Creation of an Explosive Mofo - My Training Journal :)

[coolcolj]

I tell ya those snatch grip deads I did last week done slowly are potent!


My forearms measured 12.75 inches or so last week, this morning 13 1/8 inches.....!
Those 3inch square bar chins probbaly help too

Ha, arms are a smidgen over 16.5 inches too, up from 16 3/8

obviously hypertrophy week was a success

all cold BTW

 

[coolcolj]

Tuesday 23rd December - Maximal Strength - Week 10 - Day 2 - Upper Body 1 - Late Afternoon

A solid 8+ hours sleep last night was great, I felt good and hence workout was solid. Long but I felt good leaving the gym. I am getting stronger too.

Today, resting between sets of rows, I noticed that I'm really starting to dwarf the average gym goer in body bulk/overall size

Damn serratus and intercostals were trashed today, especially my left side. Rows hammered my posterior chain. Just about a whole body workout!

Workout time - 1.5 hours
Workout rating - 9/10

14inch Grip BenchPress

Warmups - 14inch grip Bar - 3 static holds for 10 secs each on the way down then x8, 5 sec lockout hold before starting the set 95x6,
Pushups on bench - 3 static holds for 10 secs each on the way down then x5,
5 sec lockout hold before starting the set 135x6

Tempo - 2010 - 185lbs x5

Tempo 20X0 - Rest 1.5 to 2mins
235lbs x 9 singles - failed on 9th single

Tempo 53X0 - Rest 30 to 40secs
135lbs 3x3 - 3 sec pause just off the chest

Interesting again I failed on the 9th single just like with Squats 2 days ago
I noticed on some singles with 235lbs, I would go out of groove and the bar speed slowed way down, and next single I'd move it much faster with everything in sync.


Rows
- alternating sets with bench 1.5 to 2 mins rest between each initally until singles

ReverseGrip Single Arm Dumbell Rows
warmup - 6kg - 3 position iso hold for 10 secs each then x5, 35lbs x5, 55lbsx5

Tempo 2010
75lbs x5, 95lbs x1

Tempo 30X0 - Rest 1.5 mins
105lbs x 9 singles

Easier than expected, weight too light.

Elbows out Single Arm Dumbell Rows
Tempo - 30X0 65lbs 2x5


Cuffs and Remedial work

30 degree Incline Dumbell Downward Side raises - face down
Tempo - 2010 rest - 2mins 8kg 2x10

Dumbell Bent Arm Cuban Snatch Raise
Tempo - 3010 5kg x15

Low Pulley L-Flyes on Free Motion Machine
Tempo - 2020 15lbs 2x10

Shoulder Dislocates with wooden staff - using snatch grip to stretch out pecs

 

[Tagio]

strong squats!

I'm trying out workouts based on sets with slow eccentrics this week aiming for hypertrophy, and it seems to be working really well as far as I can tell. forearms, hamstrings and erectors seem to have grown after just 2 workouts. I might stick with an alternating hypertrophy/power weeks program for a few months depending how it works out. the only thing is, i feel bad leaving the gym without doing some heavy triples on bench or full cleaning for some singles . oh well, next week

I seriously learn a lot from this thread.

 

[coolcolj]

thanks, I guess that's why I post it

Again I noticed that heavy singles don't tax the body anywhere near as much as my normal training. Much less msucle protein turnover, although I am slightly sore, it feels different.
More CNS stress, but even then my CNS doesn't feel anywhere near as drained as I normally have felt - plus yesterday's workout was longer than normal.

Go figure. I suppose the lower overall fatigue buildup and volume does help even though the weights/intensity is much higher.

But damn the rows made my posterior chain sore!

Also - Gym will be closed Thursday and Friday! So I may have to squeeze in tommorrow's workout in today and rest up over Christmas. Not ideal but you gotta do what you have to do.

Off course had I an oly bar at home with some plates then...

 

[coolcolj]

Thursday 25th December - Sprints, Plyos and MedBall - Week - Day 3 - Evening

Well gym is shut today and tommorrow, so this was not a bad day to do these, plus it helps burn the Christmas calories

stinking hot day!

Session time - ?

Warmup
Low ankle jumps 3x10secs
Medium 2x10secs
12lb Medball Pull-through Swings 2x5
Hip Flexor static stretch - 2x30secs each leg
A few jumps


Overhead MedBall Throws

rest - 2mins
12lb MedBall - 4 x 4 throws
5-10 secs between each rep to gather ball

Felt powerful. Upperbody got a nice workout too.

Plyos
Short Horizontal TuckJumps 2x5 + 40m jog


Sprints

rest - 2mins

2 x100m at 50%
2 x 50m gradual accleration runs
3 x 50m standing start full accleration runs
2 x 200m tempo runs at 55 secs pace.

speed felt decent, but slightly choppier form on full speed runs. Core was strong though. Slight twinge on the right hamstring on the standing start full accleration runs, but nothing serious.

 

[muscledog95]

Hey CCJ....looks like youve really made a science out of working out. I have a question though, I take it your a athlete of some sort. Are you a college athlete, weekend warrior or what? The reason I ask is, I think a lot of the stuff you do is unessarcy. Split squats, jump squats, cuban snatch something.lol This is by no way a bash on you, I just think you could get the same quality of results with just squats, especially if you are just trying to get the upper hand in weekend pickup games.

I know some college guys that all they do is squat, and its greatly increased their speed, jumping ability , and burst. Just my opinion. However, your results do speak for themsevles so it is working lolol

Happy holidays

 

[coolcolj]

I'm building up my base
I don't play ball much anymore anyway - all that effort with little improvement in qualities.
Nothing too scientific about my training, it's called periodisation.

Well everyone one has weaknesses, I'm working on mine
in fact everyone will have one leg stronger than the other, that is why I do single leg squats etc, plus they help my split jerk leg strength and balance. They also target the VMO and strengthen the hip flexor in the stretched position, which squats won't do.

Jumspquats for dynamic strength and reactivity. They help my jerk.

Cuban snatches are for balancing the effects of benching. Don't cry when your rounded shoulders and cuffs have impingment
They also help build up strength in certain muscles for snatches


I've been training over 2 years now.
I'm approaching double bodyweight fullsquats now, and I'm no light weight either so it's not like I don't have a strength base.
- again when your begineer or starting out, just doing strength work will help, but after a while you will need to work on speed and strength together to get better. The more advanced you get the more variety you need, and then more you need to work on speed strength means rather than strength.

Hey if those college guys are getting faster and jumping higher month after month, good on them, chances are they are not. Everything works but nothing works forever.
Squats alone will no longer do anything for my jumping, its way too slow now since I'm an intermediate advanced level jumper. Remeber there is more to jumping than just strength, I listed out al the components in a few threads - find where you are lacking and get better there.

Never forget the force velocity curve!

 

[coolcolj]

Sunday 28th November - Week 11 - Strength Speed - Day 1 - Olys - Afternoon

Well I wasn't sure what to do today since the Christmas Break disrupted things a lot, so I decide to do the workout I would have done next last week.
Max strength work last week certainly worked, I felt stronger today in my whole body. Workout hit my whole body.

Hammies, hip flexor and abducctors were still pretty sore from sprints 2 days ago!

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, snatch grip BN press, hang powerclean, Fullsquat press.

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

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

Bulgarian SplitSquat ISO hold - BW x 1min
this really hurt since my hip flexors were still sore from sprints.

Olys

Warmups - Shoulder Dislocates with wooden staff,
Used bar for a few sets of Hang Powercleans, powerjerks, Splitjerks and frontsquats
Powerclean + Frontsquat+ SplitJerk - 89lbs x 2sets, 109lbs
Powerclean + SplitJerk 129lbs, 155lbs

Rest - 1.5 to 2mins Hookgrip on Clean
Powerclean + SplitJerk - 155lbs, 175lbs
190lbs x 5 singles - missed 4th splitjerk, slightly short, dumped!
175lbs
155lbs (with 2 splitjerks)

Well I tried to think too much on the 4th splitjerk with 190lbs and didn't quite get it to lockout, dumped - damn it was loud!
Form still not quite there yet, but I certainly felt stronger from all the strength work I did last week. The jerks were going high enough that I barely split at all, like a powerjerk more or less, especially the 5th one
On some jerks, I didn't quite get the bar in the right position due to my bad body positioning and so lockout was not solid. Also rear foot is still turned outwards

Cleangrip Frontsquats - RAW - In Oly Shoes

Warmups - Bar x5, 95x5, 135x5, 185x3
Tempo 10X0 rest - 1.5 mins Hand holding bar

225lbs x1,
245 x1 - back rounded, almost blacked out
225lbs x 4 singles , 195 x 3
Full backsquat 135x6

Well it's been a while since I did frontsquated from the rack, and they were uncomfortable. Foot stance and grip is totally different from when I rack cleans. I just can't get it to feel the same. Cleans feel comfy
No problems for legs, but upperbody just can't support the loads. 245lbs was no problem for legs, but upperback rounded and I started to black out.
Much work to do here. Probbaly better off frontsquatting from a clean


Remedial

Low Pulley L-Flyes on Free Motion machine
No rest - alternating sides
10lbs x12, x10

Reverse Back Extensions
Tempo 1010 BW x12


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

 

[coolcolj]

Clip from today

Powerclean + Split Jerk 190lbs x 5 singles

Right click on link and save first to avoid errors!
http://www.members.optushome.com.au...PowerClean+SplitJerks190_5Singles_28Dec03.mpg

 

[coolcolj]

Monday 29th December 2003

Was gonna do an upperbody workout today

My CNS felt slightly smacked out, but I figured it wasn't too bad. So I went to the gym and warmed up on bench and rows, but once I tried 95lbs on the bench it felt somewhat heavy so I finished it off there.

In the past I would have stubbornly went through the session, but I have learnt from past mistakes, so I wisely stopped it. Quality over quantity
I will have to keep cutting things down until I can do a session without killing my CNS relatively speaking. More sleep would help too!


I did some shoulder dislocates to stretch the pecs and shoulders before leaving the gym, flexibility is getting pretty good now. I can pretty much rotate the bar all the way around with my snatch width grip and elbows locked. But I'm going to keep going until I can get get my clean grip more behind my head so jerking will be better