Creation of an Explosive Mofo - My Training Journal :)

[coolcolj]

Tuesday 4th December - Micro Cycle 3 - Week 1 - Day 1


Starting a new training block today. Will change things around a bit next workout, things not going well right now.
Everything was pretty crappy today, maybe it's due to the calorie reduction, I dunno. Sucks, but I have a lot of fat to drop


Morning 25 jumps 20-30 seconds rest between each

warmup - continuous jump in place from deepish squat 3x3 - going higher and harder each time

15 at workplace
10 at home 8 mins later

Jumps were a lot lower! I was way off touching the garage light at home. I don't understand how I could be so low, when I touched it twice 2 workouts ago... Did too many jumps as well. Out of frustration I guess...


Body weight at gym - 205lbs
Workout time - 1 hour
Workout rating - 6/10

General warm up -

1 set each of my usual dynamic mobility exercises

Behind-the-Neck Band Pull-Aparts x 8 + band dislocates x 8.
with green jumpstretch band held 3/4 x 1 set, then 1/2 length x 1 set

back extension x 4, + 4 twisting to each side

situp complex on swiss ball

single leg kneeling deadlift BWx3

45lb oly bar complex - slow clean pull, press, GM onto toes, partial snatch grip press, hang powerclean, power jerk - 4 reps each, 3 reps on powerclean and power jerk


Military Press

did this together with the squat warmups

Bar x 5, 95lbs x 5

surprised I could do 95lbs reasonable well, since I haven't pressed in ages, and my upper body is weak as. Must be general strength carry over from the stuff I do at my part time job, and dip shrugs etc



Narrow stance Full Squats - Nike Free 5.0 Trainer shoes - no Belt

warm ups - bodyweight x 8, bar x8, 95lbs x 5, 135lbs x 3, 165x3, 195x2

controlled down, paused, explode up - 4 mins rest
1) 225lbs x 3
2) 225lbs x 3

Felt like crap and heavy as hell! Squats always feel like crap and unstable when I'm fatigue from jumping/sprinting.
My outer thighs/hips were killing me on the worksets, mostly when I sat back more instead of sitting straight down.
Going to have to cut back on squats and concentrate on my sumo deadlifts for the time being. My quads are excessively large as it is as well...


paused GM onto toes Bar x 3 + split leg Good morning - Bar x 3 each side



Sumo Deadlift - Nike Free 5.0 Trainer shoes - doubled overhand hooked grip

explosive up, semi dropped down - 89lbs x 3, 139x3, 155x3, 175x3

felt good, getting the hang of it. I line the outer edge of my feet on the outer rings. Didn't feel my lower back working at all today, unlike last workout - no pump or anything!
My upper and mid back was hammered though, and my rear obliques/glutes/hamstrings are on fire now.


Cool down, upper body and stretches

reverse hypers - BW x 15

bench dip shrug x 10

scapular dip shrug - 10sec hold + 3 reps, x13 reps

inverted rows - over hand shoulder width grip - 3rd lowest latch on smith machine - BW x 3, BW x 8

8 scapular pushups + push up plus x 11

Lat machine situp - progressively getting lower each rep - BW x 12,
with a pause at the middle and bottom - 10lbs on chest x 6

dumbbell curls with a pause at parallel - 4kg x 8, 8kg x 10

 

[coolcolj]

I'm sore as all over, especially my upper back, quads, glutes, hammies, calves and spinal erectors. I didn't notice my erectors working yesterday, but they are pretty sore today

Feel pretty drained as well, but at least my lips are not dry and swollen

 

[coolcolj]

glutes feel really powerful though. It's funny but I always notice I can lean over very easily and feel strong when I get up in the morning the day after I train, glutes do all the work, but on any other day, my lower back feels really weak and I need to be really careful first thing in the morning. Have to warmup more ebfore i can bend over and start lifting things. Very strange

 

[coolcolj]

Saturday 8th December - Micro Cycle 3 - Week 1 - Day 2


Interesting training day today - pretty good overall. Had some pretty good sleep overall the last few days, for me anyway, so that helps.



Morning 35 jumps 20-30 seconds rest between each

warmup - dynamic stretches etc, jump in place 3x3 - going higher and harder each time

8 at workplace - 3 standing, 5 one step jumps
2 at a low portable rim at a car park - 3 mins away - standing and one step
25 at BBall court nearby - 5 mins later

I think jumps were the same, hard to tell. Work capacity is better though.
I did 2 jumps at a car park in some office complex where somebody had setup a portable hoop chained to a pillar on the way back home. It must have been really low because I could get my forearm all the way up the rim

Decided to do the rest of the jumps at a nearby schoolyard BBall court, on the way home. No one there.
Even though the court is concrete, it felt easier on my body compared to jumping at home, on the pebbled sloped garage. So I did more of em.
It feels really different to do running jumps on a court, so it took a while to get the hang of it. The flatness of the court meant I can accelerate into a running jump much faster, and I find my timing and maybe my body can't handle full speed just yet. Plus there was sand here and there, slippery....might need to bring a broom with me next time....
Jumps seem to be 2 inches less than my recent best, but that's probably all down to the extra 10lbs of fat/bodyweight I'm carrying. Not too bad, when I'm so much weaker.

Last lot of jumps at the court were running jumps done interval style, almost like HITT, non stop. Got my breathing and sweat up. I wasn't jumping max effort, about 90% and staying fluid and relaxed, but I didn't seem to loose much jump height even then, about 1.5 inches. That's pretty cool, it feels much less tiring to jump like this.


Afternoon -

Body weight at gym - 205lbs
Workout time - 1 hour
Workout rating - 7/10

General warm up -

1 set each of my usual dynamic mobility exercises

Behind-the-Neck Band Pull-Aparts x 8 + band dislocates x 8.
with green jumpstretch band held 3/4 x 1 set, then 1/2 length x 1 set

back extension x 4, + 4 twisting to each side

situp complex on swiss ball

single leg kneeling deadlift BW 2x3



Narrow stance Full Squats - Nike Free 5.0 Trainer shoes - no Belt

warm ups - bodyweight x 8, bar x8, 95lbs x 5, 135lbs x 4, 185x3, 225x1

controlled down, paused, explode up - 4 mins rest
1) 225lbs x 6

Pretty hard, felt heavy on my back, last rep was pretty slow and strained. Sat back more, probably due to the sumo deadlifts changing my motor patterns. I guess I can do about 8-9 reps with this weight regular style.
So 1RM about 300lbs, and at least 80lbs off my personal best.


Sumo Deadlift - Nike Free 5.0 Trainer shoes - doubled overhand hooked grip

explosive up, semi dropped down - 111lbs x 3, 155x3, 185x3, 218x3, 243x3, 273x3

Felt good. Did more load and volume, due to these not having much time under tension or eccentric. 273lbs was starting to feel fairly heavy.
I would guess my 1RM is somewhere around 300-350lbs.
Personal best is 455lbs on conventional deadlifts with hookgrip in olyshoes, but I'm no where near that now.

I like sumo, it suits me much better. I can use my legs and hips better, good for explosiveness hops me thinks. Whereas in conventional deadlifts, it's more lower back and hammies, especially with my short arms.

Video - fastest concentric around 0.8secs, slowest was the first rep with 273lbs of just above 1 sec. The other reps of that set were faster though, so there must be some stretch reflex action going on. Will inch up to 315lbs while keeping the rep speed to 1sec or under.

right click on link and save first to avoid errors
http://www.members.optushome.com.au...Deadlift_185-273x3_Explosive_4sets_8Dec07.mpg


Cool down, upper body and stretches

snatch grip EDL stretched ISO hold - BAR x 1min - start at knee and end at the floor

Lat machine situp - progressively getting lower each rep - BW x 12

upper body and lower body stretches

 

[Tagio]

Sumos look comfortable and the reps are very fast and powerful

 

[coolcolj]

yeah they feel pretty good, much better than convential deadlifts or snatch grip deadlifts. I do have short arms, so these put me in a better position.


Well yesterday was the hardest day at my part time job in terms on length and volume of work. I did more jumps, I used heavier loads and more volume on the Sumo deadlifts... yet I don't feel drained, and barely sapped at all....
Unlike how I felt after the Tuesday workout. I think all the extra upper body work I do then is draining the crap out of me.
Logically I should put them on a separate day, but I hate training upper body and I'm not so motivated to go to the gym just to do 30mins of that stuff!

Don't feel that sore either compared to the other workout. Just an overall achey feeling. Upper back, upper/lower traps, and calves the most sore. Then spinal erectors, rear obliques, VMO and glutes to a lesser extent.
The lack of eccentrics in the Sumo deadlifts helps a lot.
I have strained something in my right neck/trap area though, it's not too bad.

Waist is down 0.5 inch since I started eating clean. 36 inches now
Bodyweight was 202lbs this morning straight out of bed in underwear.
So according to this http://home.fuse.net/clymer/bmi/ I'm now down to 17% bodyfat, yay
Tanita scale reads around 26.5% or 16.5% with correction

 

[coolcolj]

Tuesday 11th December - Micro Cycle 3 - Week 2 - Day 1


Didn't feel too bad, some soreness in my spinal erectors and hammies, but jump is well down. So I decided not to go to the gym today.
Still not recovered yet from the last workout. Need another day or two.

Starting to accumulate some fatigue, so will have to make some changes to the volume.


Morning 30 jumps 20-30 seconds rest between each

warmup - dynamic stretches etc, jump in place 3x3 - going higher and harder each time

10 at workplace
20 at BBall court nearby - 5 mins later

Cool day, so took longer to warmup. Jump was lower at workplace.
And same for at the BBall court. My running jumps wasn't too bad, about the same as last training day, just timing wasn't so good, I had at least 5 mistimes and aborted jumps. Standing jump was horrible though, way lower. I think about 2 inches lower. I tried hard, but the lift wasn't there.

That's probably the biggest difference between my standing and running jumps I've ever had, about 5 inches. I hope when I recover and my vertical jump goes back to where it was or higher, my running jump will maintain this difference...

Jump felt different today, definitely using my posterior chain more and not dipping down as much.

 

[coolcolj]

taking a short break, be back into it tomorrow

found this interesting link
http://sorinexforums.com/community/showthread.php?t=215

 

[coolcolj]

Tuesday 18th December - Micro Cycle 4 - Week 1 - Day 1


Started a new Microcycle today, will be more of a recovery block, relatively speaking. The week off helped, I feel much fresher in the gym session than I have in the past few weeks, but I'm not really all that recovered even then, so it will take a few more weeks to get back out of the hole from all these weeks of being overreached.

Balance was really good today on the single leg kneeling deadlifts, better than it has been since I started doing them! Balance goes to crap when I overreach.

Big drop in bodyweight, really tightened up the diet.
I thought the weights feeling heavier were due to the diet, but it was just me being overreached... I'm much lighter today, and yet I felt stronger than the last few weeks

Morning 35 jumps 20-30 seconds rest between each

warmup - dynamic stretches etc, jump in place 3x3 - going higher and harder each time

10 at workplace - 3 standing, 5 one step jumps
25 at BBall court nearby - 5 mins later
last 8 jumps were done continuously HITT style

I probably did a bit too many jumps today. Really went for it.
Jumps were half an inch or so higher, but I didn't maintain that 5inch difference between the standing and running/3 step jump, just 4 inches, which is ok. Bodyweight down a bit, so that helps as well.
Feeling quite a bit of stretch in the hamstrings at the bottom of the jumps.
A school kid was watching me

The potholes on the BBall court were filled, and the sand swept away - nice.
Now I discovered that that the side I was jumping on is much higher than I expected, that's why I said my jump was 2 inches lower than my recent best before my long layoff. Today the sun was in my face, so I used the other side and it's 2 inches lower. But it looks like both rims are mounted 2 inches higher on the backboard. So one side has the backboard 2 inches higher and the rim 2inches higher on top of that. And the side I used today has regulation height backboard and rim 2inches higher. So 10'4" and 10'2" I think!
I have jumped on the lower side last year, so now I have a better reference.
If I can dunk these rims, I can dunk it anywhere


Afternoon -

Body weight at gym - 201lbs
Workout time - 1 hour
Workout rating - 7/10

General warm up -

1 set each of my usual dynamic mobility exercises

Behind-the-Neck Band Pull-Aparts x 8 + band dislocates x 8.
with green jumpstretch band held 3/4 x 1 set, then 1/2 length x 1 set

back extension x 4, + 4 twisting to each side

situp complex on swiss ball

single leg kneeling deadlift BW x3

45lb oly bar complex - slow clean pull, press, GM onto toes, partial snatch grip press, hang powerclean, power jerk - 4 reps each, 3 reps on powerclean and power jerk


Narrow stance Full Squats - Nike Free 5.0 Trainer shoes - no Belt

warm ups - bodyweight x 8, bar x8, 135lbs x 5, 185x3, 225x1

controlled down, paused, explode up - 4 mins rest
1) 225lbs x 8

Did all these inbetween the earlier sets on the Sumo deadlifts
I did some big jumps on the warmup sets, unusual for me, just didn't feel as heavy as before. managed to get 2 more reps than last time before having to strain a bit on the 8th rep. Not too bad after all the jumping today.
Still feels hard though. Can probably get about 10-12 reps without the pause
So 1RM is about 335lbs


Sumo Deadlift - Nike Free 5.0 Trainer shoes - doubled overhand hooked grip

explosive up, semi dropped down - 133lbs x 3, 177x3, 218x3, 243x3, 273x3, 309x3

felt easier than last time, solid. Had to strain a bit of the 309lb x 3 set. Still felt semi-fast, but definitely within the 90% zone, so I guess 1RM around mid 300s. On that set I had to really drive my legs into the floor, contract the glutes and extend the hips to get the bar up. Something you just don't get with conventional or snatch grip deadlifts. Even squats too in way...
Surprised how hard that set worked my calves, they were tired and pumped after that set! I feel it in every muscle in my body just about.
Certainly works all the right muscles, but it remains to be seen if upping the numbers on this will improve my hops. Not going to be squatting too much in this block, so I'll get a good idea.
Who knows, these and jumping could improve my squat strength


Cool down, upper body and stretches


reverse hypers - BW x 15

bench dip shrug x 8

scapular dip shrug - 10sec hold + 3 reps, x15 reps

inverted rows - over hand slightly wider than shoulder width grip - 3rd lowest latch on smith machine - BW x 3, BW x 9

8 scapular pushups + push up plus x 10

Lat machine situp - progressively getting lower each rep - BW x 12,

dumbbell curls with a pause at parallel - 4kg x 8, 8kg x 9

 

[coolcolj]

Well I'm pretty achey all over. Glutes damn sore, followed by calves, hamstrings, upper back and VMO.
Feel pretty sapped, and midly drained. Lethargic...

I'm probably going to be only doing weights once a week in this block - On Tuesday, and just Jump/bBall on Saturday. May or may not keep the jumping on Tuesday morning, with lowered volume.
I need to recover from all this fatigue, which might take 3 weeks of reduced training.

Hope to get a nice rebound effect to slingshot gains