Creation of an Explosive Mofo - My Training Journal :)

[coolcolj]

Need more sleep, and I forgot to take my waking pulse. Man I look really tired, bags and all...
Still achey. Spinal erectors are sore, and my left hammie still a bit trashed up. So not sure if I will do deadlifts today like I had planned. See how it feels when I warmup. Forearms a bit sore and have blown up from the medball work it seems

weighed 92.5kg 203.5lbs straight out of bed in underwear

No change from yesterday, and I ate well below maintenance too...
Got the phospher jitters yesterday evening as well. Need some carbs in me, so time to load a bit.

 

[coolcolj]

Tuesday 31st January - Cycle 3 Get Lean+Maintain Strength - Week 6 Day 2 - Upper + Lower Strength DELOAD - Microcycle 6

Not a bad workout, but not great. Not really that much of a deload in hindsight. Bodyweight at the gym down a smidge.

Left hammie felt fine, I didn't even notice it during the warmups so went ahead with the deadlifts, which were the main item today. Did squats and powercleans to maintain things. ISO complex on the deads to "stiffen" up my system to balance out all the reactive, explosive and springy things I've been doing.


Bodyweight at gym - 206.5lbs
Workout time - 1.5+ hours
Workout rating - 7/10

General warmup -

20sec ISO holds - quarter squat, on toes, on heels (toes pulled up), hip back wide stance squat at parallel, on side of feet (for ankles), narrow fullsquat at bottom on toes

1) dynamic stretches and swings, rocking on side of ankle etc
2) reverse hypers - BWx10
3) back extension BWx6 + 6 twisting to each alternate side
4) situp complex on swissball
5) adductor/hammie stretch into back tumbells x10
6) usual bar complex with 30lbs

Rotating Sets between each exercise

Resting 3.5 mins between each exercise on work sets


Clean/RDL Deadlifts - in Oly Shoes - RAW - HookGrip

Warmups - done the same way as the worksets - 205lbs x1, 255x1,

Pulled up an inch, 3 sec ISO hold, pulled up, lower down to knee level RDL style, then 3 sec ISO hold
Rotation 1) 305lbs x 1
Rotation 2) 325lbs x 1
Rotation 3) 345lbs x 1 --> near limit, body shaking a bit, slight grind and form breakdown

These went pretty well, I'm stronger than I thought
Pretty hard though as you'd expect on the 2nd and 3rd set, ISO holds kick my ass! Slight bit of waveloading wth the powercleans


Powercleans

warmups - Powerclean + hangPowerclean - 133lbs, 155lbs

Rotation 1) Powerclean + MidThigh HangPowerclean - 155lbs
Rotation 2) Powerclean + HangPowerclean - 175lbs
Rotation 3) Powerclean - 185lbs --< chickened out on the hang powerclean...

Been a while since I did these so was a bit rusty. Was gonna do a hang powerclean with 185lbs, but didn't trust my grip on these crappy bent bars.
Crappy bars at my gym do not make olys feel too good unfortunately
But I've decided I officially suck at olys!
I just don't have the feel and mind set to do em right....


Full Oly Back Squats - in Oly Shoes - RAW

Warmups - semi explosive
rest - 1min between earlier sets, 2mins between later sets
BWx8, Bar x5, 95x5, 135x5, 185x5, 225x4, 255x2, 285x2
Frontsquat - Bar x5

Controlled
Rotation 1) 295lbs x 3
Rotation 2) 295lbs x 3
Rotation 3) 295lbs x 3

While I wasn't straining or grinding the squats, they still felt hard as hell. Even if it doesn't look it on video, but they felt really good form wise, pretty stable and solid. Best in a while. Maybe those lunging step-ups are helping, especially with the firing balance between the adductors and abductors.
Although I wasn't able to control the bottom half as much as I wanted, maybe due to my hammies being fried in the deadlift complex.

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clip of the 1st and 3rd deadlift worksets, 155lb powerclean set and last set of squats

right click on link and save first to avoid errors
http://www.members.optushome.com.au...ad305_345ISOComplex_PowerClean155_31Jan06.mpg

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Rotating Sets between each upper body exercise

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


Powerack Pullups - Ttumbless overhand grip

warmups - BW x 2

explosive
Rotation 1) BW x 2
Rotation 2) BW x 3

Elbow on Knee L-Fyle Extenal Rotations

Warmups - 4kg x8, 15lbs x 6,

starting from bottom, controlled - 2mins rest between each side
Rotation 1) 25lbs x 5 (+3lbs -4reps)

That felt pretty hard. I should have done a warmup set wth 20lbs x 2, like last week. As the jump from 15 to 25 was huge for such a small musclegroup!
Grip felt a bit trashed from the pullups too.

 

[coolcolj]

Crap sleep, what else is new? Gonna have to eat some small amount of carbs before bed to get that serotonin in me...
Mild drained feeling, overall achey feeling, but not really all the sore. Mostly in my upper back and erectors, but hams and glutes aren't that sore at all.

weighed 92.1kg 202.6lbs straight out of bed in underwear

Looking leaner. Can't wait to hit 90kg. Vertical Jump should be up 4 inches by then and I should be running way faster.

2x5 Reach, Roll and Lift
10min walk plus some light stretching

 

[Anthrax Invasion]

Gotta ask now...why the thumbless pullups? I actually do them this way as well, 'cause they're comfortable.

 

[coolcolj]

well it's just more comfortable and natural to do on a thick square powerack frame
Plus you don't swing around as much.
although you can beef up your thumb strength if you use a normal grive on the square powerrack frame

I remeber reading from Poliquin, saying that type of grip recruits the lats better. He has special pullup bars at his gyms, that have that type of grip/bar


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While the sleep was interrupted, and it felt much deeper and I slept in longer for once. I carbed up a bit yesterday and took about 20g of carbs at dinner. That made me nice and relaxed and so better sleep, which should get better tommorrow. Will keep this going everyday now, 20g of carbs on the last meal of the day. Might slow down the fat loss, but lots of deep sleep is more important

Spinal erectors and upper back still a bit trashed up

weighed 92.2kg 202.84lbs straight out of bed in underwear

I'm holding a lot of water from the carbs, look puffy, and my muscles have filled out, yet my bodyweight hardly went up at all. Nice! Lowest carbed bodyweight by far.

 

[Anthrax Invasion]

I don't see how it would make a difference in lat recruitment, honestly. Either way, I'll agree it's more comfortable and stick to doing 'em myself. Feels like it keeps my wrists neutral, too.

As for thumb strength, I get that from pinching clamps. No joke, it's part of the KTA program (and something I decided to assimilate with my grip training anyway) for dynamic thumb strength.

 

[coolcolj]

he meant the L-Shaped grip on square bar vs a regular round bar. There is better lat recruitment, you pull with your lats rather than the elbows and arms

 

[coolcolj]

Thursday 2nd February - Cycle 3 Get Lean+Maintain Strength - Week 6 DELOAD - Day 3 - Energy Work - Microcycle 6

Deloading so volume of runs is quite a bit lower. Felt nice and refreshed after
Pretty humid so was drenched in sweat!

Workout Rating - 8/10
Workout time - 30 mins

Warmup

warmup - 20sec ISO holds x 2 each - quarter squat, standing on toes, on heels (toes pulled up), hip back wide stance squat at parallel, on side of feet (for ankles), narrow fullsquat at bottom on toes.

dynamic stretches and swings, rocking on side of ankle, standing on one leg with eyes shut, various hops in place in bare feet at home.

Slow Jog - 50m x 4 - 1 mins rest, 40, 30, 20, 16 secs duration each

Run complex increasing in speed each run to 50% speed - 1.5 mins rest

2 sets - trying to stay as smooth, relaxed and fluid as possible
25m prime times (stiffed legged runs), 10m straight run, then into lateral run, right side 5m, left side 5m, into backwards run 5m, then three 360 pivots runs

2 sets - 4 dropsquats (hammie to parallel) sitting back, focusing on activating the hammies + 3 point start into 40m accleration runs to 70% speed - 1mins rest

then rest 2 mins

Tempo Runs + Energy Work

56 metres @ 70-80% speed - from casual standing start

rest = walk back to start - 1min
3 runs - lowest 10.03secs, highest 10.6 secs

then ran one lap around the football field - about 340m, did that in 1 min 8.81secs - 7.5 sec improvement over last week!

rested 2mins - did 3 more 56 metre intervals as above

Hee, big improvement on the 340m run! While my legs felt heavy from the carb bloat and I didn't feel explosive from fatigue from last workout, my lower legs felt nice and snappy. Better starts today, and I changed my armswing form. I usually do a sorta tricep extension, but today I kept my arms locked at 90 degrees with hands half closed, and that made the arm swing a lot shorter, sharper and snappier. Shoulders felt more relaxed and that powered everything up.

Plus on the last 2 runs, my legs were landing perfectly straight on the balls of my feet. Probbaly because I'm getting stronger, stiffer and lighter/leaner. A potent combo indeed

 

[Anthrax Invasion]

Ahh, then yes, I agree with that. It's much more difficult to pull with the arms that way. You can, but it's just not comfortable.

 

[coolcolj]

Thursday 26th January - Cycle 3 Get Lean+Maintain Strength - Week 6 DELOAD - Day 3 - Upper + Lower Prehab - Microcycle 6

Did this 1.5 hours after the above running session.

Damn forearms were hammered today!

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

General warmup -
1) dynamic swings etc
2) back extension BWx6 + 4 twisting to each alternate side
3) reverse hypers - BWx10
4) Situp complex on swiss ball
5) warmup complex with 30lb bar
6) scapular pushups - on bench x 12, on floor x 12

Rotating Sets between each exercise, one upper body exercise then one lower/mid toso move - all stopped short of failure

Resting 30secs on warmup sets, and then 10-30secs between each exercise and 1min after each complete rotation

Upper Body -

45 degree Chest Supported T-Bar Rows - overhand grip - warmups - Pulldowns 35kgx8, 50kg x5, Rows - 45lbs x 8, 70x5

Rotation 1) Bar +70lbs x 15
Rotation 2) Bar +70lbs x 15

Dip Shrugs - warmup - BW x 10sec hold, BW 2x5

2 sec hold at the top each rep
Rotation 1) BW+15lbs x 22 (+2reps)
Rotation 2) BW+15lbs x 20

Seated Cable Rop Pull to Neck - warmups - 10kg x5, 15kg x5

1 sec hold at the top each rep
Rotation 1) 20kg x 15
Rotation 2) 20kg x 13

Closegrip triangle Pushups - warmups - BW 2x3

Rotation 1) BW x 20
Rotation 2) BW x 20

Scapular Pullup Shrugs

Rotation 1) BWx20
Rotation 2) BWx20


Dumbell Curls - warmups - 4kg x8, 15lbs x5, 30lbs x5

Rotation 1) 35lbs x 11 (+1rep)
Rotation 2) 30lbs x 12


Lower/Mid torso -


Lunging Step-up on 12inch box - warmups - squats BWx8, Lunge StepUp 2x4

alternating between each side
Rotation 1) +30llbs in dumbells x 20
Rotation 2) +30lbs x 20

Lat Machine Situps - Warmups - BWx6, +10lbs x 5, 25lbs x5

dumbell on chest, 3sec ISO at the bottom of each rep.
Rotation 1) 65lbs x 8 (+5lbs)
Rotation 2) 65lbs x 8

Single Leg Back Extension - feet angled inwards - Warmups - BW 4x2

2sec Hold at the top on each rep - No rest between each side
Rotation 1) BW x 10
Rotation 2) BW x 10

Sideways situp on hyper bench - Warmups - BW 4x3

No rest between each side
Rotation 1) BW x 8
Rotation 2) BW x 8

Standing Single Leg curl - Warmups - 4plates x 5, 6P x3

deadstop, feet angled inwards
Rotation 1) 6Plates x 15
Rotation 2) 6Plates x 15

Toe curls on lying leg curl machine - warmups - 1plate x 12, 2P x10

Rotation 1) 2Plates x 20
Rotation 2) 2Plates x 20


CoolDown and Stretches

Dip/Pushup stretched ISO hold - knee supported x 1min
more for stretching my front delts

Pec/subscap stretched ISO hold on low incline bench - 5kg dumbells x 1min

Prone Cobra Hold - x 1min

bunch of static stretches