foot massage, various hops in place in bare feet at home.

Slow Jog - faster each run - 50m x 4 - 1min rest

Run complex increasing in speed each run to 50% speed - 1 mins rest

2 sets - trying to stay as smooth, relaxed and fluid as possible
50m straight run, then into lateral run, right side 5m, left side 5m, into backwards run 5m

then 40m accleration runs to 60% speed x 2 runs - walk back to start = rest


Tempo Runs + Energy Work

200 metres - 180 degree turn at halfway @ 70% speed

rest = 2.5 mins

1) 46+ secs
2) 48+ secs
3) 48+secs ---> very hard

Was cruising in the first run, until the last 5metres. second one was harder, and the last one I struggled in the 2nd half.
Too fast for me today. I think 48secs is a good pace, with 3mins rest, considering I used to average 52-54secs. I am lighter today at 206lbs, but not that much lighter. Felt pretty good overall, no issues, but not feeling fresh off course.

 

[coolcolj]

Tuesday 13th September - Cycle 3 Get Lean+Maintain Strength - Week 2 - Day 2 - Upper + Lower - Microcycle 4

Decent workout, but the fact I did this an hour or so after my running definitely made things much harder on squats. Upper body was fine though.

Bodyweight at gym - 210lbs - lots of food and water in me
Workout time - 1.5 hours
Workout rating - 8/10

General warmup -
1) dynamic swings etc
2) back extension BWx6 + 6 twisting to each alternate side
3) situp complex on swissball
4) Hip abduction/adduction on Keiser air machine - Level 3/3 x10
5) 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, and powerjerks - 10 reps each, except cleans 5 reps, jerks 3 reps
6) Siting in the bottom of a narrow stance fullsquat until heels get within a cm of the floor


Full Oly Back Squats - in Oly Shoes - RAW

Warmups - controlled down, semi- explosive up - BWx5, Bar x8,
95x5, 135x5, 185x5, 225x5, 275x3, 315x1
frontsquats - Bar x 5, 95x4
wide stance squats - Bar x 5, 95x4

controlled - resting 3 mins
315lbs 2x3 --> hard and wobbly, slight GM on some reps, 2nd set lots of strain

Well my core was definitely fried from the running, wobbly, and my hammies being tired made me GM some of the reps a bit. Had to strain the 2nd set quite a bit.
Frontsquat form is really good now, bolt upright and really comfortable, loss of fat and improved flexibility helping a lot

PowerCleans - in Oly Shoes - RAW

Did these inbetween the later warmup sets of squats

Hang powercleans - Bar x 5
Powerclean + HangPowerclean + powerclean - 89lbs, 119lbs
Powerclean with a reset in between each rep - 155x2, 185x2, 205x2

Just felt the urge to do some powercleans, after the warmup work with the 30lbs bar felt so damn snappy and good. Even though I haven't done anything higher than 30lbs in over 6months, they felt pretty good with decent form. Still got the early arm bend though, and I jumped slightly forward - probably due to me starting too upright, causing a slight keel forward on the way up.
Good power, and some red marks on my lower neck now

185lbs was pretty easy, on 205lbs I had to work quite a bit harder, but felt stable on the catch and springy. Now I just need to powersnatch 200lbs with a high catch when I get down to 180-190lbs, and that will give me all the power I ever need for my goals
My last PR was 175lbs a year ago, so I'm that far off, and I figure the loss of bodyfat will help my speed as well - less total weight to explode up.
Probably will need to get my fullsquat up to 405x3 for the strength base. Which will allow me to powerclean 300lbs as well


Rotating Sets between each upper body exercise

Resting 1-2 min on warmup sets and then 3 mins between each exercise

14 inch Grip bench - shoulder blades tucked - no arch or leg drive

Warmups - Fast down, explosive up - Bar x12, 95lbs x 8, 135x5, 165x3, 195x3, 225x2

controlled down, explode up
Rotation 1) 245lbs x 3
Rotation 2) 245lbs x 3

Becnh strnegth is back up, warmups felt very light, all the weight sup to 195lbs were dive bombed down and thrown up with ease, especially 165lbs and down which all felt piss easy.
245lbs felt good, strong and stable. Keeping the elbows in really helps my power.

Dumbell Bent over Barbell Rows - palms facing, narrow to wide elbows out - Strict

warmups - explosive up, controlled down - total weight for dumbells - 50lbs x10, 90x8, 110x5, 140x3, 160x1

explode up, controlled down
Rotation 1) 170lbs in dumbells x 4
Rotation 2) 170lbs x 4

A bit light, should have used 90lb dumbells, as I didn't really strain on the 2nd set for my session goals. I did 4 reps vs 3 on bench, since I can rep these faster.

Will do these with dumbells from now on. Way better than barbells or any other row variation! Can really fell it in the lower and mid traps, plus the path is more natural and longer. No hitting the knees with a barbell etc. And I can pull from narrow at the bottom for full ROM to wide elbows out at the top to smack my rear delts as well.

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clip from today

Right click on link and save first to avoid errors

Powercleans and full squats. Excuse the bad haircut. My Girlfriend hasn't been able to cut my hair lately, so I had to go the barber, and he butched it!

http://www.members.optushome.com.au/coolcolj3/Temp/CCJ_A6ArpFun.mp3

 

[coolcolj]

Woke up quite early, don't feel too bad, but had a slight drained feeling with dry/hot lips. Big jump in waking pulse from 57 to 66. Felt much better in the afternoon though.

Sore from head to toe! Hammies, VMO, erectors and calves the most.

 

[coolcolj]

Even though I could use more sleep, I feel quite good. By last night I was pretty much back to normal, after feeling drained in the morning, talk about fast recovery! That's backed up by the fact my waking pulse dropped from 66 to 56 today

I'm still sore muscle and tendon wise though, but CNS is feeling pretty good. I did a small jump and throw this morning and it was snappy, plus the non-powered steering wheel in the van is so light to turn.

Feet a bit sore, so I won't do any energy work today.

 

[d-dub]

i enjoy following this.

is that the wrong clip posted up there?

 

[coolcolj]

i enjoy following this.

is that the wrong clip posted up there?

whoops - posted the wrong thing - that was a piece of music I fiddled with recently


here once again

Right click on link and save first to avoid errors

Powercleans and full squats. Excuse the bad haircut. My Girlfriend hasn't been able to cut my hair lately, so I had to go the barber, and he butched it!

http://www.members.optushome.com.au/coolcolj3/Movies/CCJ_Cleans185_205x2_Squats_315_2x3_13Sept05.mpg

 

[coolcolj]

Thursday 15th September - Cycle 3 Get Lean+Maintain Strength - Week 2 - Day 3- Upper + Lower 2 - Microcycle 4

Not a bad workout at all, kinda dragged a bit though towards the end.
Finally under 210lbs at the gym! I like the way I'm starting to look in the gym too

I'm glad I didn't do any energy work this morning. I probbaly don't need it with this type of workout anyway. Thought I'd kill a few birds with stone - prehab, restorative/joint recovery, fix weaknesses, and Tempo/HITT fat burning type effects from the high reps and short rest periods. Plus it's all over 1.5 + hours which ought to burn up a lot of stuff!

I have never felt better since I started training like this - especially my shoulder stability and mobility. And I no longer get any pain when I divebomb benches, when doing chins/pullups or throwing things. There is a lot more to shoulder health than cuff exercises and rear delt work that's for sure

Bodyweight at gym - 208lbs
Workout time - 1 hour 45 mins
Workout rating - 8/10

General warmup -
1) dynamic swings etc
2) back extension BWx6 + 6 twisting to each alternate side
3) Situp complex on swiss ball
4) reverse hypers - BWx12
5) Scapular pushups - on bench BWx12, on floor BWx12

Rotating Sets between each upper body exercise - all stopped before I started to strain too much

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

Military Press - in Oly Shoes

Warmups - 30x10, 45x10, 70x10

rhythmic
Rotation 1) 105lbs x 15 (+10lbs)
Rotation 2) 105lbs x 10

Up 10lbs and only one rep short, damn core was rock solid as well. See clip below. Wonder if I can get up to 135lbs x 20
I think my PR with 135lbs is about 12 reps back when I was 220lbs. My best was 195x2 back then. I won't have any problems pressing over bodyweight very soon

Chins and Rows

warmups - Pulldowns 40kgx10, 70kg x 5 sec hold, Chin - BW x 5sec hold, BWx1

controlled
Rotation 1) Chins - BW x 9
rhythmic
Rotation 2) High Angle Standing DumbellRows to ribcage - thumbs facing, elbows out - 40lbs x 15

been a while since I did any chins, and no shoulder or forearm discomfort!


Low angle Dumbell decline Tricep Extensions - palms facing

warmups - 3kg x 12, 5kg x 10,

rhythmic
Rotation 1) 20lbs x 18 (+2reps)
Rotation 2) 20lbs x 12

Standing Dumbell Curls

warmups - 3kg x 12, 5kg x 10

rhythmic
Rotation 1) 20lbs x 18 (+2reps)
Rotation 2) 22lbs x 12


Prehab - rotated sets between each exercise in no particular order - 30secs to 1min rests

Wide mulit-direction lunge - 5 ways each leg, 3 reps each direction x 30lbs in dumbells - felt very good and stable

Toe curls on lying leg curl machine - 1plate x 10, 2Px10, 3Plates 2x12
just mainatin now, more than strong enough!

Hip abduction/adduction on Keiser air machine - Level 3/3 x12, level 4/7 2x20. Power peaked over 4000units on the first set

Standing Single Leg curl - 3plates x 8, 5P x 15

Lat Machine Situps - BW 2x20

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Dip Shrugs - bench dip style BWx15. On dip bars - lockout hold BWx12secs, BWx5, BW+10lbs x20, x12 - added 10lbs, getting very stable on these now, feel like a gymnast

Face Pulls - 30lbs x6, 50lbs x 25

Single Arm low pulley L-Flyes - 10lb x 6, 15lbs x18 (+2reps) , x12


ISO Stretches - EQI

External Hip Rotor Stretch ISO hold - 25lb dumbell x 1min

subscap stretched ISO hold - 7kg dumbell x 1min
went up 7kg perfect weight

side of neck/trap stretched ISO hold - 25lbs dumbell x 1min


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Right click on link and save first to avoid errors

Military press clip
http://www.members.optushome.com.au/blitzforce/Movies/CCJ_MilitaryPress_105x15_15Sept05.mpg