Creation of an Explosive Mofo - My Training Journal :)

[coolcolj]

good stuff fella, looking good!

Thanks, but don't be fooled, I'm just regaining my squatting ability after a month off from any fullsquats, newbie gains basicly

But I am stronger on the upperbody stuff though

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Mild drained feeling. Overall aches, whole posterior chain is moderately sore, especially my spinal erectors and hammies. Adductors, rear obliques and VMO pretty sore as well. Hammies will no doubt get even more sore tommorrow.

weighed 92.3kg 203lbs straight out of bed in underwear.
Back down to my recent lowest. Need to drop another 2lbs before my waist gets under 35inches.

Went for a 33min walk upon waking, after a serving of whey, then some easy static stretches for the whole body after.

 

[d-dub]

Have you had a chance to read CT's carb cycling article?... its pretty detailed. Check it out

 

[coolcolj]

his carb recommendations are way too high for me - even on his low days it's like 250g?

lol - my low days are more like 60-70g
high for me is like 500g -which is more like a pig out for me

working ok for me, but I seem to be gaining more muscle than losing fat

my body doesn't tolerate carbs very well, I just spill over and get puffy.
Lowish insulin senstivity from my chocolate binging days...
I can probbaly fix if I went 8 weeks straight on low carbs to reset it. Anyway I've been at fairly low carbs for the last year and half, around 100-150g everyday without any cycling.

 

[coolcolj]

Stinking hot night, made it hard to fall asleep, but after I did it the Valerian gave me a nice deep sleep.
Posterior chain slightly sore, but my adductors are still really sore! Don't know what the deal is with it, everything makes it really sore. May need to start stretching it more.

weighed 92.4kg 203.28lbs straight out of bed in underwear.
Hmm bodyweight up a bit...

 

[coolcolj]

Thursday 10th November - Cycle 3 Get Lean+Maintain Strength - Week 2 - Day 3 - Energy Work - Microcycle 5

Warm, humid day, but the workout actually turned out pretty good.
Have more wind in me, perhaps the walking is helping?
Starting to make solid progress from session to session - all thanks to this new diet setup and big protein boost I think
If I don't burn some calories from today, something is definitely f*cked up!

Workout Rating - 8/10
Workout time - 40 mins

Warmup

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

Slow Jog - 50m x 4 - 1 mins rest

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
25m straight run, 25m prime times (stiffed legged runs), then into lateral run, right side 5m, left side 5m, into backwards run 5m

Starts into 30m accleration runs to 70% speed x 3, walk back to start = rest

then rest 2.5mins

Tempo Runs + Energy Work

200 metres - 180 degree turn at halfway @ 70% speed - from proper standing start

rest = 3 mins
1) 46 secs
2) 46 secs
3) 45 secs
4) 47 secs

I can normally only last 3 runs. Well teh third run didn't feel as hard, and I my time didn't dropoff, so I did another and the time wasn't too bad either! It did feel harder though, but not as hard as much usual third run would feel, just my core feeling wobbly and hmmaies burning a bit. Hmm work capacity is up!


10m Hill starts - from 3 point start - 40 degree angle

1.5mins rest
3x3 runs - 10secs rest between each rep
concentrating on full leg and arm drive

In a brain flash I decided to chuck in some hill starts. First time doing em.
Did them pretty hard. First set wasn't that good, accelerating like I normally do, but on the rest I was able to get some full leg drive going.
Good combo of explosive and strength work in one.
The slope really allowed me to find the best stance for the start to get a good spring and launch, plus it also slows down the movement so I can figure out what I'm doing.
These should really help my form there. Could feel my hams and glutes work hard, so I won't need to do much hip extension work back in the gym in a couple hours time.


One thing though is that I don't feel my quads working in these like people say you should, and probbaly because even on a 40 degree slope I'm still pretty upright. I never feel my quads working in any acceleration or starts ever. I just jump out and boom I'm acclerating easy as you like. The jumping makes you go upright. Even then it's not a struggle for me to acclerate, maybe because of my big ass and legs...
I notice Ben Johnson who also jumps out of the start gets upright pretty quickly too...and he has one of the fastest starts in history. Hey if it's good enough for Ben, it's good enough for me
This leaning forward drive phase crap feels strange to me anyway....

 

[coolcolj]

Thursday 10th November - Cycle 3 Get Lean+Maintain Strength - Week 2 - Day 3 - Upper + Lower Prehab/Depletion - Microcycle 5

Did this 2 hours after the above running session. A bad idea, as I didn't get enough meals in, mineral balance out of wack, calves started to cramp a bit on the leg curls..need some salt perhaps..

Apart from that, a good workout. I didn't expect anything special, since I had already did a lot of running etc. But the warmup complex with just blasting up and snappy like nothing, a good sign. Stronger all round!
Relative strength is up. Pullups felt quite comfortable for the first time in a long time. Usually when I overeach Chins/pullups are one of the first exercises to feel it. Hard to make progress on it for me the last couple of years. So this is a good sign when it starts to feel lighter.

Thought about working my abs, but after the running, military press, chins, and pushups they were pretty toasted!
Lots of pump too - wot low carbs?

Bodyweight at gym - 207lbs
Workout time - 1.5 hours
Workout rating - 8/10

General warmup -
1) dynamic swings etc
2) back extension BWx5 + 4 twisting to each alternate side
3) reverse hypers - BWx10
4) Situp complex on swiss ball
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 - 8 reps each, except cleans 5 reps, jerks 3 reps
6) Scapular pushups - on bench BWx15

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

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

Military Press - in Oly Shoes

Warmups - 45x10, 70x8, 95x5, 115x5, 135x1

Rotation 1) 140lbs x 9 (+5lbs +1rep)
Rotation 2) 140lbs x 8

Felt easier than last week, more weight and more reps on both sets.

Shoulder width Pullups

warmups - Pulldowns 30kgx10, 45kg x 8, 60kg x 5, 70kg x 1

Rotation 1) BW x 10 NEW PR!! +1rep
Rotation 2) BW x 7

A lot more comfortable than last week. I should be able to do 13-15chins now!

Decline Dumbell Tricep Extensions
warmups - 2kgx12, 6kg x10, 22lbs x5

Rotation 3) 40lbs x 8

Dumbell Curls
warmups - 2kgx10, 6kg x10, 22lbs x4

Rotation 3) 35lbs x 8

Closegrip Triangle Pushups

warmups - BW x 3
Rotation 3) BW x 23 (+3reps) strong, solid and stable

High angle rows - pulling with lower/mid traps and delts

warmups - 35lbs x 5
Rotation 3) 45lbs x 21 (+5lbs +1rep)


Prehab/Restorative - 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, nonstop - easy

Toe curls on lying leg curl machine - 1plate x 10, 2Px5
one legged - 1P x 12 each side

Standing Single Leg curl - 4plates x 10, 6P x 15 (semi ballistic)
These work the calves pretty good too...calves cramping!

Hip abduction/adduction on Keiser air machine - Level 3/3 x15, level 5/6 x 20

Dip Shrugs - On dip bars - lockout hold BWx10secs + 3reps, BW x 27

FacePulls 60lbs x 20 each side

Cuban Dumbell Snatch raises - 2kg x 10, 5kg x 20


ISO Stretches - EQI

Pec/subscap stretched ISO hold - 6kg dumbell x 1min

Lat stretched ISO hold on chin bar - leg supported x 1min

 

[coolcolj]

Hot night at first, hard to sleep, body was feeling hyper. Tired as a result, but apart from that I'm in decent spirits. Not even feeling drained.
Upper body is a bit achey, but lower body doesn't feel all that bad at all, just some aches in my lower calves and adductors

weighed 93.9kg 206.5lbs straight out of bed in underwear.

Starting carb loading last night hence the big jump on bodyweight. I'm pretty bloated, but I do look like I've leaned up a bit since yesterday. And I've gained some muscle mass too.

 

[coolcolj]

Need more sleep. Ticeps, and upper back still sore.

weighed 94.6kg 208lbs straight out of bed in underwear.

Damn bodyweight is way up. Definitely added some muscle mass.
Going low carb today to drop the water weight before BBall tommorrow. Then I'll carb up again after BBall until I go to sleep. And then back to the same deal as this week.

 

[coolcolj]

Feel weak and crappy.

weighed 93.9kg 206.5lbs straight out of bed in underwear.

Cut down the carbs a bit yesterday, bodyweight has dropped a bit, still damn to heavy! Plus I feel weak, crappy and tired. Have been for the last 3 days since I carb loaded.
I'm gonna stop this carb loading. Everytime I do it, I look like crap, feel like crap and get too heavy!! And then I lose all momentum on the fat loss front.
My body does not tolerate carbs very well, I felt much better when I was hanging around 100-150g of carbs everyday last year, sticking mostly to veges and meat.
I used to feel like I had chronic fatigue before, now I know it was because of the carbs...

So I'll just stick between low (60-70g carbs) and medium (100g-150g) days from now on.
I just don't know why I'm having so much problems in losing the fat! I'm hardly eating anything, drinking a lot of water and exercising a lot! Hell I'm even piling on quite a bit of musclemass to boot!!!! My system is f*cked up....

 

[coolcolj]

Sunday 13th November - Cycle 3 Get Lean+Maintain Strength - Week 3 - Day 1 - BBALL - Microcycle 5


Bodyweight at home - 207lbs in shorts and t-shirt
Workout time - 40mins
Workout rating - 8/10

Well today was realy nice, warm, sunny, but not too hot.
I was moving well, shooting nicely, nice crisp and snappy moves, solid ball control and really good agility. Only problem is that my jump is still nowhere near where it has been!!! Maybe a recovery issue, but feels more like a firing issue...
I could use more recovery though, damn I have so much crap going on in my life with training and my part time job!

On a postive note my one legged jump is much better, no more shin aches, and I'm using it a lot more now. And I'm getting some decent hang time on my 2 legged double clutch jump layups. I can snap up effortlessly on one side of the ring, fake a shot, hang in the air until I'm the other side and then scoop it in softly and actually have it go in...
Almost feels like I'm floating and gliding through the air when I do these and hang jumpers/hook shots with a slight twist in the air.

I need to loose some mass from my quads as well, they just feel like pumped balloons all the time. Guess I'll have to drop the squats for that to happen...