Creation of an Explosive Mofo - My Training Journal :)

[coolcolj]

Col, may I ask why you are focusing more on squatting for reps? Is this because of precaution for your joints, does heavy lifting do too much damage, or is it a change in philosophy?
Also, when you power snatch, why don't you focus on lifting from the hang (easier technique and immediate explosion required) or doing snatches with a clean grip (easier form and easier on the joints)?

I find I gain strength faster, easier and more reliable with higher reps.
Since 5RM = around 90% zone, I try and avoid that area because I burn out fast there. The heavier the lift and closer to 1RM, the less leeway you have with form breakdown, so less risk with lighter %
High % also tends to freak me out more, so that also drains me more as well.
Along with greater "damage" to th joints etc.

Having said that frontsquats I do every 2nd workout are pretty heavy for me

Just going back through my log, and training experience, the times I made the best gains were always with higher reps and lighter loads in the 70-80% area. And not going too long straining hard every workout.


I don't bother with oly lifts anymore, I find them pointless overall. If I do them it's just for fun. Saves me a lot of time, as I only do weights once a week right now, so i work on strength. When I bBall that's when i work on my power and speed/reactivity.
If you jumping regularly your already working on RFD, speed and reactivity in a specific manner. Especially if your speed/rate dominant person like me, where you transfer strength gains into power increases straight away

http://www.higher-faster-sports.com/olympiclifts.html

with snatches you definitely need good thoracic spine and shoulder mobility. If you stand and lean again a wall, and can't touch the back of the hands and arms against the wall when locked up overhead then your risking serious shoulder injury when you snatch, and you won't be able to dip down much.
I can't touch my arms agains the wall in the snatch position, so that rules out any snatching for me. Still fixing up my shoulders

 

[coolcolj]

Tuesday 3rd June - Micro Cycle 8 - Week 7 - Day 1

Ok workout, felt a bit funny, but body felt good overall. I felt less bloated and more slender. Bodyweight drop confirms that, and I looked leaner in the gym mirrors

Pretty tiring though today. Energy not as good as before, lacked the snappy feeling.

Body weight at gym - 191lbs in winter clothing
Workout time - 1.5 hours
Workout rating - 7/10

General warm up -

4 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
(skipped) behind the neck band pull aparts - green mini-band help 3/4 length 2x 8
lateral deep lunge x8
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 - no Belt - Nike Free 5.0 Trainer

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

warmups
Front Squats - Bar x5, 95lbs x 3, 135x3, 185x3, 225lbs x 3 sec hold
Back Squats - Bar x5, 95x4, 135x4, 185x4

controlled
Front Squat - 225lbs x 3
rest 1 min
Back Squat
1) 225lbs x 2
rest 4mins
2) 265lbs x 6 (+20lbs) --> hard strain on last rep
rest 5mins
3) 265lbs x 6 --> gut busting strain on last rep!

Did all sets in Nike Free 5.0 Trainer today, no oly shoes.
Legs felt nice, a kinda smooth loose feeling. Fronts on 225x3 felt strong and solid. The 3 sec hold a few minutes before helped a lot, felt much lighter on my shoulder. Will do that from now on.

Overdid the weight increase on back squats though, should have used 255lbs. Today is supposed to be a sub-maximal, volume session. 265 was right on the limit for 2x6. Will stay here the next time I do this workout in 2 weeks until I hit 275x8 on my other workout. But I'm gonna try for 255x2 on front squats in that workout.

Gotta learn from my past mistake, where I made over ambitious poundage jumps, and let the weight rule over form and function. I definitely used more quads and back today on the main worksets, compared to mostly glutes in the warmup sets....


Single Leg Lifts

1.5 mins rest between each side
single leg kneeling deadlift - 2 sec pause at bottom - BW x 5, 2x45lb dumbbells x 8

single leg RDL - 2 sec pause at bottom - bwx5, 2x45lbs dumbell x 8

Upped the total loads 20lbs. Well I was gonna use 80lbs, but the gym has no 40lb dumbbells. Well 90lbs was way too much, I really struggled to maintain form and it was meg hard!!!


Extra stuff, Cool down, upper body and stretches


dip shrug - 5sec hold + 3 reps, BW 24 reps (+2 reps) with a slight hold at top on each re

Upper body/shoulder prehab stuff 4kg dumbell x9 (+1rep)
Push up plus on floor x 12 (+2 reps) - paused top and bottom
Lying L-Flye cuff rotation
single arm seated Cuban rotation into press
single arm lying on back subscap rotation
single arm lying on side cross body raise
low pulley cable row to stomach - 30kg x 10


Side Plank hold
warmup - each side x 5 reps

45 secs each side - up 5 secs - hard as usual...

Lat machine situp
BW+10lbs x 8 - paused middle and bottom

jumped straight in as the planks warmed me up nicely, 10lbs was easy. going up to a 25lb plate next time. This exercise helps my front squat a ton!

Stretching for whole body
Noticed much less pain in my shoulders when semi-hanging from the chin bar

 

[coolcolj]

Well I feel mildly drained today - too much straining yesterday....
Slight hot/dry burning feeling in my lips ---> cortisol rise

My whole body is sore - upper hammies, glutes and lower spinal erectors the most, followed by calves, quads, abs/obliues and upper back.

Joints feel ok though, certainly nothing like they would feel like after such a session as yesterday, last year. Did a session on my Dad's massage bed for my back a few hours after training, so that helped as well.

 

[tehkevroy]

Full Squat:215lbs 6times.
Bodyweight:163lbs
Height:5'9 1/2
Standing vertical:25inch


How think Per how many lbs added on my 6 reps full squat will make me gain 1 inch of vertical?

 

[coolcolj]

Full Squat:215lbs 6times.
Bodyweight:163lbs
Height:5'9 1/2
Standing vertical:25inch


How think Per how many lbs added on my 6 reps full squat will make me gain 1 inch of vertical?

lets put my Vertical jump formula to work

215x6 = 250lbs 1 rep max with my rep calculator, if your explosive, you may max out 20lbs more, but lets use 250 for now

250 x 0.43 (high catch powersnatch % of full squat) = 107.5lbs

107.5 divided by your bodyweight = 0.66
0.66 x 39 inches = 25.7 inch vertical jump

damn, pretty accurate
So you VJ form is pretty decent

you can use this formula yourself to get a rough idea of strength levels needed.

Lets say you want a 38 inch VJ, while keeping the same weight, usually your bodyweight will go up a little though as you get stronger, but you can minimise this.

Just reverse the formula
38 inch VJ divided by 39 = 0.974
0.974 x 163 = 158.7lbs high catch power snatch
158.7 divided by 0.43 = 370lbs full squat

so you'll need to rep 320lbs x 6 on squats to get there
105lbs from where you are now. 38-25 = 13 inch gain
105 divided by 13 = 8lbs per inch

just a theory, it may not work out, but at least you have a guide

 

[coolcolj]

if you don't think strength training will help your hops read this -

I came across this Volleyballer's stats and posts


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

Age: 17
Years playing: 2

Height: 5' 11 3/4"
Weight: 146 lbs
Standing Reach: 7' 8 1/2"
Touch: 10'10"
Level of Play: high school
Squat: 305 lbs
Sumo Deadlift: 315 lbs



Quote:Well, before i ever lifted a weight or began to play volleyball i could touch 10' @ 5' 11". So i had pretty average vertical i guess, so i don't think that i'm exactly a "natural jumper". But my vertical has exploded ever since i started training westside barbell style(power lifting). I used to hate my weight, but then i found out it poses an advantage when i raised my strength to weight ratio. So my suggestions are training westside barbell style, or i have an ascending-descending power training. If anyone wants a copy of the ascending-descending power training routine, or info on the WSB routines, just PM me. Some people argue that you cannot build explosiveness in the weight room, but you cannot argue with results. I've seen a power lifter weigh a little over 300 pounds, about 5'10', with an 800+lb squat that could dunk a b-ball with two hands without taking an approach. The guy had about a 42" vertical, and all the training he did was in the weightroom. Watching that huge guy dunk made me a believer no doubt. I'll start a 7 week long training cycle next monday, and will post a log for it after every workout(it should be 9 weeks long, but i'm going on vacation for two weeks, and probably won't have anywhere to train).



well here's my results from training:

before:..............after:
weight: 146........weight: 157
touch: 10' 9.5".....touch: 11' 0.5"
squat: 305.........squat: 370(broke the school record with that one, but they wouldn't let me put my name up because i'm not in football...grrrr)
Sumo deadlift: 310...... deadlift: don't really know for sure because i haven't maxed out on this on yet, but i hit a set of 5 with 365 a month ago, so it should be in the low 400's
bench: 195.........bench:235

My weight at one point was 162, but i put on a little fat so i had to burn that off to get to my present weight

 

[tehkevroy]

Just reverse the formula
38 inch VJ divided by[[ 39 ]] = 0.974
0.974 x 163 = 158.7lbs high catch power snatch
158.7 divided by 0.43 = 370lbs full squat


is the [[ 39 ]] related by the height of a person or its just for your Formula?

 

[coolcolj]

it's the distance from the hip crease, before the bar shoots up to the catch position in a high catch powersnatch
as shown in the video of me doing it a few days back
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjPDJn0ZLiY

I'm around 5'9" so it's fairly standard catch height for most people. Taller people use a wider grip on the bar, so the distance ends up being about the same

 

[coolcolj]

also taller people with propotional leg lengths will generally jump higher than shorter people for a given level of strength. It's to do with the length of legs etc

so this formula works well for people around 5'9", if your shorter you'll need greater strength, and vice versa if your taller with longer thighs, femur

 

[coolcolj]

thought I'd post this here...

no matter how absurd and seemingly out of reach your dreams are, what's stopping you from achieving them?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdUUx5FdySs