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Creation of an Explosive Mofo - My Training Journal :)

Went for a 15+min brisk walk with the girlfriend :)
The last third is up a moderate slope. Felt it mostly in my hammies and spinal erectors..heh I walk like I sprint now

I will probbaly start doing this more regularly on my rest days, since it's much easier now that my body is used to sprinting.
 
Better deep sleep for 8 hours, had a waking pulse of 62, ate breakfast and went back to sleep (light sleep) for another 2 hours and waking pulse dropped to 56. Feeling groggy though, queezy.

Meh...spinal erectors are quite sore from the walk, and my calves and hammies to a lesser extent.

A bit wet, but no raining for the moment, if it stays dry then I'll do my tempo sprints.
 
Tuesday 27th September - Cycle 3 Get Lean+Maintain Strength - Week 4 - Day 2 AM - Energy Work - Microcycle 4

Good session, once I warmed up. Feet were aching a bit before then.

Workout Rating - 8/10
Workout time - 35mins

Warmup

warmup - dynamic stretches and swings, foot massage, various hops in place in bare feet at home.

Slow Jog - faster each run - 50m x 5 - 1min rest

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

2 sets - trying to stay as smooth, relaxed and fluid as possible
50m straight run, then into lateral run, right side 5m, left side 5m, into backwards run 5m

then 25m accleration runs to 70% speed x 2 runs - walk back to start = rest


Tempo Runs + Energy Work

200 metres - 180 degree turn at halfway @ 70% speed from a proper standing start

rest = 3 mins

1) 43+ secs
2) 43+ secs
3) 45+ secs ---> last half hard

average time is down, hmm, I'm really not supposed to be running these too hard, but I gotta love the improvement in work capacity.
First run felt good, 2nd felt hard in the last third and the last one was pretty hard in the 2nd half, but not as bad as before.
Hammies and calves are smashed! Erectors were aching as well, which I haven't felt since I started running - so I'm extending more, but wether they should tensing as much is another question.

I filmed the runs and the deliberate snap off each stride looks pretty obvious..
but I don't seem to fully straighten out the push off leg.
 
here is the clip of the 200m tempo runs

Right click on link and save first to avoid errors

http://www.members.optushome.com.au/blitzforce/Movies/CCJ_TempoRuns_200m_27Sept05.mpg

and here is the frame sequence of the 2nd run, top row is the first half and bottom the end where I'm tiring :)
Well it looks like in some frames my legs does fully straighten out, I guess my camera just doesn't have the resolution to capture the full movement - only 15 frames per second

Also my legs is a bit bent when it passes under my body, a bad thing I guess?
Probbaly what causes that little bounce in my stride

CCJ_RunSequence.JPG
 
gjohnson5 said:
LOL...

Satchboogie has a method for this and it's a calorie restricted diet with 2g primo a week... Maybe you should look him up

*ponder*

Why do I even bother...
Click to expand...


if you keep track of ccj's goals, you'd know he's aiming for a bodyweight around 185 with a sub-10% bodyfat level. That's a typical weight-to height ratio for a 100m sprinter like Ato Boldon. Low bodyweight is not the way to move fast - sprinters are noticeably larger (and faster) than longer distance runners, for instance. You're also telling him to diet, when he's been slowly losing weight for months now. And to use drugs, which is not something he's interested in!

read the thread!
 
Tuesday 27th September - Cycle 3 Get Lean+Maintain Strength - Week 4 - Day 3 - Upper + Lower 2 - Microcycle 4

Did this workout 2 hours after my running session.
Would have been a pretty good workout, but just before my squat worksets on squats this BB'er wanted to use the powerrack for squats as well, but I told him I'm benching here after my squats. Had a big confrontation with him over this. I mean there is a squat rack next door!! So I had to rush and do bigger jumps between the warmups which stuffed a possible bench PR!!!!! :swear:

Wasn't able to rotate between my bench and row sets like I normally do which messed up my rest periods and definitely wasn't as strong as a result.
If it was me back in my younger aggressive days, I would put a fist through his jaw and a knee through the groin, and a 45lb plate to head for good measure...

Bodyweight at gym - 208lbs
Workout time - 1 hour 30 mins
Workout rating - 7/10

General warmup -
1) dynamic swings etc
2) back extension BWx6 + 6 twisting to each alternate side
3) situp complex on swissball
4) 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, and powerjerks - 10 reps each, except cleans 5 reps, jerks 3 reps
5) Siting in the bottom of a narrow stance fullsquat until heels get within a cm of the floor


Full Oly Back Squats - in Oly Shoes - RAW

Warmups - controlled down, semi- explosive up - BWx8, Bar x8,
95x5, 135x5, 185x4, 225x4, 275x2, 315x1
frontsquats - Bar x 5, 95x4
wide stance squats - Bar x 5, 95x4

resting 3.5 mins
335lbs 2x3 (+10lbs) --> all out effort on last rep

Well that frigging BB'er messed up my mind set, but the squats felt good. Strong and pretty stable considering how smashed up my hammes, calves, lower back and core was from the running. But I had to lower faster on the last rep of every set to make sure I got em. The last rep was an all put strain through the sticking point, it was touch and go for a while, but I nailed it!
Pretty close to a PR as well I think.
Slight GM on some reps, but considering how tired my hammies were, that is to be expected.

clip
Right click on link and save first to avoid errors

http://www.members.optushome.com.au/coolcolj3/Movies/CCJ_FullOlySquats335_2x3_27Sept05.mpg

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


14 inch Grip bench - shoulder blades tucked - no arch or leg drive

Warmups - Fast down, explosive up - Bar x10, 95lbs x 8, 135x5, controlled 185x4, 225x2

resting 3+mins
1) 265lbs x 2.5 --> long strain 3/4 of the way up
2) 265lbs x 1.5

up 10lbs from last week and felt I could have nailed it for a 2x3 PR but my warmups, form, control and groove was all messed by that BB'er!!!!
I had to rush through the warmups, and bigger jumps did not help.
All things considered I'm almost back to my best - after running and squats
as well

clip
Right click on link and save first to avoid errors

http://www.members.optushome.com.au/coolcolj3/Movies/CCJ_14inchGripBench_265x2.5_1.5_27Sept05.mpg

Dumbell Bent over Barbell Rows - palms facing, narrow to wide elbows out - Strict

warmups - explosive - total weight for dumbells - 60lbs x 8, 100x8, 130x4, 160x1

resting 3mins
190lbs in dumbells 3 x 3 New PR +10lbs
 
Very mild drained feeling, much less than before. Light to moderate sorness in my VMO, outer quads, upper hammies, spinal erectors and whole upper body.

15min brisk walk with girlfriend planned today :)
 
Good squats there. But I notice that slight pause about mid way up and slight break in form(if u can call it that) where your knees move markedly forward. More evident on the second set.

I only mention it cos I noticed it on another squat video.
Whether theres something to correct or not I don't know. Good sets none the less.
 
Numani said:
Good squats there. But I notice that slight pause about mid way up and slight break in form(if u can call it that) where your knees move markedly forward. More evident on the second set.

I only mention it cos I noticed it on another squat video.
Whether theres something to correct or not I don't know. Good sets none the less.
Click to expand...


yeah that's my sticking point, hardest part of the squat due to leverage changes. I think it's just my body trying to get the hips further under the bar, otherwise I'd end up in a GM position and lose the lift.
Or I'm driving the hips forward like how one locks out a deadlift - sorta feels like that too.

Or it could be the double knee rebend habit from doing olys :)
The knees do the same thing there as you power up a clean or snatch - they rebend under the bar, prestretches the quads to generate more power
 
Thursday 29th September - Cycle 3 Get Lean+Maintain Strength - Week 4 - Day 3 AM - Energy Work - Microcycle 4

Average session, felt a bit "heavy". Ran at another field, just below the one I have been using, a bit more secluded and flatter. Really windy though, hard running with a very strong crosswind!

Workout Rating - 7/10
Workout time - ?

Warmup

warmup - dynamic stretches and swings, foot massage, various hops in place in bare feet at home.

Slow Jog - faster each run - 50m x 4 - 1min rest

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
25m straight run with side step to each side every 2nd step, then into lateral run, right side 5m, left side 5m, into backwards run 5m

then 25m accleration runs to 70% speed x 2 runs - walk back to start = rest


Energy Work

Agility complex @ 60-70% speed

50m run with side step to alternate side every 2 strides. Turn around
50m zig-zag runs with a 360 degree pivot at the end of each direction back to start

3 complex around 40secs each - 3 mins rest

rest 3.5 mins then
Tempo Runs 100 metres @ 70% speed

2 mins rest
1) 19+ secs
2) 20+ secs

achey lower inner shins after the agility runs, force absortion and strength there needs work, but not sure how one would attack that muscle.

Tempo runs quite a bit slower today compared to last week. Different field maybe the reason.


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

clip of some of the stuff I did today to give you an idea
you can see and hear how windy it was :)

Right click on link and save first to avoid errors
http://www.members.optushome.com.au/coolcolj2/Movies/CCJ_AgilityRunStuff_29Sept05.mpg
 
Thursday 29th September - Cycle 3 Get Lean+Maintain Strength - Week 4 - Day 3- Upper + Lower 2 - Microcycle 4

did this workout 1.5 hours after my running, which is not ideal, but I ran late.
Workout dragged a bit, didn't do much lower body work.

I also forgot to mention that this morning I did my usual jump and throw, and I'm pretty snappy feeling and can hit my target with ease first go. Well today I was sluggish and it took me 5 tries to get it! My fine motor control is trashed - definite sign of early over-reaching. I'm unloading next week anyway, and looking forward to getting away from strength and high rep work

Bodyweight at gym - 211lbs
Workout time - ?
Workout rating - 7/10

General warmup -
1) dynamic swings etc
2) back extension BWx6 + 6 twisting to each alternate side
3) Situp complex on swiss ball
4) reverse hypers - BWx12
5) Hip abduction/adduction on Keiser air machine - Level 3/3 x12
6) 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, and powerjerks - 8 reps each, except cleans 5 reps, jerks 3 reps
7) Scapular pushups - on bench BWx12, on floor BWx12

Rotating Sets between each upper body exercise - all stopped before I started to strain too much

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

Military Press - in Oly Shoes

Warmups - 45x12, 70x8, 95x1

rhythmic
Rotation 1) 105lbs x 16 (hard +1rep)
Rotation 1) 105lbs x 8

Lots of burn! Must get to 20reps. 2nd set was really hard due to the enormous pump and burn in my triceps and biceps

Pullups and Rows

warmups - Pulldowns 40kgx10, 55kg x 8

rhythmic
Rotation 1) Assisted pullups - 6plates x 9 - hard for some reason
rhythmic
Rotation 2) High Angle Standing DumbellRows to ribcage - thumbs facing, elbows out - 40lbs x 20 (+3reps)

time to add weight

Low angle Dumbell decline Tricep Extensions - palms facing

warmups - 3kg x 12, 15lbs x 10,

rhythmic
Rotation 1) 25lbs x 15
Rotation 2) 25lbs x 10

up from 20lbs x 20

Standing Dumbell Curls

warmups - 3kg x 12, 15lbs x 10

rhythmic
Rotation 1) 25lbs x 15
Rotation 2) 25lbs x 10

up from 20lbs x 20

Prehab - rotated sets between each exercise in no particular order - 30secs to 1min rests

Toe curls on lying leg curl machine - 1plate x 12, single leg 1Px10
single leg style is way harder

Dip Shrugs - bench dip style BWx15. On dip bars - lockout hold BWx12secs, BWx5, BW+10lbs x25 (+3reps)

Face Pulls - 30lbs x6, 60lbs x 25 (+5 reps)

Single Arm low pulley L-Flyes - 10lb x 6, 20lbs x 15
up from 15lbs x20


ISO Stretches - EQI

Pec/subscap stretched ISO hold - 6kg dumbell x 1min 10secs
while doing 5sec isometric pushes with the back of the head into the bench

External Hip Rotor Stretch ISO hold - 25lb dumbell x 1min 10secs

side of neck/trap stretched ISO hold - 25lb dumbell x 1min 10secs

Lat stretched ISO hold on chin bar - leg supported x 1min

these are helping a lot, noticeable on military presses. I can get the bar further behind my head, which should help my snatch and power jerks if I ever do them again. My lat flexibility is horrible, before I was 6 inches away from vertical when my arms are held overhead, now only 3 inches away. A reason why my 2 handed reach is an inch off from where is should be...
Playing BBall also has helped in this regard :)
 
Achey all over, but really sore triceps.
Not sure if I am getting leaner or not bodyweight seems to be rising lately, but my face sorta looks leaner - so says my girlfriend....maybe I'm gaining musclemass...

another 15 min brisk walk today with her :)
 
Upper body still a bit achey, and legs not quite snappy, but I feel semi-strong overall. Non-powered steering wheel in van very easy to turn etc, and I just feel fresher than I have in the past few Sundays

Absolutely gorgeous day! Warm, brighty blue sky, still air, and perfect temperature. Definitely a day to be spent outdoors, but I haven't decided what I'll do yet. I am unloading next week, and most probably doing more power and speed work. So either I chill out today, or do tempo energy work, or play BBall. Will grab a nap though and then my girlfriend will probably have a say after that....
 
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Sunday 2nd October - Cycle 3 Get Lean+Maintain Strength - Week 5 - Day 1 - BBALL - Microcycle 4

I decided to play BBall at an outdoor court, since I won't be playing any for the next few weeks. In hindsight I should have just chilled out with my girlfriend at the pool instead, and get recovered for the next power workout Tuesday...
Just hoped I'm not too banged up by then.

Bodyweight at home - 207.5lbs in shorts and t-shirt
Workout time - 45 mins
Workout rating - 7/10

Did my usual stuff at the BBall courts.

Felt better than last week and went a little harder. While I was pretty energetic, my jump is down about 1.5 inches and shooting was below average. Agility is much better though, and my one legged jump is up a bit, so it's not all bad, but I am definitely overreached.
Shins didn't hurt, but a slight ache on one layup jump.
 
Hmmm, I can't figure out my body, I actually feel pretty decent today!
Waking pulse is back down to it's lowest (55) and I'm barely sore at all.
Bodyweight is 207lbs straight out of bed in shorts and t-shirt waist is 36inches.

My waist hasn't budged much from 36inches, nor has my bodyweight over the last month. Granted I've been eating more carbs, but things have stagnated on the fat loss front, hitting my setpoint it seems.

I'm starting my deload/power/speed block, which will go for the next 3-4 weeks. I won't be doing much energy work, maybe just some walking, and the training frequency will be much lower and higher intensity. I need to get under 200lbs ASAP, so now would be the perfect time to do something like the Velocity Diet

http://www.t-nation.com/readTopic.do?id=563877

I've done something like this in the past, where I just ate chicken breast and lettuce, drank gallons of water and then carbed up/pigged out every 4 days for 3 weeks. And it certainly works, without any muscle or strength lose and I felt like a million bucks, mainly because I'm carb intolerant.

But this one doesn't have the carb ups and uses protein powder which simplify meal prep a lot! :)
I'm not gonna do it excactly the same though. Will not be using any of the supplements he is taking, just a multivitamin and loads of fishoil.
I will still eat my usual breakfast cereal+whey in the morning which adds about 50g of carbs, and also post training. Then some slower release combo protein powder for the other meals to keep me feeling full (whey is too fast) which will add about 10-15g of carbs. I'll have raw nuts at each meal and some veges here and there, which take care of the fibre and top up the carbs to about 100-120 grams. Plus at least one meal a day will have meat instead of the protein powder.
I tried one day like this last week and it seems to feel ok.

Hopefully this will drop me down to 195lbs or so after the 3-4 week block, then I'll go back to my usual stuff, and new microcycle. I'll get back on it on the next deload block to take me back down to 185lbs hopefully. I should be lean enough then, if not, I guess down to 175-180lbs...
After that I'll drop most of the energy work and concentrate on strength and speed/power work. A double bodyweight 14inch grip bench will be much easier as well and I'll be ready to fly vertically and horizontally ;)
 
Your journal is always entertaining to read. It's got a lot of detail in regards to your training, and helps people to understand how and why you do the things you do. Thanks for keeping one - it's definitely helpful for many.
 
Anthrax Invasion said:
Your journal is always entertaining to read. It's got a lot of detail in regards to your training, and helps people to understand how and why you do the things you do. Thanks for keeping one - it's definitely helpful for many.
Click to expand...


thanks and that's the idea :)




I did a 15min brisk walk yesterday afternoon, and also some walking in the morning with a large tub of protein powder I just bought :)

bodyweight in shorts and t-shirt - 206.5lbs waist just under 36 inches
---------------------

Well I started my new diet, at least up to the last meal which was a pigout at a family gathering, but my bodyweight and waist is slightly down, and I need to transition across anyway...
Funny seeing my bodyweight drop down during the day as opposed to it rising when I eat normally

Looks like yesterday was slightly below maintenance for a rest day, and that's probbaly the most protein I have eaten all year! Around 1.5g for each pound of lean bodyweight - for that reason I may even add muscle and get stronger, but I'm not doing much strength or hypertrophy work in the next 3-4 week block in any case.

first time I've actually sat down and worked out exactly how much I'm eating - eating mostly protein powder which makes it easy :)

I had 8 meals yesterday, most of em 1.75 hours apart. And lots of cold water!

5:30am - Cereal (180) + whey (117) + Oat milk (107) = 404 calories
4.5+27+3.5 = 35 g of protein
3.6+0.2+5 = 8.8g of fat
30+1.5+15 = 46.5g of carbs

8:30am to 5:30pm - 3 Whey serves, 3 Protein blend serves
702 cals, 162g protein, 1.2g fat, 9g carb
each had 7 almonds - 49 cals, 2g protein, 4g fat, 1.4g carb
and some lettuce/veges - not much of each at a guess, say 50 cals, 1g protein, 30g carbs ?
total -

last meal was a pigout - a tiny steak, 4 barbacue sauages, half a plate of chips, some veges - guessing 1000 cals, 60+g fat, 40-60g protein, 100g carbs

fishoil - 2 caps each meal, 16 total, about 200 total calories?

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

so total for first 7 meals is - 1205 cals, 200g protein, 12.8g fat, 85.5g carb

not including the fishoil - 2 caps each meal, 16 total, about 200 extra calories
and 10+ grams of fat ?

then the last meal blows it tight up to around
2200 cals, 240-260g protein, 80-100g fat, 185-200g carbs

so with a clean meal in place of the last meal I'm good to go!
Keeping the calories around 1600 for non training days and 1900 on training days. On training days I have another serve of cereal+whey+oatmilk after training which bumps up the calories, protein and carbs as needed.

so maintenance is around 2300-2500 calories I guess
 
Question for you: Do you still use that tap tester thing? I saw recently you mentioned your RHR upon waking, and I know you used to use the tap test as another method to check your fatigue. I've noticed that after laying off for two weeks and being able to only hit 16 periodically with 2 seconds, and also after my girlfriend and I finally stopped fighting so much (lots of bullshit going on) I'm able to hit 18 all throughout the day - waking, mid-day, night time. I guess it does work, 'cause I've been feeling better on the whole lately.

I still don't get exactly how it works. Or, I do...but only very basically.
 
no, cause I don't want to wear down my keyboard :)
And I find them taxing in their own way, especially my finger muscles!

I didn't find as much of a correlation for me, even when I'm fatigued my reaction times and tap speed can still be very fast

The best way would be an Omega Wave device, but I can't afford one :)
http://www.omegawavesport.com/
 
Tuesday 4th October - Cycle 3 Get Lean+Maintain Strength - Week 5 DELOAD - Day 2 - Lower + Upper Power - Microcycle 4

Time to get my body to turn on the muscles fast! Power and force absorbtion emphasis. I've also changed my approach - in the past I paid to much attention to barweight, now I'm focusing on feel and form. If I can't snap and brake the bar in a blink of eye without muscling it up then its too heavy. I'm putting the same respect into these lifts as I would with high altitude drops and depth jumps. Use only what my body can handle, and then stop the sets when I sense and form brake down and fatigue no matter how small.

Workout went well, diet didn't didn't make much of a difference, apart from the hunger pains :) The extra protein boost seem to make me feel different. And lower carbs meant less pump and bloat which seems to enhance power.
3.5 lbs lighter than the last time I jumped in the gym, and jump is well up!

Bodyweight at gym - 208.5lbs
Workout time - 1 hour 30 mins
Workout rating - 8/10

Warmup

1) dynamic swings etc
2) back extension BWx6 + 6 twisting to each alternate side
3) situp complex on swissball
4) 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
5) 1min ISO at the bottom of a narrow full squat position, holding until my heels get close to the floor
6) 4 sets of 15 ankle hops

7) did a few altitude drops off 6inches and bodyweight drop squats, then 3 sets of 3 vertical jumps, going higher and harder each time.

Did 2 maximal jumps,
one standing - NEW PR!! boom popped the ceiling panel up 3+ inches, at least an inch higher than the last time I jumped in the gym.
one step jump - NEW PR!! boom eyes level with the ceiling - So only 7 more inches before I can touch my head on the raised ceiling area!

All the jumps felt effortless, hardly any dip compared to before, and did not feel as muscled up like a month ago, Always seems to be the case when I unload from heavy squatting.
Also on one of the later standing jumps, where I was showing a guy I know there how I can now pop the ceiling panel up, I jumped my highest of the day 4inches over the ceiling! Make me giddy thinking about how much higher I'll get when I'm under 190lbs! :)

clip - right click and save first to avoid errors
http://www.members.optushome.com.au/blitzforce/Movies/CCJ_StandingJumpPR_25August05.mpg


Rotating Sets between each exercise

Resting 1 to 1.5min on warmup sets and then 3 mins between each exercise

Jumps - did a standing jump before each set of each exercise. Once the jump becomes hard and muscled or lower I stop everything

Drop/Reactive Squats - in Sneakers

Warmups - fullsquat bar x5, Reactive squat (early reps controlled) - BARx12, 70x5, 95x3, 115x2

medium stance to hamstrings at parallel position - 55% of (85% BW+1RM)
Rotation 1) 135lbs x 3
Rotation 2) 135lbs x 3
Rotation 3) took me 3 attempts on the jump to get above the ceiling so stopped here

Same weight as used at the end of the last microcycle, perfect weight.
Smacked up my upper hammies like nothing!

clip - right click and save first to avoid errors
http://www.members.optushome.com.au/blitzforce/Movies/CCJ_ReactiveSquat_135_2x3_4Oct05.mpg


Barbell Jumpsquats

continous
Rotation 1) 25lbs x 4
Rotation 2) 25lbs x 4

feels like 3-4inches away from ceiling on these

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

Rotating Sets between each upper body exercise

Resting 1.5 mins on warmup sets and then 2.5 mins between each exercise

14 inch Grip bench - shoulder blades tucked - no arch or leg drive

Warmups - Bar x12, drop catch style - bar x 5, explosive 95lbs x 8, 135x6

controlled down, explode up, then the rest controlled down in the first third, frefalled down at halfway down and snap up 2inch off the chest. Using a smooth rhythmic approach
Rotation 1) 155lbs x 4
Rotation 2) 155lbs x 4

had to work quite hard at the reversal

clip - right click and save first to avoid errors
http://www.members.optushome.com.au/blitzforce/Movies/CCJ_DiveBomb14inchGripBench_155_2x4_4Oct05.mpg

Chest Supported 45 degree T-Bar Rows - Overhand grip

warmups - explosive - 30lb in dumbells x 12, then 25lbs x8, 45x8

explode up, freefalled down and abruptly brake 2-3inches from full extension
Rotation 1) 70lbs x 4
Rotation 2) 70lbs x 4

Fried my mid back!
 
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Had trouble sleeping last night, body was buzzing from the workout, and diet I guess. Don't feel too bad though, and I don't feel drained like I normally am after this type of workout, and hardly any soreness? Things may change later today though...maybe all that protein helps recovery...

I didn't think I'd drop any weight since I felt like I ate so much late in the day - went to bed weighing 94.4kg 208lbs. When I get up, stand on the scale and it reads....

in shorts and t-shirt 93.3kg 205lbs waist 35.75 inches
in underwear - 92.9kg 204.5lbs

down 1.5lbs from yesterday morning and waist down 1/4 inch!
And I really do look and feel leaner. Zero "cardio" and 1/4inch off the waist each day sounds good to me - 200lbs here I come!

That's pretty much the rate of fat loss I had before on this type of diet, but back then I ate real food which was hard to get a gauge on actual calories and protein/carb amounts. Less food prep make the hunger pains from protein powder worth it though :)

Anyway yesterday I pretty much ate like the first day, but with some changes. I ate 10 almonds per protein shake meal, instead of 7.
I replaced one of the protein shake meals with Steak and veges before my workout. And post workout I had cereal+whey+oat milk in place of another, then had another shake meal. After that the last meal of the day was steak and lots of veges.
 
Wait a second, your meals mainly consist of whey protein shakes? Sounds like what I used to do all the time! Have you found yourself able to gain weight doing that in the past, or have you not tried?

Why did you choose to do this? For the sake of conveinence? How far apart are you meals? I ask 'cause whey protein is fast-absorbing, but people exaggerate that point a little too much - besides, fiber slows digestion a great deal.
 
read what I posted further up it details exactly what I'm eating and how far apart :)
Plus a link to the diet, but I have modified it as written above. I take whey at breakfast (with the cereal) and after training, then the other shakes use a protein blend of differnet types to get a longer sustained release and its more filling.

I have no problems gaining weight and putting on muscle - if I want to, but that's not what I want right now

I only started doing this a couple of days ago to lean up. Been stuck in a rut eating clean with energy work, I got from 220lbs to 208lbs like that over 6+ months, but now it's time to blitz my way down under 200lbs :D
Most people who did this diet drop at least 10lbs in a month, with most in the 15+lb range, without any loss in muscle mass. Some even gain size and strength due to the large amount of protein, but since I'm not actually doing much direct strength and hypertrophy work right now, that probably won't happen with me

And yeah it is helpful, when your having 6+ meals a day, not having to cook meat for every single one :)
Plus it is more exact when your trying to figure out protein and calorie numbers. Also the fat levels are way lower like this vs eating meat.

And tons of ice cold water helps with 8 calories burnt per glass, due to the fact your body has to heat it up to body temp.
 
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I don't think the tons of ice water thing is going to make much of a difference. You can probably burn as much straining on the bowl, provided you don't eat your fiber. :FRlol:

Also, you know you don't need six meals a day, right? That whole eating every three hour thing is a myth. Your body needs an excess (or defecit) or calories to grow or lose weight, respectively. You also need adequate protein. Once these requirements are fulfilled, nothing much matters. Of course, if you call out the extreme of one or two meals a day, then there could be problems, but the original three meals a day thing will work fine. I find myself sticking with four and it works wonders. I eat every 5-5.5 hours or so. Each meal has about 1200 calories, not to mention a quick pre- and post-workout shake, one with creatine (pre) the other with dextrose (obviously, post).

Anyway, don't listen to me - you're doing fine on your own! Good luck dropping to 200 lbs. I'd recommend a great way to drop fat while retaining (or possibly gaining) muscle mass and strength, but I don't think the diet could coincide with your training.
 
Also, I forgot to ask - does the RHR check in the AM work better for spotting fatigue?

Do you check every AM?

How do you do it? 20 seconds, multiply by 3, or just the full 60?

Sorry, had to find out.
 
not if you drink 2 gallons of water like I do - literally :)
I'm chugging 2 glasses down every 5 mins just about...I actually shiver from the body temp drop.....and it all adds up over the course of a week. That could add up to 300-500 calories a day from stored bodyfat being used up.

I'm eating 8 meals right now - more so to keep me full. Otherwise my hunger pains would kill! Plus the meals are tiny 300 cals tops - well protein powder doesn't have much ;p
Also keeps my blood sugar stable - insulin is the biggest problem for me in losing fat, I am carb intolerant so I need to keep it real low and stable to get shredded

I do it first thing on waking and usually after I relax for 5mins, sometimes when I wake up, it may be just after a dream or something and so my HR maybe up a bit.
I count the full 60 secs ;)
I just count to 20, and restart from 1 and then add em all up
 
Hm, how did you figure out you're carb intolerant? I thought there was some finger-pricking thing you could do to test your blood after drinking something sugary - I heard about this awhile back.

I always got confused on being insulin resistant or tolerant, and carb resistant or tolerant. Care to elaborate on this a bit?

I'm pretty sure it's that, in the presence of insulin, fat loss is inhibited. That being said, you're carb intolerant, so very few carbs probably spikes your insulin a good deal more than someone who is more tolerant to carbs. Is this accurate? I always mix things like this up.

I can understand wanting to keep stable blood sugar levels. I just use four meals, but I'm also trying to add mass right now, and I have a job that eats 1000+ calories five days a week, so really, I have no concerns about insulin spiking.

I don't notice myself getting sluggish, even after 1200+ calorie meals 3-4 times a day - does this mean I'm very tolerant to carbs?
 
Anthrax Invasion said:
Hm, how did you figure out you're carb intolerant? I thought there was some finger-pricking thing you could do to test your blood after drinking something sugary - I heard about this awhile back.

I always got confused on being insulin resistant or tolerant, and carb resistant or tolerant. Care to elaborate on this a bit?

I'm pretty sure it's that, in the presence of insulin, fat loss is inhibited. That being said, you're carb intolerant, so very few carbs probably spikes your insulin a good deal more than someone who is more tolerant to carbs. Is this accurate? I always mix things like this up.

I can understand wanting to keep stable blood sugar levels. I just use four meals, but I'm also trying to add mass right now, and I have a job that eats 1000+ calories five days a week, so really, I have no concerns about insulin spiking.

I don't notice myself getting sluggish, even after 1200+ calorie meals 3-4 times a day - does this mean I'm very tolerant to carbs?
Click to expand...

by my bodies reaction to various foods. When I eat carbs, I get very sleepy, and then my blood sugar crashes. Always does. But when I eat veges and meat, I can go for hours and feel fine

More inusilin sensitivity = good. Which means less insulin is needed in the body.


----------

Better sleep but not great, woke up early. I feel kinda strong, even though I do feel tried, non-powered steering wheel in the van feels feather light, and the jump and throw I did this morning was snappy like nothing. Posterior chain a bit sore. I won't be training hard again till Sunday, so I have have a few days to recharge the batteries and recover.
Seems like my metabolism is ramping up.

Went for a 10min brisk walk yesterday

I cheated a little bit on my diet on the last meal last night, but no matter, while my bodyweight has gone back up a bit, it's still 2lbs lighter than the start of the week and my waist has dropped further down to just above 35.5inches! d**n this diet is effective or what, in 2 days I have achieved what it would usually take me 2-3 weeks of clean eating and lots of exercise to do.
Don't think I've lost any muscle mass either. Makes the hunger pains worth it :)
Actually it's not so bad now, body is getting used to it, and my appetite has shrunk a lot. If I ate real food and chewed a lot, like before on a similar type of diet then hunger pains wouldn't be an issue

Looks like I'll be down to 35inches by the end of the week, and my goal of 34 inches by the end of the month should be doable and maybe more. And to think it took 6+ months of blood, sweat and tears to go from 39+inches to 36inches, when using food to control your hormonal profile (keep insulin low and boost insulin sensitvity) is 10 times more effective! :D
At least I'll be able to maintain when I switch back. Goal is still a 30inch waist, maybe 29inches, because I never had what you would called ripped abs even at 29.5inches. Think I would need to get down to 27-28inches to get ripped abs, because I have a pretty small frame. Shows you how much fat I have when I'm carting around a 35.5 inch waist.... :p
 
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Pretty nice and deep sleep. Body is getting used to the diet, and hunger pains not as much of an issue, plus I'm pretty good at ignoring discomfort these days :)
Waist is slightly under 35.5 inches, bodyweight stablising at 93.5kg 205.7lbs in shorts and t-shirt this morning. Seems like I'm gaining muscle mass....?
Because I sure as hell don't feel flat or small!

Legs starting to get that light and snappy feeling back.
10min brisk walk yesterday

Not sure if I will do the diet straight ahead as it is, or do a periodic carb load. My carbs really aren't that low, and not I'm depleting myself with much activity. Although I might eat more on Saturday so I can sprint well on Sunday.
I ate some canned Salmon last night with a fresh tomatoe. Didn't realise a full can had 40g of protein, not that much saturated fat and zero carbs off course. That made me really full after a day of protein drinks, almonds and veges :)
 
Yeah, you'll find it much more difficult to get down whole foods after you've used shakes for awhile. The shakes are a great way to get loads of protein and, honestly, carbs down. Blend some oats and bananas in. I used to hit 120 grams of carbs per shake, along with about 70 protein. :)
 
Crappy sleepy thanks to the dog barking...

Dropped the carbs lower yesterday and had a 20min brisk walk. Then on the last meal of the night I started my carb load and calorie boosting with a big bowl of noddles

straight out of bed this morning waist holding at 35.5inches
bodyweight in t-shirt and shorts still at 93.5kg 205.7lbs
And I'm holding a lot of water, looking puffy indeed.....I hate the carb loaded feeling...

bodyfat loss has slowed so now is the perfect time to triple my calories and carb up big today. My stomach has shrunk a lot, so I am way full eating the usual stuff :)
So not gonna go overboard on the food to stretch out my stomach so that when I go back to the low carb protein shake days I get the massive hunger pains again.

Probbaly will keep the carbs up tomorrow, but back to mainteniance calorie levels, and then I'll play it by ear on Monday - probably do a half and half day. Then back into low carbs on Tuesday and repeat the cycle, but I will probbaly ditch the breakfast cereal this time around in the morning to drop my carbs down another 45 grams
In the past when I did a similar type of carb cycling diet, I did 4 days of low carbs (70 grams) and then one day of very high carbs, which worked very well, and I was way leaner back then with around a 30inch waist. So I am not sure which way to go just yet.
 
interrupted sleep - dog barking again grrr.....
Not feeling the greatest today - like an old man.

Anyway I was carb loading yesterday, with my shrunken stomach I found it hard to eat my usual amount! I was pretty full and bloated all day long, and probbaly didn't eat as much as I should have, carb wise.
Felt really sleepy too thanks to all the carbs. Ate mostly noodles, rice and some bread, plus one ice cream in a cone :)

straight out of bed this morning waist up 1/4inch
bodyweight in t-shirt and shorts 94.2kg 207.25lbs, up 1.5lbs which isn't as much as I expected given the carbs and all. Muscles feel like balloons

A case of 2 steps forward and one step. Today I will be at maintenance, but after pissing out some water my bodyweight has dropped back down to 206lbs which means I've lost about 1lb since this time last week.
Which is not bad since I wasn't all that strict, hopefully I'll get 1.5lbs down this coming week when I do it properly.

Back into low carbs tommorrow, and the sprints and stuff today should help deplete the muscles.
 
Sunday 9th October - Cycle 3 Get Lean+Maintain Strength - Week 6 DELOAD - Day 1 - Speed - Microcycle 4

Pretty intense session, not high volume, but definitely cranking. If today doesn't shift some fat and turn up the metabolic rate nothing will :)
They had a cricket game going on the field I normally use, so I had to use the field below. Some people, kids and dogs about which made it a bit of a hassle. And no stairs to do the high RFI hops I had planned :(

Bodyweight at home - 206lbs
Workout Rating - 8/10
Workout time - 1 hour including warmups

Warmup

warmup - dynamic stretches and swings, foot massage, various hops in place in bare feet at home.

Slow Jog - 50m x 4 - walks back to start doing Dorsiflexion drills - 1mins rest

Jog 25m - sideways run 5m each side - backwards run 5m - x 3 complexes - 1mins rest

accleration runs to 70% speed - 25m x 2

50 metre sprint - from proper standing start - sprint spikes

warmups - start into 5m burst, jog 5m then acclerate 10m x 2 sets
plus a few starts

rest = 8mins - some hops and VJs at 4mins, and 6mins
Rotation 1) 7.09 secs
Rotation 2) 6.78 secs
Rotation 3) 7.06 secs --> left ankle bucked at start...
Rotation 4) 7.48 secs --> started stopwatch way late...
Rotation 5) 6.66 secs NEW PR!! -0.02 secs

Not really to worried about my times today, since it's been a month since I ran flat out. But I am 1.5lbs lighter than the last time I ran 6.68secs, but that was on a concave field. This field is much flater, but somewhat harder.

Warmup wasn't great, and the fact I couldn't do my planned RFI hops meant I didn't really fire up till late into the workout. I didn't get that wind rushing across the face feel until the last few runs. Next time I'll do a a run or two at 90% to get me up to speed, so I can record my best times within the first 2 runs.

My starts are horrible, not only is my back bent over, I don't get that much drive and I pop up to soon. On the run that I kept my head down for a second longer I recorded my best time of the day 6.66secs! I also seem to be overstriding a bit, because my feet land very hard on the ground. And maybe I don't extend my hips fully. If I can get that sorted, plus I should be 1.5lbs leaner next week and slightly more powerful, and have a better 100% speed groove I should be able to get it down to 6.5secs - fingers crossed :)

Ankles and feet were starting to feel it by the 5th run so shut it down there, but no shin pains which is good! Calves absolutely smashed!

------------------------------
clip of the first 3 runs - also a slow mo of the first run as well.

Right click on link and save to avoid errors

http://www.members.optushome.com.au/coolcolj2/Movies/CCJ_Sprint50m_first3runs_9Oct05.mpg

My camera really doesn't have enough resolution to record the full movement - 15 fps only.
While I was editing the clip I counted my strides vs the timer and it looks like I get about 5+ strides a second at top speed. They say only female sprinters get above 5? :)
The clip from behind, makes it look like I'm running stiff legged style, but the clips from the front and side don't look too bad. Thoughts?
Starts are pretty bad as you can see :p

CCJ_RunSequence_9Oct05.JPG


and here is a freeze frame from the first run - doesn't look as bad as I thought. I have high leg lift and arms come up to my face. There is some leg bend though, and I don't quite fully extend the hip, but I'm sorta pulling rather than pushing my strides I think
 
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interrupted sleep again - damn dog! Manged to get enough sleep anyway
So I woke with hot dry lips like I always do when I seriously tax my nervous system, but I only have minimal drained feeling, just this kinda warm buzz. Maybe I did one sprint to many, yet my waking pulse is 54! Pulse definitely felt very slow, go figure...

Not all that sore overall compared to normal - right hammie feels pretty hammered though, and the muscles in groin are sore, maybe a flexibility issue here as they always feel ripped up when I sprint all out. Shins are fine

bodyweight and waist size much the same as yesterday, again surprising, I expected a drop.

Went for a 24min brisk walk after waking and having half a serve of whey. Achey feet, but I feel better after the walk. Nice bit of active recovery and tempo work. Then a bowl of cereal + portein powder + oak milk, which I wasn't going to do, but its should be fine since it's straight after exercise and it makes me feel better. Rest of the day will be low carb though as per last week.
 
Woke up in the middle of the night, decided to down a protein shake
Waking pulse way up back to 60, guess a delayed effect kicking in....
moderate soreness in my posterior chains, feet, calves and groin

straight out of bed in underwear - bodyweight down to my lowest so far 92.8kg 204lbs and waist back down to 35.5inches. I seem to have lost more fat than my stats would indicate

Went for a 20min brisk walk after waking

I feel much better on the "low-carb" days, more alert, alive and earthy. Like a hunter/predator :)
Hunger pains are 90% gone just about, feel perfectly normal now eating like this.

Diet as per yesterday, but today I bought some lindseed meal, basicly milled flaxseed. I will add 2 teasthingys this to each protein drink.
An extra 45 calories, 1.8g protein, 3.4g of fat (most of it good stuff only 0.3g saturated), 1.7g fibre, and 2g of carbs per drink extra

--
so now it's

Cereal (180) + whey (117) + Oat milk (107) = 404 calories
4.5+27+3.5 = 35 g of protein
3.6+0.2+5 = 8.8g of fat
30+1.5+15 = 46.5g of carbs

Protein drinks x 6
702 cals, 162g protein, 1.2g fat, 9g carb
each had 10 almonds - total - 70 cals, 3g protein, 5.5g fat, 2g carb
linseed meal - 45 cals, 1.8g protein, 3.4g of fat, 2g carbs
and some lettuce/veges - not much of each at a guess, say 50 cals, 1g protein, 30g carbs ?

total for the day for these servings - 867 cals, 168g protein, 10g fat, 43g carbs

fishoil - 2 caps each meal, 16 total, about 200 total calories and 15g of fat?

total so far - roughly
1471cals, 203g protein, 34g fat, 90g carbs

then add one clean meal of meat+veges to that, no more than 250cals plus I sometimes substitute a protein drink serving with real food of meat+veges as well. And one cereal meal after training in place of a protein drink serving.
 
Tuesday 11th October - Cycle 3 Get Lean+Maintain Strength - Week 6 DELOAD - Day 2 - Upper Power - Microcycle 4

I forgot to eat a proper meal before training instead of a protein serving, felt pretty queezy as a result. Strength about the same as a month ago, but I'm much lighter now, and I haven't trained upper body in a week, plus I started a diet. Quite happy just to mainatin upperbody strength

Down 2lbs from this time last week. Even though I'm probably still over 15% bodyfat, I liked the way I looked in the gym today, starting to get that athletic look. Cheekbones starting to push forward, ankles look smaller and calves popping out more, some hints of veins showing on my arms, plus a bit of tan from training outdoors and hanging out at the pool with my girlfriend :)

Bodyweight at gym - 206.5lbs
Workout time - 50 mins
Workout rating - 7/10

Warmup

1) dynamic swings etc
2) Reverse hypers BWx12
3) warmup complex with 30lb bar - RDL onto toes with shrug, military press, explosive good morning, snatch grip behind the neck partial press, hang powercleans - 10 reps each, except cleans 5 reps
4) scapular pushups - on bench x12, on floor x12


Rotating Sets between each upper body exercise

Resting 2 mins on warmup sets and then 3 mins between each exercise

14 inch Grip bench - shoulder blades tucked - no arch or leg drive

Warmups - Bar x15, 95lbs x 12, 135x7, 165x5, 195x3, 225x1

controlled
Rotation 1) 225lbs x 6.5
Rotation 2) 205lbs x 6

didn't bother straining the 7th rep too much. Wobbly today


Chest Supported 45 degree T-Bar Rows - Overhand grip

warmups - Barx15, 25lbs x12, 45x7, 70x5, 90x3, 115x1

controlled
Rotation 1) 100lbs x 10
Rotation 2) 90lbs x 10

couple reps from failure


ISO stretches - EQI

Pec/subscap stretched ISO hold - 6kg dumbell x 1min 15secs
Lat stretched ISO hold on chin bar - leg supported 2 x 30secs

just loosening up things and keep my posture in check
 
Woke up in the middle of the night again..., had some water then and managed to get back to sleep. Waking pulse way back down to 54....!
Upper body not all that sore, and most of the soreness in my legs and hips are gone. No walking today, need to be fresh for training tommorrow

Bodyweight down quite a bit, lost about another pound!!
straight out of bed in underwear -
92.4kg 203lbs and waist down another 1/4 of an inch to 35.25inches.

Right on target, looking forward to hitting 35inches by the weekend!
It seems on the days I do weight training, no matter what I actually do, the bodyfat drops off even more
 
Woke up early, look really tired..
Upper body a bit sore, legs feel good, but adductors still pretty sore!

Bodyweight down a smidge, straight out of bed in underwear - 92.2kg 202.8lbs. Right now I walking around at 93.3kg 205lbs in shorts and t-shirt after a couple meals, so I have lost a solid 1kg of fat so far in just under 2 weeks. Doesn't look like I'll hit a 35inch waist until I drop another kg of fat.

Lower body power workout today, and I might thow in some high rep upper body accessory work to deplete my muscle a bit, should knock my bodyweight down another pound like it has so far. Then tommorrow I carb load back up. Maintain on Saturday and Sunday, and the back into it on Monday. Almost doing a UD2 style diet :D

Yesterday I combined my 6 protein drink meals into 3, and ate every 3 hours just got sick of preparing em. Damn that made me really full! I literally spent 20mins nibbling and chewing down 20 almonds and a small bowl of veges, plus 2 protein drinks+milled flaxseed.
Tried to do that again on my first protein drink meal today and couldn't, just too full, so I split it back up again...I have an appetite of a 5 year old right now :)

I also seem to be much more regular now, the turds are solid and chunky. I hit the toilets after every meal now, especially since I added the milled flaxseed. Guess I'm finally getting enough fiber :p
Keeps the bodyweight down....
 
The funny thing is - back when I was 220lbs with a 39+ inch waist the Tanita scale said I was 26-28% bodyfat

now I'm 205lbs wth a 35+inch waist and it still says I'm 26-28% bodyfat....!
 
coolcolj said:
The funny thing is - back when I was 220lbs with a 39+ inch waist the Tanita scale said I was 26-28% bodyfat

now I'm 205lbs wth a 35+inch waist and it still says I'm 26-28% bodyfat....!
Click to expand...

We must have the same scale...ours is like that too. I know there's some fluctuation depending on time of day and how much water you have in your body but I was kind of hoping for a relative measurement. Oh well.
 
Thursday 13th October - Cycle 3 Get Lean+Maintain Strength - Week 6 DELOAD - Day 3 - Lower Power + Upper - Microcycle 4

Good workout, even though I did feel a bit queezy coming in because of the diet, but after the warmups I was ready to rock. Down 1.5lbs from the last time I did this workout and felt pretty snappy smooth all round, all this protein has gotta help for sure.

I changed up the moves to maybe help me in my sprints - teach me to extend my hips and pull under with straighter legs, get the hammies firing better etc
Hammies are pretty wasted right now, but it will be another 5 days till I sprint/train my lower body again.

Bodyweight at gym - 207lbs
Workout time - 1 hour 30 mins
Workout rating - 9/10

Warmup

1) dynamic swings etc
2) back extension BWx6 + 6 twisting to each alternate side
3) reverse hypers BWx8
4) situp complex on swissball
5) 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 - 8 reps each, except cleans and jerks, 5 and 3 reps respectively
5) 1min ISO at the bottom of a narrow full squat position, holding until my heels get close to the floor
6) 4 sets of 15 ankle hops in various patterns

7) did a few altitude drops off 6inches and bodyweight drop squats, then 3 sets of 3 vertical jumps, going higher and harder each time.

Sore upper body made it a bit uncomfortable. Jump feels like it is a bit higher, but I'm doing my jumps in the fire exit stairwell now. Found a ledge that allows me to do a jump and reach without running into the wall which works nicely. Did a lot of standing and one step jumps - seems like there is only a 2 inch difference between them now - guess its time for depth jumps...


Rotating Sets between each exercise

Resting 1 to 1.5min on warmup sets and then 3 mins between each exercise

Jumps - did a one step 2 legged jump before each set of each exercise. Once the jump becomes hard and muscled or lower I stop everything

Drop/Reactive Squats - in Sneakers

Warmups - (early reps controlled) BARx10, 95x5, 115x3, 135x1

Shoulder width stance to hamstrings at parallel position
Rotation 1) 140lbs x 3
Rotation 2) 140lbs x 3
Rotation 3) 140lbs x 3 --> did not feel too reactive so stopping them here

Went up 5lbs from last week, felt very good. Used a narrower stance this week, and feet point more straight ahead. More overall feel rather than the wider powerlifter squat style I did last week.


Barbell Jumpsquat variations

continous
Rotation 1) normal - 25lbs x 4 - ceiling felt about 2inches from my head!

split squat style - lower down, jump, switch legs, land absorb and spring bacl to start, switch legs
Rotation 2) 25lbs x 6 - tired by 4th rep
Rotation 3) 25lbs x 4

been ages since I did these, and I did them pretty well. Guess the wide multi-direction lunges earlier in the microcycle helped :)
Really felt them in the hammies.

clip - right click and save first to avoid errors
2nd set of splitsquat jumps - been a while since I've done em so form is not perfect, but not too bad :)
http://www.members.optushome.com.au/blitzforce/Movies/CCJ_SplitJumpSquats_25x4_13Oct05.mpg


Single Leg Reactive Back extension

hold at the top, then freefall down 6inches, separate leg from pad and then brake hard and snap back to the top
Rotation 1) 30lbs x 4 each leg --> too heavy!
Rotation 2) BW x 4 each leg
Rotation 3) BW x 4 --> the jumps before this set felt a bit down, but I decided to go ahead with this set, and what do you know my hammies were tired and struggled...

These feel a bit like a stiff legged GHR, definitely felt em in my lower hammies, hopefully it will give me an idea as to how to fire the hammies on the sprint pull. Right hammie still felt a bit hammered from the sprints 4 days ago on these.

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

some upper body restorative work and to help deplete my muscles for the upcoming carb up :)
not too heavy, a under my usual loads

Dip Shrugs - bench dip style BWx12. On dip bars - lockout hold BWx12secs, BWx25 - helped unload my spine from the lower body work and jumps

Face Pulls - 30lbs x6, 40lbs x 25

Single Arm low pulley L-Flyes - 10lb x 5, 10lbs x 25

High angle dumbell rows to ribcage (pulling with lower/mid traps and delts) - 25lbs x 25
 
Woke up in the middle of the night, felt hungry, and since it was after midnight I started my carb up by attacking the mashed potatoes :)
Slept like a baby after that. Think I might eat a bit of starchy carbs on my last meal on "low carb" days to help me sleep better.

Muscles are already starting to balloon up from the carbs.

In good spirits, don't feel all that sore or drained right now, but DOMS usually peaks in the afternoon for me.
 
I came across this in some kid's training journal :P


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

My chiropractor/trainer has trained the Atlanta falcons(when they went to superbowl), Minnesota Vikings, Chicago Bears.

I had terrible back pain through the summer, and when i started football, i couldnt hardly get into a 3 point stance, i played through pain. So i took 4 weeks off until i heard about this trainer. He said My Lower back was out of line, and it was from squatting. He is amazing, after one visit he stretched my entire body and popped my back back in line and played the next game.

Here is what i can and cant do. i can do squats, but not parallel. only go down 33 degrees, which is almost halfsquats i think, this is actually a must for everyone. IF YOU DONT BELIEVE MY TRY THIS.

put your hands on your hams, do a half squat. you should feel your hams contracting. Now, feel your hams through a full squat, you dont feel them. and going below 33 degrees is just putting more pressure on your patella(knees). and all it will do is contract your knees, and eventually you will blow them out. this is just a thing that i beleive. it makes perfect sense to me.

and another thing is is that i have been running with pain in my back for a long time, and this caused my running to be very bad, so now that my back is in line, i can have better form. And he guarantees that i will be faster. my last 40 was a 5.00. so next time i test it, i hope its at least a 4.9
 
Did a lot of standing and one step jumps - seems like there is only a 2 inch difference between them now - guess its time for depth jumps...
Click to expand...

Why does this signify a need for depth jumps? What will these help with, exactly?
 
Anthrax Invasion said:
Why does this signify a need for depth jumps? What will these help with, exactly?
Click to expand...

well if my standing jump and one step jump are within 10% of each other than that means I have an inch or so to gain on my one step jump if I improve my reactive strength with depth jumps

there are all these tests and indicators to determine where on the explosive strength - reactive strength spectrum you lie, and hense the weakness you need to attack to bring things up etc. In otehr words right now I'm more strength dominant than reactive

-------


Took a while to sleep, ate to close to bedtime, and then the dog woke me up again - arghh. Pretty tired as a result, I sure look it, but feeling strong.

Funny thing is since I started the new diet I feel better than I have all year, especially given the calorie reduction and poor sleep. I didn't get much DOMs at all yesterday or feel drained, recovery just feels better overall. I think the big boost in protein and constant supply of it is the big difference.
Ok I am deloading, but I've deloaded before, and even prior to that I have trained much like I have in the last 2 weeks and haven't felt this solid. Joints and tendons just feel much more robust. See what happens when I switch back to the strength block. I think this maybe the final missing piece of the puzzle!

bodyweight has shot back up to about 94.2kg 207.5lbs in shorts and t-shirt from the carb load. Waist at 35.5inches.
I don't seem to be losing weight as fast as I'd like, but I'm slowly zig-zagging my way down, bodyfat is definitely going down. Feels like I'm gaining some muscle mass or maintaing it better, rather than me losing some in the past 6 months.
 
I fiddled around with a formula in one of Dr Squat's books

and it says at 206lbs and a 35.5inch waist
I am at 17% Bodyfat with 170lbs of lean bodymass and 36lbs of fat

So getting down to 180lbs would put me at 6% bodyfat

sounds about right too!
 
Dog woke me up again, and then some hoon in a V8 decided to do donuts down the street.....! Sleep, please let me have good sleep for once...
Did a pretty intense whole body stretch session yesterday after a hot shower.

bodyweight out of bed was 94.5kg 208lbs in shorts and t-shirt
Waist still at 35.5inches.

So after 2 weeks of the new diet, I've lost half an inch of my waist, but bodyweight has gone up a bit...gained muscle...?!
Still maintaining today, then back into the low carbs tommorrow.
 
Sunday 16th October - Cycle 3 Get Lean+Maintain Strength - Week 7 DELOAD - Day 1 - Upper - Microcycle 4

Good workout. Felt stronger than I have in a while, and I certainly haven't lost any strength 2 weeks into this diet. I think I can get stronger through it, if I play my cards right....
Experimented with alternating heavier loads with explosive stuff. Certainly made the heavier stuff feel faster/easier.
Was gonna do an extra rotation with the heavier loads, but decided to save msyelf for the speed session 2 days from now.

Bodyweight at gym - 209lbs
Workout time - 1 hour 15 mins
Workout rating - 9/10


Rotating Sets between each upper body exercise

Resting 1.5-2 mins on warmup sets and then 3-3.5 mins between each exercise

14 inch Grip bench - shoulder blades tucked - no arch or leg drive

Warmups - Bar x12, drop catch style - bar x 6,
semi-explosive 95lbs x 8, 135x7, 165x5, 195x3, 225x1

explosive sets - controlled down in the first third, freefalled down at halfway down and snap up 2inch off the chest

Rotation 1) 235lbs x 5.5
Rotation 2) 160lbs x 4 - explosive
Rotation 3) 225lbs x 5 ---> felt hard
Rotation 4) 155lbs x 4 - explosive, crap form on first rep
Rotation 5) 215lbs x 5 --> better form, felt easy

Last set felt the best, much better form, kept elbows further in which gives me a lot more leverage.

clip - right click and save first to avoid errors
all sets
http://www.members.optushome.com.au/coolcolj3/Movies/CCJ_14inchGripBenchComplex_235x5_16Oct05.mpg

Chest Supported 45 degree T-Bar Rows - Overhand grip

warmups - semi-explosive - Bar x12, 25lbs x8, 45x6, 70x5, 90x3, 100x1, 110x1

explosive sets - explode up, freefalled down and abruptly brake 2-3inches from full extension

Rotation 1) 115lbs x 7
Rotation 2) 75lbs x 5 - explosive
Rotation 3) 110lbs x 7
Rotation 4) 75lbs x 5 - explosive
Rotation 5) 100lbs x 7 --> felt piss easy

hammies were straining a bit on these
 
Not feeling too bad, best sleep in a while. Whole upper body is pretty sore already, some of it is probbaly from my part time job.

bodyweight out of bed was 93.8kg 206.5lbs in underwear
Waist just above 35.5 inches

Back to low carbs. I'm tweaking the diet a bit, by removing the morning breakfast cereal from the low carb days. So carbs will end up under 100grams a day. Will keep it there post workout though. I think this will improve things.
 
Feeling pretty good. Nice sleep, but did wake up early, managed to get back into it after a bit. Had no probs falling a sleep, I think the 25min walk yesterday afternoon with my girlfriend helped here :)
I wasn't sure if it was a good idea to walk with me doing speed work today, but it doesn't look like my hammies get sore from the walks anymore. I just thought it would help my CNS recovery. Although my erectors are a bit achey. Upper body still moderately sore.

bodyweight out of bed was 92.2kg 202.8lbs in underwear.

I lost a ton of water weight overnight - almost 4lbs!
Yesterday I took in 1400-1500 calories, 220-240g protein, 60-70g carbs and 40-50g fat.

Felt pretty good, but started to feel jittery and hungry in the later afternoon/evening. Need to get some vitamin C and calcium...
Looks like my decision to drop the morning breakfast cereal was a good one.
Back down to my lightest bodyweight so far. Going down like clockwork after every carb up phase.
Although I'm only averaging 1lb a week loss so far.

So I have a 1100-1200 calorie decifit each day - it takes 3500 calories to drop a pound of fat and 7000 for 2lbs. So far I've used a UD2 style setup - 4 days low carb, one day carb up with 2-3x maintenance, then 2 days of maintenance, and repeat. The 4 days of dieting only allow for a 1+lb drop. but then I get a big rebound anabolic responce from the carb up and maintenance
So you pretty much kill 2 birds with one stone, get leaner and increase muscle mass/strength/power or at least maintain performance. Plus the contrast gives you an overshoot effect that is greater than just staying in the middle.

Right now I'm pretty fat at 17% or so bodyfat, so I have room to drop the fat quicker until I hit the 10% range which would be around 190lbs for me.
Would like to hit 2lbs a week fat loss, but I would need 6 days a week of low carb days to do that. A carbup after 3-4 days is probably needed since the hormones start to shift to the catabolic/performance drop end around then. I was thinking of just doing 3 days low carb, and then a carb up on the 4th and then straight back into it. That would give me close to a 7000 calorie deficit I need, plus I still burn fat during the carbup day.
Or even do a straight PMSF/Fat Fast/Velocity type diet, then refeed/carbup at the 2 week mark and repeat until I hit 10% bodyfat, then switch to my UD2 type setup and ease down to 6-7%....that would get me there quicker, but with more pain...
After that low/moderate carbs on rest days and higher carbs on training days should allow me to maintain things. See how things go for now.

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

I was doing some thinking - in the last 6months I was doing a moderate approach - medium carbs, protein and fat. My carbs were never really low enough to keep insulin low to move fat fast, and never high enough to get a big anabolic responce, plus my protein wasn't high enough for recovery and growth, plus fat was probably too high to keep calories low. So in the end it took ages to lose the 12lbs of fat I dropped, and not enough of anything else to do much but sit in the middle hormone wise.
This makes me think the high/low intensity approach is pretty much better for everything from diet to training setup, than just staying in the middle of the road, and trickling along....
 
Tuesday 18th October - Cycle 3 Get Lean+Maintain Strength - Week 7 DELOAD - Day 2 - Speed - Microcycle 4

Good session, but felt a bit queezy from the diet.
I couldn't believe how light I was today, even after stopping any drinking an hour before, I keep hitting the toilet every 10mins leading up to the workout, and dropped a ton of fluids.
With my bodyweight down almost 5lbs from when I ran the 6.68secs 50m sprint on the same field at the end of the last mixrocycle, I expected to blitz it. But I stuffed up the timing - DOH! And probably the diet doesn't help, oh well, next week perhaps...

I normally like to do depthjumps first to fire up the CNS, the RFI hops to get my hyper and then the sprints. Today I flipped the order around and it didn't seem to work as well, since I was "asleep" on the first sprint.

Bodyweight at home - 204.5lbs
Workout Rating - 8/10
Workout time - ?

Warmup

warmup - dynamic stretches and swings, foot massage, various hops in place in bare feet at home.

Slow Jog - 50m x 4 - walks back to start doing Dorsiflexion drills - 1mins rest

Jog 25m - sideways run 5m each side - backwards run 5m - x 3 complexes - 1mins rest

Rotating Sets between each exercise

Resting 1 min on warmup sets and then 3 to 3.5 mins between each exercise

50 metre sprint - from proper standing start - sprint spikes

warmups - start into 5m burst, jog 5m then acclerate 10m x 3 sets

concaved field - first 25m 2-3 degree uphill, the rest 2-3 degree downhill
Rotation 1) 7.35 secs
Rotation 2) 8.06 secs overshot the 50m mark, stopped around 75m
Rotation 3) 6.85 secs

The first run felt half "asleep". The 2nd run felt absolutely flying, but I forgot to stop the stopwatch until I hit the end of the field, around 75m...
Third run felt pretty slow, tired by then, and the left inner shin had a slight ache when I was deccelerating at the end of the run. Muscles obviously very tired with no force absorbtion ability left. Called it a day after that
Shoulders and neck were quite tense, ached quite a bit after each run, probably from the heavy upperbody workout 2 days ago

Starts still need work! From the video and it seems like the work I did last lower body workout, has had an effect on form, it looks different. Stride rate is down a bit so, maybe I'm extending my hips more now?

clip - right click and save first to avoid errors
http://www.members.optushome.com.au/coolcolj2/Movies/CCJ_Sprint50m_Run2_3_18Oct05.mpg

Depth Jumps - into Stiff legged landing onto balls of feet

warmups - a few bodyweight drop squats, off 1 step x 2, 2 step x 2, 2 step x 1, 3 step x 2, 3 step x 1, 4 step x 1

on concrete - 4 steps = 26-27inches
Rotation 1) 4 steps x 3
Rotation 2) 4 steps x 3
Rotation 3) 4 steps x 1 altitude drop

Went pretty well, lighter bodyweight is helping. Last time I did this height on Altitude drops it was quite hard. No problems today. On the 3rd set, my legs felt pretty shot from the sprints, and I actually felt scared before the drop, body didn't want to do a depth jump, just landed... :)
Called it a day after that - the body never lies...

RFI Hops on/off a 12inch step - max reps in 10secs

warmups - 6inch x 5, 12inch - 3x3

Rotation 1) didn't start stopwatch...
Rotation 2) 10secs x 14reps

I'm pretty good at 6 inches, so I did em on a 12inch step. Felt scary and awkward at first, but then started to get better as I warmed up. Even with the extra 6 inches, my legs don't bend much. The last half of the 2nd set was starting to get a nicer flow. Should be much better next week.

clip - right click and save first to avoid errors
http://www.members.optushome.com.au...2LeggedHop_12inchStep10sec_14reps_18Oct05.mpg
 
Woke up at 12:30am, then tried to go to back to sleep, but didn't have much luck, just lay in bed in drifting in and out of sleep all night. But I don't feel that bad at all, and I don't look tired.
Feet and calves are a bit sore, and some mild aches in my posterior chain/erectors and upper back/biceps, but I don't have that drained feeling like I used to get on a similar workout. Recovery and general well being is way better than before on this diet, pretty amazing given the big calorie reduction, hunger pains and inconsistant sleep.

bodyweight out of bed was 91.8kg 202lbs in underwear.
I lost almost a pound overnight, and waist finally down to 35inches!
Man I am looking different, I see changes every day. 1 inch off the waist in 2.5 weeks is pretty fast progress. Now down to a 34 inch waist and under 200lbs

Diet same as yesterday, but I had a postworkout cereal+whey+oak milk, which bumps up the carbs to around 100-110g, and I cut back on the fishoil caps to 6, which drops calories down about 100, and fat a bit.
Fat loss has sped up since I dropped the morning breakfast cereal, and the sprinting yesterday doesn't hurt either :)
On target to drop 2lbs of fat this week it looks like

I never paid much attention to nutrition before, I used to think it was 75% training and 25% diet. But now I'm a big believer - more like 60% diet and 40% training influence on results.
 
Dog woke me up at 2:30am, always around this time! Seems he has a itchy skin problem...feck.
Apart from the sleepiness I don't feel to bad, strong, and legs feel snappy - nice and light.

Went for a 20min walk yesterday
guess I spoke too soon, bodyweight is up a bit and so is my waist - WTF!
High rep upperbody prehab/acessory work today, which will also double as a depletion workout, then I carb up tonight and tomorrow

Everytime I got up after having sat/slept for a while, or go on a walk, my ankles would kill, especially my right ankle where I tore ligaments many years ago. But the ache would go away when I warmed up a bit. I knew something wasn't right, but I couldn't figure out why and just lived with it.
Well I've been stretching the hell out of my calves the last week or so, after workouts and after a hot shower. And my ankles feel so much better, almost back to normal!
So I have tight plantar flexors, probably why my body likes to turn my feet outwards. This obviously has a big effect on my sprinting, especially at the start - maybe why I have problems keeping low there...
I walk up a steep slope every day at my part time job, and it used to hurt a lot when I tried to walk up it with my heels flat, and just plain felt uncomfortable. Not so this morning. So now I can finally try some hill sprint start work next time I run, not something I was keen to do before

Wonder if years of wearing olyshoes are a cause of the problem... :)
Probably not, I think its to do with how I sit with my ankle locked and flexed for long periods of time. And my lack of stretching.
Damn just about every problem I've had form and pain wise can be traced back to a tight muscle! That's why I'm doing a lot of stretching in my neck/shoulder/pec and hip flexors/hips/ankles. Sitting down causes a lot of tightness in these areas. Although I don't stretch my hammies much to keep my stretch reflex snappy, and I don't have any problems grabbing my toes anyway, plus all the dynamic swings and exercises I do takes care of it.
 
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Thursday 20th October - Cycle 3 Get Lean+Maintain Strength - Week 7 DELOAD - Day 3- Upper Prehab/Depletion - Microcycle 4

WOOT - lightest bodyweight at the gym so far! Even though I'm only down 2+lbs damn there is a big visual difference at the gym! I think it's because I'm losing pure fat now, as opposed to muscle+fat the last 6 months. More faint outline of veins showing on the forearms.
I'm certainly no weaker, and I'm surprised that even after 4 days of low carbs, I could still match my recent rep PRs! Had a decent bit of a pump as well, seems my body is pretty frugal with glycogen useage :)
Felt somewhat queezy though, just did one set of each exercise, but lots of em.

Time to carb up tonight and all day tommorrow!!

Bodyweight at gym - 205.5lbs
Workout time - 50mins
Workout rating - 8/10

General warmup -
1) dynamic swings etc
2) back extension BWx6 + 6 twisting to each alternate side
3) reverse hypers BWx12
4) Situp complex on swiss ball
5) usual bar complex with 30lbs barbell

Rotating Sets between each upper body exercise - rhythmic, all stopped short of failure

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

Military Press - in Oly Shoes

Warmups - 30x8, 45x10, 70x8, 95x5
Rotation 1) 105lbs x 16

big improvement in range of motion and feel.

High Angle Rows

warmups - Rows - 30lbs x 10, Pulldowns 30kgx10+10scapular shrugs

Rotation 1) High Angle Standing DumbellRows to ribcage - thumbs facing, elbows out - 45lbs x 16

Closegrip Pushups - hands 4 inches apart

Rotation 1) BWx20
killer pec and tricep burn! Clicking elbows too...

Shoulder Width Pullups

warmups - Pulldowns 30kgx10+10 scapular shrugs
Rotation 1) (slight pause) BW x 9 + 20 scapular shrugs

Low angle Dumbell decline Tricep Extensions - palms facing

warmups - 2kg x 12, 15lbs x 10
Rotation 1) 20lbs x 18

Standing Dumbell Curls

warmups - 2kg x 12, 15lbs x 10
Rotation 1) 20lbs x 18

Face Pulls

warmups - 30lbs x 10
Rotation 1) 60lbs x 20

Dip Shrugs

warmups - bench dip style BWx15. On dip bars - lockout hold BWx12secs + 5 reps
Rotation 1) BWx25

External Rotation - Cuffs

warmups - Single Arm low pulley L-Flyes 10lbs x12
Dumbell Cuban Rotation - 4kg x 20


ISO Stretches - EQI

subscap stretched ISO hold - 6kg dumbell x 1min

Leg Supported Lat stretched ISO hold - On chin bar x 1min

Dip stretched ISO hold - Knee Supported x 30secs
 
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In your above posts, I see you mention using a UD2 style setup for dieting. Is this Lyle McDonald's Ultimate Diet 2.0 you're speaking of? If so, how do you find it working for you? What about with your training, which obviously doesn't mimic his recommendations concerning depletion work and such?

I ordered the book a month ago. It's a great read. He's a smart man.
 
Another question, just to bug you:

I saw your reactive squat video, and compared it to an old one I found in my archives. It looks like you're going a lot more shallow on these than you used to. You stop and catch the bar at parallel or above now, so it seems. Is this how they were meant to be done?

And, when should one incorporate these? What is their prime purpose?
 
Anthrax Invasion said:
In your above posts, I see you mention using a UD2 style setup for dieting. Is this Lyle McDonald's Ultimate Diet 2.0 you're speaking of? If so, how do you find it working for you? What about with your training, which obviously doesn't mimic his recommendations concerning depletion work and such?

I ordered the book a month ago. It's a great read. He's a smart man.
Click to expand...

Yeah but I'm not doing UD2. Just following the principals which a lot of other carb cycling diets use anyway. I would not do it exactly like he has laid it out - that would overtrain me and turn me into a slow person :)
Me being a fast twitch wired person with average endocrine system can't handle a lot of volume

I don't go to the extremes of his system. I'm not depleting my body so much that I have to take in 1400g of crabs in 30 hours! I don't know why you would need to do that, I sure couldn't eat that much.
I'm losing a pound a week, pure fat and no loss in strength, performance or muscle mass, infact I seem to be gaining some muscle, and the light bodyweight allows me to jump higher and run faster of course.

The calorie reduction as is will make you drop the fat, and keep the muscle if protrin is high enough, and then the carb up keeps the metabolism and leptin levels up

--------------------------
Crappy sleeping habits - grrrr
Whole upper body a bit sore, but not too bad. Carbing up today, probbaly get in about 400-500grams, whatever I can handle eating - which is tough when you get full so quickly!

Noticing new lumps and bumps, off course I'm getting leaner, but I seem to be gaining muscle mass as well....
 
Anthrax Invasion said:
Another question, just to bug you:

I saw your reactive squat video, and compared it to an old one I found in my archives. It looks like you're going a lot more shallow on these than you used to. You stop and catch the bar at parallel or above now, so it seems. Is this how they were meant to be done?

And, when should one incorporate these? What is their prime purpose?
Click to expand...

I stop in the deep jump position. this obviously teahes my body to turn on muscles fast in that position to absorb the forces - up to 5 times the barweight

I have dropped lower in the past, to help my fullsquat more.

Your forcing the muscles to turn on fast, if they don't then you go splat :)
Since the force levels are high and very intense, it's mostly fast twitch fibers that get slammed on. It can help strength in some people - I've seen it in 2 cases - quite dramaticly as well but its mostly used to help increasing power in your lower body for jumping and sprinting etc
Not unlike speed squats, but obviously a lot faster since your freefalling down, and so targets a different quality

Just make sure your prettty strong before you get into em...2 sets of 3 is enough to seriously tax your CNS and make you sore for days...
 
What kind've weight should I use on them? Let's say my 5 RM for squats is 405 - what then?

I've messed with them before and they were fun, but I'd want to seriously start incorporating them once my back is 100%. Maybe 90%, I don't wanna wait that long.
 
try with bodyweight and the bar first and work your way up
It is a bit like doing a clean with the bar on your shoulders in terms of meeting and absorbing the bar

I mean you can have a 800lb fullsquat, but would you jump off a 6 feet height to depthjump? Obviously your not if your smart, so you start at 6 inches and work up. Same deal here

It's about force, and force absorbtion into reaction, and not bar weight. If you can't bang out a rep in under 1 sec then it's too heavy. It shouldn't feel muscled at all.

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

reactive squat- In this variation the focus is just as much on the negative eccentric contraction as it is on the "jump". Hold the weight tight against your shoulders and drop quickly from top to bottom. Focus on accelerating during the negative (down) phase so that you build up a lot of mechanical tension during the eccentric to concentric switch that occurs at the bottom. Your hips will get fairly low, somewhere around parallel. When getting started, think of finding the point where you get stretch reflexes from as many muscle groups as possible (glutes, hamstrings, quads, calves, etc). Get low enough to accomplish this. After you relax and free fall you then quickly gain full tension to stabilize the force of the load at the bottom.

This will develop explosive power in the entire lower body musculature and teach you to really turn on the power. If all is done correctly you should feel your body want to rebound to the top after the initation of force absorption at the bottom. You should feel your body respond with a reflexive "bounce" at the bottom. It can be beneficial to just focus on the negative part with lighter loads until you get the hang of the movement. Once you do, simply carry the reflex out of the bottom all the way to the top and jump. Reset yourself for each repetition. The loading on this variation will be between 30-60% of max squat depending on the goals and needs of the athlete. The rep range will fall between 3-10 per set.
 
They say to carry the reflex out of the bottom all the way to the top, and jump. What do they mean by "jump"? Just that the force you drive upward with will make you go up onto your toes, kinda like jumps in power cleans?
 
bad sleep again, will have to catch up today - feeling really worn out
Whole upper body still sore.

after carbing back up - bodyweight this morning in underwear is back up to 94.5kg 208lbs. Grrr getting annoyed seeing the same weight come up after each carb load as I am definitely leaner! It's probbaly due to water weight and bloat, but I find it strange...
 
Better sleep, just need more of it. Just too restless and thinking too much!
Upper back still a bit sore. Did a big whole body stretch session yesterday after a hot shower.

bodyweight this morning in underwear was 93.7kg 206lbs. And waist was 35.5inches, down from 35.75 yesterday.
I've lost the water bloat and down almost 2lbs from yesterday. I look tighter, but muscles are still nice and full - I look bigger, my shoulders and triceps have blown up a bit. So if my bench goes up I know why :)
I look leaner, skin folds are down, face looks tighter. I should get myself an electronic caliper...

yesterday I ate a bit of carbs, made sure I got 180g of protein at least and then ate whatever I wanted, clean, full but not pigging out. About 2500-2700 calories, maintenance for me. Pretty much how I used to eat 2 years ago.
Today will be lower in carbs, slightly lower calories, and the back to low carbs tomorrow for another 4 day block.

I just need to trust the system and ignore the fluctuations. In the last year or so I've been eating mostly meat and veges, so my bodyweight would be lower on the average than if I were eating more carbs. Last week I dropped 4lbs of water weight after Monday. So I'll base my progress on Monday or Tuesday morning. So far so good, no strength loss, muscle mass is going up a bit, and I'm leaning up at a decent rate.
Wonder how the extra bodyweight and muscle mass, while being actually leaner and more powerful, will affect my jumping today....
 
Sunday 23rd October - Cycle 3 Get Lean+Maintain Strength - Week 8 DELOAD - Day 1 - Lower Power - Microcycle 4

Good workout. Looked like "blimp" from the carbs the last 3 days - puffy face and muscles, and bodyweight is slightly higher than the last time I did this workout.
Volume almost triple the last time I did this session! Not a surpise given the high carbs the last 3 days, and best of all I don't feel like a "cripple" after the session even with this much volume. Something that I noticed since I started this new diet.
Improved Ankle flexibility/ROM very noticable today!

Bodyweight at gym - 208lbs
Workout time - 1 hour 20 mins
Workout rating - 9/10

Warmup

1) dynamic swings etc
2) back extension BWx6 + 6 twisting to each alternate side
3) reverse hypers BWx10
4) situp complex on swissball
5) Seated dynamic hammie/adductor stretch into back tumble x 8

6) 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 - 8 reps each, except cleans and jerks, 5 and 3 reps respectively

7) 1min ISO at the bottom of a narrow full squat position, holding until my heels get close to the floor - heels dropped to 1cm off the floor within 5secs, with my feet almost pointed straight ahead - calf stretches have obviously helped! Once I can touch the floor with feet fairly straight ahead, I should have enough flexibility here.

8) 4 sets of 15 ankle hops in various patterns

7) did a few altitude drops off 6inches and bodyweight drop squats, then 3 sets of 3 vertical jumps, going higher and harder each time.

Highest jumps of the day - 0.5 inches higher across the board!
which I reached on the third rotation, and I'm slightly heavier too. Didn't extacly feel light and floaty like last time, with my muscles feeling like balloons, more like a cannon going off :)

Based on today, I am jumping 1 inch higher than the last time I played BBall, and some jumps (2 handed and standing) are like 2 inches higher. Once I drop the 4lbs of water I'm carrying today, that should add another 1 to 1.5 inches, So I am good for another 2 inches at least when I play BBall again in 1-2 weeks time. Plus I should be another 2lbs leaner by then, so 3-4 inches more is quite possible! Some of the Ballers there will be in for a surprise ;)


Rotating Sets between each exercise

Resting 1 to 1.5min on warmup sets and then 3 mins between each exercise

Jumps - did a one step 2 legged jump before each set of each exercise. Somtimes added an extra jump of two in other styles.
Once the jump becomes hard and muscled or lower I stop everything

Drop/Reactive Squats - in Sneakers

Warmups - (early reps controlled) BARx10, 95x5, 115x3, 135x1

Shoulder width stance to hamstrings at parallel position
Rotation 1) 145lbs x 3 (+5lbs)
Rotation 2) 145lbs x 3
Rotation 3) 145lbs x 3
Rotation 4) 145lbs x 3
Rotation 5) 145lbs x 3
Rotation 6) 145lbs x 3 --> last rep very slow

Went up 5lbs from last week, felt good. My timing and form is differnet now - I feel I'm finally doing it properly now. No more jarring, just a smooth drop and react back up. Last rep of 6th set was a bit off balance, and slow.

Lunge Jumpsquat


split squat style - lower down, jump, switch legs, land absorb and spring back to start, switch legs
Rotation 1) 25lbs x 4
Rotation 3) 25lbs x 4
Rotation 4) 25lbs x 4
Rotation 5) 25lbs x 4
Rotation 6) --> jumps before were down half an inch, and I felt I couldn't be productive anymore speed wise, so I stopped here

Single Leg Reactive Back extension

hold at the top, then freefall down 6inches, separate leg from pad and then brake hard and snap back to the top
Rotation 2) +2kg x 3 each leg
Rotation 3) +2kg x 3 each leg
Rotation 4) +2kg x 3 each leg
Rotation 5) +2kg x 3 each leg --> feeling slower and tired

single dumbell held on the opposite arm to the working leg

Cooldown

single leg calf stretches - BW 2x12secs, BWx30secs

some lower body stretches at home after a hot shower
 
Slight drained/warm feeling, overall mild aches, quads and spinal erectors moderately sore. Hammies not as sore as I thought - damn epsecially with the volume of reactive squats!

bodyweight this morning in underwear was 92.8kg 204lbs. Waist the same as yesterday.

Water weight continues to drop down, down almost another 2lbs. Muscles still feel pretty full. So from my carbup day to this morning, minus 4lbs. Probbaly down another 2-3lbs tommorrow, after my first day of low carbs.

Had a serving of whey upon waking, then went for a 28min walk. Had cereal+Protein Blend+Oak milk straight after. Rest of the day as per my usual low carb day.
 
Awww crap!!!!

After looking at this
http://www.markersinc.com/athletic/rugby-field-dimensions.pdf

I realised that all this time, when I thought I was sprinting 50m, I was actually running from one 22m line to the other, in other words my 50m sprint was actually a 56m sprint....!

Ha I'm faster than I thought!!!!! :fro:
Current PR of 6.66 sec for 56m is not too shabby from a standing start on an uneven grass field, for a fat fart like me :mommakin:

From the diagram, maybe 40m might be a better distance to run. And running from the halfway line to the 22m line would be 28m, close enough to 30m.
 
Are you sure the pitch is 100metres in length though?
Cos it does not have to be.

Running from the 22m line to the other 22m line is a maximum distance of 56metres BUT it could be less thats because the distance between the 10m line and 22m line is not fixed
 
Numani said:
Are you sure the pitch is 100metres in length though?
Cos it does not have to be.

Running from the 22m line to the other 22m line is a maximum distance of 56metres BUT it could be less thats because the distance between the 10m line and 22m line is not fixed
Click to expand...


well its a proper Rugby field, with markings, why would it not be? :)
The first time I ran here, I counted out the distance with foot strides, since each of my steps is about 1m. When I counted 50 I was a bit short of the 22m line, so it looks to be legit

about the sprints -

the world record for the indoor 55m sprint is about 6 secs flat and the 60m record around 6.4 secs. These are run by guys weighing around 150-190lbs, lean, with genetics to run fast out of the womb and most are on drugs to boot :)
And done on nice tracks with blocks etc.

they like the 40m here for Rugby :)
I read in an article that Sosene Anesi ran the standing 40m in 4.53sec. National sevens coach Gordon Tietjens confirmed it was the fastest time he had ever seen, beating the previous records of 4.63s by Dan Parkinson and 4.66s by Joe Rokocoko

Fastest Rugby times for the standing start 40m I found listed by someone

1.Sosene Anesi-4.5s
2.Tonderai Chavangha-4.63s
3.Brent Russell- 4.65s
4.Bryan Habana-4.66s
4.Joe Rokocoko-4.66s

Fastest Times for the 100m

1.Tonderai Chavangha-10.2
2.Brett Stapleton-10.3
3.Bryan Habana-10.4
4.Brent Russell-10.5
5.Joe Rokocoko-10.6
6.Doug Howlett-10.7 (Recorded in HS)
7.Jonah Lomu 10.8
8.Rupeni Caucau-10.9 (Recorded in HS)
9.Solly Tyibilika 10.91
10.Ashwin Willemse 10.96

People who run the 55m in 6.6sec, run the 60m in around 7secs and the 100m in 11secs.
The last time I ran around 100m, I was getting in the low 12secs. Back then I weighed 217lbs, had a 38+inch waist, didn't have the right balance of sprinting muscles in my legs and hips, poor lower leg strength with weak calves causing shin splints, plus my sprint form wasn't too crash hot.

Right now I weigh around 205-207lbs, have a 35+ inch waist, much bigger and stronger hammies and calves, better sprinting form and I'm vertical jumping 5-6 inches higher.
Plus I have better speed endurance from the 200m tempo runs I've been doing before. So with me running the 55m around 6.6+ secs I must have a good chance of running the 60m in 7secs, and the 100m in the low 11secs. Quite a big improvement in less than a year! Hell a year and half ago I was running in the mid 15secs....

You have guys that are running really fast in their teens, like the ones you see on TV and in all the top sports teams at schools etc. Well I wasn't one of those people...
Now when I get down under 190lbs, damn I must have a good chance of getting under 7secs for the 60m sprint and 11secs for the 100m, to the mid 10 sec area...talk about fufilling my genetic potential!!! :)
That's what smart training/knowledge plus effort can do, I wish I had this stuff back when I was younger! :(


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

Crap sleep, woke up at early again, damn dog barking last week has conditioned to me wake up at 2:30am every morning now!
Quads and erectors still sore, but now my glutes and upper hams are really sore as well.

bodyweight this morning in underwear was 92.4kg 203lbs. Waist slightly smaller.

Lost that last bit of water, but I'm still slightly heavier than this time last week, but I think it's because daily carbs are up higher this week from the morning cereal, 90-100g vs 60-70g last week, and maybe I've added muscle mass over the weekend carbup. Well my arms look bigger :)

Same deal as yesterday - a serving of whey upon waking, then a 25min walk. Cereal+Protein Blend+Oak milk straight after. Rest of the day as per my usual low carb day - 1500 calories
 
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Tuesday 25th October - Cycle 3 Get Lean+Maintain Strength - Week 8 DELOAD - Day 2 - Upper - Microcycle 4

Not a bad workout. Felt funny going to the gym, but not to bad after warming up. Weights didn't feel heavy during the warmups at all. And work capacity was pretty good, plus I had pumps - 2nd day on low carbs and low calories!
Things were feeling hard, then boom after the explosive stuff, my body had more gas

Bodyweight at gym - 206lbs
Workout time - 1 hour 15 mins
Workout rating - 8/10


Rotating Sets between each upper body exercise

Resting 2 mins on warmup sets and then 3 mins between each exercise

14 inch Grip bench - shoulder blades tucked - no arch or leg drive

Warmups - Bar x12, 95lbs x 10, 135x6, 165x5, 195x3, 225x2

Plyo pushup sets - hand on bench, low doen, explode up, land, absorb, reset

Rotation 1) 245lbs x 4 --> wobbly, hard strain on last rep
Rotation 2) 265lbs x 1
Rotation 3) Plyo Pushups x 3 - 2feet air time
Rotation 4) 225lbs x 4
Rotation 5) Plyo Pushups x 3 --> absorbtion getting hard
Rotation 4) 225lbs x 4 --> felt easy
Rotation 5) 225lbs x 4
Rotation 6) 225lbs x 4 --> starting to feel hard

Still 20lbs away from my personal best. No stronger, but no weaker either, could have warmed up better though. Earlier heavy sets felt strange, like the bar was uneven in weight or something. I think it amybe due to all teh hardcore stretching I did on the msucles in the neck/traps and shoulders - might have "changed" my groove or something. Things got better towards the end though.


Chest Supported 45 degree T-Bar Rows - Overhand grip

warmups - Bar x12, 25lbs x10, 45x6, 70x5, 90x3, 100x1, 115x1

explosive sets - explode up, freefalled down and abruptly brake 2-3inches from full extension

Rotation 1) 125lbs x 7 --> strain on last rep
Rotation 1) 140lbs x 1
Rotation 3) 80lbs x 4 - explosive
Rotation 3) 110lbs x 7
Rotation 4) 80lbs x 4 - explosive
Rotation 5) 110lbs x 7
Rotation 6) 110lbs x 7
Rotation 7) 110lbs x 7 --> Just made last rep

Felt much lighter this week, getting stronger here, almost back up to my parallel and reverse grip numbers
 
some tips to help my leg drive when sprinting by someone

keep your head down and picture your feet coming off the ground.
Get 10 2x4's, lay 5 down with about 1 yard distance between each, lay the other five on top of the other five, so 2 total boards every 1 yard.
use a running start and use the boards as your drive assistor
use a push start and running through the boards
use a jump start and run through the boards
use a 3 point start and run through the boards
* each run should be about 10 meters

then continue with your sprint routine focusing on stride length, emphasize the forward kick. Backside mechanics are related to: 1) flexibility )insufficient warm-up or/and 3) improper/incorrect start. You might be to tight off the start (your hand down is too close to your feet)
Click to expand...
 
bodyweight this morning in underwear was 92.7kg 203.9lbs.
Waist has ballooned back up to 36inches....WTF?!
I haven't gotten any fatter, but man strange

Might try dropping the almonds today
 
Sprinting sounds like it's a lot more complicated than most people make it out to be.
 
Anthrax Invasion said:
Sprinting sounds like it's a lot more complicated than most people make it out to be.
Click to expand...

It sure is :)
Anyone can sprint, but to sprint properly and as fast as your potential will allow is hard. It's not that easy to sprint with your hams/calves with high hip height vs your quads and glutes
Also going fast is the opposite to what your used to - the smoother and more relaxed you are the faster you go, more spring and power. Whereas unlike lifting wieghts if you try too hard you get all tight and stiff. That pretty much applies to most sproting movements I guess, that why you have to be careful with weight training, the relaxation part of it is pretty important - while weights teach you to keep tension on at all times

here related article

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

Don't Screw Up Your Natural Reactive Function

One way we screw up reactive function is by inactivity. This is illustrated by comparing the technical running ability of the typical 16 yr old Playstation freak to that of a kid on the playground. As we get older we become less and less active and "play less". Playgrounds and furniture are used in pursuit of the opposite sex instead of playtime. This process isn't helped any by the huge growth spurt that occurs during adolescence - a time when most start to become less active and when they really need to become more active.

Another way we can detract from our reactive functions is by engaging in too much of a good thing regarding strength training without regard to function. I know I've preached about the importance of strength but now I need to qualify a couple of things here. Strength training is capable of doing some very magnificent things when it comes to improving the level of force we can take in and put out in our movements, but, used haphazardly and without attention to function, it is also capable of changing our movements from what naturally should be a reflexive dominant movement into a muscular dominant movement with the result of this being inefficient movement and injuries.

Go back to the example I used having you mimick the throwing motion with complete relaxation. Chances are if you're a bench press fanatic you actually had a hard time relaxing and may have also felt a twinge of pain in your shoulder when performing that movement even at an intensity way less than what you would use to throw a ball at maximal velocity. If this is the case for you it's because you've done enough bench presses and related work and fewer throws so that you've changed your natural programming and instead of relaxing and reflexively moving you muscled what should've been a reflexive movement.

This is also why you won't see a lot of injuries like strained or torn hamstrings, quads, rotator cuffs, etc. until an athlete has been exposed to lots of strength training. Strength training enhances the ability of our muscles to exert force which can be a huge advantage,- but it doesn't teach your muscles and tendons to work together both contracting and relaxing in harmony at high speeds - processes that occur during just about all sporting movements. The ability to relax completely is just as important as the ability to contract. Now I'm all for getting as strong as can be but if you train your muscles, both in the weight room and with regards to your outside activities, so that your muscles, tendons and connective tissues aren't used to working in harmony - contracting and relaxing at high speeds with efficiency - you will either get an inferior result or an injury.


Bodybuilding? - Uh Oh!


Another way people inhibit their natural reactive function is by an over-reliance on bodybuilding style training. This style of training will basically teach your body to do the reverse of what it's naturally programmed to do. To get an idea of what comes natural take a raw beginner in the weight room and watch how he or she lifts. Beginners will naturally bounce the weight at the switch from eccentric to concentric and they will accelerate the weight through the sticking point. This is a natural attempt to conserve energy and optimize reactive and reflexive contributions into the movement. It's something we're programmed to do and as you now know that natural programming can often be a good thing.

However, whenever we intentionally inhibit these natural tendencies by an over-reliance on slow speed training and slow eccentric training (making the muscle lengthen and work as slow and hard as possible) we can inhibit our natural reflexive capacities and hinder our speed and movement precision. These methods cause more muscle fiber damage and are excellent for building muscle size, but, if over-relied on, they will damage your reactive function and this can be evidenced by watching a typical bodybuilder perform high speed athletic skills. Even though he may very well be strong his movement efficiency will tend to be compromised and he'll function ---------- in a muscle bound manner!

One explanation for this might be that slow speed eccentric training typical in bodybuilding protocols causes a decrease in the amount of the high velocity contractual fast twitch muscle fiber (IIx) and causes a conversion towards a slower contracting subtype (IIA). Fortunately, the reverse phenomenon occurs with training that speeds up the velocity of the eccentric like plyometric training or performing weight training with an emphasis on "explosion" - Using these methods the high velocity fast twitch content of a muscle will actually increase. So, use strict bodybuilding protocols sparingly if at all. That is unless you want to turn yourself into a slow, ground-bound lug with reactive ability like a worn out set of shocks!
Click to expand...



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

Feeling and looking tired, sleep just not the same as before. On the other hand my legs/feet feel really loose and supple, plus I feel light. A good sign for training today hopefully. Upper body still pretty sore, front delts and pecs especially

bodyweight this morning in underwear was 92.3kg 203lbs.
Not gonna measure my waist for another 4 weeks, hopefully it wil be under 35inches by then... :)

Good to see the bodyweight down almost a pound, and I do look leaner, noticing new things.
Dropped the almonds yesterday, well I had 7 vs 60 I used to eat, and doubled up my fishoil back to 10 caps. Carbs were pretty low yesterday, but for some reason my muscles started to fill up in the late afternoon like I had been eating some starchy carbs...guessing my body is converting some of the protein to glycogen, because insulin levels are still pretty low now, but the muscles don't seem that flat...

I reminded myself how good computer games are suppressing your appetite ;)
Kinda tempted to go low carb the rest of the week PMSF style fast to keep the momentum going...
 
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Thursday 27th October - Cycle 3 Get Lean+Maintain Strength - Week 8 DELOAD - Day 3 - Speed - Microcycle 4

Not a bad session, felt a bit queezy to start, but fine after warmups. Warm day so I was feeling pretty loose straight up. Definitely feeling stronger all round.
Wish I had bought my camera as I tried a some new stuff today and it would have been nice to see what effect they had on my sprint form, but there were people around...although I would be in good shape to run em down! :)

It doesn't even feel like I'm on a low carb diet, muscles were pretty pumped up. Also changed my warmup routine a bit, by adding prime times - stiff legged runs, they helped my form for sure.

Last time sprinting, looking forward to BBalling again!

Bodyweight at home - 205.5lbs
Workout Rating - 8/10
Workout time - 1 hour 15mins

Warmup

warmup - dynamic stretches and swings, foot massage, various hops in place in bare feet at home.

Slow Jog - 50m x 4 - walks back to start doing Dorsiflexion drills - 1mins rest

Jog 15m - 15m Prime times (stiff legged runs) - sideways run 5m each side - backwards run 5m - x 3 complexes - 1mins rest

Rotating Sets between each exercise

Resting 2 min on warmup sets and then 3 to 3.5 mins between each exercise


Depth Jumps

warmups - a few bodyweight drop squats, 2 step x 2, 3 step x 1, 4 step x 1

on concrete - 4 steps = 26-27inches
Rotation 1) 4 steps x 3
Rotation 2) 4 steps x 3
Rotation 3) 4 steps x 2

Went deeper into the drop and absorbed longer, then landed and stuck the landing in a deep jump position. Last week was much shallower. Work capacity up a bit on these, felt stronger.

RFI Hops on/off a 12inch step - max reps in 10secs

warmups - 6inch x 5, 12inch x 5

Rotation 1) 10 secs x 14 reps --> felt clumsy!
Rotation 2) 10 secs x 15 reps NEW PR! +1rep

groove wasn't quite there today, muscling too much. Stumbled a bit on the 2nd set so may have gotten 16 reps. See if I can match my 6 inch step number of 18.

56 metre sprint on grass field - from proper standing start - sprint spikes

warmups - did quite a few short runs of a proper start of all types.
While I was doing some medium speed sprint bounds, I decided to tuck my recovery leg hard against my butt and found the swing was much easier, and I automaticly snapped the feet out straight ahead and had a nice spring/bounce off each stride. Felt much easier than my normal running style.
Then did this new form in few 50m sprints going faster up to 80%

Rotation 1) no time - forgot to start stopwatch...
Rotation 2) no time - stopwatch did not start....! rested 4 mins then ran another one - 6.81 secs
Rotation 3) 30m sprint x 2 - 3.97secs, rested 3mins, 4.01 secs --> ankle buckled on the 4-5th step at the start

as stated above I tried out a change to my sprint form, this worked really well in the top speed phase, but not that easy to do during the start and acceleration bit. It made me kick the leg out straight ahead, and pulled through with nearly straight legs. As a result the calves had to work a lot harder, and my shins started to ache a bit, guess the muscles in the lower leg are not used to the forces of this new position. Looks like I figured out how to run with "high hips" :)

Now I have to link up the start, acceleration phase and this new top speed form in the proper ratio...too much to think about! I just can't see football players running like this though, would not feel too good when you get hit in this position....

As you can see I stuffed up my stopwatching again! I felt I definitely had a 6.5sec PR in the first 2 runs. Oh well, not that it matters, I still get a training effect anyway. Damn wish I had an electronic timer.

I tried some 30m runs at the end, just to get any idea of where I stood. Good to see that even with a crappy start and fatigue I can crack 4 secs, I think high 3.8secs can be had when fresh which isn't too bad at all. Will have to try a flying 30m to see how how much my start is holding me back
According to this article, that would put me in line for a high 10 to 11 sec 100m sprint and high 6 to 7 sec flat 60m if everything was up to par - not too shabby for a someone at 15-16% bodyfat! :D

http://www.elitetrack.com/articles/maximumspeed.pdf
Although those times listed are from blocks, the extra time from a standing startcan account for my timing errors etc.

The sprint spikes I ran in are really flimsy and they keep wobbling all over the place when I accelerate. They may work better on a proper track than on uneven grass. I may start running in my touch football shoes from now on. They are heavier and have less grip, but much more solid.
 
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Have a mild warm/drained feeling. Feet/ankles/lower leg and spinal erectors are moderately sore, not too bad every else.
Body is certainly starting to build up upon each workout, unlike before where I felt like I was spinning wheels. Amazing what cranking up your protein intake will do.

Sprints yesterday acted like a bit of depletion - I started carbing up last night with a big bowl of spaghetti. Lots of carbs today - pig out!
Might grab some pizza today when I head to the shops to get some whey :)
 
Had to get up early today, so didn't get as much sleep as I wanted, but I will catch up with a nap later on. Fell asleep real fast and very deep sleep though, lots of carbs usually does that, but I also took some Valerian complex thingie, has other stuff like zinc. The real test will be if this stuff helps me to sleep as well on my low calories/low carb days. I just get too hyper and tensed up, so that stuff should help relax my muscles.
Also added a calcium and vitamin C complex

Outter hammies have a deep ache.

weighed 93.7kg 206.5lbs straight out of bed in underwear.
Carbed up bodyweight finally going down, but not a whole lot either...
I must be regaining quite a bit of musclemass because I have leaned up a bit. Even after the big pigout yesterday, I've gotten a little leaner...

Tweaking the Diet a bit -
today - maintenance, 2500-2700 calories, 250-300g carbs
Sunday - slightly lower calories, 150-200g carbs
Monday - 1400 calories, 70g carbs
Tuesday - 1900 calories, 100-120g carbs
Wednesday - 1400 calories, 70g carbs
Thursday - as per Tuesday and then I start carb loading after training
Friday - Carb load - 500g carbs
repeat etc

the slightly higher carbs on the low carb block are on the days I train, extra carbs in the morning and after training
 
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Hammies are pretty sore in a deep tendon way.

weighed 93.3kg 205.25lbs straight out of bed in underwear.

Down a pound of water from yesterday even though I ate a lot.
This time last week I was 206lbs. Looking leaner, and looking bigger.
Definitely haven't lost any musclemass - noticing new curves and angles on my muscles everyday :)
 
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Had a headache and felt really tired yesterday so i skipped my upper body workout. Just stayed at home, slept a lot, ate a lot and chiled with my girlfriend.

weighed 92.6kg 203.75lbs straight out of bed in underwear.

Woah down almost 2lbs from yesterday and I ate a lot, quite a bit of carbs too...
Back into low carbs today and starting a new training microcycle.

Went for a 28min walk this morning,
 
tried this bodyfat % calculator

http://www.healthcentral.com/cooltools/nutrition/HomeBodyFatTest.aspx#healthyamount

gave me a figure of around 17.6% body fat. 35.904 pounds of fat and 168.096 pounds pounds of lean (muscle, bone, body water).

I have big glutes and small joints/bones, so that may put the number out a bit :)

quoting that page -

*The bones of African-Americans tend to be dense and so they sink easily in water. On the other hand, the bones of Asians are light and porous so they tend to float. To allow for these differences, healthy African-Americans should have a lower percent body fat than Asians and Caucasians, while Asians should have a higher percent body fat than African-Americans and Caucasians.

that has got to help running and jumping, having light porous bones... :D
 
Deep sleep, just not enough of it in a continous chunk

weighed 92.3kg 203lbs straight out of bed in underwear.
I should be down to 200lbs by now!

Don't think my body likes this 4 day low carb to 3 day high/medium approach.
Seems that on the 4th day my body shuts down or something. And then having to wait 2 days before I low carb again feels like a long time.
I've had much better success in the past with a 3 day low carb to one day high at way lower bodyfat levels, but I was younger then which changes things a lot! :)

I like a 7 day fit though, maybe a 3 on 1 off, then a 2 on 1 off, and repeat
hmmmm
 
Tuesday 1st October - Cycle 3 Get Lean+Maintain Strength - Week 1 - Day 1 AM - Energy Work - Microcycle 5

Back into it, pretty good session. Was raining here and there this morning, managed to get it in during a dry spell!
Low carbs and low cals didn't effect things from what I can tell, but feet and ankles felt a lot better at the much lighter bodyweight. Plus the run complex felt like a breeze.

These shoud help shift some bodyfat now that I'm on low carbs, although I'm having a carb meal after this and later on. Back into the gym in a few hours time to hit the weights

Bodyweight at home - 204lbs in shorts and t-shirt
Workout Rating - 9/10
Workout time - 30 mins

Warmup

warmup - dynamic stretches and swings, foot massage, various hops in place in bare feet at home.

Slow Jog - 50m x 4 - 1mins rest

Run complex increasing in speed each run to 50% speed - 2 mins rest

3 sets - trying to stay as smooth, relaxed and fluid as possible
25m straight run, 25m prime times (stiffed legged runs), then into lateral run, right side 5m, left side 5m, into backwards run 5m

then 50m sprint bounds into 50m accleration runs to 70% speed x 2 sets - 2mins rest

Tempo Runs + Energy Work

200 metres - 180 degree turn at halfway @ 70% speed - from proper standing start

rest = 3 mins
1) 47+ secs
2) 44 secs
3) messed up stopwatch

ran em pretty fast today, last one was hard as usual, but not as hard as the last time I did em 4 weeks ago. I guess eventually I'd get down to 40secs for all of em when I get leaner/lighter, faster and better work capacity
 
Tuesday 1st October - Cycle 3 Get Lean+Maintain Strength - Week 1 - Day 2 PM - Upper + Lower - Microcycle 5

Not a bad session, but definitely felt a bit tired.
Back into strength work. Some ISO work today, they always kick my ass!
Feels a bit like Max effort work to me, strain wise, but without the heavy weights...

Someone said I look like I've really slimed up, so I guess this diet is working even if my bodyweight and waist doesn't seem to be changing that much.

Bodyweight at gym - 206lbs
Workout time - 1 hour 30mins
Workout rating - 8/10

General warmup -
1) dynamic swings etc
2) back extension BWx6 + 6 twisting to each alternate side
3) reverse hypers - BWx8
4) situp complex on swissball
5) usual bar complex with 30lbs
6) sitting in bottom of a narrow fullsquat for 40 secs

Rotating Sets between each lower body exercise

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

Full Oly Back Squats - in Oly Shoes - RAW

Warmups - BWx10, Bar x8, 135x3, 185x3, 225x3, 255x2, 275x1
Frontsquat - Barx5, 135x5, 185x3
Wide stance fullsquats - Barx5, 135x5, 185x3

controlled
Rotation 1) 275lbs x 5 --> hard strain on last rep
Rotation 2) 275lbs x 4 --> hard strain on last rep

Haven't fullsquatted in a month, I'm like a newbie again. Felt hard and wobbly. Usually does after running. Power and muscle mass still there, but lacking strain ability. Might switch to ISO paused style next workout


Snatch grip Deadlifts - in Oly Shoes - RAW - HookGrip

Warmups - 60kg x 6

controlled, lowered down RDL style, slight pause on the floor
Rotation 1) 80kg x 6
Rotation 2) 80kg x 6

nowhere near rep max, but hard all the same.

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

Rotating Sets between each upper body exercise

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


16 inch Grip bench - shoulder blades tucked - no arch or leg drive

Warmups - - Bar x12, 95lbs x 8, 135x6, 165x5, 195x3

controlled, 3 sec ISO hold an inch above the chest
Rotation 1) 205lbs x 3 --> last rep hard
Rotation 2) 205lbs x 3 --> moderate strain on last rep

widened my grip out a couple of inches, feels a lot more solid and smooth, better leverage, and that sticking point 3/4 of the way up is gone. I think it's because I can get my elbows directly under my hands now. Might start using this as my main benching form

Chest Supported 45 degree T-Bar Rows - Overhand grip

warmups - 25lbs x8, 45x6, 70x5, 90x3

controlled, 4sec ISO hold at the top
Rotation 1) 105lbs x 4 --> strain on last rep
Rotation 2) 105lbs x 4 --> hard

Killer, posterior chain was tensing quite hard too.,
 
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hiya. im new to this site so just say sup to everyone. i've read you log (as with alot of people I think!) for quite a while now & find it very interesting! I understand you are following db hammers methods. do you still wish to progress strength wise or are you strictly trying to iron out you static-spring profiency first? without bashing I did use a few of his methods when I used the book but I found it all well, a bit long winded. I read it about 15 times & although I enjoyed it I thought for the level im at it probably wasnt needed (im a at similar level strength wise to you albeit about 25lbs lighter & 5" taller) although my bench is nowhere near 135kg! (im a olympic lifts man so not much experience with the bench) is this gona be the way you train period now? would you ever go back to a more conventional way of training?


brad
 
800man said:
hiya. im new to this site so just say sup to everyone. i've read you log (as with alot of people I think!) for quite a while now & find it very interesting! I understand you are following db hammers methods. do you still wish to progress strength wise or are you strictly trying to iron out you static-spring profiency first? without bashing I did use a few of his methods when I used the book but I found it all well, a bit long winded. I read it about 15 times & although I enjoyed it I thought for the level im at it probably wasnt needed (im a at similar level strength wise to you albeit about 25lbs lighter & 5" taller) although my bench is nowhere near 135kg! (im a olympic lifts man so not much experience with the bench) is this gona be the way you train period now? would you ever go back to a more conventional way of training?

brad
Click to expand...

My 2 main weakness are excessive bodyfat and lack of reactivity.
So that's what I'm targeting right now, but I'm using a conjugate sequence blocks for my training.
Hard to gain much strength when your averaging 1400-1900 calories a day
And strength is relative, for my goals, my limit strength is more than sufficient, especially when I get under 10% bodyfat. Just won't have time to use all that force when I run and jump, especially since I don't tend to bend my legs a whole lot or stay on the ground that long.

You just get to a point of dimishing returns. Plus my legs and hips are pretty damn big for my build/frame.
see my pics here in this article :)
http://www.higher-faster-sports.com/SquatsandSpeed.html
My legs would have to come up a lot more in size to gain anymore strength and that would just stuff up my running, jumping and range of motion/flexibility etc

My closegrip bench is nowhere near 300lbs at the moment, more like 285lbs, always goes down when you lean up, but I will try and regain it.

I've used all kinds conventional means of training organisation before and found there to be too much guesswork. Its fine for strength and size goals, especially for begineers, but for power/speed, there is no going back for me.
And I have some pretty extreme vertical jump goals :p


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

Not feeling drained which is good. Achey from head to toe, upper hamstrings and adductors are really sore!

weighed 92.4kg 203+lbs straight out of bed in underwear.
About the same weight as yesterday, but I have filled out a bit from the extra postworkout carbs yesterday. So that's a good sign.

Went for a 23min walk this morning
Muscles seem to be getting bigger after every workout since I cranked up my protein intake for this diet...
 
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AHH! That's your legs in those pictures bro? Haha jesus, you're thick. That's awesome.

By the way, you've told me before but I forgot - where can I read up how to determine what I need to focus on in terms of reactivity, force absorption...uh...you know, I forgot what else there was besides those two, also. x_x Sorry haha...
 
Anthrax Invasion said:
AHH! That's your legs in those pictures bro? Haha jesus, you're thick. That's awesome.

By the way, you've told me before but I forgot - where can I read up how to determine what I need to focus on in terms of reactivity, force absorption...uh...you know, I forgot what else there was besides those two, also. x_x Sorry haha...
Click to expand...

yeah my legs are bigger than the bodybuilders at my gym, but genetics are mostly to blame :)

check in the VJ thread here, towards the last few pages of it.

Basicly you compare paused vertical jump, normal VJ, one step VJ and VJ dropping off a 6/12/18 etc inch height. If you jumping more than 10% higher off a step or run then you need more strength work. If dropping off a 6-18inch height makes you jump lower then you need force absorbtion work.
If dropping off a 18-24inch makes you jump higher then your pretty reactive.
If you dip down faster and jump higher your also have good reactivity and force absorbtion, if not, then you need more force absorbtion work

as you can see there are plenty of indicators

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

Not great sleep last night, very light sleep, valerian did not help. Probbaly a sign I need to carb back up again, which I am scheduled to do so anyway later today...
Upper hamstrings and adductors still sore as a bitch! So no tempo runs and energy work today.

weighed 92.2kg 202.84lbs straight out of bed in underwear.
bodyweight down a bit. Want my BBall playing weight at 203.5lbs this weekend, that will be 3.5lbs lighter than the last time I played a month ago.
That combined with my power gains should be good for a 3 inch increase in jump, fingers crossed...
 
Strength work and force absorbtion work is the same thing, isn't it? In order to absorb force, you need strength. Wouldn't gaining strength just allow you to absorb more force?
Or do you mean depth jumps and altitude drops for force absorbtion work?

Also - reactive squats are for reactivity, right?
 
Thursday 3rd October - Cycle 3 Get Lean+Maintain Strength - Week 1 - Day 3- Upper + Lower Prehab/Depletion - Microcycle 5

Felt weak today, crap sleep + low carbs I guess. Combo of prehab and depletion work. Carbing back up tonight and all day tomorrow!
Bodyweight was up since the last time I was at the gym 2 days ago, but man my face really looks more gaunt, cheeks hollowing out. More faint outlines of veins showing on my arms too. Still a long way to go though

Well today marks the day I finally cured my left shoulder impingment! Months of cuff work never did much for it. Rear delt and mid/lower trap worked helped a bit. Pec and lat ISO stretches and scapular control work helped a lot, and the final peice of the puzzle was lots of stretching of my neck/trap and shoulder muscles. I've been doing this stretch where you hold your hands behind your back and rotate the shoulder back and down hard, while stretching you neck in every possible direction several times a day for the last week. Combine that frequent rolling of the shoulders back and down with the mid traps and hardcore trap stretches.

I can do benches, pullups, dips and presses fine now. And that's with me doing 150+ throws 4 times a week. Whereas a few years ago even cuff work used to hurt like hell! Goes to show that those exercises aren't really as bad as people say, its more to do with the underlying problems of the person. For me it was - hunching over a computer or playing Playstation games for long periods of time = tight shoulders/necks and traps...

Bodyweight at gym - 208lbs
Workout time - 1.5 hours
Workout rating - 7/10

General warmup -
1) dynamic swings etc
2) back extension BWx5 + 4 twisting to each alternate side
3) reverse hypers - BWx10
4) Situp complex on swiss ball
5) 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, and powerjerks - 8 reps each, except cleans 5 reps, jerks 3 reps
6) Scapular pushups - on bench BWx12

Rotating Sets between each upper body exercise - all stopped short of failure

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

Military Press - in Oly Shoes

Warmups - 45x10, 70x8, 95x5, 115x5

Rotation 1) 135lbs x 8
Rotation 2) 135lbs x 7

Been a while since I pressed with a decent weight, felt quite hard, but core was stable.

Shoulder width Pullups

warmups - Pulldowns 30kgx10, 50kg x 10

Rotation 1) BW x 9
Rotation 2) BW x 7

Lighter bodyweight is helping off course

Closegrip Triangle Pushups

warmups - BW x 3
Rotation 3) BW x 20

High angle rows - pulling with lower/mid traps and delts

warmups - 6kg x 10, 20lbs x 5
Rotation 3) 40lbs x 20

Dumbell Curls - 2kgx10, 6kgx8, 25x5, 30x10

Decline Dumbell Tricep Extensions - 2kgx12, 6kgx10, 25x5


Prehab/Restorative - rotated sets between each exercise in no particular order - 30secs to 1min rests

Wide mulit-direction lunge - 5 ways each leg, 3 reps each direction, nonstop

Toe curls on lying leg curl machine - 1plate x 10, 2Px20

Hip abduction/adduction on Keiser air machine - Level 3/3 x10, level 5/6 x 15

Standing Single Leg curl - 4plates x 5, 5p x 5, 6P x 15

Toe curls on lying leg curl machine - 1plate x 12, single leg 1Px10
single leg style is way harder

Single Leg Back Extension - nonstop BWx12 each side

Dip Shrugs - On dip bars - lockout hold BWx10secs + 3reps, BW x 30

Cuban Dumbell Snatch raises - 3kg x 5, 6kg x 15 - WOOt! no left shoulder pain doing these!


ISO Stretches - EQI

Pec/subscap stretched ISO hold - 6kg dumbell x 1min

Lat stretched ISO hold on chin bar - leg supported x 1min
 
Anthrax Invasion said:
Strength work and force absorbtion work is the same thing, isn't it? In order to absorb force, you need strength. Wouldn't gaining strength just allow you to absorb more force?
Or do you mean depth jumps and altitude drops for force absorbtion work?

Also - reactive squats are for reactivity, right?
Click to expand...

no

strength work builds up capacity to absorb force, but it doesn't directly train the the body to do it. You need a progressive application of high speed eccentric work for that.

fast falling loads such as divebombed weights build up "force" absorbtion, and altitude drops and such build up "power" absorbtion. The difference is the mass/load and velocity component of each. The first case is heavier loads, but slower absorbtion/activation of the muscles. While falling down by gravity is much faster, but you use less load, and the muscles have to activate much faster and sharper. ie strength-speed vs speed-strength.

reactive squats can help reactivity, but its more to teach you muscles to turn on fast with heavier loads than just bodyweight, but with slower velocity

If you picture a spectrum - where pure speed on one side, and pure static force of Isometric work on the other. Then depth jumps and altitude drops would be towards the speed side and reactive squats a bit more towards the static side.

see here
http://www.higher-faster-sports.com/DifferentStrokes.html
 
Alright, so strength absorbtion, force absorbtion, reactivity...

Reactive squats sound like they'd be good for force absorbtion then, no?

You also say power absorbtion. Which is which? Force/Strength absorbtion the same? I'm getting jumbled with the terms (clearly) - force, strength and power absorbtion.

And you mentioned rate work to me in the past a few times. What's rate work?
 
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