Creation of an Explosive Mofo - My Training Journal :)

[coolcolj]

been doing some thinking

365lbs x 8 on full oly squats at 75kg 165lb bodyweight would give me near Squat Dr 46+ inch vertical type hops

squat Dr - 385lb powerclean at 210lbs = 1.8x BW

365lbs x 8 = 455lbs 1RM at least
455 x 0.65 = 295lbs power clean at 165lb = 1.78
455 x 0.43 = 195lb high catch power snatch

195 divided by 165lb (BW) = 1.18
1.18 x 39 inches (hip crease to lockout in high catch powersnatch for me) = 46 inches

so 46 inch vertical jump
I'd be really happy with 44

I know I can get down to 80kg 176lb at least. 165lb might be a push, we'll see

it seems to work out well for Squat DR himself. I believe he has a 600+lb oly squat. 600 x 0.43 = 258lb high catch power snatch
258 divided by 210lb (BW) = 1.23
1.23 x 39 = 48 inches

He said he can touch the top of the BBall square (11'6") off a standing vertical jump, with a standing reach of 7'6", and can get his head to the rim at least off a run, at 5'9" so it sounds about right

I've gotten close to 400lbs before, well my PR of 330x8 would be over 400lbs. 455 is a long shot, which leads to a 365lb front squat, well see....
My quads might end up too large though!

 

[coolcolj]

25th May 2008

Don't feel too bad - not even that sore even though I upped the volume of BBall stuff yesterday. Things are looking up.
My tweaked right foot muscle doesn't hurt at all?!

Pretty crap sleep though - I lay in bed for 8+ hours, but only about 3 hours of real deep sleep

Lots of heavy duty foam rolling and self myofascial massage today for whole body. Especially my mid and upper erectors with the tennis balls and thoracic spine. One area I haven't hit as hard yet. And my upper traps, gotta get that elevated shoulder girdle down.

weighed 85.7kg 188.5lbs this morning
waist is 33.75 inches measured loose - down 0.25 inches from 2 weeks ago

Like last Saturday I was invited to another birthday at a restaurant yesterday, pig out time! So my bodyweight this morning is a lot higher than it should be, from food and water weight. I thought I'd be fatter, but all that did was slow my progress in half still managed to drop 1/4 inch of the waist from 2 weeks back!
regular walking + foam rolling does burn enough calories after all
Finally under 34 inches. Only 4 more to go to reach my goal.
5lbs per inch of waist for me usually, should get me down to 165lbs.
then I might gain a few more back from all this lower body work.

With this http://home.fuse.net/clymer/bmi/
it puts me at 13.9% bodyfat. Down 0.5% from 2 weeks ago

Looks about right. I think I will wait till I get my waist to 33 before I take some progress pics. Still way too chubby for my tastes. Skinny fat...especially now that I have no upper body size...


took a few other measurements - height is 5'8.5"

waist 33.75
Wrist - right 6 5/8
Forearms - 12
Arms - 15
Neck - 15.5
chest - 42.5 - lats flared
Hips/Glutes - 39.5
Thighs - 26.5
Calves - 16
Ankle - 8.75

my arms are still holding steady with no direct arm work and not much upper body work as well.
Isn't the BB'er ideal neck=arm=calves? and arms = wrist+10inches?
Wrist will come down to 6 inches when I get lean, lots of fat there, and I just have to bring my arms back up to 16 inches. Not that I care

compared to my post from a few weeks back

I weighed 87.4kg 192.3lbs this morning

I took some cold measurements straight out of bed

waist 35 inches
Wrist - right 6 6/8 , left 6.5 inches
Forearms - 12 1/8
Arms - 15.25
Neck - 15.5
Hips/Glutes - 40.25
Thighs - 26.75
Knee - 15
Calves - 16 1/8
Ankle - 8.75
My left arm is actually leaner than my right side, hence the different wrist size

compared to back when I was around 215-220lbs
Wrist - 7
Forearms - 13
Arms - 16.75
Waist - 39+
Hips/Glutes - 43
Thighs - 29.75
Knee - 15
Calves - 17
Ankle - 9+

Big decreases everywhere. Some of it is muscle, but mostly fat. My upper body is smaller since I don't train it that much, mostly in my chest, but there is still a fair bit of muscle there. Legs still look pretty big.
I'm at the halfway point now, and will probably have a 5.75 - 6 inch wrist when I get down to a 29-30 inch waist. Yeah I have some pretty small bones and joints, almost like a female....
My dad's frame and bone structure literally dwarfs mine.....he's like a mesomorph. Guess I take after my mum, but I got my dad's legs and calves. Better for jumping and explosiveness I reckon


4 months or so after I started training - 2nd August 2002

around 180+lbs
Height - 5'8.5"
Wrist - 6.75
Forearms - 12 - 12.25 left/right
Arms - 14 7/8 - 15
Neck - 16
Waist - 33
Hips/Glutes - 39.5
Thighs - 25.75 - 26
Knee - 15
Calves - 16 - 16.25
Ankle - 9

 

[coolcolj]

whoops I got Squat Dr's or Alan Barch Jr's standing reach wrong it's 7'5"
that's him jumping incase your wondering who he is - the man can jump!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zizMVDaiBhU

 

[coolcolj]

What about Kelly Baggett?

He said he squatted around 400lbs or a touch over at 160-165lb bodyweight - I don't know the exact number when he was jumping at 42 inches. He told me a long time ago he powersnatched 165lbs without much practise at it, but I don't know how much he dipped to get under it

but 0.43 x 405 = 174
(174 divided by 160) x 39 = 42.4

it's pretty accurate you know
At least for me and a few others as we are all around 5'9"

 

[coolcolj]

a certain tension and ache in my back has gone after I "foam rolled my mid and upper back spinal erectors today with a tennis ball. I just lay on my back and inched my way down the spine, with the tennis ball on either side of the spine. Lay on the painful spots for a good 40secs to a minute each

my erectors were pretty damn tight, in a way stretching doesn't help with

The fastest kid I ever coached in my life, never ran track. He ran at 3/4 speed one day at the end of an off-season practice and hit an EASY 38 sec 300 with very little effort. That same kid ran a 10.5 FAT 100 the year after I left. Just showed up at the meet for the coach to try it out and ran a freakin 10.5 Fully Auto time. Of course it was really bad timing for this mentally weak kid. It was a very good meet and he got 3rd......never ran again. 42inch vertical....weighed 175lbs at 5 foot 9 and olympic squatted 440 ass to the floor. Incredible.......sorry for the rant.

more and more I am seeing a certain bodyweight, height and full oly squat strength level combo that gives a vertical over 40 inches

this many examples of guys jumping over 40 inches at 5'9" with certain strength ratios on the full olysquat must mean something

 

[coolcolj]

Tuesday 27th May - Micro Cycle 8 - Week 6 - Day 1

Pretty average workout, crappy sleep last night, but I made progress. A tad long, Sumo deadlifts to blame.

Body was achey during the workout. And afterwards my glutes and IT band felt tight'ish. So when I got home I used my proper foam roller and went over my lower body and upper back/lats 8 times. The foam roller is fairly soft and doesn't hurt me much anymore, except my IT band and outer quads. That made all the aches and tightness go away and I felt great afterwards. The cardboard roll and tennis ball would probably kill me

Body weight at gym - 192lbs in winter clothing
Workout time - 2 hours
Workout rating - 7/10

General warm up -

5 min moderate speed walk on treadmill
My hip flexor/glute activation move
1 set each of my usual dynamic mobility exercises
scapular pushup on bench x 8
behind the neck band pull aparts - green mini-band help 3/4 length 2x8
lateral deep lunge 1x8
situp complex on swiss ball
single leg RDL mobility + psoas activation walk

3x10 seconds rope skipping - 30secs rest

45lb oly bar complex - slow clean pull, GM onto toes, high hang powerclean, military press - 5 reps each


Full Front and Full Oly Back Squats - shoulder width stance - Oly Shoes - no Belt

alternating sets between front and back squats, 45 seconds rest between each. Then 2-3min rest between each pairing

warmups
Front Squats - in Nike Free 5.0 trainer - Bar x5, 95lbs x 3, 135x3, 185x3
Back Squats - in Nike Free 5.0 trainer - Bar x5, 95x4, 135x4, switched to oly shoes 185x4, 225x2

controlled
Back Squat - 255lbs x 8 --> hard grind on last rep

225x2 felt pretty easy, so I knew I had to up the weight 255lbs. No problems, just made the 8th rep. Been a long time since I had 255lbs on my back, and it finally feels good again, rather than scary heavy, unstable and plain bad like it has the last year or so. The foam rolling and self myofascial massage with tennis and golf balls has done a lot more than just make me looser....


Looks like I gained a rep from the 225x10 I did 2 weeks ago.
Rep calculator has me at a 315 lbs max, but I tend to squat 20lbs more.
335lb max, so at a 1.77x bodyweight squat now.
Front squat should around 265lbs, 80% of my oly back squat, seeing as 245x2 last week was pretty hard, it looks about right.

Gaining about 5lbs a week it seems. Not bad considering I am on a calorie deficit and only weight training once a week. Fairly low volume too, certainly nothing like 5x5, 3 times a week
BBall and jumping helps too, I suspect.....
110lbs from my goal of 365x8.... at least another 6 months away...
It's also gonna take that long for me to lean down to 165lbs, or <30inch waist whichever comes first. Just in time for some Christmas dunking maybe

Video of the main worksets of squats and deadlifts
right click on link and save first to avoid errors
http://www.members.optushome.com.au...acksquat255x8_SumoDeadlift329_2x3_27May08.mpg


rested 10 mins before deadlifting


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

3-4mins rest
explosive up, semi dropped down - 111lbs 2x3, 161x3, 198x3, 243x3, 293x1

explosive up, semi dropped down - outer feet lined up with outer rings. 4 mins rest
1) 329lbs x 3
2) 329lbs x 3

329lbs was pretty heavy, did have to strain a bit, and form was shoddy, especially on the 2nd set. Will go back down to 293lbs next time.
I do these just to keep my posterior chain up to snuff as my front and back squats rise. Plus they help my squat, a bit like a box squat actually

Deadlifts should be over 400lbs now. I always max out 70lbs over my oly back squat 1RM, even with my short arms. So over 2xBW bodyweight.


Extra stuff, Cool down, upper body and stretches


dip shrug - 5sec hold + 3 reps, BWx22 reps (+2 reps) with a slight hold at top on each rep

Upper body/shoulder prehab stuff 4kg dumbell x8 (+1kg)
Push ups on bench x6, on floor x 10 - paused top and bottom
Lying L-Flye cuff rotation
single arm Cuban rotation
single arm lying on back subscap rotation
single arm lying on side cross body raise
low pulley cable row to stomach with a hold - 30kg x 9


Side Plank hold
warmup - each side x 5 reps

40 secs each side - bitch'n hard

Leg lowering AB exercise - slow tempo
warmup - supported leg raise x 8
1.5 mins rest - 1x8 reps (+1 rep)
could get my legs all the way to floor without my lower back coming off the floor for the whole set

Lat machine situp
warmup - BW x12 - going progressively lower each rep
BW x 9 (+1 rep) - paused middle and bottom

pretty easy will add 10lbs next time

Stretching for whole body

 

[coolcolj]

My sleep problems were a result of a muscle or back spasm - mid spinal erector cramping up real tight

Same happened last night again - I wonder if the "foam rolling" is the cause. Like my body trying to realign itself and forcing some muscles to shift to a new length etc
Only does it when I lie down on my back, on the side is not as bad. Standing and sitting is fine... makes me almost don't want to lie down anymore....

--------------

crap sleep as I mentioned above, so I feel a liitle tired. Moderately sapped feeling from yesterday, but not drained like 2 weeks ago.
Moderately sore all over, but again not as bad as 2 weeks ago.

probably will not do any major foam rolling and massage today.
25 min walk and some mobility drills as usual

 

[coolcolj]

Again last night - I had terrible sleep - the pain was almost unbearable
My ribs, spine and all the muscles around em were hurting bad. On my back, or side, it didn't matter
Since I woke up so often I did remember some weird dreams...

It's almost like my body has been freed up a bit from the foam rolling and massage that the body is realigning my posture and forcing the muscles around my spine and ribs into positions they haven't been in for years and they're not liking it...
That's what you get for trying reverse bad posture and life patterns, along with scar tissue and adhesions from years of training ontop, in a short space of time.....I hope that 's it anyway...
It started 3-4 days ago. Hope it gets sorted soon, as I need the sleep bad!!

On the positive side - I did more massage with the tennis ball last night on my upper body - delts, deep into the shoulder with arms rasied, biceps, pecs, side of lats and back of the shoudler/scapular - and the pain in those areas is way down. I have to dig the tennis ball in deeper and harder to get 75% of the pain I had before, with a light tough.
The less pain I get, the better my range of motion seems to be.

Was able to finally do a scapular wall slide - cold - pain free in both shoulders. Still can't get my arms that high, but it's a start. When I can keep my arms against the wall and touch em together with my arms locked out above, then I can safely do jerks, behind the neck presses and snatches safely. And hang from a rim after a dunk
Although I'd want another 2 inches of shoulder range of motion for safetly. Enough to do an overhead squat with a narrow grip or shoulder press from the bottom of an oly fullsquat

Foam rolling and massage session planned today for lower body. Benchtop work for upper traps. Tennis ball work for the lower traps and glutes, which gets in there better than just using a roller. Did this last week and found a lot of trigger points in the main glute bulk, not just the glute medius

 

[coolcolj]

everyone seems to be on the high frequency bandwagon these days, from what I see, what about low frequency? It seems most people overreach from squatting pretty easily - I certainly do
My once a week workouts seem to work well right now, but what about every 10-14 days after you get past the late intermediate stage?

seems to work well for this guy - he is 5'8" 190lbs, drug free, and d**n strong for size 335lbs x 20 reps on rock bottom oly squats training once every 2 weeks. Strong core too...

even with a short rest inbetween each rep, that's impressive. I bet he could get at least 12 reps if done continuously
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jvq_8HpsOpA

I reckon his low frequency allows it to keep his quad size down relative to his strength levels and high reppage - good for us concerned with power to weight ratio

drop set in the same workout after the above!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jzesp5MaeEc

315x24 in a different workout
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wm2Hq7zH6kE


his comment

---

typical recent squat workout DONE ABOUT ONCE EVERY 2 WEEKS:

Warm-up:
135 x 35
225 x 30

stretch hips

Work sets:
315 x ~20
365 x fail (~10), 2 sets

Personal bests at various points (not all in the same workout!); bodyweight ~197lbs:
495 x 2, 475 x 5, 455 x 9, 405 x 17, 350 x 25, 315 x 32

----

Because that is the optimal interval for gains, as determined by experience. Actually, anywhere between 10 and 15 days works well but I will actually be weaker if I take less than 8 days between leg workouts.

----


something to ponder...

 

[coolcolj]

same sleep issues last night! My ribs and intercostals etc were painful. I woke up around 1am, and go tin some pain killer (panadol) and then I was able to fall asleep.

I figured out the cause - its the actual act of foam rolling and self massaging against the wall that is causing the extreme soreness!
Holding the positions on the foam roller and tennis ball against the wall is not unlike a plank or bridge hold for 40secs to over a min. The fatigue adds up...
The pain started when I did that massive 2 hour long full body foam roll session last week.

Gotta take a few days off to let the poor muscles recover

I also got to try out my dad's $4000 massage bed machine. It great for the back. It heats up the massage bit to 65 degrees, which you can feel through your clothes, nice and relaxing feeling. And then it slowly runs up and down your back from the tail bone to your upper neck. Hits the entire spinal erector. Really works the thoracic spine mobility well. Kinda hurts, it works pretty deep, but also relaxing at the same time. I almost fell asleep after the 40 min auto program
Definitely gonna use it every week now the day after my workout. You can use it for the lower body too if you want, and front etc

anyway body feels pretty good apart from my ribs, and sleep, hope to jump well tommorrow....