Creation of an Explosive Mofo - My Training Journal :)

[coolcolj]

Looking a little more fluid doing these movements as compared to before at your heavier bodyweight!

I thought that video was pretty funny, especially where the one guy was standing there looking at the skies while you jetted past.

That guy knew I was going to sprint down the lane, I think he was just trying to avoid looking at me doing it

yeah I'm surprised, even though I'm up 10+lbs I don't really feel it. The landings and footstrikes don't feel any worse than before. Obviously the extra food along with the boost in natural testosterone has to help
I'm been near starving for far too long, which has really hamstrung my metabolism and hormone levels. It's just about back to normal now.


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Don't feel too bad, no drained feeling that I can tell. A little achey all over, some of it is from my part-time job, mostly upper body. Ache in my lower leg/feet and upper hammies. But not as sore as I expectd. 10m sprints don't tax the body that much.

weighed 94.8kg 208.56lbs straight out of bed in underwear

Might go for a 25 min walk today and some easy stretching as I didn't do any yesterday after the workout just went straight home. Didn't need to as I felt pretty loose.

 

[coolcolj]

Tuesday 8th July - Cycle 3 Get Lean+Maintain Strength - Week 7 - Day 1 - Upper 2 Prehab_Rehab - Microcycle 9

I haven't updated the last couple of days, but I'm been a lazy bum playing Company of Heroes beta late into the night and not getting much quality sleep, food or water. And feel tight and achey for it...
Waking pulse has been in the usual 62 area, and waking weight between 94-95kg so no major changes.

Was going to do this workout yesterday, but I didn't for obvious reasons
Glad that I did skip a day as I felt pretty strong all round

Bodyweight at gym - 213lbs in winter clothing
Workout time - 1.5+ hours
Workout rating - 8/10

General warm up -

1) whole body dynamic stretches and swings
2) back extensions x6 + 6 twisting toe each side
3) situp complex on swiss ball
4) bar complex with 30lbs - slow hang clean pulls, press, GM onto toes, snatch grip press, and hang power clean
3) scapular push ups - on bench x 15


Rotating Sets between each exercise

Resting 1min on warm ups and 3 mins between each exercise on work sets, 3.5 mins at end of each rotation


16inch grip standing Military Press - pushed behind the head at the top

Warm ups - Bar x 8, 65lbs x 5, 95 x5, 115 x4, 135x1

controlled, 3 sec hold at top, 2 sec pause at bottom
Rotation 1) 145lbs x 5 --> medium strain on last rep (+10lbs -1rep)
Rotation 2) 145lbs x 4

Warmups felt lighter. Strong and solid, relaxed. Pausing is sure make me feel much stronger on these, I don't get freaked out when I step out of the rack and feel the weight like I used to. Guess my 1RM is about 190lbs.

Shoulder width Pull ups

warm ups - Shoulder width Pull downs, 2 sec hold on the last rep - 35kg x 10, 50kg x5, 60kg x4, 70kg x3, 80kg x1, Pullup x 1

controlled, 3 sec hold at top, 2 sec pause at bottom
Rotation 1) BW x 5
Rotation 2) BW x 5

Switched to pullups done like this, finally strong enough. Medium strain on last rep on both sets, so I should be able to go for 6 next session. Then I'll start adding some weight. Amazing that pullups no longer feel hard, no frantic jerking/swinging up and down to get the reps in. And my abs got one hell of workout! That's something you don't get from pulldowns

Dumbbell Bench - arms/elbows by side - neutral grip

warm ups - 15lbs x10, 30x6, 45x5, 55x5, 65x5,

controlled, 2 sec pause, shoulders pushed off bench at top
Rotation 1) 85lbs x 7 --> hard strain on last rep (+5lbs -1 rep)
Rotation 1) 85lbs x 7

First set was right on failure, 2nd set was not and felt much easier... meh need to warmup better. Strong and solid on both sets though

Dumbbell Curls

warm ups - 3kg x 10, 15lbs x 8, 35x5, 40x3, 45x1

controlled and strict
Rotation 1) 50lbs x 5 (+1rep)
Rotation 2) 45lbs x 6


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Cooldown - Restorative - ISO stretches

single arm Face Pulls - with slight hold - 70lbs x 15 (+10lbs -9 reps) quite hard

Subscap raises 4kg x 15 + 45 secs Pec/Subscap stretched ISO hold

Shoulder dislocates with wooden staff + few overhead squats - lots

static stretches for upper body/cuffs and some lower body

palms away and palms facing single arm, stretch/traction on chin bar, feet on floor

 

[ChinkNasty]

regarding your comment on warming up better for dumbbell bench...what else more could you have done to warmup? it seems like u warmup excessively for all your lifts and I've actually been warmin up more because of your log haha...I dunno, I just feel like sometimes I dont get enough of a warmup/ramp up workin before I attack a ME lift or working set, but i dont wanna exhaust too early either...

 

[coolcolj]

regarding your comment on warming up better for dumbbell bench...what else more could you have done to warmup? it seems like u warmup excessively for all your lifts and I've actually been warmin up more because of your log haha...I dunno, I just feel like sometimes I dont get enough of a warmup/ramp up workin before I attack a ME lift or working set, but i dont wanna exhaust too early either...

Just go up more gradually in the dumbell bench isntead of the big jumps. It takes a while for my CNS to get used to the feel of hevaier weights etc
Unless your a begineer, then warmup sets don't really tax you out that much unless you have really bad work capacity, they are submaximal after all.
Anyway just treat them as part of your workout. If your warmup is always the same then your still measuring progress.
I dunno, I find the stronger I get the more warmup sets I do. Just takes a while for the heat to build up. Warm muscles just fire better and get a stronger signal from the CNS

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anyway I've been a bum still, not much sleep, only 3.5 hours last night!
And not much food or water too, have to squat today, will be interesting....

 

[coolcolj]

http://www.crossfit.com/cf-journal/WLSTANDARDS.pdf

The standards presented in the following tables represent a performance that can be reasonably expected of an athlete at various levels of training advancement using standard full range-of-motion barbell exercises.

In the tables above, the term "untrained" refers to the expected level of strength in a healthy individual who has not trained on the exercise before but can perform it correctly. This represents the minimum level of strength required to maintain a reasonable quality of life in a sedentary individual.

"Novice" means a person training regularly for a period of 3-9 months. This strength level supports the demands of vigorous recreational activities.

An "intermediate" is a person who has engaged in regular training for up to two years. The intermediate level indicates some degree of specialization in the exercises and a high level of performance at the recreational level.

The term "advanced" refers to an individual with multi-year training experience with definite goals in the higher levels of competitive athletics. The term "elite" refers specifically to athletes competing in strength sports. Less than 1% of the weight training population will attain this

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With a slight drop fat down to 198lbs I'm already inbetween advanced and elite on most of these

I'm confident of hitting Elite level sooner or later

 

[coolcolj]

Thursday 10th August - Cycle 3 Get Lean+Maintain Strength - Week 7 - Day 2 - Lower Strength - Micro cycle 9

No zip in me with the 3.5 hours sleep, but I made the best of things and pushed myself quite hard. The warmup ISO holds were hard and a bit shakey. That told me strength was not going to be there today, but the worksets weren't too bad

Body weight at gym - 213.5lbs in winter clothing
Workout time - 1.5 hours
Workout rating - 6/10

General warm up -

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 full squat at bottom on toes

1) dynamic stretches and swings, rocking on side of ankle etc
2) back extension BWx5 + 4 twisting to each alternate side
3) sit up complex on swiss ball
5) various hops
6) bar complex with 30lbs - 5 reps each - slow hang clean pull onto toes, military press, explosive GM onto toes, snatch grip press, hang power clean

7) worked up to a few 90% effort vertical jumps


Full Squats - high bar, medium stance - Oly Shoes - no Belt

warm ups - alternated between front squats and back squats
front squats in sneakers - Bar x 5, 95x3, 135x3, 185x3
Semi-Explosive in sneakers - BWx8, Bar x 5, 95x4, 135x4, 185x4, 225x4
Controlled down explode up in oly shoes - 275x3, 295x1, 315x1

Controlled down, driven up hard - 6.5 mins rest
1) 335lbs x 4
2) 335lbs x 4
3) 335lbs x 4
4) 335lbs x 3

Strength down from my current best. Every single set was gut busting. Still
I was surprised to get as many sets as I could, because there is no way I could have done 5 reps today. VMO was tensing much harder than any other squat session.

Olys

Warmups -
in sneakers Powerclean + HangPowerclean 111lbs
Powerclean + HangPowerclean + high hang squatclean 111lbs x 2sets, 155lbs
Stiff arm clean pull + Powerclean 185lbs
Powerclean- 205, 225lbs

Just did these inbetween the warmup sets for squats. Went better than I expect, even though the speed wasn't quite there being so sleepy


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Rotating Sets between each exercise

Resting 1 min between each exercise

Standing Calf raise machine - BW for a few reps, 7 plates x 5 x 2 sets --> 5 sec hold, then a hold at top, middle and bottom

Lat Machine situp - BW x 10 (progressively lower each rep), +25lbs x 8

Single Leg curl - 4 plates x 5, 6Plates 2x10 -> deadstop

Toe curls on lying leg curl machine - 1 plate 2x10 with hold at top

 

[coolcolj]

Sunday 13th August - Cycle 3 Get Lean+Maintain Strength - Week 8 - Day 1 - Upper Strength - Micro cycle 8

Pretty good workout, still sore, but stronger all round. I had a 3 hour nap yesterday, 9 hours of sleep last night and I decided to take a 2 hour nap before training. Probably helped

Body weight was up, carb heavy meals today. Funny I weighed the same the last time I did this workout 10 days ago.

Body weight at gym - 216lbs in winter clothing
Workout time - 1.5 hours
Workout rating - 8/10

General warm up -

1) whole body dynamic stretches and swings
2) scapular push ups - on bench x 5, x12, on floor x 12


Rotating Sets between each exercise

Resting 1 to 2mins on warm ups and 3+ mins between each exercise on work sets

stretched the side of neck and upper trap, 15secs each, at the start of each warm up and work set rotation


16inch grip Bench - shoulders slightly tucked, no arch or leg drive

Warm ups - Explosive - Bar x 12, 95lbs x 8, 135x6, 165x5, 195x4, 225x1

controlled, no bounce, driven up hard
Rotation 1) 235lbs x 5 (+1 rep) --> medium strain on last rep
Rotation 2) 235lbs x 5 --> gut busting strain on last rep
Rotation 3) 235lbs x 4 --> just made the last rep

Warm up felt powerful, and work sets felt much easier, even though I'm still shakey with the crappy multi-curved bent bar. Had planned to do explosive sets with 195lbs, but I felt so much stronger that I had to see how much stronger I was, good decision
Some all out strains today, but I kept my form super-strict. Time to go up in weight!

Chest Supported T-Bar Rows - medium overhand grip

warm ups - explosive, 2 sec hold on last rep - BAR x12, +25lbs x 8, +45x5, +70x5, +90x3, +115x5, No hold +135x2, +160x1

controlled, 2 pause at bottom, 2sec hold at top
Rotation 1) Bar + 160lbs x 3
Rotation 2) Bar + 160lbs x 3
Rotation 3) Bar + 160lbs x 2

Changed things up a little, damn hard, glutes and spinal erectors tensing really hard as well.

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Rotating Sets between each exercise

Resting 1 min on warm ups and 2 mins between each exercise on work sets


Elbow on Knee single arm External Rotation - started from bottom

warm ups - 3kg x 8, 15lbs x 5, 22x1

controlled - 3 to 4 sec hold at parallel - 1 min between sides
Rotation 1) 25lbs x 4 -> max effort
Rotation 2) 25lbs x 8 --> done normally +3lbs New PR!

Not far to go to hit my goal, but the 5lb jump to 30lbs, which doesn't sound like much, requires a 20% increase in strength for such a small muscle group..


Dip Shrugs

warm ups - bench dip style x 10, regular 10sec Hold + 6 reps

2 sec hold at top pushing up hard - keeping chest high and shoulders back
Rotation 1) BW x 18 (+1 rep)
Rotation 2) BW x 14


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Cool down - Restorative - stretches

Static stretches - lats, shoulders, rear delt, bicep, tricep, cuffs and lower body

Shoulder dislocates with wooden staff - lots + a few overhead squats

 

[coolcolj]

Very slight drained feeling. Achey all over, upper body and spinal erectors pretty sore

weighed 95.9kg 2011lbs straight out of bed in underwear

Won't be doing any walking today as I have my lower body speed/power workout tommorrow.

 

[coolcolj]

Nice total amount of sleep, but the 8.5 main block was interrupted by some hoon in a WRX with a loud exhaust tearing around the neighbourhood....I can recognise that exahust sound anywhere...
Upper body and spinal erectors still sore, but legs feel pretty good.

weighed 94.6kg 208.1lbs straight out of bed in underwear

 

[The Shadow]

GREAT to see someone else who does the dip shrugs.....


you can do pulldown shrugs as well