Creation of an Explosive Mofo - My Training Journal :)

[coolcolj]

Sunday 19th October 2008

no changes in weight or waist size, but I look leaner somehow.

weighed 89.1kg 196lbs this morning
waist is 34.5 inches around belly button

With this Body-Mass Index, Waist-to-Height Ratio and More...
it puts me at 14.6% bodyfat
Tanita scale = 23.2%


measurements straight out of bed
Wrist - 6 5/8 inches
Ankle - 8.75

Arms - flexed 15.25
Chest - lats flexed 43.5
Hips/Glutes - 40.5
Thighs - 27
Calves - flexed 16.5 (+1/8)

much the same as 2 weeks ago, except my calves have gone bigger since last week. No hard to see why, I've been making more of effort to stay on the balls of my feet

if I can keep things as it is now, until I hit 405x5 on the full squat, then I'm gonna start soar for a bulky guy. 455lb 1RM, enough horsepower for a 38 inch vertical jump and 42 off a run!

 

[coolcolj]

Saturday 25th October - Block 10 - Week 6 - Day 1

Did some foam rolling at home before heading to the court

Bodyweight = 89kg 196lbs in shorts and t-shirt

Outdoor BBall court Complex - one with 8 foot netball rims on the back of each hoop - Nike Free 7.0 Trainer


45 mins total

1) 1) did some dribbling, shooting, moves and low/medium intensity jumps and some dunks on the 8 foot netball rims for 30 mins

2) did max effort jumps of all types for another 15 mins, resting about a 30secs to 1.5min between jumps

felt a little run down like I have been feeling whenever I play on Saturday afternoons. I didn't feel like playing today at first, energy seem to leave me in the afternoon. But a 30 min nap helped a little

Anyway the usual crappy jumps
No energy, no pop, and nowhere near my current bests in any jump type. Real low across the board. I don't know what's going on..

Gonna have to go through my log and see what the circumstances were when I just jumping good. Right now I just feel weak, no explosion and power in my legs at all, even if I did squat a best of 365x4 last week....
One thing I have noticed, my quads feel a lot smaller. May have something to do with it, I don't know.

I last jumped my best on the 7th of September in the last block. d**n 1.5 months ago and it's been downhill ever since!! That's the week I squatted 325x6 for one all out set. Did a 31 inch vertical jump and about 35 off a run.

main thing though - the hyper feeling is not there, like when I jump my best

 

[coolcolj]

Sunday 26th October 2008

Feel ok, not too sore in the lower body. Upper traps are pretty hammered though

weighed 88.6kg 195lbs this morning
waist is 34.25 inches around belly button

With this Body-Mass Index, Waist-to-Height Ratio and More...
it puts me at 14.2% bodyfat
Tanita scale = 22.6% (-0.6%)

the last 3 days of accidental intermittent fasting did something
I've been so busy and occupied during the day I don't end up eating, and then I pig out at night to make up
Waist down 1/4 inch, body down a pound. 4-5lbs per inch of waist for me...looks about right. Judging by the measurements below, it's all fat.


measurements straight out of bed
Wrist - 6 5/8 inches
Ankle - 8.75
Neck - 16

Arms - flexed 15.25
Chest - lats flexed 43.5
Hips/Glutes - 41 (+0.5)
Thighs - 27
Calves - flexed 16.25

Waist is down, but no major changes anywhere, so mostly just visceral fat and maybe water loss. Who knows, but I look noticeable leaner.
Now my glutes went up half an inch. All this time I've been squatting in this block there were no changes, but on the week I drop the volume and rest up, plus get leaner, it jumps up.

Quads may feel smaller, but the mirror and tape measure says otherwise, they still look pretty darn big

The only thing I can think of that is causing a big drop in in my jumping, is the big increase in squatting volume/tonnage and load, in this block vs the last one. On the weeks where I only did one all out set on squats in the last block my jump improved or was near my recent bests.

Now I did deload a bit in the last week and a bit, volume wise, and took a good 9 days off any training, but I still don't feel explosive yet. I think it may take a further 1-3 weeks of reduced volume training, and maybe load, before I fully rebound back.

We'll see. I know one other guy who has the same issue, it takes him a good 3-4 weeks after heavy squatting, before his jump returns to it's peak or improves

 

[coolcolj]

Tuesday 28th October - Block 11 - Week 1 - Day 1 - Workout A

Starting a new block today - deload a bit, cut down the squatting volume so that my system can rebound back and jump at my full potential. Because of all the fatigue from the higher volume/tonnage from the last block, I'm jumping quite a bit lower than my last bests 1.5 months ago, 31 inch vertical jump, 35 inch running jump. On Top of that, since I'm around a 2xBW full squat, I'm good for a 33 inch VJ and 37 running jump now.
Hope to hit that in a few weeks time as my system freshens up, and maybe higher if I get stronger which would be logical as fatigue drops...

Body weight at gym - 200lbs
Workout time - 45 mins
Workout rating - 8/10

General warm up -

4 min moderate speed walk on treadmill

1 set each of my usual dynamic mobility exercises
behind the neck band pull aparts - green mini-band help 3/4 length 2x8
lateral deep lunge x8
situp complex on swiss ball
single leg RDL mobility + psoas activation walk
4 short runs of low effort prime times (stiff legged runs)

A few sets of hops in place - 2 legged and then single legged
3x10 seconds rope skipping - 2 legged then 5 reps single leg, each leg, then alternating legs - 30secs rest

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

Jumps

Did 6 sets of 3 jumps before I started squatting, and inbetween the earlier warmup sets up till 185lbs. First 3 sets were lower effort warmup ones, getting harder/higher each set

The highest few vertical jumps got my fingers an inch "into" the 9'8" ceiling in the stairwell. So a 29 inch VJ with my 7'4" reach. Felt pretty easy, but 2 inches lower than my recent best, and about 4 lower than where I should be for my strength levels.

The 3 step jumps in the video were obviously a lot higher off course. Banging my head way above the 8 feet ceiling

Felt pretty good overall. Hip flexors were tight today, felt a bit of resistance and pump from em when jumping



Low bar Full Back Squats - shoulder width stance - Oly Shoes - no Belt

in Nike Free 5.0 trainer - Bar x 8, 95lbs x3, 135x2, 185x2
switched to oly shoes 205x2, 225x2, 255x1, 285x1, 315x1, 335 x 2 sec support

335lbs x 6 (+1 rep) --> hard strain on last rep

Not bad, added one rep to my 335x5 back on the 16th September, and the 6th rep was not as hard as the 5th rep back then. Possibly one gut busting 7th rep in the tank. Since I haven't squatted in almost 2 weeks, no need to kill myself trying for it on the first workout back. 335x7 = 405lbs on the rep calculator
335x6 today = an easier 365x4, especially the last rep was really slow when I set that PR 2 weeks ago. So I think I've actually gotten a little stronger since then

Not bad considering the jumps I did earlier. The jumping did help me warmup faster.

---


Video of vertical jumps, and some 3 step jumps etc, plus main squat set

YouTube - 28th October 2008 - Jumps + Low Bar Full Squat 335lbs x 6

 

[coolcolj]

Feeling pretty good so far, soreness is down alot today, mostly in my spinal erectors, and some residual aches in my hammies and glutes.
A lot fresher feeling 2 days after my workout than in the last block.
Glutes are very active as well, they seemed to have turned off in the last block for some reason

I thought about doing some core and upper body work today, but I won't now. I'll slowly introduce them next week in my only gym session of the week i think

 

[coolcolj]

Saturday 1st November - Block 11 - Week 1 - Day 2

Did some foam rolling at home before heading to the court

Bodyweight = 89.8kg 197.5lbs in shorts and t-shirt

Gore Hill Outdoor BBall court - 9'7" - Nike Free 7.0 Trainer


45 mins total

1) 1) did some dribbling, shooting, moves and low/medium intensity jumps and for 25 mins

2) did max effort jumps of all types for another 20 mins, resting about a 30secs to 3 mins between jumps

Cool overcast day, getting sick of the usual court I go to, so decided to head to this court that is a slightly sloped surface. The rim is quite a lot lower, 9'7".
Only has one rim, the other side is broken

Felt ok, but posterior chain is still sore from last workout and my left spinal erector was feeling pretty strained. Feeling a little bit more explosive now, but definitely not fresh yet. I will have to lower the squat weights next session, down to 285lbs I think, around the 70% range and just do a 2x3 or something

I jumped ok, still not as high as I should be for my current strength levels, so still fatigued. But I didn't feel sluggish like in the last few BBall sessions.
Overall running jump was 2 inches higher than the last time I came here a few months back, so that's good, but it should be more like 6 inches higher.

Could get the middle of my hand on the rim off a slow short running jump, and touch the top with 2 hands. Tried dunking a small ball, and I can only roll it across the rim, not high enough yet to push it down.
Still I'm getting close to be able to start using the court for dunk practise instead of those ghetto 8 foot netball rims!
Standing and one step jumps about the same as last time, can curl finger tips over it standing and 2 knuckles over it off a step. Can't even touch the rim off a running one leg jump

Some skateboarders came by and interrupted things, a few tried jumping up, the shortest one there could get as high as me, touch wise, he was 5'8" a little shorter than me, but he is like a stick, said he weighed 70kg 154lbs, and when we compared reach, his arms could reach at least 3 inches higher than me! 7'7"-7'8" reach vs my 7'4".
So I'm still more powerful than him at 20kg 44lbs more bodyweight and 3-4 inches less reach, even in a fatigued state
Turns out he used to do a jumping program, and could get about 2 knuckles onto a 10 feet rim, about the same as my recent highest, but I'm due for 4 more inches when I'm fresh.

So this 5'8" guy has a 7'7"-7'8". And one of the 5'5" skaters had the same reach as me! Gives you an idea how stumpy my arms are at 5'8.5" with a 7'4" reach stretching up as hard as I can when warmed up.
So when a 6' - 6'1" guy claims a 7'8" reach I just don't think they measure it properly..... and that inflates their claimed verts.....

 

[coolcolj]

Sunday 2nd November 2008

Feel ok, upper back not as sore as it usually is. My posterior chain, hamstrings and spinal erectors especially are moderately sore.
Nothing else is too bad, but I didn't do as much jumping yesterday, longer rests between each jump and I left before I got too tired.
Going more for quality now.

weighed 89.5kg 197lbs this morning
waist is 34.5 inches around belly button

With this Body-Mass Index, Waist-to-Height Ratio and More...
it puts me at 14.5% bodyfat
Tanita scale = 23.5%(+0.9%)

measurements straight out of bed
Wrist - 6 5/8 inches
Ankle - 8.75
Neck - 15.5 (-0.5)


Arms - flexed 15.25
Forearms - flexed 12
Chest - lats flexed 43.5
Hips/Glutes - 41
Thighs - 27
Calves - flexed 16.25

Waist is back up to my usual 34.5, weight as well. Just regaining some lost water I suspect. Neck measurement down, I probably didn't measure it properly last week.
The usual BF% and weight range for me. So far so good, I'm maintaining things pretty well. If I can keep things here till I hit a 525lb full squat, 455x6, 425x8 then I'll be strong enough to reach my jump and dunk goals, and then lean down to 180lbs and fly! I want 405x8 at least though, regardless of when I hit my jump/dunk goals

I feel like I should keep going on ahead and pushing my squat up, instead of deloading fully and try and peak my jump. I really need to be squatting 2xBW for reps before I can jump decent. Deloading fully will waste precious weeks....

 

[coolcolj]

Tuesday 4th November - Block 11 - Week 2 - Day 1 - Workout A

Whether I wanted to or not, I was forced to really deload today!
Absolutely crappy workout. I felt crap and tired as hell on the way to the gym, and that's how the workout turned out.

Poor sleep and diet the last few days, to blame.

Body weight at gym - 199lbs
Workout time - 40 mins
Workout rating - 5/10

General warm up -

4 min moderate speed walk on treadmill

1 set each of my usual dynamic mobility exercises
behind the neck band pull aparts - green mini-band help 3/4 length 2x8
lateral deep lunge x8
situp complex on swiss ball
single leg RDL mobility + psoas activation walk
4 short runs of low effort prime times (stiff legged runs)

A few sets of hops in place - 2 legged and then single legged
3x10 seconds rope skipping - 2 legged then 5 reps single leg, each leg, then alternating legs - 30secs rest

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

Jumps

Did 6 sets of 2 jumps before I started squatting, and inbetween the earlier warmup sets up till 185lbs. First 3 sets were lower effort warmup ones, getting harder/higher each set

The highest jump was 3 inches under the 9'8" ceiling, 4 inches lower than last week - and 6 under my current best. A dismal 25 inches... 8 under where I should be! Jumps felt ok, just no lift.


Low bar Full Back Squats - shoulder width stance - Oly Shoes - no Belt

in Nike Free 5.0 trainer - Bar x 8, 95lbs x3, 135lbs 2x2, 185lbs 2x2
switched to oly shoes 205lbs 2x2, 225x2, 255x1, 285x1

285lbs x 2 --> hard strain on last rep

Well everything felt pretty bad compared to my better workouts. Weights felt heavy on my back, and form was crap.
285lbs felt like a 3RM! Stopped on the 2nd rep and left the gym straight away.
Should have stopped at 255lbs, as it felt really hard.

Goes to show, the nervous system controls everything.
Lack of strength is reflected directly in my lack of hops as well.

 

[coolcolj]

Got my first 7.5+ hour sleep last night, in a few weeks. Felt good, but I still feel crappy.
Need a week of this, and I should be jumping and squatting good.
7 hours is like the bare minimum for me.

The rot started a few weeks back.
Sleep is more important than food, and even what you do, when you train. Something that I need to keep hammering into my head.

You can even just sit on your bum all day, and get 5 hours sleep and feel like your overtrained after a few days, even if you didn't do anything!

 

[coolcolj]

Need more proof squatting is good for your hops?

quoting Kelly Baggett

In one instance I had a client that I felt had way too many movement dysfunctions to ever benefit from increased strength. The guy was fairly strong and thick but didn't move very smooth and anyone who watched him would probably say the same thing. In a little more than a year he'd gotten up to around a 300 pound squat, weighed 170 pounds and gone from a 22 to 26 inch vertical jump. At this point I thought if he ever wanted to further improve as an athlete the guy should spend most of his time working on mobility, activation, and movement work and less on strength training. At this point he decided to stop sports training and take up bodybuilding. A year later his bodyweight was up 20 pounds, his squat was up almost 100 pounds, and he hadn't done any sports or movement related stuff in almost a year. He then told me he wanted to get back into vert training and I fully expected him to look like a trainwreck. After a couple of weeks of deloading and working back into some jump training he proceeded to go out and hit a 35 inch jump and easily dunk for the first time, so obviously my original assumptions were wrong. After observing a couple of more instances like that I realized I'd fallen into functional overanalyzation trap of the modern day strength and conditioning coach. This type of movmement impairment overanlyzation doesn't take place in sports like gymnastics and martial arts but people still improve just fine. Train with good form, play your sport, become aware of what proper movement feels and looks like, and most of the activation stuff will work itself out. To clarify I'm also not against the use of various progressions to ensure good form like you like to use. What I'm against is the notion that training for athletes and training for people coming out of joint replacement surgery needs to be the same

He's 5'10 185. I'm not sure of his exact reach but it's not that high. I believe he has to jump around 30 inches just to hit the rim. One thing about him is his body-fat is still the same now at 185 as it was when he weighed 170. He went all the way up to 205 at one point and then spent about 6 months cutting down to 185. It was at that point he decided to get back into vert training. I was still really surprised with his progress but that goes to show you how important basic strengyh is

impressive gains, just from bodybuilding as well

as I said before, it doesn't matter how you get the strength,
muscle mass/strength is muscle mass and strength
A bigger muscle is a stronger muscle.

We all know that, but plenty of people are paranoid of gaining weight and using bodybuilding methods.
All strength training does is teach the body to use it's existing muscle size better.
And the strength gain will always out number the muscle mass increase weight, if you train right.

No matter how much you trick out a 2 litre 4 cyclinder engine, and try to make it more effecient and rev higher, it can never beat a 6 litre v12 for raw torque, even if the V12 is a lot bigger and heavier....

Horsepower is horsepower, just get it no matter how you do it. Then when you teach your body to apply it, movement efficiency, the end result is the same.