Creation of an Explosive Mofo - My Training Journal :)

[coolcolj]

Thursday 18th November - Week 9 - Hypertrophy - Day 3 - Whole Body - Afternoon

Good workout, productive and interesting
And I just know my posterior chain is gonna be one sore mofo tommorrow!
Feeling slightly stronger than last week already.
Combined my 2nd upper bodyworkout.

Workout Rating - 8/10
Workout time - 1.5 hours


Warmup+ CoreWork+Plyos

Did my general warmup - dynamic swings etc, and 10 reps with 25lb in various exercises - Hang slow cleanpull, military press, oly goodmorning, hang powerclean, snatch grip BN press

Rest - 30secs alternating between each exercise. 1min between pairs.

Twisting Back Extensions x8, +5kg 2x10
Incline situps with Russian twists to each side at the top - arms held outstretched x6, +5kg 2x8

Low Ankle Jumps - 3 x10secs
Romanian Deadlift Bottom position ISO hold - 40lbs x50secs


Olys

Warmups - Shoulder Dislocates with wooden staff,
Used bar for a few sets of Hnag Powercleans, powerjerks, SplitjerksHang PowerSnatches, FullSnatches, and Overhead squats complexes
Powerclean + PowerJerk + SplitJerk - 89lbs, 109lbs, 129lbs, 155lbs

Rest - 2 to 3 mins Hookgrip on Clean
Powerclean + PowerJerk + 2xSplitJerks - 155lbs x 4 sets

Interesting, the first hang powerclean I did with bar shot up like a bullet, must be due to the RDL ISO hold...hmm static dynamic..gives me an idea to use for the power phase

Been a while since I did PowerJerks with a decent load, and so form was iffy all round on the jerks, but got much better on the later sets. Upperbody felt stronger - 155lbs felt pretty "light" on my chesta nd lowering back down after each jerk. Improved fitness from the sprints made the mutiple jerks much easier.


SnatchGrip Deadlift Pulls onto Toes with a Shrug

Tempo 4351 rest - 3 mins HookGrip - hand 3 inches outside outer rings

155lbs 3x3 - 3 sec ISO hold one inch off the floor after first rep.

Snatch start position, 4 secs up using same form as a snatch pull with knee rebend, 1 second shrug hold on toes, lowered in 5 secs, pushing hips back (shins more vertical), 3 sec pause at bottom to reset Hookgrip, then 3 sec ISO hold an inch of the floor before going back up.

needless to say my forearms/grip was hammered!
Lats certainly felt it on the way down, but not in my hammies, but I can feel em hurting now...


Military Press in Oly Shoes

Warmups - Bar x 10, 75lbs x5
Tempo - 5251 - alternating sets with Chins 1.5mins rest between each

105lbs 2x5

Ouch...


Shoulder Width Chins

Tempo 5051 - alternating sets with Press 1.5mins rest between each

3 inch Square Bar - FullGrip thumbs around bar - BW x2 singles


Bits and Pieces
rest - 2mins

Bulgarian SplitSquat
Tempo 4050 40lbs in Dumbells 2x5 - Oh the pain! My VMO nearly cramped up!

Reverse Back Extensions
Tempo 1010 Spread Eagle BW x12
Tempo 3031 Normal BWx6 - slow tempo gave a nice stretching effect on the way up.


Then layed over a swiss ball face down to stetch out the erectors and open up the spine for a couple of mins

 

[Lord_Suston]

needless to say my forearms/grip was hammered!
Lats certainly felt it on the way down, but not in my hammies, but I can feel em hurting now...

Then layed over a swiss ball face down to stetch out the erectors and open up the spine for a couple of mins

lol, Nice man, you gonna be hurting from this one

 

[delldell2]

Your tempos are getting interesting. What is your reasoning for using extended concentrics and your other tempos?

Have you seen this article? http://www.stud.ntnu.no/studorg/styrke/program/v47_ecc.html

I tried doing reverse lunges with a 33x tempo and they killed my glutes, hamstrings, and quads worse than anything ever. Only 2x8 also.

 

[coolcolj]

Your tempos are getting interesting. What is your reasoning for using extended concentrics and your other tempos?

Have you seen this article? http://www.stud.ntnu.no/studorg/styrke/program/v47_ecc.html

I tried doing reverse lunges with a 33x tempo and they killed my glutes, hamstrings, and quads worse than anything ever. Only 2x8 also.

Slow tempos just for this week - for hypertrophy, and strength in a different way from the hypertrophy and strnegth you get from heavy weights and fast stuff.
What I have found is that when you get stronger from slow stuff, it makes holding things feel lighter, and maintaining loaded postural/body positions stances etc much easier. It goes back to the SAID principle. If you get stronger from slow movements, then you will feel stronger in similar situations and vice versa with faster stuff. The fast stuff doesn't help nearly as much with carrying stuff around and say pushing against someone for example. Anyway I can feel the difference already

I'm talking about concentric speeds BTW, eccentric speeds are something different all together. Its very hard to mainatin a slow concentric - at least for me
When you hit the sticking point - ouch!!!!

Anyway its a good idea to periodise lifting speeds. If you have read CT's various post on Conjugate Periodisation, you can see he advocates similar things. As does Poliquin - in fact he used 5050 tempo squats to beef up Jud Logan's powerclean from 400 to 440lbs in 21 weeks, and his VJ went up 3 inches too even though he gained 5lbs.
Also as I mentioned before, I'm doing this slower stuff to give my CNS a break with lighter weights and off course slower speeds.
The slow stuff taxes the muscular and energy systems much more than the CNS. As long as you don't go near failure.

Assistant lifts done slower is not a bad way to go.
Also when you go slower, you tend to target the synergists and smaller muscles used in the exercise. And my theory is that when you go slower, you spread the load more evenly on the muscles used, even if the overall tension is lower. I think when one goes fast, the stronger muscles generate the lions share of the force.
So my thinking is by going slower you can hit the weakpoints in the movement better - just my theory though
But so far it has proved to be correct from what I can see and notice



I'm surpringly not as sore as I thought I would be, but still sore, whole body
back and glutes are aching the most.

 

[coolcolj]

I guess the this 1 week Hypertrophy cycle worked because I have hit 98kg 215lbs straight out of bed the past 2 mornings, up from 96-97kg a week or so ago. I'll see if it stablises over the course of this week, where I switch over to strength work and make this extra bodywieght functional

 

[coolcolj]

Sunday 14th November - Week 10 - Strength - Day 1 - Lower Squat - Afternoon

Good workout overall, stomach was a bit full when I started though.

This week's target is Maximal Strength

Workout Rating - 8/10
Workout time - Not sure ?


Warmup+ CoreWork+Plyos

Did my general warmup - dynamic swings etc, and 10 reps with 25lb in various exercises - pull, press, oly goodmorning, snatch grip BN press, hang powerclean+powerjerk, full squat press

Rest - 30secs alternating between each exercise. 1min between pairs.

1) Back Extensions x8, With a twist to each side after rep 3 +5kg x10
2) Incline situps with Russian twists to each side at the top - arms held outstretched x8, +5kg x8

Low Ankle Jumps 3x10secs

Romanian Deadlift bottom position ISO hold - 40lbs x 1min


MidThigh Paused Hang PowerSnatch

Warmups - Shoulder Dislocates with wooden staff + some overhead squats
Bar for some Slow Snatches, BN snatch presses, Overhead squats and some Hang powersnatches
Midthigh Hang PowerSnatches Bar 2x3, 75lbs x3

Rest - 2 mins

Hookgrip on first rep
109lbs 4x2, 3 sec pause on each rep at mid thigh

High Hang Squat Snatch Bar x3

Form is getting better here, used a slightly wider grip than normal. Hard to hold with hookgrip tough, but made it much easier to dip down with it.
Squat snatches with bar felt good, perfect form as well as far as I could tell.
Flexibility improving all round

Full Olympic Back Squats - RAW in Oly Shoes

Warmup sets - resting 2mins
Bar x6, 95lbs x5, 135lbs x6
Tempo 10X0 rest - 3 mins

275lbs x3

Resting 1.5 to 2mins - 335lbs x 8 singles, failed on 9th single
stripped bar down to 135lbs and squatted it back up from the pins

Tempo 43X0 - Rest 30secs - 165lbs 4x3

Singles were heavy, but heavy in a good way, I felt in control of the weight and form was good. Just controlled it down and powered it up.
Squats felt very hippy today, mostly glutes as far as I could tell, no erector action either like normal. So form may have changed.
9th single just lost steam at the sticking point. Goal is to get 10 singles with 1.5 minutes rest between each.


Bits and Pieces
Alternating between each, rest - 1.5mins

GluteHam Raise on Incline Situp Board
Tempo 30X0 2x6 - using hand to help

Supported Hanging Leg Raise Extensions to Horizontal
Tempo 2010 BW 3x10 - using same leg stance as squat

------
then
Single Leg Back Extensions
Tempo 20X0 BW 2x20, 10 each leg.


Then layed over a swiss ball face down to stetch out the erectors and open up the spine for a couple of mins

 

[coolcolj]

clips from workout

Paused Midthigh Hang PowerSnatches - 109 4x3

Right click on link and save first to avoid errors!
http://www.members.optushome.com.au/blitzf...4x2_21Dec03.mpg

Full Oly squat singles - 335 x 9 singles

Right click on link and save first to avoid errors!
http://www.members.optushome.com.au/blitzf...les_21Dec03.mpg

 

[coolcolj]

Well I'm thinking about getting a bar for home, some stands, and a flat bench, and some spotter type racks, some cheaper bumpers just a few of the lighter plates for height, and regular plates.

I don't have much space for a platform or power rack - so I'll just do simple stuff at home like light power olys and high pulls, pulls, snatch/clean deadlifts, presses, rows etc . No room to jerk though, but power jerks I can do.

and then go to a proper oly gym - 2 days a week. It is further away though than my current regular gym, But at least I can drop the weights anytime I want to, use nice Elieko sets and maybe even get tips and coaching.

Sometimws I just wanna go downstairs and train, without leaving home - sigh

 

[Mike_Rojas]

Nice job on those squats. Have you maxed lately?

 

[coolcolj]

No, I don't think I want to max out yet, not until I can nail 405lbs


I think once I can hit 5 reps with 335lbs then I'll try it.