Creation of an Explosive Mofo - My Training Journal :)

[coolcolj]

Thursday 9th February - Cycle 3 Get Lean+Maintain Strength - Week 7 DELOAD - Day 3 - Energy Work - Microcycle 6

Cranked the volume up as I won't be hitting the gym after like normal.
Bodyweight was up, felt bloated, 205.7lbs in shorts and t-shirt, a bit heavier.
Felt crappy as well, but the workout went pretty well. Didn't sweat all that much compared to last week, even though I did double the amount of stuff and it was quite hot as well. Must be less humid....

Workout Rating - 8/10
Workout time - 1 hour all up including warmups

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, getting faster on each run

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 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% speed - from 3 point start
rest = walk back to start - 1min
1) 3 runs - all around 10.5 to 10.7secs

2) 340m run - ran one lap around the football field - 1 min 5.88secs - about 3 sec improvement over last week

2min rest

3) 3 x 56 metre intervals as above - times were slightly faster

4) 340m run - 1 min 5.88secs - exactly the same time as first one!

2min rest

5) 3 x 56 metre intervals as above - all around 10.25secs

Changed things up today as I wasn't planning to hit the gym after.
The first three 56m intervals felt pretty heavy and slow. Then the 340m run felt great, much faster than last week and it felt much more comfortable, nice and snappy strides. Just under 3 secs faster. Funny enough I got the exact same time on the 2nd 340m run! Although it felt slower and much harder. But I did run the first one a bit wider on one end, so the actual time there was probably 2 secs faster. 11+sec improvement in 3 sessions! I should be close to the 1 min mark next week

Also my form was improving on each successive 56m group of runs - I was getting higher of the ground, felt much more springy and bouncey and the times were getting faster even though I was getting more tired.
I had a think about it, and figured it's probbaly due to the contrast/post tetanic effect from the 340m runs, where the last 50m was slightly uphill and I'm tired so I have to fight to keep my form tight and run harder to keep the speed up.

I originally set it up like that because I found the 56m runs with 1 min rest allowed me to recover from the 340m run, while keeping my heartrate and energy expenditure up for my fat loss goals. But it looks like I created a wave loading effect with how I structured it by accident! Why straight load when you can waveload and get a 1+1=3 effect?

Upper body hit pretty good and pumped, front and back from my arm drive.
Shins a bit achey afterwards, but damn the volume is way up from where I was 1.5 years ago, and I'm much faster too. 2x200m runs used to kill me!Work capacity has been steadily increasing every training cycle. Having 13lbs less fat has to help as well
Another 20lbs more off and I'm gonna be on another level athletically....

 

[coolcolj]

hmm, the usual crap. Body is feeling ok

weighed 92.3kg 203lbs straight out of bed in underwear

Bodyweight is all over the place, but I am definitely leaning up everyday. I am gaining musclemass, most of it my legs I'm sure, as they are getting freaking huge relative to the rest of me. And some in my backside. Need to somehow cut down on the muscle gain. I must be the one of the few people that can gain lots of muscle mass on under 2000 calories, low carbs, and lots of energy work - hell even the running is adding muscle mass on me!

 

[Anthrax Invasion]

hmm, the usual crap. Body is feeling ok

weighed 92.3kg 203lbs straight out of bed in underwear

Bodyweight is all over the place, but I am definitely leaning up everyday. I am gaining musclemass, most of it my legs I'm sure, as they are getting freaking huge relative to the rest of me. And some in my backside. Need to somehow cut down on the muscle gain. I must be the one of the few people that can gain lots of muscle mass on under 2000 calories, low carbs, and lots of energy work - hell even the running is adding muscle mass on me!

Yes, boo-hoo for you. What a horrible plague you've got there, friend.

Lucky bastard. Keep it up though, then give us the progress pics - gotta see how much your fat ass shrinks down.

 

[coolcolj]

Yes, boo-hoo for you. What a horrible plague you've got there, friend.

Lucky bastard. Keep it up though, then give us the progress pics - gotta see how much your fat ass shrinks down.

well my legs are big enough as is, I don't particularly like my thighs rubbing together all the time!



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d**n neighbours and their past midnight chats and laughs in their backyard!!! Interrupted my sleep. Made the best of things.
Body is feeling somewhat snappy though.

weighed 92.1kg 202.6lbs straight out of bed in underwear
Seem to be holding water

 

[coolcolj]

Sunday 12th February - Cycle 3 Get Lean+Maintain Strength - Week 8 DELOAD - Day 1 - Energy/Prehab/Movement Efficiency work - Microcycle 6

Crap sleep and all, this was a pretty nice workout, but man was it hard!
Weighed 203.5lbs in shorts and t-shirt at the start of the workout after pissing quite a bit, so it has gone down a bit from where I used to be. Even my face became more drawn looking from the loss in water

Workout time - 35 mins not including warmup stuff
Session rating - 9/10

Reach, Roll and Lift move for lats and internal rotors - 2x5 for each side - 3 sec hold on lift part

warmup - 15 sec ISO holds x 2 each - 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.

- dynamic stretches and swings, rocking on side of ankle, standing on one leg with eyes shut
- scapular pushups against chair - BW 2x10, pushups against chair BWx5, pushups on swissball x3
- various hop patterns in place in bare feet, 10 reactive squats, 5 easy vertical jumps.
- A few practise reps of each of the exercises
- worked up to 2 maximal vertical jumps - see below


Done circuit style - 4 times through
10-20secs rest between each move - however long it takes me to get ready etc

1) 30secs of Burpees - jumping 27 inches - 85% effort, sticking the landing, about 10 reps.

2) 30secs of Shadow boxing - high intensity, concentrating on punch combos, but some footwork too and switching stances.

3) 12 x 12lb MedBall 2 handed Throwdowns - slight hop, throwing hard enough to bounce the medball to head height, 85% effort

4) 11 Swissball Pushups full extension at the top

5) 32 x 12lb MedBall twists in situp position - touching the floor on each side of the body as fast as possible

6) 2 minutes worth - 15 External L-Rotations, bent over 45 degree raises - 15 thumbs-up upwards, 15 out to side --> all with 1.25kg 2.75lb plates
slight hold at the bottom or top of each lift, deadstop

7) rest 1min, 1.5mins on last rotation

about 30+ mins all up

then I did
- 2 maximal vertical jumps

static stretches for the whole body, including my external rotors
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Very hard today - increased the intensity on the Burpee jumps, made sure my head was close to the ceiling, added 2 reps to medball throw downs, 1 rep to swissball pushups, and 2 reps to the twists. I was that close to shutting things down after the 3rd time through, but I gutted it out. Ouch
It's effective, but damn do you pay your dues!!!
Probably change things up next week when I start a new microcycle to keep things interesting and change the stimulus.

Did 2 max effort vertical jumps at the start and they were 2 inches higher than ever! Felt easy. But I also did 2 more post workout jumps after a 5min break, and they were exactly the same.....and so 2 inches higher than last weeks postworkout jumps as well!
Interesting, maybe my fresh jumps should be 1-2 inches higher still, but it maybe because I sweated out a lot of water, and so was lighter, but I did drink water after each rotation and had 3 glasses in the 5 min break before doing those jumps....
Although I wished I didn't do those post workout jumps - shins ached upon landing, obviously my lower legs are tired, no force absorption left.

Damn I'm pretty pleased with this gain, just from mostly fat/weight loss I figure. With a lot of energy work, crap sleep too, plus heavy strength work ontop! Down 4lbs, up 2 inches - the ratio is holding true still

I guess I'll keep the 2 max effort jumps there at the start. When I can get the top of the next brick, another 4 inches up, then I will taper things and switch to power/reactive work and max out my jump and short sprints. There should be another 1-3 inches extra on the vert from that. Then hit the BBall courts after that phase and see where I am, and enjoy my new athletic abilities for 2-3 weeks....should be good for an extra 6+ inches by then!

 

[coolcolj]

Mild worn out feeling. Not to sore, mostly in my lower back - from that 2min set of raises and laterals I think...

weighed 92.1kg 202.6lbs straight out of bed in underwear
Same as yesterday, but down 1lb from last week. Skin folds getting tighter.
Waist about the same, bigger spinal erectors I guess, but thighs are down 0.5 inch to 27.5 inches. The thinner they get the better

10min walk today

 

[coolcolj]

Tuesday 14th February - Cycle 3 Get Lean+Maintain Strength - Week 8 - Day 2 - Upper + Lower Strength DELOAD - Microcycle 6

OK workout, but didn't feel all that strong. Cut the volume down a bit.

Bodyweight at gym - 205.5lbs
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 3.5-4 mins between each exercise on work sets


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

Warmups - Powerclean + MidThigh hang Powerclean + HighHang SquatClean - Bar, 88lbs, 108lbs, 138lbs, 155lbs, 175lbs

done the same way as the worksets - 243lbs x1, 293x1, 293x1

Pulled up an inch, 3 sec ISO hold, pulled up, lower down to knee level RDL style, then 3 sec ISO hold
Rotation 1) 353lbs x 1 (+10lbs)
Rotation 2) 373lbs x 1 (+10lbs)

Pretty heavy I guess, 373lbs was near limit for me today. Hamstrings worked really hard on the way up. Upperback looked to have rounded quite a bit.

Cleans didn't feel all that fast and squat cleans had crappy form.
Bar was pretty crap too - spun better than the one I used last week, but it had multiple bends in different directions!

Full Oly Back Squats - in Oly Shoes - RAW

Warmups - semi explosive
rest - 1min between earlier sets, 2mins between later sets
BWx8, Bar x5, 95x5, 135x1, x4, 185x1, x4, 225x1, x3, 255x2, 285x2, 315x1
Frontsquat - Bar x5

Rotation 1) 325lbs x 2
Rotation 2) 325lbs x 2

Warmups didn't feel right today, crappy form. Main worksets were pretty gut busting. Could really feel my hamstrings work hard through the stick point.

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clip of squat and dead worksets

right click on link and save first to avoid errors
http://www.members.optushome.com.au...25x2x2_CleanDead353_373ISOComplex_14Feb06.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 - Thumbless overhand grip

warmups - 5 sec hang, BW 2x2

explosive
Rotation 1) BW x 5
Rotation 2) BW x 5

Elbow on Knee L-Fyle External Rotations

Warmups - 4kg x8, 15lbs x 6, 20x2

starting from bottom, controlled - 2mins rest between each side
Rotation 1) 25lbs x 7 (+3lbs - 4reps)

hard but good.

 

[coolcolj]

Had to get up early so not enough sleep...but what I did get was nice and deep. Carbs sure help
Tired, medium warm drained feeling. Low waking pulse though! 51 bpm
Soreness in my posterior chain, calves, lats and upperback.

weighed 92.7kg 203.94lbs straight out of bed in underwear

 

[coolcolj]

hmmm - maybe my drop in average heart rate is due to all my energy work - I did notice the drop started a week after I started those interval circuits...

http://www.t-nation.com/readTopic.do;jsessionid=2FBE61A7DFB8A55A2E5660B745C8483D.hydra?id=929615

• If your RHR is elevated by 3-5 BPM above baseline, you have a slight overexcitation of the sympathetic nervous system, which might indicate incomplete recovery from high intensity work.

• If your RHR is elevated by more than 6 BPM above baseline, there's a significant neural overstrain due to excessive high intensity work.

• If there's a drastic reduction in RHR compared to your baseline, this indicates CNS inhibition which is a sign of type II (addisonic) overtraining. This rarely occurs with strength athletes though; it's typically due to an excessive volume of endurance work.

 

[coolcolj]

Posterior chain and upper back still a bit sore. Legs feel kinda loose though

weighed 92.2kg 202.84lbs straight out of bed in underwear