Creation of an Explosive Mofo - My Training Journal :)

[coolcolj]

I was pretty sore yesterday afternoon, but much less now. Mostly in the lats, and forearms.
I weighed 101kg straight out of bed this morning, I normally weigh 98-99kg!!!
That's 222lbs, not sure what happened. Dunno if this is good or bad...
This is the heaviest I have ever weighed in my life!!

 

[coolcolj]

Sunday 2nd January - Cycle 2 Get Lean+Maintain Strength - Week 23 - Day 1 - Lower FATIGUE TOLERATION - Microcycle 5 - workout 5

Bodyweight up 3lbs for some reason...
Tough session, lots of straining that's for sure! Anyway I was gonna work up to 433lb on the Clean Deadlifts for a 2-3 rep PR, but my lower back was feeling a bit stiff and funny, most probably still fatigued from the Seated Pulley rows from 2 days ago, so I decided not to risk it, after working up to 353lbs. Substituted ISO hold FullSquats instead

Legs and hips felt better than in a while - Static Spring harmony - perfect balance between elasticty and stiffness in the tendons and muscles etc

Bodyweight at the gym - 224.5lbs
Workout Rating - 7/10
Workout time - 2.5 hours

Warmup

1) Twisting Back Extensions - BWx5 normal, and 4 twisted to each alternating sides.
2) Incline situps x5 + 4 with Russian twists to each side at the top - arms held outstretched
3) Ankle Jumps - 2x15

5) Olys - did one of each in between the warmup sets of the rest of the exercises

A few sets of stuff with the bar
PowerClean + HighHang SquatClean + Powerjerk - 89lbs
SquatClean + 2 Powerjerks - 89lbs
SquatClean + Powerjerks - 89lbs
PowerClean + HighHang SquatClean + Powerjerk - 119lbs
SquatClean + 2 Powerjerks - 119lbs
SquatClean + Powerjerk - 155lbs
PowerClean - 155lbs x 3 singles
SquatClean + Powerjerk - 175lbs
PowerClean + Powerjerk - 175lbs

PowerCleans - 195lbs, 205lbs, 215lbs

Jerk form with 175lbs was crappy. It seems there is a neural conflict between jumping and powerjerks. Think I might drop em for a while.
Powercleans felt really different. I was jumping again, and sometimes forward. SnatchPulls from recent workouts doing something I guess, and from all the jumping I'm doing
Was tempted to go for a new PR of 253lbs, but decided not too


Clean Deadlifts - 243lbs x 2, x1, 293lbs x 2 singles, 323x1, 353x1


Rotating between each exercise

rest - 30secs to 1 min for warmups. 1.5 to 2 mins between each exercise after warmups.


Clean Grip Front Squats - in Oly Shoes - RAW

Warmups - 185lbs x3, 225x2, 245x1, 265x1

Rotation 1a) 285lbs x 2
Rotation 1b) 295lbs x 1

90% of (85%BW+Session Max)
Rotation 2) 245lbs x 2
Rotation 3) 245lbs x 2
Rotation 4) 205lbs x 3 --> mistake, rested 2mins then 245lbs x3
Rotation 5) 245lbs x 3
Rotation 6) 245lbs x 3
Rotation 7) 245lbs x 2 --> failed on 3rd rep

Someone was using the powerrack, so I jumped straight to 185lbs since I was somewhat warmed by the squatcleans. But the singles didn't really warm me up properly for the attempt with 285lbs. Could have gotten 3 reps, but the crappy s-curved bent bar was slipping off. Tried to see if I could do 295lbs after a few mins rest, and the first felt hard, that it didn't seem likely so I only did a single. Been a while since I have done heavy frontsquats, so upper back was rounding a bit. 285x2 is a PR of sorts I guess.
Hard as usual


Standing Single Leg Curls

Warmup sets - Unmarked plates - 3Px3, 4Px3+5sec ISO, 7Px5sec ISO, 11Px5sec ISO

ISO - Held with legs slightly bent - 1min between each leg
Rotation 1) 16 Plates x 26secs
Rotation 2) 14 Plates x 30secs
Rotation 3) 14 Plates x 26secs
Rotation 4) 14 Plates x 23secs

Did left leg first, and the right leg always felt much harder, so I failed off the right.


Standing Calf Raise

Warmup sets - Unmarked plates - 7 Plates x 3 reps as per below

Up to top, 5 sec ISO held at top, middle and bottom, then repeat
Rotation 1) 10 Plates x 3 --> set time of about 55secs
Rotation 2) 10 Plates x 3
Rotation 3) 10 Plates x 3 --> started to burn real bad

These made my ankles feel really good. Old ankle sprains have reduced ROM in my right ankle, so these really helped. Plus some extra calf strength for force absorbtion hopefully.


Full Oly Back Squats - in Oly Shoes - RAW

Lower down, come up 2 inches, hold for 5 secs and then explode up

Rotation 2) 245lbs x 3 --> failed on 4th ISO

90% of (85%BW+Session Max)
Rotation 3) 205lbs x 3
Rotation 4) 205lbs x 3
Rotation 5) 205lbs x 3
Rotation 6) 205lbs x 2 --> failed on 3rd ISO

Painfully hard! I even got another guy I talk to sometimes to do them with me - said they are damn hard, but he liked them


Sideways Situp

warmups - BW x 10, +10lbs x 10

held for time, Plate on chest, 1 min between sides.

Rotation 1) 25lbs x 30 secs
Rotation 2) 25lbs x 30 secs
Rotation 3) 25lbs x 23 secs

Did the left side first, and again the right side following was always much harder

 

[coolcolj]

Right click on clip and save to avoid errors

Powercleans from today
http://www.members.optushome.com.au/blitzforce/Movies/CCJ_PowerCleans_195_205_215_2Jan05.mpg

 

[coolcolj]

So I managed to do 5 reps with my 1RM on Close Grip bench from the start of 2004. Hopefully I'll do the same with 315lbs by the end of 2005 at a lower bodyweight That will put my 1RM at around 365lbs if I achieve that.

Taking a week off before I train again, but I'll be doing some walks to help get the fat down

 

[ChinkNasty]

yo bro, I got a question...I used to read your journal all the time and I remember seeing that your bench press wasn't much at all and now I look at it and you're approaching 315? what kind of schemes are you using/splits to make gains like that?

 

[coolcolj]

pretty close to 315lbs now

Well there is no one magic routine I did. It's about training what you need to do at any point in time
For the first few months of last year I did mostly regular repping in all rep ranges, and I got up from that, but that stagnated pretty quickly and was slow going. That's what people normally do.
I then started doing more explosive stuff in conjuction with heavy ISO holds at the sticking point, and that boosted things nicely.

think of strength as a box, magnitude of force as the height and strain time/duration as the width.

explosive work increases height, and ISO and heavy stuff increases width.
So a bigger box increases strength and you want to aim for a square box - ie equal balance of mag and duration

People with tall narrow boxes move weights fast, but are extremely hit and miss, no strain ability. People with low, and wide boxes, are slow, but can grind the lifts for long periods of time. So work your weakness, while maintaining the other side till your balanced. 1+1=3
So see how you bench and train what you lack.

That's how I train now, I target the nervous system, isntead of muscles and metabolic fatigue

have a look at my log here and you will see what I did.

But I'll explain the way I'm training below

 

[coolcolj]

basicly I train 3 times a week, the usual Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday.
Alternating between upperbody and lower body.

I also have 2 different upper body workouts and 2 different lower body workouts. Which I alternate between. Workout one is the main one and workout 2 is the supportive one - usually one is more strength based and the other more speed based, but this a loose definition. Sometimes it could be speed on one and hypertrophy/work capacity on the other. Or strength on one and speed/hypertrophy on the other etc. It all depends on what I am lacking in.

And I use either of 2 volume structures in either upper or lower body workouts (they run separately)

1) 4 lower volume workouts with 4-5 days between each, followed by 1 high volume workout with a weeks rest

2) 6 lower volume workouts with 4-5 days between each, followed by 2 high volume workout with a weeks rest betwen each

I normally use the 1st option.

I circuit rotate all the exercises in my workouts - ie I do one set of each exercise, resting ebtween 1.5 to 2.5mins betwen each, depending on how many exercises there are.

Most importantly you will notice the volume in my workout volume per exercise, is autoregulated by % dropoffs. 4% for lower volume workouts and 10% for higher volume ones - plus I factor in the bodyweight into the exercise. Look at my workouts for this. I have been experimenting with different % numbers. But 4/10 work well for me right now

If its strength or rep type lift I go to failure. Basicly go to a max with whatever rep scheme I'm doing, then drop the weight based on the %, and keep going until I can't match the reps and stop. Other times I keep the weight the same but keep repping until I can't get a certain number of reps under the first maximal set.
With speed or explosive stuff, I base the dropoff on speed and form etc.
This keeps me from over or undertraining.

then I start a new training cycle and change it up to target my new weakness or training emphasis.

You could say I am training in a conjugate periodisation style, but nothing like Westside style, this is more like real conjugate periodisation ala the way some Russians did it
I sequentially attack and bring up my weakness, wether it be musclar or CNS wise. I sometimes let some motor qualities detrain so that when I come back to em, I will regain my former peaks and then PR in them. I train what is needed on a weekly basis, rather than what I want to do.

So you could say I train rather than just lift weights

 

[ChinkNasty]

wow, some STOUT thinking behind your gameplan...I like that shit, thanks a bunch for posting all of that up...good to see a brother tearing that shit up, keep up the good work man

peace,
CN

 

[Dreambrother]

Hi Col

Did left leg first, and the right leg always felt much harder, so I failed off the right.

Okay this one has always bothered me, do you continue rotations for unilateral exercises once one side has dropped off or do you stop once you have reached drop off?

 

[Dreambrother]

I thought I'd post two fantastic posts here from Adam Nelson, that he made on 'The Ring' in the past 2 days. When someone asked him about training with Poliquin.

Charles Poliquin

I've trained with Charles for over a year now. In fact,last year I flew to AZ once a month until I could no longer afford to do so. His programs strive for body balance through weight work. You do spend a lot of time training your decelerators and you do spend a lot of time training your accelerators, but the most important thing is achieving body balance. Body balance will prevent many injuries and (theoretically) improve overall athleticism.

In my training with Charles I got REAL strong. Charles' programs will get you very strong, and if you add in some additional stretching they are perfect. Someone mentioned the danger of loss of range of motion or decreasing flexibility when training decelerators. This is a valid concern. In truth, it took me many months of stretching before I regained most of my flexibility. However, in time I learned that it wasn't a problem with the weight work, it was problem with me. It takes a lot of discipline to spend an extra hour every day to stretch out. I wasn't that disciplined until it was almost to late. When I did stretch properly I produced big results (or fouled big results). The lead up to the Titan Games was the only time all last year where I felt I was able to stretch properly and lift properly. There, I threw some big bombs nearly 75'.

Anyway, Charles is pretty amazing. His programs are sweet and simple and no matter what kind of shape I'm in they kick my ass in the best way.

Adam