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Creation of an Explosive Mofo - My Training Journal :)

that was pretty close to max for that day, I have done 295lbs before, so I'm close, but I am definitely weaker than before, back then I also did 285x2, although the 2nd rep was a long ass grind, and 275x3

see if I can regain that as I lean up...
 
Thursday 28th April - Cycle 3 Get Lean+Maintain Strength - Week 5 DELOAD - Day 3 Morning - Tempo and Energy Work - Microcycle 1

Bodweight at home - 216.5lbs
Workout Rating - 7/10
Workout time - 30 mins all up

Warmup

warmup - dynamic swings
RFI hops - 2 legged alternating forward/back and side to side
SplitLeg front to back and side to side

Run complex 50m forward and back x 5 - increasing in speed each run - 1.5 mins rest

straight run, into lateral run leftside, then rightside, back into forward run, rotate into backwards run, rotate back to front. Turn around, repeat back to start

then 50m accleration runs to 60% speed 2x2 - 2mins rest


Tempo Runs + Energy Work

105+ metres @ 60% speed with proper standing start
Walk back to start = rest 1.5 mins
1) 23 secs
2) 22 secs

One less run than last session, 2 days ago, a tiny bit slower, but I did em in my sneakers today, left my touch football shoes at home.
Finally able to do 2 sessions of tempo stuff in a week without shin/feet issues. Lighter bodyweight and stronger lower leg/feet is definitely noticable, more zip and spring. Definitely becoming more of a pull/hammie runner than a push/quad+glute runner. Another 5lbs of fat off, and I'll really start to motor!
 
Thursday 28th April - Cycle 3 Get Lean+Maintain Strength - Week 5 DELOAD- Day 3 Evening - Lower - Microcycle 1

Good workout, felt ok, despite the fact I did run this morning. Strength was Ok too. Looks like I'm not getting weaker, if anything my lower body is slightly stronger than a month ago.

Bodyweight at the gym - 220lbs
Workout Rating - 9/10
Workout time - ?

reverse backextension BWx8
situp complex on swissball
back extension BWx6 + 6 twisting to each alternate side
warmup complex with 30lb bar

Rotating Sets between each exercise

Resting 30secs to 1min on warmup sets and then 3 mins between each exercise

Athletic Full Back Squats - in Oly Shoes - RAW

Warmups - semi explosive - BWx5, Bar x5, 95lbs 2x5, 135x5, 185lbs 2x3, 225lbs 2x2, 275x2, x1, 315x1

resting 3.5-4mins between the heavier singles
Rotation 1) 335lbs x 1
Rotation 2) 365lbs x 1 - 1.667 sec concentric, 3.267 sec total time
Rotation 3) 340lbs x 1
Rotation 4) 375lbs x 1 - 1.934 sec concentric, 3.667 sec total time
Rotation 5) 345lbs x 1 - 1.333 sec concentric, 3 sec total time

Again I used a bit of waveloading. I was definitely worried I wouldn't be able to hit 375lbs, because 365 wasn't that easy. But I nailed it. 375lbs was a bit wobbly on the way down for some reason, slight grind on the way up. Stopped at the 2nd wave, 345lbs felt much easier than 340lbs, so maybe I could have tried 385lbs to equal my PR.
Form on the 2 heaviest weights was much better than a few weeks back, none of that good morning type thing on the way up. Guess that means my hammies are a bit stronger now - not a surprise given the stuff I have been doing, tempo/agility/backward running, jumping and split leg RDLs etc. Looks like my hammies have been the weak link all this time. Will try for 385 in a few weeks time, more of the same till then I guess.

Lets see if I can get my fullsquat to 425lbs as I lean down to 185-190lbs, a smidgen over double bodyweight. That will allow me to clean deadlift 500lbs raw as well. That should give me enough base strength to vertical jump over 40 inches and acclerate like a scalded cat. Well I'd be upset if I don't, at 185lbs, considering I can already jump a bit over 30inches at a flabby 220lbs! Ideally I want a 44inch standing VJ, so I can dunk 2 handed standing under the ring, which would rock at 5'9" :)


Snatch Grip Deadlift - RAW - Hookgrip

warmups - 89lbs x 2+3sec ISO, 155lbs 2x1+3sec ISO, 205x1+3sec ISO

Deadlifted up and lower to ISO an inch off the floor
Rotation 4) 255lbs x 1 + 10 sec ISO
Rotation 5) 295lbs x 1 + 10 sec ISO

A bit stronger than a few weeks back, and after heavy squats too. Looks like my max is still around 385lbs, if my grip holds that is


Lat Machine Situps

warmups - BWx 8, paused+ explode - BWx3, 10lbs x3, 25lbs x3

Lower down, 3 sec ISO hold just above parallel, explode
Rotation 4) 55lbs x 3
Rotation 5) 55lbs x 3


Cooldown

Oly Fullsquats 185x12 - 2 sec pause at the bottom
Standing Single Leg curl - 5plates x 12 - 2 sec pause at the bottom
Reverse Back extensions - BWx12

Bulgarian splitsquat stretched ISO hold - BW x 35secs
Calf raise stretched ISO hold - 4 playes x 35secs
Medium stance snatch RDL stretch ISO hold - bar x 35secs - from knee down to floor

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

clip from today

Right click on clip and save to avoid errors

squats, snatch grip deadlift

http://www.members.optushome.com.au...5_345_SnatchGripDeadlift+ISO295_28April05.mpg
 
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Reactions: Cut
d**n I'm really sore now! Upper hammies especially!

I did some single leg quarter squat ISO holds today to get some blood flow into my legs and work the VMO and ankle muscles a bit. Not quite a proper ISO as the balance requirements cause the whole body to flex on and off to stablise. Seems to work well for the reasons I'm doing em - just a few 10sec holds though
Might even work well as a lower body type warmup before one gets into the dynamic stretches etc
 
Wow, most of the overall soreness is gone, hammies and adductors still a bit sore though, but I have never recovered from that much overall soreness so quickly before! Feeling pretty good now, body is bouncing back, legs and feet feeling snappy. Should be ready to fly tommorrow, hopefully I'll jump an inch higher :)
 
Jim Ouini said:
Sorry if you've explained this earlier in this thread, but can you explain the ISO holds? I may want to try them :)

Isometric holds, grab a load and hold for time. Usually in the stretch range of any exercise
 
awesome article by Dan John on the training journals

Ed never won a state championship. With a couple of years of hindsight, I am now convinced that he gave it away by missing the most important tool in the athlete’s toolbox…the training journal. His journal would have helped him with the single most important key to athletic success: Try to only make the same mistakes over and over again a couple of times.

What? Simply, we tend to repeat our errors. We want to be successful, so we increase our volume and intensity to make the big leap, then find ourselves hurt, injured, and sick. Of course, a week or so after the flu, we hit our season’s best mark. Next year, we do it again…train too hard, get hurt, then improve. By the third year,…well, now it is “fool me twice, shame on me.”


Without a journal, Ed relied solely on others to discover his path to success. He didn’t understand one of the reat keys to athletic success: Mining your Journal. Your training journal is goldmine of information…if you take the time, daily, to record your workouts, your attitudes and your life in general.

Years later, you can sift through this material to iscover what makes YOU tick! Sometimes, the answers aren’t apparent. For example, in 1991, I was coaching at the Upper Limit Gym here in Utah. So, I had access to great facilities, lots of training partners and great enthusiasm about the strength sports. I began to really push my ack Squat poundage. There were weeks when my squat would go up by twenty and thirty pounds as I was shamed into lifting more by excellent powerlifters. I topped out at 605 for three reps…I remember realizing that the weight was bending my ribs…and I also noticed something else. This increase in squatting weight did not add one foot to my discus throw. I threw 190 at Utah State and never went over 405 in the squat, yet 605 got me to 181. Two years later, talking with John Powell (twice bronze medalist in the discus at the Olympics), he told me that he had quit squatting heavy years before he began to really “bomb ” the discus. He felt that heavy squatting “didn’t feel good,” so why do it?

That made no sense to me at all. I was stronger, so I should throw farther. Then, in 1994, after not squatting heavy for three years, mostly rapid squats up to sets of eight and lots of hill sprints, I dropped a 184 throw. I weighed less, my waist was smaller, I felt better…I threw farther. So, how do I “mine my journal?” I went back to 1991 and I looked at the videos of my throws. I
compared them to 1994. I looked “healthier,” but it was hard to see any other difference. Then, I thought about the hill sprints. In 1994, my finish was smoother somehow, I held together better. Could all the hill sprints have been the key, or the dropping of heavy squats?
You know, I don’t really know the answer, but my journal entries found no injuries in 1994, lots of energy, lots of inside jokes and fun with the group. 1991’s entries talk about buying ankle wraps, knee wraps, wrist wraps, and biweekly visits to the chiropractor. Clearly, increasing the load with my squatting got me hurt with little pay off. Maybe, it was simply what I thought about a month ago: heavy squatting makes your hips and legs strong…but the body is one piece. When you throw, you snap off your whole leg and you are only as strong as…your ankle. If you cave at your ankle, you lose your finish. Hill sprints seem to be an ankle/calf builder with no peer. As John Price reminds me often of the only key in athletic success: you are only as strong as your weakest link. For me, and probably everyone, the goal should be to strive to bring your weak points up to a point that they become your strong points!


So, we have seen the first technique in Mining Your Journal: Reviewing one season in the light of another. Big deal, everybody does it…or do we? How often have you cracked open your old journals and looked at them carefully? I would argue doing this at least twice a year. The off season is obviously a time to harvest the knowledge you earned and forgot in the past. I think the next best time is just before peaking. What gems have you forgotten, what mistakes are you about to repeat?

My favorite in-season use of the journal is the
“Countback.” I take the four weeks prior to a “hot” performance…a day where nothing goes wrong or you just are in the groove…and look at the month. In 1991, I posted these workouts, just before my breakthrough in Olympic Lifting:

5-25-91 25 throws with new Red Obel at the U with John, John, and Kjell. Some excellent throws. “Hang” that disc and right leg out there.

Upper Limit
Pwr. Snatch (hang) with Kjell
135 x 5
195 x 5 x 5 x5
Squat
225 x 5
315 x 5
405 x 3
455 x 2
Bounds x 7

5-27-91 Upper Limit
Pwr. Snatch
135 x 3
205 x 3 x3
225 x2 x 2
245 x 2

New Guy: Paul, lives at BFS
Pwr Push (Push Jerks)
135 x 3
225 x3
315 x 2 x 2 x2
Frog Jumps
5 jumps x 4

As I trained through this month, I knew I was
overdoing it…look at this interesting entry:

6-22 Ben canceled the meet at the last minute, but I threw with Jeff, Monette, John et al with a bunch at 184! I have outrageous inflexibility in my right shoulder. I spoke to a National Convention on weight lifting here in SLC
today…snatch, clean and speed. I snatched 225 for a bunch of easy one’s. Working on USOC talk that L. Jay asked me to give in Colorado Springs.

Start considering:

1. One squat workout a week alternating with
push jerks
jumps
bounds
overloads

2. Microperiodize the snatch each week…5-3-2

3. Move up to five minute rests

4. Seven sets…45 minute workouts

5. Increase protein.

6. Add stiff dl, good mornings.

A week later, I tossed 181’7” in a left handers wind, put 50’9” and snatched 314 (clean and jerked 358, cleaned 402 and missed the jerk) in a three day period. Then, I went into a six month tailspin of injury upon injury.

What did I learn? Well, I thrived on Power Snatches! But, the heavy jerks and heavy squats all led to injuries. You can see that I was leaning towards more and more protein, but the nutritionists at the USOC told us to eat
High Carb. It would take a couple years to really mine this season! Another tool for mining your journal is to Look for insights…that you may need to rekindle.
Jeff Armstrong came over last weekend and I noted that he needed to ease off on his 56 pound weight tosses as he seemed to have a Speed Barrier. He was aware of the Soviet Drill, from my book, “The Contrarian Approach to the Discus Throw.” For those of you who missed it: “Yes, I know…no more Soviets, but the drill is called “the Soviet Drill.” I learned about this drill years ago as a way to break through the “speed barrier.” After marking the best throw, step off about 15 feet for most high school athletes…some 20-25 feet…back towards the ring and put a large marker there. Cones work great, towels and bags are fine. If you have many throwers, you might have a little colony out there. The Soviet Drill is simply a series of twenty full throws trying
to just hit the marker as easily as you can! Many thletes
simply can’t do this! Yet, once they get the hang of throwing with less, they soon find that that they can easily surpass their previous one throw mark, but using good technique and rhythm. Also, this drill comes in handy when the pressure is on to qualify for the finals at a meet.”

Jeff, like most strength athletes couldn’t grasp how easing off could help you throw farther. Then, I asked him: “Do you max squat every day?” As the words came out of my mouth, I thought to myself, “you know, you should practice what you preach!” I have a journal entry where this concept whacked me on the head
again:

November 7, 2000
Great trip to Las Vegas and Phoenix. Really enjoyed watched ASU come back from 35-6, only to lose in double overtime. My Cardinals defeated the over-inflated Redskins, as well. While at the Orleans, I got in a nice workout with two fiftypound dumbbells. I did about an hour of clean and press, one arm snatches, and one arm presses. Last night, after getting off the plane, I did a nice workout of Power Snatches (six singles with 155), Power Clean and Push Jerk (six singles with 195), then some real snappy Clean Pulls and Romanian Deadlift Clean Pulls (a bunch with 235).

This is the kind of workout that seems to give me a lot of long term benefit. When I drop back to “one lift a day” style of training, it really helps to have this volume with snappy, fast workouts in my quiver. I had a nice talk with John Powell on this trip. We ate three meals together and went bowling for a couple of hours. We
both agreed that one of the real secrets to increasing your throwing distance and your lifting maxs is to push your 60- 80% lifts/throws up. In throwing, you try to see how easy you can toss 80% of your best. In lifting, you try to dominate those lighter weights. If you have the patience to back off, you can shoot ahead later.
This doesn’t mean what most people think. We have a
saying, “I said it was simple, not easy.” It is simple to do, but not easy. For me to back off, I have to have something to back off from!!! Too many guys don’t put the heavy training in early, so they can back off later. I wouldn’t consider this method of training until you at least snatch bodyweight. These fast snappy workouts should still have some nice weights on the bar, too. Don’t use vinyl dumbbells from Sears to do your “heavy” day squats, if you know what I mean.

Use your journal minimize the number of times you make the same mistakes. Sure, you won’t nip every mistake in the bud the first few (five, ten, fifteen) times, but if you take some time each year to review your journals, it is like mining a vein of pure gold. Try comparing one season to another, try the countback when you peak, and keep looking for those insights that you may have forgotten. It is part of the road to
success.
 
coolcolj said:
awesome article by Dan John on the training journals

Ed never won a state championship. With a couple of years of hindsight, I am now convinced that he gave it away by missing the most important tool in the athlete’s toolbox…the training journal. His journal would have helped him with the single most important key to athletic success: Try to only make the same mistakes over and over again a couple of times.

What? Simply, we tend to repeat our errors. We want to be successful, so we increase our volume and intensity to make the big leap, then find ourselves hurt, injured, and sick. Of course, a week or so after the flu, we hit our season’s best mark. Next year, we do it again…train too hard, get hurt, then improve. By the third year,…well, now it is “fool me twice, shame on me.”


Without a journal, Ed relied solely on others to discover his path to success. He didn’t understand one of the reat keys to athletic success: Mining your Journal. Your training journal is goldmine of information…if you take the time, daily, to record your workouts, your attitudes and your life in general.

Years later, you can sift through this material to iscover what makes YOU tick! Sometimes, the answers aren’t apparent. For example, in 1991, I was coaching at the Upper Limit Gym here in Utah. So, I had access to great facilities, lots of training partners and great enthusiasm about the strength sports. I began to really push my ack Squat poundage. There were weeks when my squat would go up by twenty and thirty pounds as I was shamed into lifting more by excellent powerlifters. I topped out at 605 for three reps…I remember realizing that the weight was bending my ribs…and I also noticed something else. This increase in squatting weight did not add one foot to my discus throw. I threw 190 at Utah State and never went over 405 in the squat, yet 605 got me to 181. Two years later, talking with John Powell (twice bronze medalist in the discus at the Olympics), he told me that he had quit squatting heavy years before he began to really “bomb ” the discus. He felt that heavy squatting “didn’t feel good,” so why do it?

That made no sense to me at all. I was stronger, so I should throw farther. Then, in 1994, after not squatting heavy for three years, mostly rapid squats up to sets of eight and lots of hill sprints, I dropped a 184 throw. I weighed less, my waist was smaller, I felt better…I threw farther. So, how do I “mine my journal?” I went back to 1991 and I looked at the videos of my throws. I
compared them to 1994. I looked “healthier,” but it was hard to see any other difference. Then, I thought about the hill sprints. In 1994, my finish was smoother somehow, I held together better. Could all the hill sprints have been the key, or the dropping of heavy squats?
You know, I don’t really know the answer, but my journal entries found no injuries in 1994, lots of energy, lots of inside jokes and fun with the group. 1991’s entries talk about buying ankle wraps, knee wraps, wrist wraps, and biweekly visits to the chiropractor. Clearly, increasing the load with my squatting got me hurt with little pay off. Maybe, it was simply what I thought about a month ago: heavy squatting makes your hips and legs strong…but the body is one piece. When you throw, you snap off your whole leg and you are only as strong as…your ankle. If you cave at your ankle, you lose your finish. Hill sprints seem to be an ankle/calf builder with no peer. As John Price reminds me often of the only key in athletic success: you are only as strong as your weakest link. For me, and probably everyone, the goal should be to strive to bring your weak points up to a point that they become your strong points!


So, we have seen the first technique in Mining Your Journal: Reviewing one season in the light of another. Big deal, everybody does it…or do we? How often have you cracked open your old journals and looked at them carefully? I would argue doing this at least twice a year. The off season is obviously a time to harvest the knowledge you earned and forgot in the past. I think the next best time is just before peaking. What gems have you forgotten, what mistakes are you about to repeat?

My favorite in-season use of the journal is the
“Countback.” I take the four weeks prior to a “hot” performance…a day where nothing goes wrong or you just are in the groove…and look at the month. In 1991, I posted these workouts, just before my breakthrough in Olympic Lifting:

5-25-91 25 throws with new Red Obel at the U with John, John, and Kjell. Some excellent throws. “Hang” that disc and right leg out there.

Upper Limit
Pwr. Snatch (hang) with Kjell
135 x 5
195 x 5 x 5 x5
Squat
225 x 5
315 x 5
405 x 3
455 x 2
Bounds x 7

5-27-91 Upper Limit
Pwr. Snatch
135 x 3
205 x 3 x3
225 x2 x 2
245 x 2

New Guy: Paul, lives at BFS
Pwr Push (Push Jerks)
135 x 3
225 x3
315 x 2 x 2 x2
Frog Jumps
5 jumps x 4

As I trained through this month, I knew I was
overdoing it…look at this interesting entry:

6-22 Ben canceled the meet at the last minute, but I threw with Jeff, Monette, John et al with a bunch at 184! I have outrageous inflexibility in my right shoulder. I spoke to a National Convention on weight lifting here in SLC
today…snatch, clean and speed. I snatched 225 for a bunch of easy one’s. Working on USOC talk that L. Jay asked me to give in Colorado Springs.

Start considering:

1. One squat workout a week alternating with
push jerks
jumps
bounds
overloads

2. Microperiodize the snatch each week…5-3-2

3. Move up to five minute rests

4. Seven sets…45 minute workouts

5. Increase protein.

6. Add stiff dl, good mornings.

A week later, I tossed 181’7” in a left handers wind, put 50’9” and snatched 314 (clean and jerked 358, cleaned 402 and missed the jerk) in a three day period. Then, I went into a six month tailspin of injury upon injury.

What did I learn? Well, I thrived on Power Snatches! But, the heavy jerks and heavy squats all led to injuries. You can see that I was leaning towards more and more protein, but the nutritionists at the USOC told us to eat
High Carb. It would take a couple years to really mine this season! Another tool for mining your journal is to Look for insights…that you may need to rekindle.
Jeff Armstrong came over last weekend and I noted that he needed to ease off on his 56 pound weight tosses as he seemed to have a Speed Barrier. He was aware of the Soviet Drill, from my book, “The Contrarian Approach to the Discus Throw.” For those of you who missed it: “Yes, I know…no more Soviets, but the drill is called “the Soviet Drill.” I learned about this drill years ago as a way to break through the “speed barrier.” After marking the best throw, step off about 15 feet for most high school athletes…some 20-25 feet…back towards the ring and put a large marker there. Cones work great, towels and bags are fine. If you have many throwers, you might have a little colony out there. The Soviet Drill is simply a series of twenty full throws trying
to just hit the marker as easily as you can! Many thletes
simply can’t do this! Yet, once they get the hang of throwing with less, they soon find that that they can easily surpass their previous one throw mark, but using good technique and rhythm. Also, this drill comes in handy when the pressure is on to qualify for the finals at a meet.”

Jeff, like most strength athletes couldn’t grasp how easing off could help you throw farther. Then, I asked him: “Do you max squat every day?” As the words came out of my mouth, I thought to myself, “you know, you should practice what you preach!” I have a journal entry where this concept whacked me on the head
again:

November 7, 2000
Great trip to Las Vegas and Phoenix. Really enjoyed watched ASU come back from 35-6, only to lose in double overtime. My Cardinals defeated the over-inflated Redskins, as well. While at the Orleans, I got in a nice workout with two fiftypound dumbbells. I did about an hour of clean and press, one arm snatches, and one arm presses. Last night, after getting off the plane, I did a nice workout of Power Snatches (six singles with 155), Power Clean and Push Jerk (six singles with 195), then some real snappy Clean Pulls and Romanian Deadlift Clean Pulls (a bunch with 235).

This is the kind of workout that seems to give me a lot of long term benefit. When I drop back to “one lift a day” style of training, it really helps to have this volume with snappy, fast workouts in my quiver. I had a nice talk with John Powell on this trip. We ate three meals together and went bowling for a couple of hours. We
both agreed that one of the real secrets to increasing your throwing distance and your lifting maxs is to push your 60- 80% lifts/throws up. In throwing, you try to see how easy you can toss 80% of your best. In lifting, you try to dominate those lighter weights. If you have the patience to back off, you can shoot ahead later.
This doesn’t mean what most people think. We have a
saying, “I said it was simple, not easy.” It is simple to do, but not easy. For me to back off, I have to have something to back off from!!! Too many guys don’t put the heavy training in early, so they can back off later. I wouldn’t consider this method of training until you at least snatch bodyweight. These fast snappy workouts should still have some nice weights on the bar, too. Don’t use vinyl dumbbells from Sears to do your “heavy” day squats, if you know what I mean.

Use your journal minimize the number of times you make the same mistakes. Sure, you won’t nip every mistake in the bud the first few (five, ten, fifteen) times, but if you take some time each year to review your journals, it is like mining a vein of pure gold. Try comparing one season to another, try the countback when you peak, and keep looking for those insights that you may have forgotten. It is part of the road to
success.


What is
1. your vertical leap
2. your 40
3. your mile time
 
Dan John or me?
Cause that's his article you quoted, he's lot bigger and heavier than me, and I for sure can't lift those weights just yet, otherwise I'd be a beast :)
One day I will though...but raw strength isn't my current priority

me @ 5'9" 217lbs - pretty fat
standing VJ just over 30inches I think.
40 - dunno, I have run a 12.35 sec hand timed 105+ metre sprint from a standing start, a few months back on grass. Haven't sprinted flat out since then, just doing tempo work for now
mile? I don't run that far :)

I'm in transition now, aiming to lean down to 185-190lbs while maintaining my strength/power. Hopefully the 30lb drop in fat will get me to where I want to be. I wasn't born as a gifted athlete, but with the hardwork I have been doing over the last 5 years, I will be able to finally reach my goals soon.
 
last night had to be the worst night of sleep this year! First it took a while to fall asleep, damn neighbours talking in the backyard, then I woke up when some kids decided to light up up some fireworks up in the valley which boomed and echoed quite a bit, then later I woke up again when some hoon decided to drag down the street, and later still one of the dogs decided to bark... arghhhh

But I actually feel pretty decent, pretty fresh and strong, although some fatigue from my part time job, but I think after a nap, I will ok for BBall today.
Upper hammies and adductors are still quite sore though.
 
interesting article I came across - about race and sports performance

http://www2.webpark.cz/booboo/booboo.htm

interesting quote

Let's take a quotation from an internet forum, where Mr. Entine presented "well-researched" data from TABOO, p. 252:: "Top volleyball players [in America] top out at 50 percent or so. NBA players regularly exceed that with Spud Webb jumping more than 66 percent of his height -- 42 inches [107 cm] (he's 5 feet, 7 inches [170 cm/61 kg]). There is a test called the Sargent test, which measure jump and reach. The greatest Sargent result ever was recorded by former Utah Jazz star Darrell Griffith (aka Dr. Dunkenstein) who jumped 48 inches [122 cm] - that's 63 percent of his 6-4 [193 cm] frame. No white and certainly no Asian has ever come close."


I add that dr. LeVeau and dr Krugh, who measured Michael Jordan's jumping ability, found a much more modest number - 35,9 inches (91,3 cm). However, when he was tested during a jump from running, he achieved 45,8 inches (116 cm). I do hope that now it's clear to you, where all those incredible numbers cited by Entine come from. They are mystifications often spread by NBA stars and don't concern a true vertical jump (the Sargent test), but "a dunk jump", i.e. jump from running. In fact, according to one trainer, who seriously measured NBA players, they usually achieve results between 70-85 cm (28-34 in). Why not more? Count with me: An average NBA player measures 200 cm (6'7), which means that he has a vertical reach of about 255 cm (8'4). To touch the hoop of the basket, he needs a very mediocre jump of 50 cm (1'8). If you take an average basketball player with a decent jump of, say, 75 cm, it means that during a jump from running he jumps about 100 cm and has hands approximately 355 cm above the ground, i.e. 50 cm above the hoop.



Yes, the better anaerobic abilities of blacks - together with their somewhat faster motor development - may give them an important advantage during adolescence, because they can reach a sufficient performance level about 0,5-1 year faster than white kids. This probably explains, why black kids in racially mixed countries succeed in basketball (and some similar sports) more than their white contemporaries (and why the best white players come outside such countries). Naturally, due to their overall predispositions (and the fact that they live in US, the country, where NBA is played) black players will probably prevail in the game even in the future, but some people still can't understand that basketball is not sprinting. Higher percentage of people physiologically suited to the sport is no guarantee of a comparably high percentage of skilled people that will be able to compete in the sport at the elite level. Team sports are much more variable than individual sports.



If there is any team sport, where jumping ability is really critical, then it's volleyball. Top class volleyball players regularly jump 90-100 cm (and they are white). But even here the comparison is not easy and fair: volleyball players usually test vertical jumps with a 3-4 step advance, which increases the final height by cca 10-15 cm. This means that US volleyball team that achieved an average of 94,2 cm before 1984 Olympics actually jumped only 80-85 cm. But this is still higher than the presumable average of NBA players.

Sure, it's no chance that Cubanese women achieved a lot of success in this sport. But the female side is often influenced by a lack of serious competition, because women don't incline towards sports like men and they are not ever willing to undergone a body-deforming training (see also the persisting dominance of WNBA-women contrasting so strikingly with the recent results of the American Bad Dream's Teams). If we look at men's volleyball, the white players of Brazil, the contemporary leading world power in this sport, have 17 cm lower spike height and about 10 cm lower vertical jump height than Russia, the second best team in the world in 2002. In fact, if we predicted performance of Brazilians from such athletic statistics, they would belong to the biggest outsiders in the game. So even in volleyball, there are still other important variables than vertical reach influencing performance!
 
i wrote a final paper on the subject of black athletes and myths and such..

John Hoberman is the author to look up. Entine's views are... skewed.
 
coolcolj said:
Dan John or me?
Cause that's his article you quoted, he's lot bigger and heavier than me, and I for sure can't lift those weights just yet, otherwise I'd be a beast :)
One day I will though...but raw strength isn't my current priority

me @ 5'9" 217lbs - pretty fat
standing VJ just over 30inches I think.
40 - dunno, I have run a 12.35 sec hand timed 105+ metre sprint from a standing start, a few months back on grass. Haven't sprinted flat out since then, just doing tempo work for now
mile? I don't run that far :)

I'm in transition now, aiming to lean down to 185-190lbs while maintaining my strength/power. Hopefully the 30lb drop in fat will get me to where I want to be. I wasn't born as a gifted athlete, but with the hardwork I have been doing over the last 5 years, I will be able to finally reach my goals soon.

You don't do any endurance work?
Runs longer than 400 yards
Heavy rubber jump rope
suicides
Bike rides 10miles or more
box jumps
repeat sprints with little rest
 
Sunday 1st May - Cycle 3 Get Lean+Maintain Strength - Week 6 DELOAD - Day 1 - BBALL - Microcycle 1

Went to a different outdoor court today

Bodyweight at home - 217lbs
Session time - 30 mins
Session rating - 5/10

Anyway the session was a disaster. While I got some good shooting practise in at the start of the session, I could tell by the way my legs and hips felt, something was wrong. They felt tight and a bit dead, and I found myself reluctant to get down low like I normally do when dribbling.
Well after I did some jumps the answer was clear, my body hasn't recovered yet, 4-6 inches lower than my current best this training cycle!!!
I left before I did too much damage. Upper hammies are aching quite a bit now.

So last week's deload wasn't much of one, it's getting hard to judge fatigue levels with the way the workouts are arranged. Well it seems heavy strength work above 85% just takes out a lot from me, even though I didn't particularly feel like they did. So 3 days isn't enough to recover from em, even though the volume was quite low. The same thing happened earlier in the training cycle when I did heavy squat singles, although that was far worse with only 2 days of recovery. But on a positive note, the week after I did end up jumping 1-1.5 inches higher.

Hopefully the same thing will happen next week. I'll take a look at what I did back then and make some changes in that direction. Mostly probbaly cut the % back down and just 2 worksets of explosive stuff, and can the cooldown sets, which just add extra junk volume. I also wasn't training my upper body back them which does add a lot of extra work. Hmmm....
 
gjohnson5 said:
You don't do any endurance work?
Runs longer than 400 yards
Heavy rubber jump rope
suicides
Bike rides 10miles or more
box jumps
repeat sprints with little rest

I guess I do some of that stuff, have before, low intensity hops and sprints anyway recently, although I concentrate more on actual speed, when running at 100%, rather than the conditioning aspect. Anyway that's not the focus of my current training cycle, need to get lean first.

Interval type stuff I do, but long duration endurance work I tend to avoid, I need to keep all my muscle fibers as fast twitch as I can :)
 
hey, adding in stuff like heavy rope shouldn't hinder you too much. would probably help a lot in your leaning down! and perhaps you could go for some early morning bike rides too. if you're anything like me, you absolutely hate cardio. i found biking to be an enjoyable activity that's also very easy on the joints - which is a plus, as there isn't much that i like to do that's easy on the joints.

oh, swimming rocks. since you live in austrailia, i don't think there'd be an issue with any of these things
 
I'm already doing low intensity agility work, tempo runs and stiff legged hops in ball, all of these do the same things as skipping and swmming, as far as fat loss goes, but better IMO
They also help teach me to recruit my hamstrings and plantar flexors, something I lacked as far as in jumping and in sprinting especially.

------

Anyway yesterday's BBall session wasn't a waste of time, it helped me lean up a bit - straight out of bed this morning I weighed 98kg 215.5lbs on the dot, and waist is finally down another 1/4 inch to 38inches.
So that's 2kg 4.5lbs and an inch of the waist lost so far this training cycle - 5 weeks. That seems about the right rate to maintain muscle mass and strength, just under a pound a week. Well I haven't loss any muscle mass, but I do feel I could probbaly lose fat at a quicker rate, because I haven't been all that strict diet wise so far. Like I pigged out on saturday night, lots of starchy carbs, but I guess it helps keep the metabolism up :)

If the ratio of 4.5lbs to an inch holds up, then for me to reach my goal of a 30inch waist would mean I have to drop 36lbs of fat, down from 215.5 to 180lbs, hmm I think I'd be close to getting ripped then :)
Won't be till the end of the year before I hit that at this rate, but that's OK, I'll be ready to rock next summer.

So 4.5lbs lost so far should mean an increase of around 1.5 to 2 inches on the vertical jump just from fat loss. Looking forward to hitting 95kg 209lbs, I should at least start to look and move like an athlete by then :D
 
CCJ. i already know that you've commented on this before somewhere in this LONG thread, but since im not a plat member and cant search your thread.... :)

but i was wondering. what is the proper grip width for a standing military press, if you dont mind you can go specific about your form. :) i ask because today i think i gripped maybe a little too wide and kind of tweaked my shoulder.... :(
 
good job on the continued waist shrinkage and fat loss. Im following with interest to see what happens to your vert as you get leaner :D

stay strong.
 
HP_816 said:
CCJ. i already know that you've commented on this before somewhere in this LONG thread, but since im not a plat member and cant search your thread.... :)

but i was wondering. what is the proper grip width for a standing military press, if you dont mind you can go specific about your form. :) i ask because today i think i gripped maybe a little too wide and kind of tweaked my shoulder.... :(

well I normally mark my thumbs off the smooth area in the middle, this is the perfect grip for me, it allows me to keep my elbow tucked in, and my shoudler squeezed and locked back tight, just like a powerlifter style bench actually
And you can do the same things as a powerlifter style bench, ie bending and pulling the bar apart lightly to keep things tight etc

also work on your scapulars with scapular pushups and dips, and yopur cuffs, they really help for stability
 
how far wide would you say your wrists are in relation to your shoulders? would a good grip be a grip where my wrist are directly above my elbows?
 
thumbs abiut 2-3 inches off the side of the shoulder, what I do is get into teh position of the press at the bottom, but without the bar and pull in everything tight, and then use that grip width

yeah my elbows are directly under wrists, but elbows kept in, you get a nice strong drive. You can feel bad stretching forces on the shoudler when you go wider. Going too narrow is hard on the wrists
 
Some dunks from a friend - he used to play semi pro BBall in Europe, as a point guard, but he's just started to compete in Olylifting fulltime.

He was 80kg 176lbs there at 181cm - 6 feet
he's been training for a while though, over 10 years I think. I remeber him telling me he had a lot of results with those computer controlled isokinetic machines - he was able to dunk it easy after a few months on em at one of those centres. Owns and has used a vertimax.
LOl I think he's done every type of training method ever invented to get his jump up :)

he has a 37inch standing vertical jump now, at 210lbs or so, maybe close to 38-39 inches now after he started training fulltime for olylifting ;D

recent stats
BW: 94-97kg 207-213lbs
Snatch: 115kg (training: 110kg) 253lbs
Clean & Jerk: 145kg (training: 140kg) 319lbs
Power Clean: 135kg 297lbs
Power Snatch: 100kg 220lbs
Clean: 145kg 320lbs
Front Squat 1rm: 170kg 374lbs
Back Squat 1rm: 200kg 440lbs
Bench 1rm: 160kg 352lbs
Vertical Jump: 37in

------

I transfered a couple of dunking clips from my old video tapes so I figure I would post it here as well. It's pretty poor quality though.
It's exactly from 10 years ago and I was about 15-20kg lighter.

Also I feel the O'lifting has helped my jumping already!! I only dunk off 2 legs now but I can do it really effortlessly. My standing vertical jump is a couple of inch better than it use to be despite the added weight. I did some nice dunks off of vert today actually, even one with 2 hands which I had never done before. I will have them taped next time.

right click and save
http://www.members.optushome.com.au/coolcolj3/Movies/dunksclip95_0001.wmv
 
some quote from the same guy

By the way, I've finally found the right cable to digitalize some of my dunks from 1995, back when I was 18. Here are some pics... I could really jump back then (especially off one foot). And that's also the reason why isokinetic is my favorite training for speed and jumping. Those pics where taken after 3-4 months of training on these machines and before then, I could dunk but just barely.

also, I remeber him telling me, he had a test done, back in his BBall playing days, where you do a jump on a contact mat or something he came up at a calculated 72% Fast twitch ratio. He had a guy with him that measured at 90%, off course this guy could jump and dunk any which way :)

Oh yeah you definately would!!! You'd be suprised, probably even around 80% man! I took a test like this on a similar device a few years ago and I had
72% fast twitch. My friend who was in Volleyball had over 90%... They made him take the test 3 times because they couldn't believe it. Freaky...


And the interesting thing he also told me once about some one of the black guys on his BBall team, this guy was squatting over 400lbs within a few sessions, even though he had never squatted before. Guess that's why he can really jump :)
 
awesome clip man. what vert did this guy start at? my slow twitch ass isnt ever gonna jump that high hahhah. much respect if you can dunk like that at 6ft.
 
d-dub said:
awesome clip man. what vert did this guy start at? my slow twitch ass isnt ever gonna jump that high hahhah. much respect if you can dunk like that at 6ft.

I asked him - he said

Well before isokinetic machines my VJ around 28 inches. I could dunk (only barely though) off one foot but only touch the rim with no running. And
after 12 weeks of Iskokinetics training... well you saw the clip, my vj was
35in. I felt my running jump improved even more. Just one day I bounced the
ball and was chocked that I could actually do a reverse dunk like in the
clip. It was the best feeling ever. And I could also dunk off 2 feet with 2
hands afterwards as well (I could only grab the rim like that before).

How tall are you BTW?

------

waist down a smidgen under 38inches - and bodyweight 97.5kg 214.5lbs this morning! Finally under 215lbs. I ate quite a bit yesterday in terms of calories, but spread over 6 meals, still got leaner though. As far as what I ate -

1) Whey+glucosamine+MSM+chondritin powder drink, cereal+oak milk
2) 2 barbecued sauages+ 2 whole grain bread
3) some slices of barbecued pork + veges
4) 6 barbecued chicken drumsticks + some tomatoes/veges
5) handful of raw walnuts
6) 2 steaks + veges

Minimal starchy carbs though, that's the key, allows one to eat more. I only have em in the morning and after training. I just eat till I'm semi-full, and then find after 5-10mins I actually feel full, seems to be a lag before the brain signals full :)
Also nothing kills the appeptite like a handful of raw walnuts! Yeah barbecued a whole lot of stuff over the weekend to last the week :)
 
IF anyone is wondering about these isokinetic machines

they are basicly machines, that are computer controlled, and they change leverage of the exercise, so that your pushing with the same amount resistance throughout the range of motion. ie instead of getting easier up at the top of the squat like it does in a free barbell squat, the machine increases resistance so you have to push with the same amount of resistance all the way through, not unlike adding bands and chains to a squat I guess

Also since it is computer controlled, the computer is adjusting things on the fly to make sure your always working at max power/velocity for your goals etc, and records your force/power curves and so on. There are some centers in the US that have these machines, some called "Vert" I was reading about a few years back

But basicly it allowed him to get stronger, and increase his rate of force developement at the same time. Thus adding "stiffness" to balance all the elastic/reactive work he got from BBall :)

Also I remeber watching a TV show on em once, it's like having a Tendo/Muscle Lab strapped to a machine with variable leverage and speed that is computer controlled. There is no eccentric, 100% concentric. If you stop halfway through the movement, the machine stops.
And yes you can set the speed. So say you set the speed to a certain slow amount and generate a force output, if you slowly increase speed over the weeks while maintaining this same force, then your power is up! :)
That's how Dr Squat described em in his book "Power
 
Last edited:
I d/l the clip again. good stuff.

My height?... I cant remember exactly I think im 183cm - a touch over 6ft.
I weigh 82kg give or take. Relatively light, but i started at 60kg...now that is a skinny guy. I was always pretty decent at distance running in hs. I grew a few cms in that time as well at 19 or 20.

When i was a stickman i could dunk a size 5 easy enough, not a full size cos i would lose it due to lack of abliity to palm the ball. I think my vert is a measly 25inch or so. Prolly a touch lower than it used to be but i am now 22kg heavier than i used to be.

My goal is 85kg bw, 10%ish bf, 35-36 inch vert. I too weak, I am too slow. I am trying to get strong first before wasting time with too much speed stuff.

A cycle of squats with bands interests me, but im not sure i am strong enough to get full effect from this, i squat a little over b/w 5x - do you think this is an adequate base for a band cycle or wait till I have more strength??

(Apologies for the novel :D - it ended up a little longer than first planned)
 
Note: squat is not a naturally strong excercise for me, i think it is the cursed long legs :D My deadlift is a little better at about 1.5x bw.
 
Tuesday 3rd April - Cycle 3 Get Lean+Maintain Strength - Week 6 DELOAD - Day 2 Morning - Tempo and Energy Work - Microcycle 1

Felt average today

Bodyweight at home - 215.5lbs
Workout Rating - 7/10
Workout time - 30 mins all up

Warmup

warmup - dynamic swings
RFI hops - 2 legged alternating forward/back and side to side
SplitLeg front to back and side to side

Run complex 50m forward and back x 5 - increasing in speed each run

straight run, into lateral run leftside, then rightside, back into forward run, rotate into backwards run, rotate back to front. Turn around, repeat back to start

some easy sidesteps and swerve runs - ankle felt Ok

then 50m accleration runs to 60% speed 2x2


Tempo Runs + Energy Work

105+ metres @ 60% speed with proper standing start
Walk back to start = rest 1.5 mins
1) 21 secs
2) 21 secs
3) 21.95 secs

finally running long and strong on the balls of feet without any shin/feet discomfort. Another 5lbs of fat off and things should be starting to feel pretty good. Not too tiring, but some tightness in my foot muscles, I think it's due to the stiffness of the touch football shoes I run in, don't seem to get em in the softer sneakers I use sometimes.
 
d-dub said:
I d/l the clip again. good stuff.

My height?... I cant remember exactly I think im 183cm - a touch over 6ft.
I weigh 82kg give or take. Relatively light, but i started at 60kg...now that is a skinny guy. I was always pretty decent at distance running in hs. I grew a few cms in that time as well at 19 or 20.

When i was a stickman i could dunk a size 5 easy enough, not a full size cos i would lose it due to lack of abliity to palm the ball. I think my vert is a measly 25inch or so. Prolly a touch lower than it used to be but i am now 22kg heavier than i used to be.

My goal is 85kg bw, 10%ish bf, 35-36 inch vert. I too weak, I am too slow. I am trying to get strong first before wasting time with too much speed stuff.

A cycle of squats with bands interests me, but im not sure i am strong enough to get full effect from this, i squat a little over b/w 5x - do you think this is an adequate base for a band cycle or wait till I have more strength??

(Apologies for the novel :D - it ended up a little longer than first planned)

Your probbaly mixed fiber :)
As long as your CNS has some speed then it's all good. Fast twitchness just means one can gain more size, but what counts for explosiveness and speed is the CNS. If you have a fast CNS , even though your skinny and weak, once you gain some strength your power will go through the roof. You can train your slower fibers to behave like faster twitchers, and then just make your existing fast fibers bigger and stronger.
I consider myself to have a pretty fast CNS, always have been even when I was skinny and weak, I had fast punches and reflexes etc. And when I was younger, I was really aggressive, like to hurt people, not as much these days :)

While I wasn't fast in running or that great a jumper etc, due more to strength to weight ratio and structure, I had the natural reactivity and CNS speed internally. I just needed the horsepower from added strength to realise it. Although I did have a 28inch VJ in highschool, measured in PE class at 155lbs back then without any jumping ;)
So when I lean back down to 185lbs, with a 30-31inch waist, I will have added 30lbs of muscle and 12+inches on my VJ and probably be a full second faster over a 100m sprint, I did around 12secs back then, I absolutely sucked at long distance work! I did cross country racing for a season, and even fat guys would beat me :p
I would like to crack 11secs for the 100m, it's long been a dream of mine

well I started using bands when my squat max was around 275lbs and I weighed about 192lbs, so 1.4x bodyweight. I then did a mini modified version of the smolov with bands, just in the top half, and after a month of that hit 315lbs, a month later of speed squats only at 70% with and without bands I hit 345lbs. So that's pretty fast gains for 2months work, thanks to the loading base of the mini SMolov and then unloading, while closing up my explosive strength deficit with strength speed work. But I wasn't doing much other than olys and lots of squats.
This new Article of Kelly Bagget goes into it a bit with loading and deloading type things

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

But yeah I think I would wait a bit, because the bands do add about 40-50lbs even just halfway up, and your taller than me too, so more stretch

in any case, while your getting stronger, don't let whatever reactivity and speed you have decay away. It will be pain to regain later on. If I were you I would do strength to reactive work in a 3:1 ratio. Not high intensity stuff, just a lot of low intensity hops and stuff, ie like the RFI stuff. Plus your BBall will help too, but don't get too heavy :)
 
Last edited:
Thanks for the detailed reply. I am still digesting all this info - i like the deloading plan in the Kelly B article.

My structure is poorly planned at the moment, so im gonna incorporate that.
Might skip intensity phases in season tho. It looks v. similiar to madcows5x5 plan.

Skipping for 5-10 mins low intensity seems like a good specific warmup i will re-add. My foot speed and jump were much quicker when i was doing this sort of thing.

I might start a thread to get comments on my in season plan. I dont wanna clog up your log too much. :)

Cheers.
 
Tuesday 3rd May - Cycle 3 Get Lean+Maintain Strength - Week 6 DELOAD - Day 2 Evening - Upper - Microcycle 1

Ok workout, nothing too flash about it. been a while since I went explosive on bench and rows, so it took a while to get my mind and body into the mindset.
BTW those scapular dips I do is definitely helping my shoulder stability when benching and throwing stuff etc. Just feels so much more solid, and the slight pain I had at the release of the throw has gone.

Bodyweight at gym - 217lbs
Workout time - ?
Workout rating - 7/10

General warmup - scapular pushups 3x10 different angles, from easy to the floor

Rotating Sets between each exercise

Resting 30secs to 1min on warmup sets and then 2 to 3 mins between each exercise

14 inch Grip bench - shoulder blades pulled together, no arch or leg drive

Warmups - first set controlled, 2nd explosive+3sec ISO - Bar 2x10, 95lbs 2x5, 135 2x3, then explosive 165x3, 195x3

62% of (1RM+15% of Bodyweight) fast down, reversed inch above the chest, explode up, ISO held at middle
Rotation 1) 165lbs x 3 + 15sec ISO then pressed up
Rotation 2) 165lbs x 3 + 15sec ISO then pressed up

When I did 165lbs during warmups, I thought no way I can explode this, but aftr doing the set with 195lbs, it felt much lighter. Good speed. ISO was a killer, especially the 2nd set. next time I might lower under control to halfway down, and then go down fast from there. Today I kept going out of groove going down fast from the top, and that also makes the eccentric hard to handle

45 degree Chest Supported T-Bar Row - palms down grip

warmups - Bar 2x10, 25lbs 2x5, 45lbs 2x3, 70lbs 2x3, 90x3, 115x1

Assuming bar weighs 20lbs
66% of (1RM+15% of Bodyweight) fast down, explode up, ISO held at top
Rotation 1) Bar+90lbs x 3 + 15sec ISO
Rotation 2) Bar+90lbs x 3 + 15sec ISO

ISO fried the posterior chain, very tough!

Standing Dumbell Curls

warmups - explosive 4kg x10, 15lbsx5, 25x5, 35x1+3sec ISO, 45x1+5sec ISO

Reactive, ISO held at 90 degrees
Rotation 1) 25lbs x 3 + 15sec ISO
Rotation 2) 25lbs x 3 + 15sec ISO


SCM/Upper Trap and Suboccipital/Levator Scapulae Stretches

All 5 Rotations - 10secs each side and stretch


CoolDown, Cuff Stuff and ISO Stretches - EQI

Cuff circuit

1.5 min rest between each - only one set of each this week

Lying single crossbody lateral - warmup 3kg x 6
A1) 6kg x 10

One Arm low pulley L-Flyes - warmup 10lb x 6
A2) 25lbs x 10 --> close to failure

Scapular Dips - chest high, shoulders tucked, close grip - warmup BWx10
A3) BW+15lbs x 20 - up 5lbs

-----

clip from today

Right click on clip and save to avoid errors

Bench, both sets
http://www.members.optushome.com.au...14inchGripBench_Explosive165x3+ISO_3May05.mpg
 
d-dub said:
Thanks for the detailed reply. I am still digesting all this info - i like the deloading plan in the Kelly B article.

My structure is poorly planned at the moment, so im gonna incorporate that.
Might skip intensity phases in season tho. It looks v. similiar to madcows5x5 plan.

Skipping for 5-10 mins low intensity seems like a good specific warmup i will re-add. My foot speed and jump were much quicker when i was doing this sort of thing.

I might start a thread to get comments on my in season plan. I dont wanna clog up your log too much. :)
.

I don't mind, this isn't my my real log - this log is for all and sundry info purposes :)

You don't need much structure inseason, its for mainteniance

skipping and all those fast hops are what you call rate work, same for sprinting, they target high rate of firing/relaxation, and pure speed with minimal loading. Then you have the strain of strength work, and combined you get power, wwll the ability to help express power anyway. So you need to keep up both sides of the coin.
 
coolcolj said:
I don't mind, this isn't my my real log - this log is for all and sundry info purposes :)

You don't need much structure inseason, its for mainteniance

skipping and all those fast hops are what you call rate work, same for sprinting, they target high rate of firing/relaxation, and pure speed with minimal loading. Then you have the strain of strength work, and combined you get power, wwll the ability to help express power anyway. So you need to keep up both sides of the coin.


are you Blitzforce on wannabebig?? what are scapular push ups??
 
Extra_Strong said:
are you Blitzforce on wannabebig?? what are scapular push ups??

yes :)

You get in a top of the pushup position. Keep your elbows locked. Retract your shoulder blades. Up and down with the arms staying straight. As high as possible then as low as possible. Try to keep the back as straight as a board.

you can read about em here - with pics - at the bottom
http://www.t-nation.com/readTopic.do?id=472224

Scap Pushups

This exercise is also known as a "Pushup Plus." Basically, it's a pushup without any movement at the glenohumeral or elbow joints. Get set up as if you were going to do a pushup, and then just allow your shoulder blades to retract without bending your elbows. You should drop about two inches toward the floor.

To reverse the motion, protract the scapulae until you're back in the starting position. This exercise activates and strengthens the serratus anterior, a muscle that is crucial in holding the scapulae tight to the rib cage, thus preventing scapular winging.
 
coolcolj said:
yes :)

You get in a top of the pushup position. Keep your elbows locked. Retract your shoulder blades. Up and down with the arms staying straight. As high as possible then as low as possible. Try to keep the back as straight as a board.

you can read about em here - with pics - at the bottom
http://www.t-nation.com/readTopic.do?id=472224

Scap Pushups

This exercise is also known as a "Pushup Plus." Basically, it's a pushup without any movement at the glenohumeral or elbow joints. Get set up as if you were going to do a pushup, and then just allow your shoulder blades to retract without bending your elbows. You should drop about two inches toward the floor.

To reverse the motion, protract the scapulae until you're back in the starting position. This exercise activates and strengthens the serratus anterior, a muscle that is crucial in holding the scapulae tight to the rib cage, thus preventing scapular winging.

cool thanks bro. i have some simalar for my back but not the latter.
 
coolcolj said:
I don't mind, this isn't my my real log - this log is for all and sundry info purposes :)

You don't need much structure inseason, its for mainteniance

skipping and all those fast hops are what you call rate work, same for sprinting, they target high rate of firing/relaxation, and pure speed with minimal loading. Then you have the strain of strength work, and combined you get power, wwll the ability to help express power anyway. So you need to keep up both sides of the coin.

;) Hahah.. i was guessing you didnt mind to much about the extra questions thrown in. My 'rate' seems to drop off fast if i dont do anything. I become slow and strong, adapting to weight-training i guess.
 
yeap that's the downside of strength work, if left unchecked, you'll end up "muscle bound" and stiff as crap :)


Bodyweight is up a bit, waist still the same size.
Upper body has regained muscle mass from last workout. The combo of explosive triples and an ISO hold straight after never fails to pack on muscle after a period of strength work. At least for me.
 
the guy in the dunk clip, using the isokinetic stuff described what he did

Yeah computer controlled. It was 2 sessions per week (plus the basic weight training 2-3 times per week). We used the following exercises leg
extension/curl one leg at a time. We used the multi-exercises station to do jump squats. Side abs machine where you twist left and right. And finally the multi station to do push/pull bench/row, incline press/row or military press/row.
In all exercises we would do 5-6 sets and start with a relatively high resistance, then decrease each set to finish with a very high speed set. Each set consisted of 8-12 reps (heavy-light).


It's pretty much these machines http://www.arielnet.com/Main/adw-40.html ,
other than they were cybex and that you don't want to leave the bench between your legs when you do squat jumps... lol
 
nope, they're usually in research/rehab venues :)

or sports complexes etc

Interactive Closed Loop Biofeedback

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Thursday 5th May - Cycle 3 Get Lean+Maintain Strength - Week 6 DELOAD - Day 3 Morning - Tempo and Energy Work - Microcycle 1

Bodweight at home - 214.5lbs
Workout Rating - 8/10
Workout time - 35 mins all up

Warmup

warmup - dynamic swings
RFI hops - 2 legged alternating forward/back and side to side
SplitLeg front to back and side to side

50m jog forward and back

Run complex increasing in speed each run to 50% speed - 1.5 mins rest

4 sets -
50m straight run, into lateral run, left to right 10m, then right to left 10m, rotate into backwards run 10m, rotate back to front and run 10m. Turn around, walk 50m then jog with gentle swerves to each side back to start

then 50m accleration runs to 60% speed 2x2 - 2mins rest

Tempo Runs + Energy Work

105+ metres @ 60-70% speed with proper standing start
Walk back to start = 2 mins rest
1) 20 secs
2) 18 secs

Picked up the pace on 2nd run, felt great, very smooth and fluid. Form feels different. Fairly comfortable running on the balls of my feet now, something that was not the case a month ago. I am itching to sprint all out to see how much quicker I am, but I'll wait till I at least get down to 210lbs, hopefully I'll be around 0.5 sec faster than the 12.3sec current best over 105+m at 220lbs
 
Thursday 5th Mayl - Cycle 3 Get Lean+Maintain Strength - Week 6 DELOAD- Day 3 Evening - Lower - Microcycle 1

Decent workout, definitely not feeling as tired as I was before after doing tempo work in the morning. I think the volume is ok for me to recover by Sunday for BBall, guess I will find out then. Tried chucks for squatting and RDLs today :)

Bodyweight at the gym - 217lbs
Workout Rating - 8/10
Workout time - 1.25 hours

Warmup - Prehab

dynamic swings etc
reverse backextension BWx8
situp complex on swissball
back extension BWx6 + 6 twisting to each alternate side

warmup complex with 30lb bar - RDL onto toes with shrug, military press, explosive good morning onto toes, snatch grip behind the neck partial press, hang powercleans, powerjerks - 5 to 8 reps each

mulit-direction lunge - 5 ways each leg, 2 reps each direction
Lateral stepup - 6inch step BWx10 each leg

Rotating Sets between each exercise

Resting 30secs to 1min on warmup sets and then 3 mins between each exercise

Full Back Squats - in Chucks - RAW

Warmups - alternating with frontsquats, semi explosive - BWx5, Bar x5, 95x3, 135x3, 185x3, 225x3, 245x1, 275x1
frontsquats - 95x3, 135x3, 185x3, 225x3

down fast, explode up - 77% of (1RM+85% of Bodyweight)
Rotation 1) 255lbs x 3 - 0.8 sec concentrics
Rotation 2) 255lbs x 3 -> faster eccentric - 0.8 sec concentrics
Rotation 3) 255lbs x 3 -> even faster eccentric - bar coming off back a bit - 0.8 sec concentrics

Decide to squat in Chucks today, for a change of pace, and hit some muscle fibers I don't normally recruit in Oly shoes - different groove etc.
Surprised I did frontsquats in em OK. Certainly felt harder at first, not as much leverage I think. I couldn't sit back as much in em vs oly shoes in the back squat, so I wasn't able to get that "tearing" sensation I normally get in the hammies, and much less tension on the VMO.
Chucks definitely stress the hips more, and stretch the ankles and hips much more. Hips did more braking in the reversal. Since I was doing RDLs anyway, I guess it doesn't matter that much as far as the hams go.

I was able to maintain speed on all of em, time to use more weight.
But my camera really doesn't have enough resolution for accurate speed measurement, need a Tendo or Micro muscle lab...

Single leg Split RDL - RAW in Chucks - Hookgrip

warmups - 89x3, 155x2, 175x1

Deadlifted up - explosive, 15 secs rest between each side
Rotation 1) 185lbs x 3 each side
Rotation 2) 185lbs x 3 each side

Worked my core hard. These certainly felt a lot easier coming off the floor in Chucks vs Oly shoes, or maybe I'm just stronger? :)
Think I can maybe clean/snatch grip deadlift 25-50lbs more in em...hmmm will have to try them one day. Less hammie tension/stretch than in oly shoes though

Sideway Situps ISO

warmups - BWx 5 secs

ISO hold at parallel to floor - 15 secs rest between each side
Rotation 1) BW x 15secs
Rotation 2) BW x 15secs

tough as usual! Fried my obliques and hips. 2nd set was torture!


Cooldown - Prehab

Standing Single Leg curl - semi reactive, exploded pad off ankle 2-3inches, and then absorb eccentric as it landed back on the way down
5plates x 8, 7plates 2x8

Reverse Back extensions - BWx12
Lie over swiss ball to stretch spinal erectors x 1min

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

clip from today

Right click on clip and save to avoid errors

all 3 sets of explosive full squats in Chucks today
http://www.members.optushome.com.au...ExplosiveFullSquats_chucks_255_3x3_5May05.mpg
 
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nice squatting. The iso sideways situp holds leads me to this question...
what are your favourite core exercises to assist the squat and dead?
 
Lat machine situp variants and sideways situp variants - usually some kind of ISO. That's all the core does in these movements

and the squat and deadlift itself does work the core anyway, especially the split leg versions and frontsquat.

Most olylifters don't do any core work and yet they squat big weights, even though squats are just an assitant lift, because the squats and pulls themselves work the core
 
feeling ok, much better than this time last week, most of the DOMs is gone. I should be good for BBall tommorrow.

Holding steady at 215lbs upon waking
 
Stefan Gill, dang 5'8" 172cm guy with super hops!

Plays for Manchester Magic in the UK, wins all kinds of dunk comps. He must have a legit 40+ inch VJ

you can see he can just about touch the ring on a finger roll during warmups!

stefan3.jpg


nice clear clip - head 6 inches from rim it looks like!
46inch running VJ with the ball...

I think I just found my role model ;)

right click and save
http://www.hosana.co.uk/video/clips/Matrix Reloaded.mpg
 
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Sunday 8th May - Cycle 3 Get Lean+Maintain Strength - Week 7 - Day 1 - BBALL - Microcycle 1

Was feeling decent, so I decided to head to the courts earlier today, before I lost that feeling. Glute minor and IT band was a bit tight, over active, so that had me a bit worried I might not jump and move well, but how wrong I was :)
I think I will go earlier from now on, 12:30pm. Went to my fav outdoor court. One side is normal with a stiff 2 layered rim, and the other side is lower with a sweet spring action single rim ring. I played on the lower side mostly ;)
Only one person was there halfway though, but some guy asked to shoot with me towards the end, and he got to see me jump and pulverise the rim :D

Bodyweight at home - 215.5lbs
Workout time - 55 mins
Workout rating - 9/10

started with easy dribbling and shooting for 10 mins. Then progressed to more intense stuff. 70% of the session was jumping, dunk attempts.

Jump is up another inch!!!
Last week I could barely jump, 3 days after a heavy squat session. Then this week I'm recovered and boom up an inch. The same thing happened earlier in week 2. I wonder if this pattern will continue?
I think I may keep the deload going for another week - not sure...
VMO and calves were smacked really hard today, so I guess I wasn't using my hammies as much to jump.

So far in this training cycle, 6 weeks..
1) Standing VJ +3 inches
2) One step two legged jump is 2.5 inches higher than VJ. 3.5 inch overall gain
3) 3 step two legged jump with a jump stop is 3.5 inches higher than VJ. 3.5 inch overall gain
4) Running one leg jump is 2.5 inches lower than VJ, up 3/4 inch - yeah it's bad!
5) dunk attempts pretty close to my one step jump.


So I dropped 5lbs of bodyweight, and gained 3 inches on my standing VJ, and 3.5 inches for the other jumps!
I think 2 inches of that is from fat loss, and 1 inch from power gains. If things continue as is, then I should have me a 40inch VJ at 200lbs. And if it's possible for me to reach 185-190lbs then I could well have a 44 inch standing VJ - just speculating ;)

That other guy that later joined me was impressed :p
I really pulverised that lowered rim with the one handed dunk attempts, legs flying up like a kungfu kick on the ring grab :D
Damn that backboard shook, I couldn't get the ball in, but I felt good doing it! :)
Even when I used a mini ball, I could barely get it in, so I will need lots more inches before I can dominate it.

Also I compared my standing and 5 sec paused standing VJ, and there is only a 1.5 inch difference at most. So I can make some gains in that area from reactivity work, when I reach my bodyweight/fat goals.
Right now I'm mostly relying on explosive strength to get me up.
Hmm I wonder if its possible to have a 40inch paused VJ? That would give me a huge advantage in rebounding and shot blocking - no need to dip :p

It takes me ages to warmup, but once I'm there, I go up like a rocket, fast takeoff. And it seems that even when I don't jump that hard I can get close to my max height, even off dribbles and post up spins etc, so that bodes well to transfering my jump into a game situation.
 
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Waking pulse is higher than usual due to me being still hyped after yesterday :)
I feel surprisingly good, very minimal drained feeling, no DOMs in my legs and hips, but my calves, upper back, and rear delts are a little sore.
I can never quite tell how I will feel the next day after a workout, and judging by how things were yesterday and the amount of jumping I did, I expected my posterior chain to be very sore today, but it's not!
 
Bodyweight and waist size has been fairly static the last few days, 215lbs and 38 inches respectively. Time to resume leaning down, been wanting to get the waist down to 37 inches, 38 has been a barrier for long enough...
 
Tuesday 10th May - Cycle 3 Get Lean+Maintain Strength - Week 7 DELOAD - Day 2 Morning - Tempo and Energy Work - Microcycle 1

Average session, drop in blood sugar halfway through made my power drop, but not too bad. I decided to keep the deload going this week, just changed the nature of it. So this micro-cycle I did 4 normal weeks and 3 weeks of deload. Next week back into it with a new micro-cycle.
Ankle and shins are pretty much non-issues now, but I'll still get back to the tib work next week anyway.

Bodyweight at home - 216lbs
Workout Rating - 7/10
Workout time - 35 mins all up

Warmup

warmup - dynamic swings
RFI hops - 2 legged alternating forward/back and side to side
SplitLeg front to back and side to side

Run complex increasing in speed each run to 50% speed - 1.5 mins rest

4 sets - trying to stay as smooth, relaxed and fluid as possible

50m straight run, 10 sec rest
5m accleration into 90 degree right direction change into lateral run,
Right to left 10m, then left to right 10m, rotate into backwards run 10m, rotate back to front and run 10m.
walk 50m then jog with gentle swerves to each side back to start

then 50m accleration runs to 60% speed 2x2 - 2mins rest


Tempo Runs + Energy Work

220+ metres @ 60% speed with proper standing start - 180 degree turn at halfway
1) 51.7 secs

Last week I did 3x105+ tempo runs with 1.5 mins rest, so I dropped the volume even lower today just doing a single 220+ run. Just wanted to get my body used to 220+, because next week I'll be doing them again, but with greater volume. Felt pretty good, not as tiring as I last remebered.
Felt pretty reactive, ran on the balls of my feet, I just snapped each step without even pushing or pulling each stride.
 
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I should test my standing long jump later this week before I up the volume of tempo work again, I figure it should be a 3-6inches better now without having done any
 
Tuesday 10th May - Cycle 3 Get Lean+Maintain Strength - Week 7 DELOAD - Day 2 Evening - Upper - Microcycle 1

Workout started ok, then I went flat, like I ran out of gas or something. I didn't take an carb in my whey drink post tempo this morning, so that may have had something to do with it. Slowly regaining my upper body strength though.

Since I started these trap and neck stretches, and scapular dips/pushups there has been a big change in my posture, and cuban presses do not cause impingement pain in my shoulder anymore. I figured I always had tight and overactive upper traps and neck from hunching over a desk, and which olys didn't exactly help either. Probbaly why I always had problems with snatches as well.
Also noticed my TMJ/jaw locking problems when I open my mouth really wide have greatly decreased. I know many years ago when I saw my dentist about this, he did prescibe some neck and trap stretches...I was lazy bum though :)
I still have the mouth splint he made for me to treat this, haven't used it ages though

Bodyweight at gym - 219lbs
Workout time - 1.25 hours
Workout rating - 7/10

General warmup - scapular pushups 3x10 different angles, from easy to the floor

Rotating Sets between each exercise

Resting 30secs to 1min on warmup sets and then 2 to 3 mins between each exercise

14 inch Grip bench - shoulder blades pulled together, no arch or leg drive

Warmups - Bar 3x10, 95lbs 2x5, 135x5, x3, 165x3, x2, 195x2, x1, 225x1, 245x1

Controlled for max reps
Rotation 1) 245lbs x 4 --> one rep from failure
Rotation 2) 245lbs x 4 --> last rep a hard grind

Not too bad considering I control the eccentric much more than before, no more small bounces on chest. I can also lower the bar further down keep the elbows much closer in without discomfort now. I guess this is probably related to my trap, posture and scapular muscle balance issues I mentioned above. Not shrugging up as much when it gets tough now.

45 degree Chest Supported T-Bar Row - palms down grip

warmups - Bar 3x10, 25lbs 2x5, 45lbs 2x5, 70lbs 2x3, 90lbs 2x3, 115x1, 135x1

Assuming bar weighs 20lbs

Controlled for max reps
Rotation 1) Bar+135lbs x 5
Rotation 2) Bar+135lbs x 5 ---> last rep hard


Standing Dumbell Curls

warmups - 2kg x10, 5kg x5, 15lbs x5, 25x5, 35x3, 45x1

Controlled for max reps
Rotation 1) 50lbs x 3 --> close to failure
Rotation 2) 50lbs x 2.5


SCM/Upper Trap and Suboccipital/Levator Scapulae Stretches

All warmup sets and Rotations - 5 to 10secs each side and stretch


CoolDown, Cuff Stuff and ISO Stretches - EQI

Cuff circuit

1.5 min rest between each - only one set of each this week

Lying single crossbody lateral - warmup 3kg x 6
4 sec ISO hold at parallel each rep on the way down
A1) 7kg x 2 + 3 ISO

Scapular Dips - chest high, shoulders tucked, close grip - warmup BWx10
A2) BW x 10

Dumbell Cuban Rotation + Press
3 sec ISO hold at parallel each rep on the way down
A3) 4kg x 10

Scapular Pushups
A4) BW x 20
 
I woke up early and had that slight drained feeling, went back to sleep, or tried to, sorta dozed in and out of sleep, dreaming of jumping and dunking most of the time :)
Felt much better after that. Guess this drained feeling I had a lot in the past is mostly related to sleep. Hit 213.5lbs out of bed this morning, waist slightly under 38 inches - about time!
 
coolcolj said:
I woke up early and had that slight drained feeling, went back to sleep, or tried to, sorta dozed in and out of sleep, dreaming of jumping and dunking most of the time :)
Felt much better after that. Guess this drained feeling I had a lot in the past is mostly related to sleep. Hit 213.5lbs out of bed this morning, waist slightly under 38 inches - about time!


I totallly agree with this. Once I figured out i felt drained and sluggish because of poor sleep, and took steps to get quality sleep, i realized i wasnt 'overtrained' but 'undersleeping'. Quantity time in bed does not mean quality. :)
 
I don't feel that crash hot, or loose/snappy, but the non-powered steering wheel in the van felt as light as a feather. Even when I felt decent last week, it did not feel this easy to turn! Guess my CNS is feeling up, and I'm strong today :)
Just need a nap to freshen me up.
 
Thursday 12th May - Cycle 3 Get Lean+Maintain Strength - Week 7 DELOAD - Day 3 Morning - Tempo and Energy Work - Microcycle 1

Just kept things easy today, apart from the standing long jumps

Bodweight at home - 215lbs
Workout Rating - 8/10
Workout time - 25 mins all up

Warmup

warmup - dynamic swings
RFI hops - 2 legged alternating forward/back and side to side
SplitLeg front to back and side to side
Hops On/off a 5inch step x 10

3x3 submaximal standing long jumps

1) the worked up to a maximal standing long jump in my studded touch football shoes - 10 jumps
got 107 inches - 8 feet and 11 inches New PR!! +4 inches

up from 8 feet 7 inches on the 6th March - 2 months ago, weighing 221lbs, the last time I did em.
Just about matches my all time best of around 9 feet at 192lbs, and much leaner than I now. At 23lbs heavier, I guess I'm much more powerful now. When I get down to 190lbs, I should blitz that easy, should be over 10 feet by then.

Smacked the hammies a bit, but the landing feels easy and smooth now. It used to be jarring a few months ago.

50m Runs increasing in speed each run to 50% speed - 1 min rest
2 runs x 3

then 50m accleration runs to 60% speed x2

Tempo Runs + Energy Work

105+ metres @ 60-70% speed with proper standing start
Walk back to start = 1.5 mins rest

x 2 runs
 
Thursday 12th May - Cycle 3 Get Lean+Maintain Strength - Week 7 - Day 3 - Lower Evening - Microcycle 1

Good workout today. I mentioned earlier that due to how light the non-powered steering wheel in the van was feeling, I figured my CNS was up, and I was strong today. Well I was right, even after the standing long jumps and sprints this morning :)
I was gonna do some ab work, but they are aching bad from the standing long jumps this morning! Need to warmup my abs the next time I do em...

Bodyweight at the gym - 218lbs
Workout Rating - 9/10
Workout time - 1.5 hours

Warmup - Prehab

dynamic swings etc
reverse backextension BWx8
situp complex on swissball
back extension BWx6 + 6 twisting to each alternate side

warmup complex with 30lb bar - RDL onto toes with shrug, military press, explosive good morning onto toes, snatch grip behind the neck partial press, hang powercleans, powerjerks - 5 to 8 reps each

stand on Wobble board - 2x30secs - made my hips feel nice
mulit-direction lunge - 5 ways each leg, 2 reps each direction
Moderate width Lateral stepup - 12inch step BWx10 each leg - nice hammie pump


Full Back Squats - in Oly Shoes - RAW

alternating sets with frontsquats
Warmups - Semi Explosive - BWx5, 95x5, 135x3, 185x3, 225x3, 255x2, 285x2, 315x1, 335x1
frontsquats - Semi Explosive - Barx5, 95x5, 135x3, 185x3, 225x2, 255x2

Controlled
Rotation 1) 365lbs x 2 Equals PR at lighter bodyweight 1.53 and 1.8sec concentrics - 3.2 sec total time on 2nd rep
Rotation 2) 335lbs x 2
Rotation 3) 335lbs x 2 --> better form

Squats felt a bit lighter than in a while, and boom, equaled my old PR, with better form, 5lbs lighter, an inch smaller waist, and it felt easier too, some gas left in the tank for maybe a triple. Not bad considering I already did standing long jumps and sprints this morning!
Still did a slight good morning though, due to me not sitting back on the way down and pushing through my feet, and weak hammies. On the 335lb single during the warmups, I locked my back angle and push through my feet and could feel my hammies work hard, so the good morning thing I do is a definite hammie weakness.

Stopped after 3 worksets, didn't want to generate too much fatigue, especially with all the ISO stuff I wanted to do at the end of the workout.
Looks like 405lbs is not that far away, even on a caloric deficit and one workout a week, plus running and BBall! Will shoot for a triple with 365lbs next microcycle. Even the frontsquats during the warmups felt way easier than before.

Single Leg Standing Leg Curl

warmups - 5 plates x 5, 8plates x 3

no rest between each side - 3sec ISO at the start of each rep
Rotation 1) 10 plates x 3 + ISO
Rotation 2) 10 plates x 3 + ISO

wish I had a GHR unit...

Cooldown, prehab and ISO stretches

Bulgarian splitsquat stretched ISO hold - BW x 35 secs
Seated Calf raise stretched ISO hold - 100lbs x 1min
RDL snatch grip stretch ISO hold - bar x 35secs to the floor
External Hip Rotor stretched ISO hold - 25lbs x 1min each leg

Reverse Back extensions - BWx12
layed over a swiss balll to stretch out the spinal erectors x 1min

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

clip from today

Right click on clip and save to avoid errors

Full Squats - 365x2
http://www.members.optushome.com.au/coolcolj3/Movies/CCJ_FullSquat_365x2_12May05.mpg
 
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Mild drained feeling, moderately sore all over. Upper hammies not as sore as it usually is, probbaly due to me not having my feet more straight ahead and not sitting back as much yesterday in the squats.
Non-powered steering wheel in the van still felt pretty light today :)
 
Giovanno "The Alleyvator" Soenotaroeno
another genetic feak for the collection :)

dunk_sat_k.jpg


5'7" Dutch dude with hops! He says he first dunked at 5'3" at 15 y.o! :o
Has won many dunk comps. Peak VJ, was 46-50, now at 26 years old more like 41-47inches according to him - running I suspect

giovannorotterdam_mazineteam.jpg


check the clip of him on a TV show dunking in a studio - - he does a one hand cufffed windmill...
http://videos.streetballvideos.net/hollandsport_30-1-2005.wmv

vannocarter.jpg
 
Sunday 15th May - Cycle 3 Get Lean+Maintain Strength - Week 1 - Day 1 - BBALL - Microcycle 2

Went to the same outdoor court as last week, the one with the lower ring.
Cold today, so I spent longer warming up, winter is approaching.
Ok session, not as good as last week's but some better in some areas.
Combo of crap sleep, heavy food from the party and near max squats 3 days ago
I can feel my fat loss slowing down, so I'm looking forward to upping the volume of tempo work again, especially the 200+m metre runs which help a lot.

Bodyweight at home - 215.5lbs
Workout time - 1hour
Workout rating - 7/10

started with easy dribbling and shooting for 30 mins. Then progressed to more intense stuff. 50% of the session was jumping, dunk attempts.
More intense post moves this week. Wind/stamina is definitely up.

Jump was a bit down overall, an inch I think, but one legged jump was up an inch, it felt much better, springy and relaxed. Just need to bump it up another 3 inches to where it belongs. It was close to my standing VJ today, but then again all the other jumps were down a bit too.....
Even then I felt like my legs were more confident in absorbing the force of my moves and cuts at higher speed, so that's a good sign. More snappy and poppy
Standing long jumps from 3 days ago helping here and my one legged jump????

Guess I'm still recovering from the heavy squats 3 days ago. I figure like before, next week my body will bounce back higher :)
In this new microcycle I think I will try not doing any heavy squats and see what happens. Just explosive squats with and without bands in the 65-80% area.
 
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Who knows, I know nothing about him, apart from what he has said on forums. He's specialist dunker. He obviously is a genetic freak of sorts, if he could dunk at 5'3" when he was 15, just like Spud Web.. :)
How many 5'3" guys can do that, even now how many 5'7" guys can do that, maybe 1 in a million.
Doesn't look like he weighs much, is fairly lean and probbaly has naturally strong legs and obviously has good speed, so he has good power levels. I bet if he went to gym for a month, he'd be squatting double bodyweight real quick once he got used to squats, nobody who is weak will jump over 40 inches with a 2 legged jump. You either have it naturally, by nuture or you train for it. It would restore his jump back to where it used to be when he was younger for sure, probably due to the drop in hormones as he got older :)
That's why drugs make you stronger, thus more powerful and explosive...

Not all strong people will be powerful, but you won't find anyone who is powerful that will be weak. Just because they don't train with weights doesn't mean they won't be naturally strong or have gained strength by nuture. To be able to display that kind of power, requires a fast CNS with the ability to turn on a lot of muscle fibers quickly, that also means he will have the ability to generate and display great strength.
 
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Same deal as yesterday, woke up early but went back to sleep, and felt ok after that. Blah, it absolutely poured rain last night, and is still sprinkling a bit.
Guess that means no running today :(
Legs and hips seem to be getting bigger everytime I play bball, from all the intense jumping and stuff. My waist is down an inch but my legs still measure 29inches....kinda looking Tom Platz like...
 
Tuesday 17th May - Cycle 3 Get Lean+Maintain Strength - Week 1 - Day 2 Morning - Tempo and Energy Work - Microcycle 2

Good session, despite the rain. Getting the new microcycle off to a decent start. Managed to spot a dry break in the rain to do my runs, field was waterlogged though. Time to get the fat burning back on track :)

Bodyweight at home - 216lbs
Workout Rating - 8/10
Workout time - 35 mins all up

Warmup

warmup - dynamic swings
RFI hops - 2 legged alternating forward/back and side to side
SplitLeg front to back and side to side

Run complex increasing in speed each run to 50% speed - 1.5 mins rest - 1 min 30secs all up each complex

3 sets - trying to stay as smooth, relaxed and fluid as possible

50m straight run, 10 sec rest
5m accleration into 90 degree right direction change into lateral run,
Right to left 10m, then left to right 10m, rotate into backwards run 10m, rotate back to front and run 10m (47 secs total up to here)
walk 50m (30secs) then jog with gentle swerves to each side back to start

then 50m accleration runs to 60% speed x2 - 2mins rest


Tempo Runs + Energy Work

220+ metres @ 70% speed with proper standing start - 3x180 degree turns to make up the distance
rest 3 mins
1) 52 secs
2) 52 secs

Due to the puddles of water I had to do the runs up in the higher, but narrower end of the park. So I had to do 3 runs of the width of the field with turns to make up the distance, so I probbaly did run it a bit faster than before, since I did the same times. Wet field made it nice and soft, lucky my touch football shoes are water proof.
First run was smooth and effortless. 2nd one was quite a bit harder, but still good. Foot muscle were tightening up as it usually does when it gets colder, I've always had this.
 
Tuesday 17th May - Cycle 3 Get Lean+Maintain Strength - Week 1 - Day 2 Evening - Upper - Microcycle 2

Ok session I guess. Blarg - I just get so bored training upper body :)
tried some different stuff today, more speed/reactive type session.

Bodyweight at gym - 218lbs
Workout time - 1.5 hours
Workout rating - 7/10

General warmup and prehab -

scapular pushups on bench 2x10

Toe curls on lying leg machine - 1 plate x10, single leg 1P x6, 2P x4
2 legs - 3Px 8
Haven't trained em in a few weeks, but tibs have gotten stronger!


Rotating Sets between each exercise

Resting 30secs to 1min on warmup sets and then 2 to 3 mins between each exercise

21 inch Grip bench - shoulder blades pulled together, no arch or leg drive

Warmups - explosive - Bar 3x8, 95lbs 2x5, 135lbs 2x5, 165lbs 2x4, 195x3, 225x3

Explosive, ISO at mid point, oscillatory isometrics
Rotation 1) 185lbs x 3+5 sec ISO+3 OI+press back to top
Rotation 2) 185lbs x 3+5 sec ISO+3 OI+press back to top --> tough

Went wider today 21 inch grip.

45 degree Chest Supported T-Bar Row - palms down grip

warmups - Explosive - Bar 3x8, +45lbs 2x5, +70lbs 2x3, +90lbs 2x3, +115lbs 2x1

Assuming bar weighs 20lbs

Explosive, ISO at top, oscillatory isometrics
Rotation 1) Bar+115lbs x 3+5 sec ISO+3 OI
Rotation 2) Bar+115lbs x 3+5 sec ISO+3 OI ---> ISO real tough


Standing Dumbell Curls

warmups - Explosive - 2kg x10, 4kg 2x5, 15lbs x5, 25x3, 35x3

Explosive, ISO at mid point, oscillatory isometrics
Rotation 1) 30lbs x 3+5 sec ISO+3 OI
Rotation 2) 30lbs x 3+5 sec ISO+3 OI


SCM/Upper Trap and Suboccipital/Levator Scapulae Stretches

All warmup sets and Rotations - 5 to 10secs each side and stretch


CoolDown, Cuff Stuff and ISO Stretches - EQI

Cuff circuit

1.5 min rest between each -

Lying single crossbody lateral - warmup 3kg x 6
oscillatory isometric at parallel each rep on the way down, and then back up
A1) 5kg x 8
B1) 5kg x 7

Low pulley L-Flyes - warmup 10lbs x 6
oscillatory isometric at mid point each rep on the way down, and then back up
A2) 20lbs x 7
B2) 20lbs x 4

Scapular Dips - chest high, shoulders tucked, close grip - warmup BWx10
A3) +15lbs x 15 - up 5lbs
B3) +15lbs x 15

Ballistic Dumbell Cuban Rotation + Press
A4) 20lbs x 8
B4) 20lbs x 8

Scapular Pushups
C4) BW x 20

Shoulder dislocate pec stretches with wooden staff
 
Wait, wait. I'm sorry to be a prick CCJ, but I need to be immature for a second. Did anyone else laugh when seeing:

Heather Snethen - 52.5 Kg. Snatch

? :FRlol: 'cause I know I did.

And your organization is impressive, Colin.
 
No, must be just you ;)

BTW she is the daughter of the head honcho of the US weightlifting organisation :)
 
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Thursday 19th May - Cycle 3 Get Lean+Maintain Strength - Week 1 - Day 3 Morning - Tempo and Energy Work - Microcycle 2

Finally its dry, nice and sunny, but cold as hell. Me in my infinite wisdom decided to wear shorts to the park, and so I had to spend ages warming up!
Felt a bit flat today for some reason, but a productive session.
The muscles in my feet were tight and achey during the warmups, but felt fine during the runs.

Workout Rating - 7/10
Workout time - 45 mins all up

Warmup

warmup - dynamic swings
RFI hops - 2 legged alternating forward/back and side to side
SplitLeg front to back and side to side

50m jogs 4x2 - slowly increasing in speed

Run complex increasing in speed each run to 50% speed - 1.5 mins rest

3 sets - trying to stay as smooth, relaxed and fluid as possible

50m straight run, 10 sec rest
5m accleration into 90 degree right direction change into lateral run,
Right to left 10m, then left to right 10m, rotate into backwards run 10m, rotate back to front and run 10m (47 secs total up to here)

then 50m accleration runs to 60% speed 2x2 - 2mins rest


Tempo Runs + Energy Work

105+ metres @ 70% speed with proper standing start
Walk back to start = rest 2mins
1) 22 secs
2) 20 secs
3) 20 secs
4) 20 secs
Did shorter runs today, which seem to work better with squats later in the day. Each run was progressively a bit quicker, but the 3rd and 4th run were starting to get hard in the last 20m, especially the 4th one.
Start still needs much work, as far as the timing of the arm swing and leg drive goes.
 
Thursday 19th May - Cycle 3 Get Lean+Maintain Strength - Week 1 - Day 3 Evening - Lower - Microcycle 2

Definitely felt tired and weakened from the sprints earlier in the day. I think I will need to rethink my schedule, even though technically I'm in mainteniance right now, but I'd still like to have high quality sessions.
Did too many exercises in this session...

Bodyweight at the gym - 218.5lbs (in winter clothes)
Workout Rating - 6/10
Workout time - ?

Warmup - Prehab

dynamic swings etc
reverse backextension BWx8
situp complex on swissball
back extension BWx6 + 6 twisting to each alternate side

warmup complex with 25lb bar - RDL onto toes with shrug, military press, explosive good morning onto toes, snatch grip behind the neck partial press, hang powercleans, powerjerks - 5 to 8 reps each

mulit-direction lunge - 5 ways each leg, 2 reps each direction
Lateral stepup - 12inch step BWx10 each leg

Rotating Sets between each exercise

Resting 30secs to 1min on warmup sets and then 3 mins between each exercise

Full Back Squats - in Chucks - RAW

Warmups - alternating with frontsquats, explosive - BWx5, Bar x5, 95x3, 135x3, 185x3, 225x3, 255x2, 285x2, 315x1
frontsquats - Barx5, 95x3, 135x3, 185x3, 225x2

down fast, explode up - 78% of (1RM(385lbs)+85% of Bodyweight)
Rotation 1) 265lbs x 3 - 0.866, 0.933, 0.933 sec concentrics
Rotation 2) 265lbs x 3 - 0.8, 0.8, 0.866 sec concentrics
Rotation 3) 265lbs x 3 - 0.8, 0.8, 0.866 sec concentrics

Fullsquated in Chucks again, hmmm I just don't like it. Felt like crap, not as much leverage and stability, and I can't seem to get my hammies to fire like it does in Oly shoes. Just too quad and glute heavy! And my hammies are relatively weak, so I'll stick with olyshoes from now on.

Squats felt pretty heavy today, just felt tired from the sprints I did earlier. probbaly should not have gone up to 315lbs.
But bar speed surpised me a bit, went up 10lbs from 255lbs where I PR'ed with 3x3 - all reps in 0.8secs 2 weeks ago. Still managed to get 0.8 sec concentrics on half of the reps, considering how heavy it felt. Power levels are going up!!
Didn't lower em all that quickly today though. Stopped things at the 3rd set, was feeling run down by now.

I figure once I can do all sets with 275lbs in 0.8secs then my 1RM will be up 20-30lbs to 405-415lbs. Looking forward to the day when I can nail 315lbs for 0.8secs on 3x3, power should be more than reasonable by then :)


Single leg Split RDL - RAW in Chucks - Hookgrip

warmups - each side - 89x3, 155x2, 175x2, 195x1

Deadlifted up from floor on first rep, then lowered to just off the floor - explosive, 20 secs rest between each side
Rotation 1) 195lbs x 4 each side
Rotation 2) 195lbs x 4 each side

Up 10lbs from the last time I did em, felt OK.


Lat Machine Situp

warmups - BWx 5, 25lbs x3

Dumbell on chest, toes pressed into floor, down fast to just above parallel, explode up
Rotation 1) 65lbs x 4
Rotation 2) 65lbs x 4


Standing Single Leg Curl

warmups - 3plates x5, 5px3, 7Px1

Reactive - explode up so pad leaves the leg, absorbing it on the way down.
20 secs rest between each side
Rotation 1) 7plates x 3
Rotation 2) 7plates x 3


Cooldown, Prehab and ISO stretches

Seated Calf raise stretched ISO hold - 50lbs x 1min
External Hip Rotor stretched ISO hold - 25lbs x 1min each leg

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

clip from today

Right click on clip and save to avoid errors

All 3 sets of 3 explosive squats with 265lbs in chucks - still doing that little good morning, seems to much worse in chucks though.
http://www.members.optushome.com.au...xplosiveFullSquats_chucks_265_3x3_19May05.mpg
 
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Feel a bit battered, sore all over, especially in my quads, hammies and calves.
Don't feel drained but I definitely sapped my nervous system yesterday, non-powered steering wheel in the van is quite a bit harder to turn today.

I am beginning to notice 3 separate types of fatigue - one that can be measured with the waking pulse, one by the drained feeling and another by the perceived level of effort in doing or lifting things. And they don't seem to have an correlation with each other.
 
Chinese Oly gym clip

So I'm training at this other gym now. It's the number one weightlifting gym here in the province of Hubei, which has about 1/20 the population of the whole country. They've been exceedingly kind and enthusiastic about my training with them.

The clip here is sort of crappy, just some random stuff. The guy you see squatting in the red shirt, he's a nineteen year old 77 kg lifter and the last time I asked, he was lifting 150kg snatch 180kg Clean and jerk.

I wanted to get a clip of this awesome guy doing perfect jerks, but I was busy talking to the head coach, who is a VERY interesting guy. He took me out to dinner tonight! Anyway the guy jerking was like a freakin machine, a wonder to behold.

right click and save
http://www.members.optushome.com.au/coolcolj3/Movies/Chinese gym.wmv
 
Need more sleep, damn dog! feeling Ok though, not much soreness left, but not feeling that strong. Right inner ankle is a bit achey though when I stretch it back a bit, hope its ok for BBall today.
 
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from Dan H. again in China

I went to a meet today. The lifters are around 16 years old. Just a friendly local meet.

My coach buddy tried to allow me to compete in the meet (spontaneous thing, I would have had to borrow someone's shoes and stuff), but the head official regretfully said I couldn't. Would have been my first meet. But I got to do some lifting in the warm-up room, just for fun. The coach said my technique is ok

Check it out - (last part is me lifting in my previous gym)

right click and save
http://www.members.optushome.com.au/coolcolj2/Movies/China meet.wmv
 
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Sunday 22nd May - Cycle 3 Get Lean+Maintain Strength - Week 2 - Day 1 - BBALL - Microcycle 2

Went to the lower rim outdoor court. Sunny, but somewhat chilly.

Bodyweight at home - 217lbs
Workout time - 1hour
Workout rating - 8/10

started with easy dribbling and shooting for 20 mins to warmup.
Then progressed to more intense stuff. Lots of post up moves and drives around the hoop, intermixed with jumping and dunk attempts

I pigged out yesterday and bodyweight was up 2lbs!
But my jump was back up to my peak so far, well one step jump anyway, didn't test the other types. So I guess my power is up a bit?
That's all and well, but I need inches..another 3 inches and things will be so much more fun on this rim! :)

Felt snappy and springy today. Jumping felt a lot more effortless, much less knee bend, and way less quad recruitment. Felt pretty reflexive, no muscling it up, very calfy. Nice hang time as well.
See what happens next week when I bring in the bands and keep the squats moderate at 265lbs. And hopefully 3lbs lighter than today...
 
You know ever since I took this glucosamine msm chondroitin powder, the bodyfat loss has slowed down quite a bit. I think it maybe due to the sugar in the powder...

Also I don't think the starch blocker is all that effective :)
 
i like all of your links.. good stuff..
i like to have examples.
I think you can go a little deeper on some of your squats though ;)

lookin pretty good .
 
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Extra_Strong said:
i like all of your links.. good stuff..
i like to have examples.
I think you can go a little deeper on some of your squats though ;)

lookin pretty good .

Its just the camera angle - I always go down all the way, hams to calves,
even then it's not as low as some guys with skinny legs. I have 29inch legs with big hamstrings ;)

Just look at where the bar ends up at the bottom, right at my where my hip joint is when I'm standing. My butt is about 12inches away from the floor.
 
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Better sleep today, feeling quite good. very minimal drained feeling, slight aches all over, calves and psterior chain mostly, plus shoulders and traps.
Bodyweight back down to 215lbs out of bed this morning. Waist back to 38inches...

anyway check this sprinter out, Jason Smoots, he is stacked. Especially in the last pic at the bottom, 187lbs?
I hope I look somewhat like that when I lean down to 185-190lbs at 5'9" :)
http://www.nccu.edu/campus/athletics/tfsmoots.html

http://www.nccu.edu/campus/athletics/Jsmoots3.jpg

http://www.nccu.edu/campus/echo/archive8-0001/s-ciaa.jpg

His coach says he only squats 385lbs...same as me for now anyway :p
 
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My gym has this unit, that locks the shins perfectly vertical, feet within 6 inches of each other so that you can squat up and down with the torso perfectly erect. The knees can't move forward at all

I tried a similar movement on my bed just then to see what it would hit. Ie calves pressed into the side of the bed. And it feels like a hammie heavy squat type move, with some VMO at the top.
Sorta like a squat move to isolate the hip extension part of the hammies.

A bit like this
http://www.newyorkbarbells.com/pro93165.html
 
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Hamstrings and glutes are a bit sore from me doing that squat thing on the edge of my bed yesterday! Plus I also did a lot of quad stretches, kneeling over a chair, and on my bed while stretching the tibs and feet, which has made those muscles a bit achey as well...

Tibs have gotten quite big from all those toe curls I've doing on the lying leg curl machine..big bulge on the front of my lower leg..probably why I no longer get shin splint type aches anymore :)
 
Tuesday 24th May - Cycle 3 Get Lean+Maintain Strength - Week 2 - Day 2 Morning - Tempo and Energy Work - Microcycle 2

Started ok, felt good, springy and snappy, but then my blood sugar crashed and I felt as hell! Bad meal timing....

Bodyweight at home - 215lbs
Workout Rating - 6/10
Workout time - 30 mins all up

Warmup

warmup - dynamic swings
RFI hops - 2 legged alternating forward/back and side to side
SplitLeg front to back and side to side

Run complex increasing in speed each run to 50% speed - 1.5 mins rest

3 sets - trying to stay as smooth, relaxed and fluid as possible

50m straight run, 10 sec rest
5m accleration into 90 degree right direction change into lateral run,
Right to left 10m, then left to right 10m, rotate into backwards run 10m, rotate back to front and run 10m (47 secs total up to here)

then 50m accleration runs to 60% speed x2 - 2mins rest

Tempo Runs + Energy Work

220+ metres @ 60% speed with proper standing start - 3x180 degree turns to make up the distance
rest 3 mins
1) 55 secs
2) 52 secs

Felt hard due to low blood sugar. Otherwise, my legs felt a lot looser and fluid thanks to all the quad and tib stretching yesterday.
 
Tuesday 24th May - Cycle 3 Get Lean+Maintain Strength - Week 2 - Day 2 Evening - Upper - Microcycle 2

Felt queezy, but did feel better when I got into the heavy stuff. These 2 sessions a days don't seem to jive with me.

Bodyweight at gym - 219.5lbs in winter clothes
Workout time - ?
Workout rating - 6/10

General warmup - scapular pushups on bench 2x8, pulldowns 30kg 2x8

Rotating Sets between each exercise

Resting 30secs to 1min on warmup sets and then 3 mins between each exercise

14 inch Grip bench - shoulder blades pulled together, no arch or leg drive

Warmups - Bar 2x8, 95lbs 2x4, 115x4, 135x4, 155x3, 185lbs 2x3, 225x2

Controlled for max reps
Rotation 1) 245lbs x 5 --> last rep a hard grind
Rotation 2) 265lbs x 2 --> last rep a moderate grind
Rotation 3) 185lbs x 12 --> last rep hard

Bench only a tiny bit up. Didn't feel that good until I reached 225lbs.
Maybe I need to wack my triceps

45 degree Chest Supported T-Bar Row - palms down grip

warmups - Bar 2x8, 25lbs x4, 45x4, 70x4, 90x4, 115x3

Assuming bar weighs 20lbs

Controlled for max reps
Rotation 1) Bar+135lbs x 6 ---> last rep hard
Rotation 2) Bar+150lbs x 3 ---> last rep hard
Rotation 3) Bar+90lbs x 12 --> last 2 reps hard

gotten stronger on these

Standing Dumbell Curls

warmups - 2kg x10, 4kg x5, 15lbs x4, 30x3, 40x2

Controlled for max reps
Rotation 1) 50lbs x 4 --> close to failure
Rotation 2) 50lbs x 3 --> close to failure
Rotation 3) Chins BW x 7 --> last rep hard

stronger - up one rep

SCM/Upper Trap and Suboccipital/Levator Scapulae Stretches

All warmup sets and Rotations - 5 to 15secs each side and stretch


CoolDown, Cuff Stuff and ISO Stretches - EQI

Cuff circuit

2 min rest between each

Lying single crossbody lateral - warmup 4kg x 6
4 sec ISO hold at parallel each rep on the way down
A1) 7kg x 5 B1) 7kg x 3
way stronger, up 3 reps!

One Arm low pulley L-Flyes - warmup 10lb x 6
4 sec ISO hold at halfway each rep on the way up
A2) 27.5lbs x 5 B2) 27.5lbs x 3
up 2.5lbs and stronger

Scapular Pushups
2 sec ISO hold at top and bottom
A3) BW x 8 B3) BW x 8
Hard, body was shaking, killer on the core!

Closegrip Lat Stretched ISO hold on pulldown machine - 50kg x 1min
Shoulder dislocate pec stretches with wodden staff
 
decent sleep, but not great, due to going to bed 2 hours later than normal. Just doesn't feel as fresh when you go to sleep later for some reason.
Upper body is moderatley sore all over, some soreness in my posterior chain and calves. Those supported rows do smack my posterior chain quite hard!

Anyway my feet/ankles and shins feel so nice and loose and ache free!
This is the first time I've stretched the muscles in my feet, quads and shins before and after tempo work - coincidence?
Makes me kinda tempted to do some light and low volume tempo today, then just do lower body by itself tommorrow, and then a moderate level of tempo the day after that. Leaving one day of rest before I BBall.
So I can acclerate my fat loss, getting my waist down to 37inches, bodyweight to 210lbs ASAP, and thus get me another 3 inches on my vertical jump!
 
im thinkin about tryin out for my school's bball team, DII. For speed, quickness, agility, and endurance im running 3 miles, jumping rope, sprinting(suicides), lane shuffles, line jumps, and 17s 3 days a week. Im also doing madcow's 5x5 3 days a week, on top of ball handling drills, shooting drills and playing pick up games.
So I:
run 3 miles at a moderate pace
40 mins of sprint work trying to inc my number of sprinits done in 40mins
lane shuffles for 30 sec intervals
line jumps for 30 sec. trying to increase my number per set
17s--trying to get my time to under a minute (17s are up and down the court 17 times. Touching each baseline counts as one)

Im also trying to continue to put on muscle but i think its gonna be hard to with all that running and playing so if i can maintain or just put on a few lbs. i'd take it.
 
can you even recover? :worried:

may need to cutdown every 3 weeks for 2-3 weeks to deload to allow you recover and make gains....

Your doing a good job at draining your CNS and breaking your body down, but you have to let it build back up and "refill" the CNS to get the gains you want.
If your vertical jump is getting lower every week then you know why :)

please read this article - gotta be smarter with your training
http://www.higher-faster-sports.com/PlannedOvertraining.html

Most Athletes Are Already Implementing the 2-Factor Theory and Could Benefit by "Under-Reaching" For a While

Ok. Now the important thing to note is that most athletes are already over-reaching slightly even though they don't realize it! They never allow recovery to take place and some haven't been fully recovered in years. Basketball players are among the worst here. They are never recovered daily, they never allow recovery to fully take place, and thus they don't make gains due to chronic over-reaching. Therefore, I almost always start athletes off with more recovery so that they can allow all the fatigue they've been acumulating during their previous months or years of training to dissipate.

It's also important to realize that recovery doesn't have to be "complete" between training sessions in order for one to experience gains. People are rarely ever 100% completely recovered but still make gains. Athletes in most sports are always experiencing some level of constant fatigue. What you want to do is maximize those gains which you can do by intentionally manipulating the relationship between fatigue and fitness.
 
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Need more sleep, but feeling OK. Legs feel good, lower legs and feet feel better than it has in years, all thanks to stretching :)
Still pondering wether I should do tempo work this morning or leave it till tommorrow, while I do only lower body workout today...hmmm
 
Thursday 26th May - Cycle 3 Get Lean+Maintain Strength - Week 2 - Day 3 - Lower - Microcycle 2

Good workout! I decided not to do any tempo work this morning. I'll do it tommorrow, and as a result I felt a lot fresher, the workout was much more productive. But if I get real sore tomorrow, it will be tough. Which I think I will, because my hammies and VMO got caned!

For the last few weeks my knees have been aching a bit at the reversal point in the squat during the warmups, but goes away in the worksets. Well a few days ago I started to stretch my quads, tib and feets a lot and everyday. Boom, knee pain completely gone! I always thought I had good quad flexibility, I guess not. Seems like the quads were pulling the kneecap in too tight or something.
Looks like the Bulgarian splitsquat ISO hold doesn't do much for quad flexibility at all, but does work wonders for the hip flexor and glutes.
The stretch I've been doing is where you kneel down on a bed, shins on the bed and feet hanging off the edge. Or I will keep the feet on the bed, and point them to stretch the tibs, or pull the feet up to stretch the foot muscles.
I think a lot of knee pain people feel, where its under the kneecap, rather than patella tendon or quad tendon tendonitus, could be due to ovelly tight quads and hip flexors.

I used to stretch a lot, but have slacked off a lot in the last couple of years, guess I'll get back into it. But there are some msucles I won't bother with too much like my hammies, which get a lot of stretching as is from RDLs, plus I don't want them too flexible for stiffness/reactivity reasons for sprinting and jumping :)

Bodyweight at the gym - 218lbs (in winter clothes)
Workout Rating - 9/10
Workout time - 1.5 hours

Warmup - Prehab

dynamic swings etc
reverse backextension BWx8
situp complex on swissball
back extension BWx6 + 6 twisting to each alternate side

warmup complex with 30lb bar - RDL onto toes with shrug, military press, explosive good morning onto toes, snatch grip behind the neck partial press, hang powercleans, powerjerks - 10 reps each, except cleans and jerks, 5 and 3 reps respectively

Hip abduction and adduction on Keiser air machine set on level 2 x 10
mulit-direction lunge - 5 ways each leg, 2 reps each direction
Lateral stepup - 6inch step BWx10 each leg
Seated Calf raise - 40lbs x10 + 30sec ISO hold

Rotating Sets between each exercise

Resting 30secs to 1min on warmup sets and then 2.5 mins between each exercise

Athletic Full Back Squats - in Oly Shoes - RAW

Warmups - alternating set with each type of squat - 45secs to 1min - semi explosive
Fullsquats - BWx5, Bar x5, 95x3, 135x3, 185x3, 225x3, 255x1, 285x1
frontsquats - 95x3, 135x3, 185x3, 225x3
Wide stance squats - 95x3, 135x3, 185x3, 225x3

Explosive - 80% of (1RM(385lbs)+85% of Bodyweight)
Rotation 1) 275lbs x 3 - 0.8, 0.8, 0.867 sec concentrics
Rotation 2) 275lbs x 3 - 0.8, 0.8, 0.867 sec concentrics
Rotation 3) 275lbs x 3 - 0.8, 0.8, 0.867 sec concentrics --> feeling tired
Power PR, heaviest load moved in 0.8sec concentric!

I was gonna use bands with 265lbs today, but I left my bands at home! 285lbs shot up pretty quickly, so instead of using 265 like last week, I went up to 275lbs, and I could move it pretty quickly, even though it didn't feel that light on my back. No way I could have moved it like this for 3 reps a set a few months back, back then the third rep would be way slower.
Hmm does this mean I can powerclean 275lbs now, a 30lb PR...? ;)
Wouldn't surprise me as my vertical jump is 3+ inches higher than back when I powercleaned 243lbs

Reversal felt much more springy, and I was able to get a little bit deeper, although my hamstrings still limit depth :)
From the stretching? One thing for sure is the front squats felt so much better after all the stretching. I was able to get down a bit deeper and it felt easier to settle in the bottom, with my back fully locked tight. I could really feel my VMO activate in a way I haven't felt in a long time!

I really like alternating different types of squats during the warmups, gets me nice and ready for the worksets, and allows me to keep the groove of the other squats as well.


Single leg Split RDL - RAW in Olyshoes - Hookgrip

warmups - 89x3, 111x2, 155x2, 175x1

Deadlifted up - explosive, 30 secs rest between each side
Rotation 1) 205lbs x 4 each side
Rotation 2) 205lbs x 4 each side

Up 5lbs, this weight feels about perfect, not too heavy and too light. Considering my 1RM clean deadlift was 455lbs, this is just under 50% of that.
Worked my rear obliques quite a bit.

Lat Machine Situp

warmups - BWx8, 25lbs x3

Dumbell on chest, toes pressed into floor, down fast to just above parallel, explode up
Rotation 1) 70lbs x 4
Rotation 2) 70lbs x 4

Up 5lbs from last week, felt good.


Cooldown - Prehab

External Hip Rotor stretched ISO hold - 25lbs x 1min each leg
Lie over swiss ball to stretch spinal erectors x 1min

some stretches

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

clip from today

Right click on clip and save to avoid errors

all 3 sets of explosive full squats
http://www.members.optushome.com.au/blitzforce/Movies/CCJ_ExplosiveFullSquats_275_3x3_26May05.mpg
 
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Hmm feeling ok, just have that lingering feeling that my CNS has worked hard the day before. Feel pretty strong. Light soreness all over, and moderate soreness in my upper back, erectors, VMO, hammies, calves and glutes.

Forgot to work my tibs yesterday, and I feel I should have done some explosive leg curls as well.
Tempo work today, since its by itself, I can do a bit more volume I think.
 
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