Creation of an Explosive Mofo - My Training Journal :)

[coolcolj]

Thursday 16th June - Cycle 3 Get Lean+Maintain Strength - Week 5 DELOAD - Day 4 Morning - Speed/Energy Work - Microcycle 2

Bodyweight at home - 216lbs in winter clothes
Workout Rating - 9/10
Workout time - 25 mins all up

Warmup

warmup - dynamic swings, and other drills in bare feet at home
Barfeet Splitleg hops in place for 20 reps x 2

Slow Jog - 50m 2x2 --> legs fairly straight using mostly calves and hammies

Run complex increasing in speed each run to 50% speed - 1 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, walk back to start (50m)

then 50m accleration runs to 60% speed 2x2 - 1.5 mins rest

Speed - Energy Work

55 paces (50 metres?) Max speed with proper standing start in Sprint Spiked shoes Stopwatch in hand
walk back to start and rest - total 2 mins
1) 85% speed run
2) 6.37 secs
3) 6.53 secs
4) 6.25 secs PR by default
5) 6.5 secs --> getting tired and core getting loose

The last time I ran flat out was on the 15th of March, so about 3 months ago. So it felt a bit strange at first. Back then I ran a 6.25 sec for about 47m, so I'm a little quicker, maybe this will translate to a half a second gain over 105+m I run, 12.3 down to 11.8 secs. Especially now that I have better speed endurance and at least 5lbs lighter.
I figure a few more sessions I'll be able to shave it down a bit more, once I get back that high speed groove, and shake the effects of the speed endurance work I have been doing. In any case I felt pretty fast, the wind was roaring past my face, and it felt fairly relaxed doing it. Although my start didn't feel that explosive

One thing for sure my form has changed dramaticly. I wish I had filmed my runs. It finally seems I've becoming a front or pull runner. My legs were effortlessly snapping out straight ahead, with what seemed like 3 inches off the ground space. Skipping lightly on the balls of my feet as if I weighed just 100lbs
My core was starting loose tightness in the last run. Even then my work capacity has improved quite a bit. Right now my hammies and calves feel pretty trashed in a good way. Don't think squats later today will be fun...

Well it's been ages since I ran in sprint spikes. They hug your feet, feel light, have minimal padding and force you run on the balls of your feet - so you better have strong feet, tibs and calves to absorb the forces. Something I didn't have in relation to my bodyweight a few months ago, so my shins used to kill me. Well today they were about 95% pain free, so I'm getting there. Another 5lbs of fat off, and stronger feet, tibs and calves and I'll be good to go.

 

[coolcolj]

Thursday 16th June - Cycle 3 Get Lean+Maintain Strength - Week 5 DELOAD - Day 4 - Lower Evening - Microcycle 2

Well the muscles in my groin were aching something fierce from the sprints, which made squatting hard. They did feel better after the workout though, but hammies are feeling it right now. Gonna be sore tommorrow!
Sprints drained the hell out of my CNS, did not feel too fresh...

Bodyweight at the gym - 218lbs (in winter clothes)
Workout Rating - 7/10
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
Hip abduction and adduction on Keiser air machine set on level 2 x 15, level 3x5

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

Back tumbles from sitting position x 10
mulit-direction lunge - 5 ways each leg, 2 reps each direction

Toes curls on lying leg curl machine - did these in between the main exercise warmup and main sets - 1Plate x10, 2Plates x5, 3Plates 5 set of 3

Rotating Sets between Squats and one accessory exercise

Resting 1 to 1.5min on warmup sets and then 2+ mins between each exercise

Full Back Squats - in Oly Shoes - RAW

Warmups - alternating set with each type of squat - 45secs to 1min - controlled down explode up
Fullsquats - BWx5, Bar x5, 95x5, 135x5, 185x5, 225x3, 255x2, 285x2, 315x1

Controlled down, power up as hard as I can - 90% of (1RM(385lbs)+85% of Bodyweight)
Rotation 1) 325lbs x 2 - 1.2 and 1.2 sec concentrics
Rotation 2) 325lbs x 2 - 1.134, 1.2 sec concentrics
Rotation 3) 325lbs x 2 - 1.133, 1.333 sec concentrics --> started to strain the last rep

Well it was not a good idea to go heavy on squats today! Squats felt heavy as hell on my back. Plus my core was pretty trashed from the sprints, and I felt wobbly walking out 325lbs. Did not feel too good, but I got through them OK with decent work capacity. Bar speed wasn't too crash hot though. Lesson learned...


Bent over Barbell Rows - Index fingers on smooth - Strict

warmups - Barx5, 89lbs x5, 119x5, 129x4, 155x3, 175x2, 195x1, 215x1

Trying to keep back as horizontal as possible , and strict
Rotation 1) 225lbs x 1.5 --. bad form
Rotation 2) 205lbs x 1.5
Rotation 3) 205lbs x 1 --> hard

I thought I'd kill 2 birds with one, since these are basicly an ISO RDL+ a row.
Even though the loads are about 55% of what I can RDl, it won't hurt, and it definitely worked my posterior chain, especially today after the sprints and heavy squats.
225lbs was near limit, so my 1RM by default. Form was not that good, but with 205lbs I pulled my torso towards the floor and pulled my shoulder blades back and locked it tight before starting which helped straighten out my back and make it more horizontal. Seems to feel easier rowing like this even though I was doing near limit weights for me.



Cooldown

Reverse back extensions - BWx10
Lie over swill ball to stretch the spinal erectors
Stretches at home after hot shower

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clips from today

Right click on clip and save to avoid errors

Squats - 325lbs 3x2

http://www.members.optushome.com.au/coolco...x2_16June05.mpg

Bent over barbell rows - better form on 2nd set
http://www.members.optushome.com.au/coolco....5_16June05.mpg

 

[coolcolj]

Hmm, I didn't really feel drained! Maybe I'm just used to the feeling of it, since I'm carrying over some fatigue from yesterday. My lips are dry, hot and swollen - which usually indicates I've caned myself pretty hard in the past.

Hammies, calves and adductors are moderately sore, and my inner right ankle area is trashed up. And aches everywhere, but I'm not as sore as I expected.
The easy stretching last nght after a hot shower probbaly helped.

Waist jumped up a bit, even though bodyweight is still 215lbs in winter clothing straight out of bed. I figure my spinal erectors blew up a bit overnight!

might do some restorative work today

 

[coolcolj]

Feeling decent, and in good spirits. Hamstrings and right ankle still quite sore. Lips, still dry and swollen, but CNS is bouncing back nicely. Feeling fairly explosive and snappy today. Lot more energy today

Light RPE turning non-powered steering wheel in van

 

[coolcolj]

NBA draft combine numbers

Well it looks llike VJ numbers are tested with a step...hmmm that would add a good 2-4 inches or more onto the standing number, I know I jump close to 3 inches higher with a step. So a 40.5, two 39, 38.5 and two 38 inch one step verticals for the top 5 isn't that impressive relatively speaking. That 40 guy probably only jumps around 36-37 standing, which is very good, but not mind blowing, in light of all these outrageous VJ numbers dished out by BBallers...Especially when you compare them to NFL combine numbers!

Like I have said before a legit 40inch standing VJ is elite and requires a lot of explosive strength relative to bodyweight!

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There are three ways to help your draft stock at the Chicago predraft camp.

First, you can actually play well in the event, like Luther Head and David Lee did, and convince scouts that you're first-round material.

Second, you can stand against a wall, spread your arms out and possibly measure longer/bigger than team originally thought you were. Guys like Chris Paul and Ike Diogu did that this year.

Finally, you can go through the NBA draft combine and prove to scouts that you're quicker, stronger, or can jump higher than your original scouting report.

Insider exclusively obtained a list of the Chicago pre-draft camp combine results on Wednesday. The combine measures four key areas: strength (bench press repetitions of 185 pounds), vertical jump, lane agility (how fast a player moves laterally around the key), and speed (¾-court sprint). Then the league adds those up and gives an athletic ranking to each player in the draft.

The overall winner this year was Oklahoma State's Joey Graham, who blew away the competition. Second was Georgia Tech's Will Bynum. Other top players with good scores included Rashad McCants (3rd overall), Luther Head (6th), David Lee (11th), Marvin Williams (15th), Chris Paul (16th) and Raymond Felton (18th).

There was one major surprise in the top 20 -- Illinois point guard Deron Williams finished 10th, ahead of both Paul and Felton. Part of that had to do with strength; Williams bench pressed 185 pounds 15 times, which is really great for a point guard. However, that wasn't the full story.

There have been major questions about Williams' lateral quickness, but he actually tested quicker than Paul in the lane agility drill and finished .03 seconds behind Paul in the sprint. Williams has lost about 15 pounds and is down to 7½ percent body fat, which obviously has helped his athleticism.

The bottom end of the spectrum included mostly international players and lumbering big men. Georgia Tech center Luke Schensher finished at the bottom of the list (75th). Ersan Ilyasova (74th) and Martynas Andriuskevicius (73rd) also tested poorly.

The shock on the low end was high school star Monta Ellis, who finished 70th. His strength, vertical jump and lateral quickness were all on the low end of the scale. That could be devastating to his draft chances.

Other disappointments included Andrew Bogut (61st), Martell Webster (60th), Rudy Fernandez (57th), Antoine Wright (55th), Jarrett Jack (54th) and Francisco Garcia (51st).

Luther Head ranked as the most athletic point guard in camp. Will Bynum took the award for the 2-guards. Joey Graham won for 3s, David Lee for 4s and Marcin Gortat for centers.

Ellis was the worst ranked guard in camp at either position. Ilyasova finished last among small forwards while Taylor Coppenrath was last for power forwards and Luke Schenscher finished at the bottom of the heap for centers.

On the individual test front, Will Bynum recorded the highest one-step vertical jump at 40½ inches. Gerald Green and Ronnie Price tied for second at 39 inches, followed by Luther Head at 38½. Chris Paul and Hakim Warrick rounded out the top-five, each launching a 38-inch leap.

Luke Schensher recorded the worst vertical jump, at 26½ inches. He was followed by Taylor Coppenrath and Jason Klotz (27 inches) and Martynas Andriuskevicius and Wayne Simien (27½ inches).

Joey Graham won the strength test, bench pressing 185 pounds an impressive 26 times. Ike Diogu finished second with 21 reps, followed by Chuck Hayes with 20. Channing Frye helped himself shed the soft label a bit by hoisting the bar 19 times. Eric Williams, Marcin Gortat and David Simon all finished tied for fifth with 18 reps.

As happens every year, several top players were unable or barely able to do this drill. Monta Ellis, Rudy Fernandez, Martynas Andriuskevicius, Brandon Rush and Daryl Dorsey got a zero for the drill. Luke Schensher and Travis Diener could only lift the bar once.

In the lane agility drill, Michigan State's Alan Anderson recorded the fastest time at 10.32 seconds. Rashad McCants was second at 10.39. John Lucas ranked third, Rudy Fernandez fourth and Raymond Felton fifth.

Jason Klotz, Ellis Myles and Deji Akindele finished at the bottom of the heap. Monta Ellis and Andrew Bogut also recorded terrible times of above 12 seconds.

In the ¾-court sprint, Will Bynum recorded the fastest time at 3 seconds. Joey Graham, Raymond Felton, Rashad McCants and John Lucas were also in the top five. Marvin Williams and Julius Hodge finished in the top 10.

Jason Klotz earns the awarded as the slowest guy in camp with a 3.68 seconds time. Ersan Ilyasova, Andrew Bogut, D'or Fischer and Torin Francis rounded out the five slowest guys in camp.

Here's a look at how 30 of the top draft prospects performed in each event. Note that several top prospects, including Fran Vazquez, Johan Petro, Nate Robinson, Ryan Gomes, Brandon Bass, Matt Walsh and Linas Kleiza, did not participate in the testing.


Numbers(bench, vertical, and so on) in next post.

 

[coolcolj]

Name, Bench press, vertical jump (with a step!), Lane Agility, ¾-court sprint and Overall rank.

Joey Graham/26/36"/10.62/3.05/1
Rashad McCants/15/34½/10.39/3.11/3
Luther Head/14/38½"/11.12/3.21/7
Deron Williams/15/35"/10.83/3.25/10
David Lee/14/32½"/10.80/3.19/11
Marvin Williams/12/35"/11.11/3.17/15
Chris Paul/10/38½"/11.09/3.22/16
Raymond Felton/6/33½"/10.50/3.06/18
Ronny Turiaf/15/33"/11.50/3.23/21
Gerald Green/7/39"/11.2/3.21/24
Chris Taft/14/33"/11.26/3.27/25
Julius Hodge/14/29"/10.89/3.18/26
Sean May/12/33"/11.04/3.29/27
Danny Granger/10/34"/10.84/3.34/31
Channing Frye/19/31"/11.60/3.38/33
Dwayne Jones/15/31½"/11.87/3.25/38
Ike Diogu/21/31"/11.94/3.45/39
Charlie Villanueva/11/31"/10.86/3.3/42
Wayne Simien/11/27½"/11.05/3.35/49
Francisco Garcia/5/31½"/10.63/3.33/51
Jarrett Jack/5/28½"/10.87/3.24/54
Antoine Wright/12/29½"/11.45/3.41/55
Rudy Fernandez/0/35½"/10.48/3.33/56
Martell Webster/7/30½"/11.39/3.39/59
Andrew Bogut/13/33½"/12.06/3½1/60
Hakim Warrick/11/38"/N/A/3.22/61
Monta Ellis/0/31½"/12.13/3.31/70
Martynas Andriuskevicius/0/27½"/11.94/3.42/73
Ersan Ilyasova/2/30"/11.59/3½6/74


So who was helped and hurt by the testing?

WINNERS

Deron Williams -- Scouts have been questioning his quickness and athleticism all year. Now that he's lost some of that body fat, that no longer seems to be an issue. He's not as fast as Raymond Felton and doesn't jump as high as Chris Paul, but he's clearly in the same league athletically.

Joey Graham -- It doesn't come as a huge surprise that Graham came out on top. If you've seen him play much, you know he's an unbelievable athlete. Still, finishing on top of the heap should guarantee he gets selected in the lottery.

Will Bynum -- He was the last guy invited to Chicago and played extremely well, especially on the defensive end. A few scouts believe he might be a better prospect than Nate Robinson (the guy who tested as the top athlete in Chicago last year). I doubt he gets selected ahead of Nate, but he's definitely in the second-round mix now.

Rashad McCants -- There are still questions about his attitude, but it's rare to find such a great shooter who can also test off the charts athletically (just look at Martell Webster and Antoine Wright). Someone's going to ignore the baggage and take him in the late lottery to mid-first round.

Channing Frye -- He's stronger and more athletic than scouts have given him credit. The 19 reps on the bench press will turn a lot of heads.

David Lee -- Athletically, he tested as the top power forward in the draft. His lane agility scores are what really stand out. Lee has very quick feet, which will really help him defensively in the pros. Combine that with his strong play in Chicago and Lee seems like he's another step closer to securing a spot in the first round.

Marcin Gortat -- He had just a so-so camp, but he tested out as the most athletic center in the draft. He could be off the board in the first 10 picks of the second round if he decides to stay in the draft.

Sean May -- His numbers don't jump out at you, but he showed a better vertical jump and more agility than his main competition: Ike Diogu, Wayne Simien and Chris Taft. Maybe that will balance out the fact that he measured smaller than all of them.

LOSERS

Andrew Bogut -- He's been trying to dispel the "great white stiff" myth for the past few weeks. This doesn't help. While his vertical leap is actually above average for a guy his size, his lateral quickness and sprinting speed were just awful. That will hurt him defensively.

Wayne Simien -- Simien finished well below the other top big men in almost every area. Especially shocking is his lack of explosion jumping off one foot. His one-step vertical was only a half inch more than his standing vertical. That was, by far, the worst in the camp.

Antoine Wright -- Scouts have been warning that Wright looks more athletic than he actually is. At the combine, he was significantly below Francisco Garcia, a guy almost every scout in the league has knocked for his lack of athleticism. Had he not benched an impressive 12 reps, he would have landed close to the bottom. That's going to come back to haunt Wright.

Jarrett Jack -- He has great size and toughness, but athletically, he tested well behind most of the point guards in this draft. With Roko Ukic making a strong push, it could cause him to slip.

The High Schoolers -- Monta Ellis, Martell Webster and Brandon Rush all tested terribly. That's partly because of their age and partly because guys like Ellis and Rush might not have been training for these particular tests the way some players do.

We knew that Webster was just an average athlete but Ellis was a huge shock. For an undersized 2-guard to be successful in the League, he has to be long, quick and explosive. Ellis is none of the above. There's been talk that Minnesota is flirting with taking him at No. 14. It's pretty hard to justify that after seeing these numbers.

The Internationals -- They always struggle every year. With the exception of Gortat, they all were near the bottom of the heap. Most of them have never lifted weights before (which hurts their bench press numbers) and most are bigs lacking any real explosion or quickness.

Chad Ford covers the NBA for ESPN Insider.

 

[coolcolj]

somebody asked about my training layout, so here it is

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

Well for the last cycle and this one, I've been doing a lot of trial and error lately. I go by feel and with some Autoregulation of volume

but the basic format is 4 weeks of regular training with larger level of energy work. And then 3-4 weeks of deloading, where I undertrain a bit, drop the volume of energy work down, and intensify the strength work a bit, plus some reduction in accessory work.

The deloading period is necessary as I don't really allow full recover between sessions in terms of my legs with all the energy and tempo work. While work and erratic sleep patterns eat into my recovery a bit. So it's insurance that I peak out my capacities. It's encouraging that I'm at my peak or better than I was before the deload I'm starting this week. So I should rebound a bit higher over it in a few weeks time, hopefully.

I know my body pretty well, so I go by feel with what qualities I need to target in the workout sessions

As far as my weekly layout, you can get an idea by reading my workouts!
But if your lazy - in a nutshell

Last cycle

Sunday - BBall, mainly shooting, jumping, layups and dunk attempts. I generally avoid playing games for now due to injury risk, and I'm more productive this way and can better quantify fatigue levels.
Basicly a mag/rate workout in itself, reactive and force absorbtion etc, but more fun!

Monday - rest

Tuesday - Am - Higher volume tempo/energy work
PM - Upperbody

Wednesday - rest

Thursday - AM - lower volume energy work. Sometimes barefeet stiff legged sprints in place
PM - lower body workout

Friday - rest, stretching
Saturday - rest


I've recently changed it to this...


Sunday - BBall

Monday - rest, but will probably be doing upperbody prehab stuff here soon - ie cuffs, scapular muscles, arms, rear delts and other small muscle groups, plus upper body EQI

Tuesday - Higher volume tempo/energy work

Wednesday - Upper body - push emphasis

Thursday - AM - lower volume energy work.
PM - lower body workout, and upperbody - pull emphasis

Friday - rest, stretching
Saturday - rest


I'm still playing around with it, though, and will most likely change when I add in more exercises in the next cycle when I restart the regular phase.

It's mostly molded by my lifestyle and current main goal for losing the excess bodyfat. So it's a compromise, and why I have so much tempo/energy work

Main problem is getting my upper body strength back up, as the once a week frequency is making me weaker on a calorie deficit, and I'm reluctant to up the volume of work with respect to training frequency, because that will disrupt overall recovery. But I figure the extra prehab day I add in on Monday will help since a lot of the same muscles will be hit, but differently.

 

[coolcolj]

felt a bit crappy when I woke up, a bit better now. But I'm going take a nap now, and see how I feel after that before deciding what to do today. Maybe I have the flu or something, lips still dry and swollen.
Non-powered steering wheel in van is pretty easy to turn today though.

 

[coolcolj]

Sunday 19th June - Cycle 3 Get Lean+Maintain Strength - Week 6 DELOAD - Day 1 - BBALL - Microcycle 2

Kept things easy today. I kicked myself a bit hard last week, got carried away with the sprints, so this week I'm gonna go easy to let the Deload kick in properly.

Bodyweight at home - 214lbs
Workout time - 10+10+25mins
Workout rating - 6/10

I went to 3 different outdoor courts today, and didn't like the vibe on any of em. The last one was a court 3mins from home, where I stayed the longest and just practised shots and dribbled around a bit, and some small jumps.
Didn't really feel like going all out and I had no hops today...

 

[d-dub]

Interesting read on the draft combine. Do you think Bogut will go much lower in the first round now? Some were initially thinking he would go in the top 3 picks...