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Creation of an Explosive Mofo - My Training Journal :)

Finally I crack 8 hours of sleep! But I still look and feel tired.
Not too sore, just my upper hammies. Left hip/groin feeling much better.

Been doing this stretch here a lot lately in the last few days - top sets of pics
http://www.t-nation.com/findArticle.do?article=body_57cp
This one is way better than the one where you use your hands to pull back the leg. It seems I've been pretty tight in that whole area. From sitting for long periods of time I guess. Knees feel way better when getting out of a chair, that halfway point in a squat, and I should notice a difference in my stride pushoffs the next time I run, and maybe even my jumps too...

weighed 93.7kg 206.1lbs straight out of bed in underwear

Back to low carbs. 12min walk today. Did a lot stretching afterwards.
 
No nap and crap sleep to boot, had to fill in of an extra shift at my part time job on last mins notice! Have a heavy training session today as well :(
Feely achey in my legs and hips, especially in my external hip rotor area. Probbaly from the stretching and walking.

weighed 93.2kg 205lbs straight out of bed in underwear

Looking and feeling fat and heavy....
 
Tuesday 20th December - Cycle 3 Get Lean+Maintain Strength - Week 8 DELOAD - Day 2 - Upper + Lower Strength - Microcycle 5

Thanks to the wasted workout last week, I'm not a whole lot stronger today, but the weights definitely felt much lighter even though I had crap all sleep last night!

Stretching is improving my squat form, feels much more natural now. Some guy who was doing rack deads nearby even came up to me and complemented me on my superb form and depth on the warmups sets :D
Starting a new microcycle next week, with a few new weakness to target.

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

General warmup -
1) dynamic swings etc
2) reverse hypers - BWx10
3) back extension BWx6 + 6 twisting to each alternate side
4) situp complex on swissball
5) sitting in bottom of a narrow fullsquat for 40secs
6) adductor/hammie stretch into back tumbells x8
7) usual bar complex with 30lbs


Full Oly Back Squats - in Oly Shoes - RAW

Warmups - explosive and divebombed the last few reps of each set up to 185lbs (except frontsquats more controlled down), then just controlled down and explode up on the heavier stuff
rest - 1min between earlier sets, 2-3mins between later sets
BWx8, Bar x5, 95x5, 135x5, 185x5, 225x5, 255x2, 285x2, 315x1
Frontsquat - Bar x5, 95x5, 135x3, 185x3
Wide stance fullsquats - Bar x5, 95x5,

Controlled down, 3 sec Hold at bottom, explode up - rest 5 mins
1) 335lbs x 2 (+1rep ) ---> ballbusting strain on last rep
2) 325lbs x 2 --> hard strain on 2nd rep

fast down, explode up
3) 245lbs x 4 (+10lbs) ---> 4th rep much slower

335lbs feeling much lighter on my back now. I just made the 2nd rep, really slow through the sticking point, and I felt my upperback start to collaspe. So will need to get back to snatchgrip deads next microcycle to beef that up.
But I'm good at activating my hammies now so I don't GM the squat when I strain hard. I just put my chest up, roll my glutes back, create a pelvic tuck and stretch the upper hammies and everything fires as it should. Plus my hammies are a lot bigger and stronger than they were 8 weeks ago. Looking more like a horses hind legs from the side, especially the lower part :)
So I expect a nice improvement on my 30m and 56m sprints when I get back to em.

325lbs went up relatively easy, surprising since it's only 10lbs less.
explosive set with 245lbs felt quite a bit slower on the 4th rep, and a burn starting, which ends around 9secs, the edge of the phosphate energy system bracket :)
4 reps seem to be the sweet spot for me, even on the warmups, I would get a burn around the 4th rep.

clip of all worksets. 335lbs looks a lot easier they it felt powering it up!
right click on link and save first to avoid errors
http://www.members.optushome.com.au...OlySquatsPR335_325x2_Paused_245x4_20Dec05.mpg


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

Rotating Sets between each upper body exercise

Resting 1.5 min on warmup sets and then 3.5 mins between each exercise


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

Warmups - Bar x5, rest 30secs, x 10 (last 5 reps drop/catch style)
explosive - 95lbs x 10, 135x8, 165x5, 195x3, 225x2, 245x1

controlled down, 3 sec ISO hold an inch above the chest , explode up
Rotation 1) 255lbs x 2 --> hard strain on last rep
Rotation 2) 255lbs x 1 --> hard strain

much the same as last week. Stay here until I can crank out 2x2 fairly easily

Chest Supported 45 degree T-Bar Rows - Overhand grip

warmups - explosive/divebombed - Barx10, Bar+45lbs x8, +70x5, +90x3, 115x1+2sec ISO, 125x1, 135x1

controlled, 3sec ISO hold at the top
Rotation 1) Bar + 145lbs x 3 --> hard strain on last rep
Rotation 2) Bar + 145lbs x 3 (Volume PR) --> gutbusting strain on last rep

A little stronger, time to go up.


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

aggressive stretches for whole frontal quad area, external hip rotor, calves, pecs and lats. Plus some lower back and hip
 
Got enough bed time, although only 6 hours of deep sleep. I look tired, but don't feel too bad.
Achey all over, but not too sore, mostly in my upper hammies, glutes and spinal erectors. No drained feeling which is awesome. And I feel light and loose somehow, none of that heavy swollen feeling in the legs.

weighed 92.9kg 204.4lbs straight out of bed in underwear

Bodyweight finally going back down again! Look a little leaner and tighter, more detail in the abs and lower back/spinal erectors. Would love to hit 200lbs soon, getting sick of my current bodyweight and fat levels. And if I can continue to get stronger that would be kick ass.

12min walk planned for today + some static stretches afterwards
 
Hot night, crappy sleep, but not to bad.
Still somewhat sore in my groin and posterior chain, plus upper back. Legs/hips and feet feel nice and loose/light. That's the sensation I've been trying to get for a while, they feel small and light, but they are still big. And best of all this is after a heavy squat session. So all the stretching and extra protein is really turning things around. See how it goes with running today.

weighed 93.6kg 205.9lbs straight out of bed in underwear

Up alot, more to do with food in my stomach I think. I ate a lot more yesterday, still low crabs though. I'm thinking of ditching the carb load this week and stay low carb all the way through. I just like the way I feel and look when on low carbs - alert, lighter, looser, no water bloat, and much better energy levels. With maybe just carbs just after training - although I'm thinking of ditching that as well. we will see.
 
Thursday 22nd December - Cycle 3 Get Lean+Maintain Strength - Week 8 Deload- Day 3 - Energy Work - Microcycle 5

Excellent session. Damn the warmup stuff was hella snappy, springy and effortless!
Legs and hips feel rocket powered, loose and smooth too. Another 30lbs on my pause oly squats to 365lbs and my bodyweight down to 200lbs and I'm gonna haul ass!
My goal is till get it up to at least 405lbs. 425 for a double would be sweet. That would allow me to powerclean 300lbs and powersnatch 210lbs with minimal leg bend to catch. Probbaly put my 1RM at 475lbs or so. Might as well push it up to 500lbs just to make a nice even number :)
Then get lean, down to 185-190lbs, work on power and speed and I'm gonna tear it up! That's the plan anyway.... :D

Workout Rating - 9/10
Workout time - 30 mins

Warmup

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

Slow Jog - 50m x 4 - 1.5 mins rest, 25-35secs duration each, getting faster and springy

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 prime times (stiffed legged runs), 10m straight run, then into lateral run, right side 5m, left side 5m, into backwards run 5m, then three 360 pivots runs

3 point start into 40m accleration runs to 70% speed x 3 - 30secs rest

then rest 3mins

Tempo Runs + Energy Work

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

rest = 3 mins
1) 43+ secs
2) 43+ secs

Damn that was pretty quick and on a slopey field too. The last 25% of each run was getting wobbly and hard though. Posterior chain feels a bit trashed
When I ramp up the volume again next microcycle, and hit 3 runs for 43secs each then I way faster than before!
 
Thursday 22nd December - Cycle 3 Get Lean+Maintain Strength - Week 8 DELOAD - Day 3 - Upper + Lower Prehab/Depletion - Microcycle 6

Did this 1+ hour after the above running session. Normally I have a bowl of cereal+whey+Oat milk between the 2, but today I ditched that. Just had 2 serves of Whey+vitamin C powder, some meat and veg. Felt much better and had more energy - good session

During the first half of the workout, I've never had such and intense and full upperbody pump! Guess my body is pretty good at converting protein into glycogen now :)

Bodyweight at gym - 209.5lbs
Workout time - 1 hour 50 mins
Workout rating - 8/10

General warmup -
1) dynamic swings etc
2) back extension BWx6 + 4 twisting to each alternate side
3) reverse hypers - BWx10
4) Situp complex on swiss ball
5) warmup complex with 30lb bar

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

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


Shoulder width Pullups

warmups - Pulldowns 35kgx10, 50kg x5, 65kg x 3, 75kg x 2, Pullup x10sec hold + 5 scapular shrugs, Pullup BWx1

controlled
BW x 11 (+1rep)

equals current best but cleaner controlled form

Closegrip Triangle Pushups

warmup - BW x 5
BW x 32 New PR +1rep

Lats were pumped quite a bit during this


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

warmups - 40lbs x 5
50lbs x 18 (+2reps)

Standing Elbow Forward Dumbell Press - Neutral Grip

Warmups - 5kg x 10

controlled - nonlock
25lbs x 20

Hammers my pecs, shoulders, serratus, triceps and core in one shot!

Dumbell Curls
warmups - 2kgx10, 15lbs x5, 25lbs x5

30lbs x 15 (+2reps)

Cable Rope Tricep pushdowns
warmups - 10kg x10, 15kg x10

just warmups


Prehab/Restorative - 30secs to 1.5 min rests

Fullsquats BWx30 (+5 reps) - damn killer burn, took 55secs

Dip Shrugs warmups - lockout hold BWx10secs + 5reps,
BW x 31 - numbers going back up even after pushups and stuff

Wide multi-direction lunge - 5 ways each leg, 4 reps each direction -
45lb oly bar (+3 reps and 5lbs) - bar makes it easier to balance. Felt very good today, but I ripped my parts... Damn do these gas you out!

Lat Machine Situps - BWx6, 45lb dumbell on chest x 8 (+10lbs) with 3sec ISO at the bottom of each rep

Single leg back extension - 3 sec hold at top - BWx6, +10lbs x 8 damn that was hard. My feet keep rotating out and when I force it back in, the inner hammstring screams. So there is a imbalance there I need to fix
http://www.t-nation.com/readTopic.do?id=773872

Hip abduction/adduction on Keiser air machine - Level 3/3 x12, level 4/4 x 30 (+5reps)

Standing Single Leg curl - 4plates x 8, 6P x 22 - deadstop

Toe curls on lying leg curl machine - 1plate x 15, 1 legged - 1plate x 15 (+1 rep) each leg - deadstop

Single Arm face Pulls - Keeping shoulders down and back when pulling back, 1sec hold each rep - 70lbs x 15 (+10lbs)

Cuban Rotation Dumbell raises - 4kg x 20

Low Pulley External rotations - 10lbs x 6, 15lbs x 15 with a 1sec hold


ISO Stretches - EQI

Pec/subscap stretched ISO hold - First I did subscap rotations - 5kg x20, then the stretch with 5kg dumbells x 1min

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

bunch of static stretches
 
Interrupted light sleep, feel and look sleepy....
Achey all over.

weighed 94kg 206.8lbs straight out of bed in underwear

Carbed up after the last workout yesterday, and this morning, now back to low carbs

went for a 12min walk, then some light stretching after
 
Woke up feeling really weak and lethargic, no energy at all. Feel better now, but not much more... not sure what's up with that
Posterior chain and legs still a bit stiff and achey

weighed 93.8kg 206.36lbs straight out of bed in underwear

The changes I made this week to my diet seem to be having an effect, I look different, even if my bodyweight hasn't changed much.
Recovery should be good today and tomorrow as I don't have much going on :)
 
Not recently, I'm training a lot smarter these days and eating better.

I have had that before, due to overtraining, the workout that pushed me over the edge
weakens your immune system etc
nothing but rest will fix that...

and maybe a lot of food, vitamin C, and sleep

Off course its better to not allow yourself to get into that position in the first place :)
 
Can't complain about the sleep amount, just the quality isn't so good. Wish I could get 9 hours in one whole chunk. Makes me feel groggy.
External hips pretty achey and stiff, and IT band a bit as well. But I feel almost recovered from the last workout. Probbaly do a bit of BBall today

weighed 93.6kg 205.9lbs straight out of bed in underwear
 
Sunday 25th December - Cycle 3 Get Lean+Maintain Strength - Week 1 - Day 1 - BBALL - Microcycle 6

Went to other outdoor BBall court

Bodyweight at home - 209lbs in shorts and t-shirt
Workout time - 35 mins
Workout rating - 6/10

Kept it pretty easy today. Legs and hips felt like lead. Sluggish overall. I did 5 or so max effort jumps at the end and the best was still 3 inches lower than my current best on this court...
Didn't stay long, so not too much damage was done.

Looks like I'm still not recovered from my workouts earlier in the week, even more so than last week. I guess the carb load does a lot more than I realised.
And my gym work needs to be tweaked. Now would be a good time to unload into power work in a conjugate sequence block.
But strength is still my focus so the show must continue.
 
Late night so crap sleep, will catch up later today. A bit sore in my posterior chain.

weighed 94.4kg 207.68lbs straight out of bed in underwear

Went for a 12min walk and then a stretching session.

Well a new year is about to start, and looking back I haven't done a whole lot on the fat loss front. Sure I'm done from 220lbs, but in the last 10 weeks I've gained a bit of strength and muscle but not much fat loss.

Well today I start a new microcycle and change up my approach.
Goals for the the next 6months is to drop 5-6inches off my waist and continue getting stronger. Everything else will be put on the backburner.
Workouts and running will continue as they are, but the high depletion stuff will be scaled back. Won't be BBalling to much, I'll use that day to do either sub-maximal intervals or exercise complexes to burn some calories.

Waist is still around the 35 inch area, and for me to get that down to 30inches is gonna take a drop of 25lbs of fat I figure.
I'll go back to what I've used in the past to drop me from to 220 to 180lbs, with 1/4 inch off the waist a day. Although I won't be going that drastic :)
But I need to average 1/4 inch of the waist at least a week, about 1+lb of fat. More would be better off course, but I can't lose any muscle and I need to keep gaining strength.

Back then I drank at least 10 litres of ice cold water a day, 50 or so glasses, and yes that meant a drink every 5 mins just about! And boy do you get cold!! :)
I put plastic cups of water in the freezer to use as giant ice cubes. Then had a big container of water near me, and put these "ice cubes" in it every time I filled it back up - sorted

That's the key, it burns a lot of calories. 8 calories per glass, so do the sums. That allows me to eat pretty normally, and combined with the sprint intervals, the fat just shredded off. But I did plateau when I reached the lower BF% range, but this time I know what to do when that happens.
And I won't be doing max effort sprints as I was then - which killed my shins and gave me some ankle/foot injuries due to the high frequency and lack of conditioning

BTW I got that idea from Ellington Darden and it works

Water: Possibly the most underutilised but easiest to implement part of an exercise regime.

The concept of Superhydration is one pioneered by fat loss specialist Dr Ellington Darden. Over the past several decades, he's been refining the concept to get the most out of a fat loss regime. We'll be using this concept to get the most out of ours too.

Water has many advantages to the fat loss trainee. For example, if you don’t drink enough, you can retain water under the skin giving you a nice beer belly look without the beer! Your kidneys also need plenty of water to function, but if they don’t get it, they’ll call on the liver for help. The liver is responsible for mobilising body fat, so if it’s concentrating on helping out the kidneys, it’s not putting all the effort it could be into its own job.

On top of that, if you’re even partially dehydrated, along with a host of other side effects (most of which people normally blame on stress when really they’re dehydrated) your performance will drop. When your bodies not running at it’s best, it’s not good for the gym and not good for fat loss or muscle gain.

Speaking of muscle gain, another water related fact is that muscle is made up of over 70% water, and here's a few more:

- It acts as a coolant by regulating the body’s temperature, and removing excess heat through sweat
- It acts as a lubricant to the joints and between internal organs
- It acts as a solvent to water soluble vitamins
- It helps keep skin clear and healthy
- It aids digestion of food in the stomach and the digestive tract
- It aids flushing the body of waste materials

So why cold?

Physics.

When you drink water, it needs to be heated up to core body temperature. This requires energy. Your body's unit of energy is the calorie, so by heating up water, it'll burn calories. Even better is that water doesn't have any calories to begin with, so every calorie burned by this process is a net loss for you.

Drink 4½ litres of ice cold water daily, and you'll burn over 1600 calories per week heating that up to core body temperature. Not only that, but you're burning them consistently every day, i.e. raising your metabolism everyday by over 200 calories.

You could burn 200 calories by hitting the treadmill for half an hour or so, but by doing that, your body now has to find that energy in that short space of time, so it'll get it where it can: Body fat, food, muscle glycogen, muscle tissue, etc. and on top of that, by having to find that in a hurry, you've now given your body something else it needs to recover from, interrupting the recovery process you've set in motion from your scheduled workouts.

Alternatively, you could burn those calories gradually over the space of about 15 or so hours. Which process do you think is going to be easier for your body to deal with?

Bottom line: Over the years Dr Darden has observed a trend that those who drank the most water lost the most fat. Learn from Dr Darden’s research and you can give your fat loss a boost too!
Click to expand...
 
Well I got a pretty good chunk of continous deep sleep, waking pulse is low, and I feel decent - so hopefully that means a good workout today.... :)

weighed 93.8kg 206.36lbs straight out of bed in underwear

started ice cold water drinking halfway through yesterday, but today I start on it full bore. Makes me very full all the time! So no problems with hunger pains :)
But I'm not cutting the calories down, the ice cold water should do most of calorie deficit, and then add training and intervals the fat should come off fast, without the negative effects of dieting - hopefully

I have a countdown timer that buzzes me every 10mins to drink 2-3 glasses. So that would make it a minimum of 12 glasses an hour, and at least 100 glasses over the whole day. According to this http://www.paulnoll.com/China/Metric/number-liters.html
About 6 gallons or 800 ounces - which should translate to a minimum of 800 extra calories being burnt a day, or 1 pound of fat every 4 days!
 
Tuesday 27th December - Cycle 3 Get Lean+Maintain Strength - Week 1 - Day 2 - Upper + Lower Strength - Microcycle 6

First workout of a new microcycle. Base week so taking it somewhat easy, relatively speaking. Felt funny today. Before I even hit the gym I had already guzzled 7+ litres of ice cold water, and even after stopping it 30mins before heading to the gym I was bloated as hell, even my face was puffed. In the morning, the water seemed to have puffed up all my muscles and they pumped up at even the slightest movement. Walking around made my legs and lower back pump up painfully!!

So you can imagine how uncomfortable the warmup stuff and sets for squats were like! Didn't exactly feel strong or inspire confidence. And I was worried about the extra 5lbs of water weight robbing me of a PR, but I am stronger today, except on bench anyway...
Hit the toilets for the first 30mins, and by the end of the workout, I was looking much drier.

Bodyweight at gym - 215lbs --> LOL lots of water in me!
Workout time - 1.5 hours
Workout rating - 8/10

General warmup -
1) dynamic swings etc
2) reverse hypers - BWx10
3) back extension BWx6 + 6 twisting to each alternate side
4) situp complex on swissball
5) sitting in bottom of a narrow fullsquat for 40secs
6) adductor/hammie stretch into back tumbells x8
7) usual bar complex with 30lbs


Full Oly Back Squats - in Oly Shoes - RAW

Warmups - explosive and divebombed the last few reps of each set up to 185lbs (except frontsquats more controlled down), then just controlled down and explode up on the heavier stuff
rest - 1min between earlier sets, 2-3mins between later sets
BWx8, Bar x5, 95x5, 135x5, 185x5, 225x4, 255x2, 285x2, 315x1
Frontsquat - Bar x5, 95x5, 135x3, 185x3
Wide stance fullsquats - Bar x5, 95x5,

Controlled down, 3 sec Hold at bottom, explode up - rest 5 mins
1) 335lbs x 2 ---> Strain on last rep
2) 335lbs x 2 Volume PR! --> hard strain on 2nd rep

Last week with 335lbs, I was shakey at the bottom of the 2nd rep and only just made it. No probs this week, powered it up. 2nd set was easier than the 335lbs set from last week as well. Bolt upright, no hint of GM'ing at all. Time to go up to 345lbs next week
Although the warmup sets still don't feel much lighter, 315lbs still a bit wobbly....


Snatch grip Deadlifts - in Oly Shoes - RAW - HookGrip

Warmups - explosive - bar x5, 133lbs x2, 173x2, 203x2 (done between the 2 worksets of squats)

explode up, lowered down RDL style, 2sec pause on the floor staying tight - rest 5 mins
3) 233lbs x 5
4) 233lbs x 4 --> 4th rep much slower

Did these after the worksets of squats. Had to reset grip on a few reps. Definitely felt these in my mid back spinal erectors and rear obliques

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

Rotating Sets between each upper body exercise

Resting 1.5 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 x10, rest 30secs, x 10 (last 5 reps drop/catch style)
explosive - 95lbs x 10, 135x8, 165x5, 195x4, 225x2, 245x1

controlled down, 3 sec ISO hold an inch above the chest , explode up
Rotation 1) 255lbs x 2 --> ballbusting strain on last rep
Rotation 2) 255lbs x 1 --> ballbusting strain

Well I'm stalled here, even a bit harder than last week. So time to change things up. I probably need to gain some muscle mass in my pressing muscles. Haven't been doing a good job at adding musclemass here vs my pulling muscles. I will take a break from benching altogether, been doing it for a while now with no breaks. And come back in a months time and crank out some "newbie" gains

Chest Supported 45 degree T-Bar Rows - Overhand grip

warmups - explosive/divebombed - Bar+45lbs x8, +70x5, +90x3, 115x2, 135x1 +2sec ISO, 145x1

controlled, 3sec ISO hold at the top
Rotation 1) Bar + 155lbs x 3 +10lbs --> gutbusting strain on last rep
Rotation 2) Bar + 155lbs x 2 --> Hard strain on last rep

Stronger once more, hope I can hit 4 plates before I stall. Which will make me pretty much the strongest guy in the whole gym on these :)
 
The hours in bed were good, but the sleep was really bad. I didn't get any deep sleep at all, kept tossing and turning, got up a few times as well. Guess the heavy training and all doing a number on me. Waking pulse jumps up 10 as well to 62.
Not too sore, mostly in my uppper back and spinal erectors. Legs and hips aren't that sore right now, but may change later on.

weighed 93.6kg 205.9lbs straight out of bed in underwear

LOL well at least I look leaner already! I took in about 10-11 litres of ice cold water yesterday at a guess. Good for a 350 calorie deficit on paper. Just a matter of getting used to it now, as it isn't the most comfortable thing in the world. See what a week of this does

12min walk today plus some stretching
 
Ugh same interrupted sleep and woke up way to early. I guess the same deal with poor sleep when on low calories/carbs is happening here due to the increased in metabolic rate from the ice cold water...
Will grab some extra sleep before my training today.
Posterior chain a bit sore, especially my upper hammies. Upper back still sore.

weighed 94.3kg 207.46lbs straight out of bed in underwear

Bodyweight is up but I really do look leaner! I can see it in my face/chin area. Drank about 15-16 litres of ice cold water yesterday. Pretty comfortable amount, 3 glasses every 15mins. So will stick with this amount from now on when possible. Good for 500 calorie deficit on paper, or 1 pound of fat lost per week. I'm pretty close to maintenance levels diet wise.
 
Thursday 29th December - Cycle 3 Get Lean+Maintain Strength - Week 1 - Day 3 - Energy Work - Microcycle 6

I was 211lbs before heading to the park. That's a good 4lbs heavier than I have been, but I felt stronger and the extra water in the body/muscles gave me more energy. I wasn't taxed as much after each set or run. Just felt different, so I must have been somewhat dehydrated most of the time before :)

Workout Rating - 8/10
Workout time - 35 mins

Warmup

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

Slow Jog - 50m x 5 - 1.5 mins rest, 25-35secs duration each, getting faster and springy

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 prime times (stiffed legged runs), 10m straight run, then into lateral run, right side 5m, left side 5m, into backwards run 5m, then three 360 pivots runs

2 sets - 5 dropsquats (hammie to parallel) sitting back, focusing on activating the hammies + 5 easy vertical jumps, landing semi deep and absorb + 3 point start into 40m accleration runs to 70% speed - 1mins rest

then rest 3mins

Tempo Runs + Energy Work

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

rest = 3 mins
3 runs all around 48+ secs

didn't get the quad pump I had the last 2 weeks, and definitely noticed the strength increases. Hammie had a extra spring/snap each stride. Arm drive, core and posture just felt a lot more solid. Just had a real good relaxed feeling in each run, and wasn't gassed and msucles pumped out like I normally am.
 
Thursday 29th December - Cycle 3 Get Lean+Maintain Strength - Week 1 - Day 3 - Upper + Lower Prehab - Microcycle 6

Did this 2 hours after the above running session. Didn't exactly feel all that great, but I made a decent session out of it.

Bodyweight is up 4lbs due to the all the water in my body/muscles, but my face looked much leaner. Regulars there are seem to notice it. Another 8 weeks of this and I should be much more lean-tastic, hopefully 8lbs lighter and then I'll taper back the water and that 4lbs increase should drop away too. But I'm keeping that ice cold water jug there for life - it's a keeper!

Bodyweight at gym - 213lbs
Workout time - 1.5+ hours
Workout rating - 8/10

General warmup -
1) dynamic swings etc
2) back extension BWx6 + 4 twisting to each alternate side
3) reverse hypers - BWx10
4) Situp complex on swiss ball
5) warmup complex with 30lb bar

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

Resting 30secs to 1 min on warmup sets, and then 1min 40secs between each exercise


Shoulder width Pullups

warmups - Pulldowns 35kgx10, 50kg x5, 65kg x 3, Pullup x10sec hold + 5 scapular shrugs, Pullup BWx1

controlled
Rotation 1) BW x 11 + 1 partial
Rotation 2) BW x 8

Heavier bodyweight didn't exactly help, but it's feeling pretty easy now. That's never been the case at all for any type of chin or pullup!

Dip Shrugs

warmup - BW x 10sec hold + 5

2 sec hold at the top each rep
Rotation 1) BW x 19
Rotation 2) BW x 14

The ISO certainly cranks it up, massive serratus pump!

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

warmups - 5kg x5, 15lbs x 5, 40lbs x 5

2 sec hold at the top each rep
Rotation 1) 50lbs x 11
Rotation 2) 50lbs x 9

Dumbell Front Raise to parallel - Thumbs up

warmups - 2kg x10

2 sec hold at the top each rep
Rotation 1) 5kg x 15
Rotation 2) 5kg x 11

Cable Rope Tricep pushdowns
warmups - 10kg x10, 15kg x5, 20kg x 5

Rotation 1) 25kg x 12
Rotation 2) 25kg x 9

Dumbell Curls
warmups - 2kgx10, 15lbs x5, 22lbs x3

Rotation 1) 30lbs x 16 (+1rep)
Rotation 2) 30lbs x 12

controlled the eccentric on the first rep, so might have gotten even more reps had I done it the way I normally did. Almost time to increase the load


Prehab/Restorative - 30secs to 1.5 min rests

Fullsquats BWx12, x 10 - just to warmup

Barbell Wide multi-direction lunge - 5 ways each leg, 4 reps each direction - 55lbs (+5lbs) kicked my ass!

Lat Machine Situps - BWx6, 25lbs x 3, 50lb dumbell on chest x 9 (+5lbs +1 rep) with 3sec ISO at the bottom of each rep

Hip abduction/adduction on Keiser air machine - Level 3/3 x12, level 4/4 x 30

Standing Single Leg curl - 4plates x 8, 7Px 15 deadstop, feet angled inwards - up a plate

Toe curls on lying leg curl machine - 1plate x 15, 1P x15, 3P x15

Single Arm face Pulls - Keeping shoulders down and back when pulling back, 1sec hold each rep - 70lbs x 15

Cuban Rotation Dumbell raises - 5kg x 15

Elbow on Knee L-Fyle External rotations - 3kg x 20


ISO Stretches - EQI

Pec/subscap stretched ISO hold - First I did subscap rotations - 5kg x20, then the stretch with 5kg dumbells x 1min

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

bunch of static stretches
 
Same deal with the sleep, but it's better today. A little achey, but not that sore.

weighed 93.8kg 206.36lbs straight out of bed in underwear

Bodyweight back down again. Hopefully by the end of the week I will see a clear trend. Didn't drink as much ice cold water yesterday due to training and such, about 9 litres I think

12min walk today.
 
Same deal with the sleep, but getting better and deeper.

weighed 94.8kg 208.56lbs straight out of bed in underwear
Holding a lot of water from dinner last night, I look puffy. Muscles are filling out from all the ice cold water and my skin/face is clearing up too, been having some acne there the last few weeks and it's all gone!

When I finished up at my part time job this morning, I chatted with the chick there. I don't usually get to talk to her much, but today we had a general chit chat about New Years Eve etc. She asked me if I will be drinking, and I said I only drink water, which kinda shocked her. She said "no wonder your healthy!" . She's quite a bit shorter than me was staring at my pecs quite a bit. Must be the t-shirt I was wearing today, they were sticking out a lot :)
Then she asked if I go to the gym, I said I trained twice a week - trying to lose some fat too. She said "your not fat, you have a flat stomach, my boyfriend has a big belly!" Then I grabbed a handful of fat from my stomach though my t-shirt and said I want to make this like the back of my hand. The chat went on a bit and she said that I'm solid and you don't want to get skinny etc
She said "who's the lucky girl, you don't drink, your healthy, you work out, and work hard?" :D

I've been getting a more of those kinds of look/stares and conversations lately. Seems to be related to my rising strength/muscle mass, tan from training outdoors and lowering of bodyfat levels....I don't even look anything like a Men's Fitness cover model.... yet ;)

Guess my girlfriend is lucky - LOL :p
 
Crappy sleep thanks to New Years Eve sh*t and damn searing temps!

weighed 94kg 206.8lbs straight out of bed in underwear

6th day of ice cold water binging and I am looking noticeable leaner, especially in my face. Even if the scale hasn't moved much, but it should start to go down by the end of next week, unless I gain some muscle to offset that. Sure as hell beats dieting!

Not sure what I'll do today, but it's damn hot. Have to go to a lunch with girlfriend first then after that I'll see. Maybe some sub-maximal intervals or something similar to shift some calories. Not really in the mood to BBall.
 
Sunday 1st January - Cycle 3 Get Lean+Maintain Strength - Week 2 - Day 1 - BBALL - Microcycle 6

Absolutely scorching today with 40+ degree temps. Decided to BBall to keep my jumping and movement skills intact.

Bodyweight at home - 212lbs in shorts and t-shirt
Workout time - 35 mins
Session rating - 8/10

Warmed up at home with footwork drills and dynamic stretches and other stuff. Then went to court 3mins from home. Shot around for 10mins, but found it too slippery to do any explosive moves with authority. So I went to another court 5mins away, an old haunting ground. The ride there provide me with a bit of a rest and I was feeling really good by then. Ready to rock.

The vibe on this court was great. Probbaly why I used to play there a lot, Has a road kinda surface so grip was much better. Nobody there as expected.
Went all out from the get go, and didn't really notice the heat at all, except my black BBall shoes absorbing up some serious temps from the Sun :)

Pulled off some very explosive moves, and a new spin move thanks to all the 360 degree pivot drills I do at the park in my running warmup.
Well my bodyweight was 2lbs heavier than last week due to all the water, and 5lbs heavier then when I did my current highest jumps. But I was within an inch of those jumps today, so my power output has gone up!
Definite potential for some big gains to be made on my vertical jump when I switch back to a power/reactive work block next, if I keep pushing my leg strength up, and lean down to 200lbs. I figure at least 6 inches, just the bodyweight drop alone will net me most of that!

Only played 25mins there, but I went all out and left before I got tired. Great stamina, even with the extreme heat, and wasn't breathing all that hard.
 
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Sleeping was hard thanks to the room feeling like an oven! Even when it did cool down outside, the room stayed warm. Not really all that sore, just my lower spinal erectors which feel a bit trashed up from the jump landings (leaning over too much I guess) and some glute. I also did a few "altitude drops" yesterday when I ran after the ball and hopped down from 2+feet sidewalk wall

weighed 93.7kg 206.14lbs straight out of bed in underwear
bodyweight down a smidge.

It's raining right now, but I'll see if I can squeeze in a walk today. Walks will most probably be longer this week, and using a more slopey route as I load up the posterior chain again.
 
ChinkNasty said:
hey colin, howd drinking all that ice water go for you? lose any weight?
Click to expand...

well it's only been a week and a bit, so not much movement on the scale yet, but I really do look leaner. Pretty noticeable in my face, forearms and calves/ankle. I'm drinking about 10-12 litres a day average which is good for about a 400 calorie deficit if I'm eating maintenance, so technically I should be dropping a pound of fat every 9 days.
Check back in a month's time

You should be drinking a lot of water anyway when you want to lean up, so why not make it cold? :)

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

Sleep is getting better, but still not continuous. feel a bit groggy. Posterior chain a bit achey from the walk yesterday

weighed 93.9kg 206.58lbs straight out of bed in underwear
Ugh bodyweight back up still hanging around the 94kg area, even though I'm looking trimmer. But it's only been a week and a bit

had a 20min brisk walk yesterday, half of it up a moderate slope.
 
Tuesday 3rd January - Cycle 3 Get Lean+Maintain Strength - Week 2 - Day 2 - Upper + Lower Strength - Microcycle 6

Disappointing workout. I wasn't feeling all that great leading up to the workout as well. I think the crappy sleep over the last week is catching up with me. Other than that I don't feel all feel beat up or anything.
This is getting frustrating, every time I start to get on a roll I hit a snag..
At least I'm looking leaner today.

Guess I'll just back off for a while and consolidate things as I focus on leaning up. I've been going all out for a while on the same general thing, time for a change. Looks like the low carb to depletion/ carb-up thing I had been doing is more effective than I thought for gains in all areas and recovery. I stopped doing it 2 weeks ago and things seem to have gone downhill a bit....
Diet is more important than I always give it credit for.

Bodyweight at gym - 211lbs
Workout time - 1 hour
Workout rating - 6/10

General warmup -
1) dynamic swings etc
2) reverse hypers - BWx10
3) back extension BWx6 + 6 twisting to each alternate side
4) situp complex on swissball
5) sitting in bottom of a narrow fullsquat for 40secs
6) adductor/hammie stretch into back tumbells x8
7) usual bar complex with 30lbs


Full Oly Back Squats - in Oly Shoes - RAW

Warmups - explosive and divebombed the last few reps of each set up to 185lbs (except frontsquats more controlled down), then just controlled down and explode up on the heavier stuff
rest - 1min between earlier sets, 2-3mins between later sets
BWx8, Bar x5, 95x5, 135x5, 185x5, 225x4, 255x2, 285x2, 325x1
Frontsquat - Bar x5, 95x5, 135x3, 185x3
Wide stance fullsquats - Bar x5, 95x5,

Controlled down, 3 sec Hold at bottom, explode up - rest 5 mins
1) 345lbs x 1 ---> Hard Strain
2) 335lbs x 1 ---> wobbly on the way down, hard strain

The warm ups didn't feel as easy and snappy as I would have liked, so I guess I had a feeling I wasn't going to go great today. But not as bad as a few weeks back where everything felt hard and heavy.
345lbs was hard, so I didn't risk a 2nd rep. 335lbs was wobbly on the way down, didn't have much control over it like I normally do.
I expected to get a double with 345lbs today, since last week I powered up 335lbs for 2x2


Snatch grip Deadlifts - in Oly Shoes - RAW - HookGrip

Warmups - explosive - 125lbs x 3, 155x2, 195x2(done between the 2 worksets of squats)

explode up, lowered down RDL style, 2sec pause on the floor staying tight - rest 5 mins
3) 245lbs x 1 --> felt damn heavy, stopped there


Chest Supported 45 degree T-Bar Rows - Overhand grip

warmups - explosive/divebombed - Bar+45lbs x8, +70x5

Didn't have my head in it by now, felt I couldn't be productive so I stopped it there and headed home
 
Deeper sleep, but still broken and not enough of it. Yet waking pulse still remains pretty low and I don't feel beat up at all..I'm so confused....
Time like this where I wished I had access to an OmegaWave!
Sore posterior chain and groin

weighed 93.8kg 206.36lbs straight out of bed in underwear
Still hanging around here, it's about time I inched down to 93kg!

20min walk today plus stretching after.
 
Need more sleep! Legs feel good though loose and lighter feeling.

I also stretched the crap out of my soleus/Achilles yesterday after the walk. And it doesn't feel sore, unlike some of my other muscles when I stretch them aggressively. The reason?
I had tight calves before causing an ache in heel/feet whenever I started to walk from sitting down for a while or when cold. I've been stretching em for a while now, gastrocs, and it's much better but not fully ache free all the time.
Also I tend to bring my heels off the ground when I did a standing vertical jump right under the BBall backboard and had problems fullsquatting with a narrow stance. So I put 2 and 2 together and figured my calves must be still be tight when my legs are bent - ie soleus/Achilles. Because my gastrocs are fine. So I did a lot of aggressive bent knee calf stretches, targeting the soleus and Achilles. My left ankle has a shorter ROM though, old ankle injury. Just have to force it back up, that's the side that always gives me problems when I frontsquat heavy.

Well the stretching yesterday made my feet, heel and ankle feel so much better when I got out of bed this morning. That's when it usually aches a lot since your cold and stiff etc. Even now there is this nice looseness there. Should help my jumping/landing and squatting as well, and definitely on sprinting, and it probably has some say on the knee too. I wonder if it has anything to do with shin splint type pain as well when doing a running one legged jump? I still get those even though my tibs are pretty darn strong now and my calves aren't that weak...we will see I guess.
Might not be so good for my reactivity though as far as the Achilles tendon goes, but I need the ROM. Seated calf raise stretched holds should help here as well.

weighed 93.5kg 205.7lbs straight out of bed in underwear
Finally some downward movement :)
It's been much cooler the last few days so the ice cold water is actually starting to make me feel cooler, and the ice stays around for much longer.
Obviously would be much more effective in winter...

Wet, so I might not be able to run today. If not then I'll do some other stuff instead.
 
Thursday 5th January - Cycle 3 Get Lean+Maintain Strength - Week 2 - Day 3 - Energy Work - Microcycle 6

Pretty good session

Workout Rating - 8/10
Workout time - 35 mins

Warmup

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

Slow Jog - 50m x 4 - 1.5 mins rest, 25-35secs duration each, getting faster and springy

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 prime times (stiffed legged runs), 10m straight run, then into lateral run, right side 5m, left side 5m, into backwards run 5m, then three 360 pivots runs

2 sets - 5 dropsquats (hammie to parallel) sitting back, focusing on activating the hammies + 3 point start into 40m accleration runs to 70% speed - 1mins rest

then rest 2.5 mins

Tempo Runs + Energy Work

100 metres @ 60-70% speed - from 3 point start

rest = walk back to start 1.5 mins
6 runs all around 19 secs

changed things up. Somewhat harder than 3x200m with 3mins rest last week. But with less form breakdown, breathing and heartrate stays elevated, so probbaly better for my fat loss goals. I run them slightly faster as well from what I could tell.

felt good, my feet and ankles certainly noticed the improved ROM from the stretching. Especially after the runs when I cooled down, usually I stiffen up and it starts to ache a bit, not today.
On the last run my body was upright with arms and legs swinging freely, hips under me, but damn was my core twitching hard trying to stablise. Kinda reminds me of a frontsquat position actually....I was thinking about a frontsquat + clean deadlift/RDL combo for the next workout actually :)
 
Had to get up early so only 6.5 hours sleep. A bit achey, but don't feel beat up or all that sore the sheer amount of stuff I did yesterday!

weighed 93.4kg 205.48lbs straight out of bed in underwear
Bodyweight going down and I look a bit leaner since yesterday.

20min walk planned, and some stretching after.
 
Could use more sleep as usual.....
Some soreness - triceps, upper back and hammies

weighed 93.8kg 206.36lbs straight out of bed in underwear
Holding some water from the carbs and sodium last night.

I was going through old photos and waist measurements from that time, and it looks like I haven't gained too much muscle since then even if I'm a lot stronger. I'm just a ton fatter! I looked kinda semi-lean with a 32inch waist, 10-12% bodyfat or so I figure. But I carried a 30-31inch waist for most of my life and I was still carrying quite a bit of fat then. So that means I need to drop my bodyweight down 176lbs to be even remotely lean looking now! Damn I have a long way to go! Maybe I should go on a semi-starvation fast. I'd get there a lot quicker....things are going so slow right now!!!!
 
Had to get up early so only 6 hours sleep, and I was feeling like crap. Did try and get some sleep later on, not deep though.
Legs and hips feel nice and loose though. Looking forward to BBall. Have a strange desire to squat as well :)

weighed 94kg 206.8lbs straight out of bed in underwear

Back up again...but it's probably water and food weight. I'll see how much I weigh for BBall later today. I do look trimmer and the fat seems softer like they're loosening up...
I'll cut back on the protein a bit this week, 25g a day and see how that goes.
 
Sunday 8th January - Cycle 3 Get Lean+Maintain Strength - Week 3 - Day 1 - BBALL - Microcycle 6

4.5lbs lighter than last week due to lower water weight. And I'm slightly leaner too.

Bodyweight at home - 207.5lbs in shorts and t-shirt
Workout time - 30 mins
Session rating - 7/10

Warmed up at home with footwork drills and dynamic stretches and other stuff in bare feet. Then went to an outdoor court 5 mins from home.

Kept moving pretty much the whole 30mins. Didn't feel gassed at all. just a constant moderate breathing.

Shooting wasn't too bad, and I felt agile. But even though I was 4.5lbs lighter than last week and my jumps were 2-3inches lower, and I just didn't feel jacked up. Not a surprise given all the volume of stuff I've been doing, calorie deficit and lack of sleep. Shins got a bit achey towards the end.

It's a bit frustrating playing BBall when you don't have the snap and explosiveness. So I'm gonna ditch it and concentrate on leaning up and maybe get stronger. There will be plenty of time for it later, and BBall will be much more fun when I'm lean and explosive, and can tear the rim down at will :)

I can use this day to do maybe some Alywn Cosgrove style weight circuits at the gym http://www.mensfitness.com/fitness/22
or just some burpee intervals at home. Which is kinda reactive and should maintain some full body movement effeciency. Plus maybe some shadow boxing/dancing or bagwork etc. Whatever
 
Better sleep, but need much more. Feel tired, but not drained. Sore calves and lower legs, achey posterior chain, upper back and shoulder girdle

weighed 94.1kg 207lbs straight out of bed in underwear

Lots of carbs and calories last night. Will start to tighten up the diet this week. And drop some protein whey servings, since I drink em it's sorta like hidden calories for me. I just take too many of em and they do help my strength gains, but not really my focus right now.

Been working on my ankle/Achilles/soleus ROM a lot the last couple of days. And my right ankle is within an inch of my left now, and both have improved a lot. I can get the left side's knee 5 inches in front of my toes now. Right side is still a bit painful from old ankle injury, but I'm sure it will get there eventually. Then I have to reprogram a lot of protective motor patterns as a result of this...
I wish I had never jumped and landed on the BBall many years ago - lots of scar tissue in there :(
 
Kept waking up every 2-3 hours for some reason, but I always managed to get back to sleep for a total of 8.5 hours, so I feel pretty weird right now. Walking pulse nice and low at 53.
Posterior chain a bit achey, from the walking I guess. Upperback and shoulders/traps still a bit achey as well

weighed 93.2kg 205lbs straight out of bed in underwear
Down 2lbs, mostly water, but I look much better and feel more athletic/healthy. Combined with a spiffy haircut from my girlfriend and life is good :D

Dropped the calories to 1500 or so yesterday, mostly meat, veges and whey. Carbs to about 60-70g from breakfast cereal. And 12 litres of ice cold water, which is finally ice cold. I doubled the number of ice blocks in the jug and it's way colder now. Almost frooze my teeth off!
So about a 1200 calorie deficit from the diet and the ice cold water combined. Plus whatever exercise I do. I'll carbload/refeed whenever the need arises, but more carbs on training days after the workout should take care of most of that. On paper that should drop a pound of fat every 3 days or 1kg a week. Lets hope reality lives up to expectations this time :)

Hope to get down to 88kg 194lbs in 2 months time, should add another 5-6inches on my vertical jump when I switch back to power work and taper back the volume of energy work. Plus I should be fast as hell!!
But I'll eventually want to get down to at least 82kg 180lbs or less with veins hanging out everywhere! Would be nice to be at 7% bodyfat for once in my life, I've come very close before... :)

20min walk yesterday
 
Tuesday 10th January - Cycle 3 Get Lean+Maintain Strength - Week 3 Day 2 - Upper + Lower Strength - Microcycle 6

Decent workout, I left feeling the gym feeling pretty good!
A combo of strength, power and hypertrophy. With some waveloading mixed in.

Bodyweight at gym - 210.5lbs
Workout time - 1.5 hours
Workout rating - 8/10

General warmup -
1) dynamic swings etc
2) reverse hypers - BWx12
3) back extension BWx6 + 6 twisting to each alternate side
4) situp complex on swissball
5) sitting in bottom of a narrow fullsquat for 40secs
6) adductor/hammie stretch into back tumbells x10
7) usual bar complex with 30lbs

Rotating Sets between each exercise

Resting 3 mins between each exercise on work sets


Full Oly Back Squats - in Oly Shoes - RAW

Warmups - rest - 1min between earlier sets, 2-3mins between later sets
BWx8, Bar x5, 135x5, 185x5, 225x5, 255x3, 285x2
Frontsquat - Bar x5, 135x5, 185x3
Wide stance fullsquats - Bar x5, 135x5, 185x5

Controlled down, 3 sec Hold at bottom, explode up - rest 5 mins
Rotation 1) Controlled slight pause - 315lbs x 3 ---> Strain on last rep
Rotation 2) Controlled slight pause - 325lbs x 1 ---> Wobbly, Hard strain
Rotation 3) controlled to halfway then down fast and explode up - 225lbs x 11 - hard strain on last rep

explosive squats
Rotation 1) 275lbs x 2
Rotation 2) 275lbs x 2

Felt kinda weaker on squats. The shorts I had on were also too tight and keep catching on my leg and stuffing up my concentration and form! Lowerback tucked under as a result on a few reps and didn't stay tight and under control. Plus I confused myself a bit experimenting with different form variants on each set....
The 225lbs high rep set felt like a feather, and the way I did it made the weight almost bounce up like nothing from the stretch reflex. Controlled down to halfway then, relax down fast and it snaps back up really easy. Much better than going down fast from the top which stuffs the groove up. But I almost passed out on the 11th rep!


Clean/RDL Deadlifts - in Oly Shoes - RAW - HookGrip

Warmups - 111lbs x2, 155x2, 205x2, 243x2, 273x2

semi-explosive up, lowered under control RDL style, reset
Rotation 1) 305lbs x 2
Rotation 2) 305lbs x 2
Rotation 3) RDL/Stiffed Leg Deadlifts to knee level - normal grip - 243lbs x 10

First time I've done these properly with a straight back. I pulled myself towards the bar and pulled the shoulder blades together and locked it tight, voila straight back. Gave the upperback muscles a good workout too. Nice way to hit em isometrically to balance the bench.
The high rep set was supposed to be RDLs, but they felt more like SLDL.

---

clip of the main squat and deadlift worksets - ran out of memory on the 2nd deadlift set though, only first rep

right click on link and save first to avoid errors
http://www.members.optushome.com.au...ats315_325Paused_275_CleanDead305_10Jan06.mpg

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

Rotating Sets between each upper body exercise

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


Chest Supported 45 degree T-Bar Rows - Overhand grip

warmups - Bar+45lbs x6, +90x3, 115x3

controlled,
Rotation 1) 125lbs x 5
Rotation 2) 125lbs x 5

quite hard after the deadlifts


Elbow on Knee L-Fyle Extenal Rotations

Warmups - 3kg x6, 15lbs x 5,

starting from bottom, controlled - 2mins rest between each side
Rotation 1) 20lbs x 5
Rotation 2) 20lbs x 6

need to get these up to 30lbs to match my future bench goals
 
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Better sleep and deeper sleep. Mild drained and warm feeling, so maybe a touch too much work for the CNS yesterday, but it's not too bad.
My whole body is pretty achey, even my pecs! Most of the moderate level of soreness is in my calves, VMO, hammies, glutes, spinal erectors all the way up the back, entire back from head to glute, rear delts and biceps

weighed 92.8kg 204.16lbs straight out of bed in underwear

Looking thinner. Calories were higher yesterday for my training days, about 1900, and 50 extra grams of carbs, but my bodyweight is down - sweet! Still mostly water I suspect.

20min walk today plus some stretching after. Should help recharge the CNS.
 
A bit tired and sleepy. Still sore in my VMO, upper back and posterior chain. Especially my glutes! They haven't been that sore in a while, either from the clean dead/RDL combo, hip back stiff legged deadlifts or the high rep explosive fullsquat set, or all of the above :)
Legs don't feel stiff or bloated though, despite all the heavy and high rep work last workout, which is unusual for me. They feely quite loose, light and springy, but not snappy - I would need to deload completely to get that feeling

I turned my toes out more in the last session in squats and that seem to hit the VMO much more. The toe angle was like what I would need to have if I was squatting in normal shoes or bare feet. If I just sit in the bottom of a fullsquat position in bare feet then that's the toe angle I get, almost 45 degrees. I can go much deeper like this and stay more bolt upright.
Lasy year I was making a conscious effort to keep my feet more straight ahead which does hit the hammies more, and cause you to sitback a bit more/more forward lean, but the its much harder to keep the back straight and you need to force the knees outward. Plus its not natural and you can't go as deep or go down as fast. I certainly can't fullsquat like that without olyshoes, so I might go back to my old toes out more form, which allows me go down a lot faster since you can drop straight down like a rock

weighed 92.9kg 204.38lbs straight out of bed in underwear

I'm looking leaner and I feel much lighter. A little heavier than yesterday, but I got up much earlier, so I was one leak away from a lighter bodyweight than yesterday :)
Damn amazing how much water stays in your system even after you stop drinking an hour before bed! Well I do drink a lot right now...

See how much I weigh before running today.
 
Thursday 12th January - Cycle 3 Get Lean+Maintain Strength - Week 3 - Day 3 - Energy Work - Microcycle 6

I was 205.7lbs before heading to the park. On Sunday before BBall 207.5 lbs, so the bodyweight is coming down nicely. I certainly noticed it today.

Was pretty humid, so I found it hard to breath during the warmups, but the mainstuff felt good even if I felt a bit crappy to start. Finished feeling refreshed even though I ran the last run flat out.
Also experimented with ISO holds at home and it worked really well. My body warmed up really fast and the swings and dynamic stretches after them felt really loose and snappy. A keeper. I've started experimenting with em on my gym sessions as well. I guess you get a bit of that static-dynamic effect

Put a foot into a small dent in the ground during the warmup jogs, could have sprained my left ankle, but I didn't feel anything. Lucky I did warm em up at home :)

Workout Rating - 8/10
Workout time - 35 mins

Warmup

warmup - 20sec ISO holds - quarter squat x 2, on toes x 2, on heels (toes pulled up) x 2, hip back wide stance squat at parallel, on side of feet (for ankles), narrow fullsquat at bottom on toes.

dynamic stretches and swings, rocking on side of ankle, standing on one leg with eyes shut, various hops in place in bare feet at home.

Slow Jog - 50m x 4 - 1 mins rest, 25-35secs duration each, getting faster and springy

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
25m prime times (stiffed legged runs), 10m straight run, then into lateral run, right side 5m, left side 5m, into backwards run 5m, then three 360 pivots runs

2 sets - 4 dropsquats (hammie to parallel) sitting back, focusing on activating the hammies + 3 point start into 40m accleration runs to 70% speed - 1mins rest

then rest 3mins

Tempo Runs + Energy Work

56 metres @ 75-85% speed - from a 3 points start

rest = walk back to start - 1min
11 runs - slowest 10+secs, fastest 8.49 secs, average was between 9.2 to 9.8 secs

rested 2mins then ran the 12th one flat out and got 8.09secs

Changed things up today, shorter runs, more of em, and shorter rests. Was breathing heavy all the way through and heart rate was soaring towards the end. But I didn't really feel tired until the 9-10th run and even then my form was good. The power in my legs and hips is really pushing me up high now.
My personal recent best is 6.66secs at a slightly heavier bodyweight, so that gives you an idea how fast I was running these.

The 12th one which I did all out felt strange, floaty, like I couldn't feel my lower legs doing anything or touching the ground at all! Also felt like I didn't have enough time to apply force. Quads pumped up as well, which I didn't notice on the slower runs. And when I came out of the start the first step popped me upright, like my legs and hips apply so much force into the ground that it pushes my body upright or something. That's what it felt like anyway

Pecs, lats and biceps were pretty pumped up, from my forceful arm drive, that's why I bench and do pullups I guess :)
Probably won't be doing much lower body work in 1.5 hours time, the last workout and this session is enough. Just some prehab work on the tibs, abductors, abs and lower back.
 
I did my usual prehab, high rep circuit workout in the gym 1.5 hours after the running yesterday. But I didn't record what I did, so I'll just do a breif summary -

I did 2 work sets of each exercise, and alternated between one upper body move and a lower body/ab exercise in one big circuit - 1min rest between each set

was stronger on some stuff, increased the load on some

Upper stuff -

Shoulder width pullups - 10lbs x 9, BWx9
Dip Shrugs - 2sec hold at top +10lbs x19 (+3reps), x16
Seated pulley rows - 50kg x 15, 45kg x 14
Closegrip triangle pushups - x16, x20
Dumbell Curls - 35lbs x 9, 30x11
Cable Rope Tricep pushdowns - 25kg x 15 (+2reps), x11

Lower/Mid torso -

Lat Machine Situps - 25lbs x 10, 60lbs x 10 - 3sec ISO at the bottom of each rep, up from 55lbs
Hip abduction/adduction on Keiser air machine - level 5/4 2x20
Sideways situp on hyper bench - BWx10, x8 - with 2sec hold at the top
Toe curls on lying leg curl machine - 2plates x 15, 3P x15 with a pause and hold at the top
Reverse hypers - BW x 15 with 2sec hold at the top, BWx20 - normal
 
feeling tired, but not drained. Achey upper back and spinal erectors, but not too bad everywhere else...interesting. No walking today, I need to rest

weighed 93.4kg 205.48lbs straight out of bed in underwear

Bodyweight back up, probbaly water weight, as there is no way I can gain any fat right now! Although I might gain some muscle....
 
MrHD said:
have you posted any progress pics yet?
Click to expand...


not yet, still way too chubby!

I'll post some when I hit 198lbs which is about the halfway mark for me, I should be looking semi decent, probbaly around 10-12% BF :)



---

Poor sleep = crappy me. Feel kinda achey up all over, in that slightly worn out way, feet, upper back and hammies. My Hamstrings feel strained, especially my right side which is the leg in front when I drive out of the 3 point start. The start sure hits the hammies hard.

weighed 93.1kg 204.82lbs straight out of bed in underwear

Bodyweight going back down again, but still not as low as it was a few days back, but I look "slimmer". I must be adding some muscle mass somehow...

My shoulder ROM is still really poor, I still can't get my arms totally vertical when I hold them straight above. Which reduces my reach when jumping by 1-2 inches, makes hook shots feel uncomfortable and not too good on presses as well, especially narrow grip and dumbell ones.
I've been stretching my lats and hanging on the chin bar, but non of em help.

Anyway I spotted this shoulder article, I figure there is probably some stuff in it about shoulder health, and boom I was right!

http://www.t-nation.com/findArticle...AC34AB7F1D5FF8B.hydra?article=05-183-training
In the first section there are 2 test. Both side don't do that well, thanks to my crappy ROM. And then the active impingement test - the right side doesn't hurt, but I can't raise it very high, because my body won't let me..
The left side hurts a lot in the start position!

So no more benching and presses for a while until I get things sorted.
My rotors are plenty strong, pecs have decent ROM, and I have good scapular control. I'm already doing most of the exercises, but I'll add the thoracic extension move a few times everyday to counteract my sitting down and hunching forward all the time and it targets my problem directly.
Definitely will use the Reach, Roll and Lift move on my stretching days. d**n when I tried it out my lats and serratus area were screaming! This should help restore my shoulder ROM, and when you hold both arms in that position, it makes a very nice lat stretch too.
I'll start on these 2 moves today

I'm already doing the closegrip triangle pushups, and they help a lot, a bit unstable and hits the upperback and scapulars hard. But I'll try the swissball version here, and will probbaly do it on a medball or BBall as well.

I probably should stop pullups in the meantime, but it doesn't hurt and I need it to counteract the pull from my overactive uppertraps, to keep my shoulder girdle down, especially now that I'm deadlifting a bit. See how I go for 2 weeks, if I see no improvement, I'll drop it as well.
 
Better sleep but I felt pretty pretty bad and weak this morning. I just had a deep 1.5 hour nap and feel much better, makes up for the lack of sleep yesterday.
Right hammie still pretty achey, but everything else feels ok

weighed 93.3kg 205.26lbs straight out of bed in underwear

Back up again, but I'm still 1 pound lighter than last week even with some carbs in me so that's good. I'm definitely leaner and may have gained some muscle too. Last 3 days have had slightly higher carbs, but not much more though, around 100-150grams, but total calories are still below maintenance. Tomorrow back down into the 60-70g area. So it's been a bit like a semi-carb load mini version of what I did before :)

Not sure what I'll do today, but I'm not playing BBall. Will be some form of interval work to boost the fat loss. And I'll do some of that lat stretch work etc at the start and some stretches after.
 
Sunday 15th January - Cycle 3 Get Lean+Maintain Strength - Week 4 - Day 1 - Energy/Prehab/Movement Efficiency work - Microcycle 6

A big change of pace today! I nail several birds with one stone - burn a lot of calories, elevate my metabolic rate for the next 12+ hours, improve my work capacity in several areas, prehab, maintain jumping and force absorbtion, improve whole body movement efficiency, strengthen muscles in my feet from being barefoot etc

I thought it would be a chore, but 25mins went by so quickly. It wasn't easy, but lots of fun! 30mins of normal cardio would be boring as hell...

Workout time - 30 mins
Session rating - 9/10

Reach, Roll and Lift move for lats and internal rotors - 2x6 for each side

warmup - 20sec ISO holds - quarter squat x 2, on toes x 2, on heels (toes pulled up) x 2, hip back wide stance squat at parallel, on side of feet (for ankles), narrow fullsquat at bottom on toes.

dynamic stretches and swings, rocking on side of ankle, standing on one leg with eyes shut

scapular pushups against chair - BWx15, pushups against chair BW 2x6, pushups on swissball x5

various hop patterns in place in bare feet, 10 reactive squats, 6 easy vertical jumps


Done circuit style in barefeet on carpet - 6 times through

1) 30secs of Burpees - jumping 18inches, sticking the landing, about 10 reps. Jumped slightly higher on last set. http://www.warriorforce.com/articles/burpeeclip.htm

2) resting one minute - while doing bodyweight only: 15 L-Lateral raises + 15 External L-Rotations

3) 10 Swissball Pushups - bounced slightly on ball

4) resting one minute - while doing bodyweight only: bent over 45 degree raises - 10 upwards, 10 out to side and 10 angled down

5) 30secs of Shadow boxing - moderate intensity, concentrating on punch combos, but some footwork too and switching stances.

6) one minute rest

about 25mins all up - then 5 mins of easy dancing and breakdance moves to cool down

static stretches for the whole body, especially pecs, lats, and rotors

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

Heart rate was soaring, shirt drenched in sweat and my pecs, upper back and delts were pumped and burning like a mofo! Lots of GH release me thinks.
First time jumping and landing on bare feet and it felt good, no problems in my feet or knees. Landing really softly on my whole foot, not just on the balls.
My legs didn't feel anything during the workout, but my calves and hammies are aching a bit now. Burpees sure make you work hard and need a bit of coordination. My vertical jump is over 30 inches, so not really jumping too hard, but it stills makes you huff and puff!

I used to do a bit of boxing so I know what I'm doing when I'm shadow boxing :)

The swissball pushups were a lot harder than I thought! I can crank out over 30 closegrip triangle pushups on the floor, but on the swissball with its shorter ROM and lighter load I was struggling with 10 reps, had to bounce a bit on the ball.

Felt really good after the workout, nice and refreshed, with a high and alive feeling. A couple months of this and I'll be a lean mean fighting and jumping machine :p
 
Slightly achey hammies and upper back. Pecs and triceps aren't sore at all which surprises me. The kickback and pulling back of the legs in burpees hits the hammies pretty hard. The pulling back bit, just before you jump, has a bit of reactive element to it in a really stretched hammie position.

weighed 93kg 204.6lbs straight out of bed in underwear

Bodyweight down from yesterday and I look a lot leaner, damn that workout yesterday is effective!
And that's with a whole lot of food in me from last night - one barbecued steak, 4 chicken pieces, and 4 lamb chops plus lots of veges. And I had 2 bowls of cereal+whey and spaghetti before training - so there is carbs in my system too. I took in about 2200-2400cals yesterday, a lot by my dieting standards. Didn't drink as much ice cold water - only 6-7 litres.
Back into low carbs today

I'm 2.4lbs lighter than this time last week since I started this 3 prong attack on the fat!
Waist is down 3/8 of an inch too, which backs up the 2.4lb drop in fat, and that's with me working my abs, obliques and lower back. Plus I figure I've gained some muscle mass as well. That's double the fat loss I was getting early last year. I might just reach my goals in 3 months instead of 6 if this keeps up! Imagine if I had access to thermogenics....

20min walk planned today if it dries up.
 
it's from the shoulder article above - just to strengthen, improve shoulder and scapular stability and firing etc

and just something else to burn more calories and keep the heartrate up! :)
 
What is your VJ goal? What is it at now? How much do you think you'll need to increase your limit strength on squats to reach this goal? I know a lot of the equation is force development and the like, but obviously some limit strength plays a role. Do you plan to just keep getting stronger as much as possible, or not going to worry about it past a certain point?
 
42-44inch standing

dunno, haven't measured, somewhere over 30inches. When I can hit my head on the raised ceiling at the gym I know I'm over 40inches - that's the most accurate way to measure it :)

My strength is pretty close to being enough, but a little more wouldn't hurt. As long as I don't need to specialise to increase the strength like a powerlifter or olylifter would or gain too much musclemass to gain it, then I'll take whatever I can get. Once you get over double bodyweight on the fullsquat, you reach a point of diminishing returns.
Since then the bodyweight is about 30-40% of your strength levels, speed, reactivity and force absorbtion become more important

I just need to get leaner and lighter. I gain about an inch for every 2+ lbs of fat I drop. I'm about 205lbs, and I'd like to get down to 180lbs or lower, whatever I get too when I have a 29-30inch waist and lean as hell. So do the sums :D

After that there is probbaly some gains from high intensity plyos and reactive work.
 
An inch for every 2 lbs., huh? How many lbs. of fat are you packing now? If you mean to get down from 205 to 180 with only fat loss, that'd be 12.5 inches on your VJ, according to your calculation. Then again, I'm sure you expect some muscle mass loss with that.

What do you plan to do once you reach a VJ of 42-44? And why is that your goal in particular?

Also, do you have any sprinting goals?

Finally, and it may seem odd and out of place since it never really seems to be your focus, but do you care for aesthetics at all (i.e., arm and chest size, v-taper, or anything to become "eye candy")?
 
Anthrax Invasion said:
An inch for every 2 lbs., huh? How many lbs. of fat are you packing now? If you mean to get down from 205 to 180 with only fat loss, that'd be 12.5 inches on your VJ, according to your calculation. Then again, I'm sure you expect some muscle mass loss with that.

What do you plan to do once you reach a VJ of 42-44? And why is that your goal in particular?

Also, do you have any sprinting goals?

Finally, and it may seem odd and out of place since it never really seems to be your focus, but do you care for aesthetics at all (i.e., arm and chest size, v-taper, or anything to become "eye candy")?
Click to expand...

That's what I have found with myself. Even some high jump coach mentioned 1cm for every pound. Providing it's all fat and you maintain your strength/power and reactivity. And speed usually goes up as you get leaner.
When I get lighter sometimes I may not see an increase, but once I switch over to power work and deload a bit it jumps up. When I dropped from 218lbs to 207lbs my standing VJ went up 5inches. I have always found a linear relationship, when it goes up it drops, when it goes down it increases. A few months back when I was low carbing, where I hit 205lb bodyweight at the gym, with just a drop in waterweight, down from 208lbs my jump went up 2inches! After I carb loaded back up and increased my weight, I lost those inches...

I'm packing a lot of fat! You'd be surprised how light someone gets when they get really lean, the body holds more fat than you think...
My natural bodyweight is 155lbs with around a 29-30inch waist, fairly lean, but not ripped. And I already had big legs back then, all genetics. The average natural person will not put more than 40lbs of muscle after decades of training and that's if they train for size. I haven't been training that long and I don't train specifically for size, so I doubt I have added more than 25lbs of muscle since then. And I want to get leaner than back then, so 180lbs isn't out of reach for me, while maintaining all my muscle mass.

So I can dunk with ease! :)
Pretty much my main goal when I started training, but I got sidetracked along the way..
That in itself will mean I have awesome power to weight ratio and I'll be freaking quick and fast.
Then I'll be able to run the 100m under 11secs easy, maybe down to the low 10s

I used to, but now I don't really focus on it. Since I have a small frame, small bones and small joints, and I have ok muscle shape and proportion. So any muscle I put on when I'm lean will make me look decent enough. You can't change muscle shape so I don't bother with it. I'm happy with the way I look
I might not look good when I pose, but I don't do that around other people :)
If your really lean and have some muscle mass and decent shape you will look good when standing relaxed or in motion. Especially compared to normal people! Even if they only see your face :D
I get self-conscious when I'm really bulky and stick out like sore thumb. People already notice and bug me as it is and I'm not even that big :p

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

Much better sleep and I had some interesting dreams in the 2nd stint of sleep.... :)
Lowest waking pulse in a while too at 52.
Feeling a bit lethargic and slightly achey all over. Yesterday my upperbody was feeling really loose and snappy. Probably from all that shadow boxing stuff and the fact I haven't benched in a while. I've been neglecting upper body mobility for awhile, about time I sorted it. Overhead reach and lat/shoulder ROM is improving.

weighed 92.4kg 203.28lbs straight out of bed in underwear

Quite a drop in bodyweight, even though my carbs weren't that low yesterday thanks to one meal of spaghetti, around 100+ grams. I actually ate more calories than what I was supposed to - me being paranoid, was worried about halting the fat loss, but the opposite happened! I guess nothing is perfect science in the the human body. Maybe my metabolism is starting to rev up...
And I wasn't able to drink as much ice cold water too, only 8-9 litres or so

20min walk yesterday, and it was pretty brisk, just felt powerful. Did 2 sets of 5 Reach, Roll and lift before and my usual ISO warmup. Then whole body stretch after. One thing I have noticed since I started doing the 20sec quarter squat ISO holds is that my VMO seems to be stronger and firing better. My knees don't complain anymore in the morning when I walk downstairs, cold and just out of bed. Better static-spring balance too I guess :)
 
Tuesday 17th January - Cycle 3 Get Lean+Maintain Strength - Week 4 Day 2 - Upper + Lower Strength - Microcycle 6

Average workout, but I felt strong, and all that interval work has certainly boosted my work capacity and wind.
I'm a pretty tired boy right now...trashed hammies and calves!

Bodyweight at gym - 208lbs
Workout time - 1.5+ hours
Workout rating - 8/10

General warmup -

20sec ISO holds - quarter squat x 2, on toes x 2, on heels (toes pulled up) x 2, hip back wide stance squat at parallel, on side of feet (for ankles), narrow fullsquat at bottom on toes, situp on swissball x 2

1) dynamic stretches and swings, rocking on side of ankle etc
2) reverse hypers - BWx12
3) back extension BWx6 + 6 twisting to each alternate side
4) situp complex on swissball
5) sitting in bottom of a narrow fullsquat for 40secs
6) adductor/hammie stretch into back tumbells x8
7) usual bar complex with 30lbs

Rotating Sets between each exercise

Resting 3.5 mins between each exercise on work sets


Full Oly Back Squats - in Oly Shoes - RAW

Warmups - explosive and divebombed the last few reps of each set up to 185lbs (except frontsquats more controlled down), then just controlled down and explode up on the heavier stuff
rest - 1min between earlier sets, 2-3mins between later sets
BWx8, Bar x5, 95x5, 135x5, 185x5, 225x4, 255x3, 285x2
Frontsquat - Bar x5, 95x3, 135x3
Wide stance fullsquats - Bar x5, 95x5, 135x5,

Controlled down, slight pause at bottom
Rotation 1) 315lbs x 2 (-1rep)
Rotation 2) 325lbs x 2 (+1rep) --> hard strain on 2nd rep
Rotation 3) first few controlled down, then divebombed and explode up - 235lbs x 12 (+10lbs +1rep)

explosive squats
Rotation 1) 275lbs x 2
Rotation 2) 285lbs x 2

Not sure if I'm stronger or not on squats, but I divebombed all the warmups like nothing, and I'm no weaker on the heavier stuff. And 235x12 has to be some kind of record for me! Bar speed was fast all the way through, divebombed without bouncing and I didn't even feel winded or faint like last week with 225x11 - had another 2 reps in me I think. Interval work obviously helping here :)

Clean/RDL Deadlifts - in Oly Shoes - RAW - HookGrip

Warmups - 154lbs x2, 198x2, 248x2, 288x1

semi-explosive up, lowered under control RDL style, then reset
Rotation 1) 318lbs x 2 (+13lbs)
Rotation 2) 308lbs x 2
Rotation 3) 308lbs x 1 (extra single)
Rotation 4) Hip back Stiffed Leg Deadlifts to knee level - normal grip - 248lbs x 10 (+5lbs)

increased in weight, and an extra single. Didn't feel it in my upperback like last week, just an overall wholebody tension.
Grip failed on the the SLDL, hard to hold these crappy curved bars!
Felt it more in my traps more than anything, but my hammies feel trashed right now, so they did something. And so are my calves, really damn sore! I think it maybe because I wear oly shoes which puts the weight on the toes because of the raised heel.

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

Rotating Sets between each upper body exercise

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


Chest Supported 45 degree T-Bar Rows - Overhand grip

warmups - Barx12, +45lbs x8, +90x4, 115x3, 125x1

controlled,
Rotation 1) 135lbs x 5 (+10lbs)
Rotation 2) 135lbs x 5 --> hard strain on last rep


Elbow on Knee L-Fyle Extenal Rotations

Warmups - 3kg x6, 15lbs x 5,

starting from bottom, controlled - 2mins rest between each side
Rotation 1) 20lbs x 7 (+1rep)
Rotation 2) 22lbs x 6
 
Semi interrupted sleep. Don't feel as drained like I did last week. Whole body is slightly sore, yeap even my pecs. Hamstrings, especially right where it joins the glutes is pretty sore and they sure are getting big.
Even then my legs and hips feel, light, loose and sorta snappy. That's something I never had in the past a day after strength and high rep lower body work.

Posture is improving, my neck and shoulders don't roll forward as much anymore. Almost back to where they should be and left shoulder is much better on that active impingement test, and I can touch my nose with my right arm now.

weighed 92.3kg 203lbs straight out of bed in underwear
Down a smidge

2 sets of 5 Reach, Roll and lift
Then 20min walk if it dries up + whole body stretch after
 
Crap sleep. Low waking pulse though. Feel like sh*t though. Need a nap bad...
Upper hammies are freaking sore as hell! I can barely squat down.
I wasn't able to do some walking yesterday as active recovery so that didn't help. All those fast eccentrics sure make you sore!
Upper back and traps a bit sore too. Not sure if I can run my intervals today, we will see, plus it's been raining on and off.

weighed 92.2kg 202.8lbs straight out of bed in underwear

Down a smidgen again. But I had to get up early, so it might have been even lower later on. Pretty pleased with my rate of fat loss, I am seeing differences everyday. Especially in my face, but it seems to be coming off my waist last though, still got a big spare tyre there...
 
Thursday 19th January - Cycle 3 Get Lean+Maintain Strength - Week 4 - Day 3 - Energy Work - Microcycle 6

Was warming up and got to the run complex, when it started to rain. Jumped into the car, and drove back home, then it stopped after 30secs on the way there, so I turned back and finished it off...then it rained just as I started driving back home... hmmmmm

Was pretty late when I finished, and I'm not in the mood to do a workout justice. So I'll skip my usual gym workout later today and do it tommorrow I think.

Workout Rating - 7/10
Workout time - 40 mins

Warmup

warmup - 20sec ISO holds x 2 each - quarter squat, standing on toes, on heels (toes pulled up), hip back wide stance squat at parallel, on side of feet (for ankles), narrow fullsquat at bottom on toes.

dynamic stretches and swings, rocking on side of ankle, standing on one leg with eyes shut, various hops in place in bare feet at home.

Slow Jog - 50m x 5 - 1 mins rest, 25-35secs duration each, getting faster and springy

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 prime times (stiffed legged runs), 10m straight run, then into lateral run, right side 5m, left side 5m, into backwards run 5m, then three 360 pivots runs

2 sets - 4 dropsquats (hammie to parallel) sitting back, focusing on activating the hammies + 3 point start into 40m accleration runs to 70% speed - 1mins rest

then rest 2 mins

Tempo Runs + Energy Work

56 metres @ 70-80% speed - from casual standing start

rest = walk back to start - 1min
6 runs - average in the high mid to high 10s, with a few over 11secs

then ran one lap around the football field - about 340ms, did that in 1 min 19.9 secs

rested 2mins - did 5 more 56 metre intervals as above

took a while to warmup today and my hammies and adductors were sore as hell, but felt ok once I was warm. Bottom of feet felt a bit sensitive.
Did casual standing starts to give my hammies a break.

Pretty easy today the 56m intervals - guess fitness is up.
Did one 340m run for a change of pace, went well, started to feel the burn in the last 50m. Hamstrings were on fire after that on the next 56m run, but after that those intervals seem to help me recover a bit.
Lower inner shins started to ache in the last 2 runs.
 
Keep walking up early, but I managed to get back to sleep this time - so I feel much better! Upper hammies are still pretty sore, calves and feet a bit as well. Might go to the gym today...

weighed 93kg 204.6lbs straight out of bed in underwear

Carb'ed up a bit last night.

2 sets of 5 Reach, Roll and lift - getting easier and better on these
20 min walk + whole body stretch after
 
Nothing out of the ordinary sleep wise... usual crappiness
Didn't end up going to the gym yesterday, didn't want to be sore today, and it doesn't make much of a difference in the scheme of things.

weighed 92.7kg 203.9lbs straight out of bed in underwear

Well today I noticed when throwing that my body is acting differently as a result of all the upper body mobility stuff I've been doing. I no longer feel it in my traps, shoulders, and biceps. Just in my lats and my upper back/cuff muscles firing. It's much smoother, efficient and lot more explosive and powerful. Like my body is no longer shutting down. So I didn't have to throw as hard and didn't get as tired or sore. Pretty much the same thing with my lower body with respect to jumping and running as well when I fixed up muscle imbalances, and flexibility etc

Have a feeling benching is gonna feel a whole lot different when I get back to it, and it will jump up fast and feel real strong :)
 
Neighbour had a birthday party, loud music, so I closed all the windows, but it was a hot night and the bass still droned through = Craptastic sleep!
And I have to go to a Christening and lunch after that...

weighed 92.8kg 204.16lbs straight out of bed in underwear
 
Sunday 22nd January - Cycle 3 Get Lean+Maintain Strength - Week 5 - Day 1 - Energy/Prehab/Movement Efficiency work - Microcycle 6

Had a lot of crappy food at the lunch earlier today, so this should go a long way in burning up all the that :)

Workout time - 30 mins
Session rating - 8/10

Reach, Roll and Lift move for lats and internal rotors - 2x6 for each side

warmup - 20sec ISO holds x2 each - quarter squat, on toes, on heels (toes pulled up), hip back wide stance squat at parallel, on side of feet (for ankles), narrow fullsquat at bottom on toes.

dynamic stretches and swings, rocking on side of ankle, standing on one leg with eyes shut

scapular pushups against chair - BWx15, pushups against chair BWx6, pushups on swissball x5

various hop patterns in place in bare feet, 10 reactive squats, 5 easy vertical jumps


Done circuit style in barefeet on carpet - 6 times through

1) 30secs of Burpees - jumping 18-24inches, sticking the landing, about 10 reps.

2) resting one minute - while doing 15 L-Lateral raises + 15 External L-Rotations with 1lb collars

3) 10 Swissball Pushups

4) resting 1.5 minute - while doing bent over 45 degree raises - 10 thumbs-up upwards, 10 out to side, 10 L-Laterals, 10 extenal rotations with 1lb collars

5) 30secs of Shadow boxing - moderate-high intensity, concentrating on punch combos, but some footwork too and switching stances.

6) one minute rest

about 27mins all up - then 5 mins of easy dancing and breakdance moves to cool down

static stretches for the whole body, especially pecs, lats, and rotors

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

Damn it was hard today - Breathing heavy, sweat pouring out, heartrate in overdrive and everything aching, pumped and burning!
Felt like stopping on the 5th time through, but I gutted out a 6th one. The added 1lb loads and extra set of upper body stuff in the rest periods (if you can call it that!) made it so much tougher! Upper back, delts and rotors were smoked. Almost like I'm fatiguing the slower fibers in em, and then forcing the faster fibers to fire when I hit the shadow boxing, which I did much more intensely today.
I managed to do some nifty combos - one where I fire a straight, upper cut and hook one after the other on the same arm pretty fast. I can do that on both arms, nifty :cool:

The swiss ball pushups were easier today, I didn't bounch until the 4th set onwards.

Landing on the burpee jumps was tweaked a bit today. Feedback is much better in barefoot, you can really tell when your not landing right. I seemed to be landing more on my heels with toes curling up when I got tired. I focused on landing on the balls of my feet and then rolling back onto the heels. And that made it much softer.

Damn my upper back and hammies are feeling it right now, gonna be sore tomorrow! Hopefully leaner too :D
 
Feeling a bit worn out. Mild achey feeling all over.
Start deloading a bit the new few weeks - chop down the energy work and walking

weighed 93.1kg 204.82lbs straight out of bed in underwear

Slightly heavier than last week, thanks to all the food and water in me from yesterday. But my skinfolds are down.
 
Still feel crappy. Hips and IT band stiff and tensed - ugh

weighed 92.9kg 204.4lbs straight out of bed in underwear

What the hell is up with my bodyweight...must get down to 200lbs...
Gaining too much musclemass I think..calories about as low as I'd go...
 
Guinness5.0 said:
Hey man, of all the problems you could have I'd say that's not too bad.
Click to expand...

yeah I guess

must be all the volume and high reps in the interval work(maybe GH release), which I normally don't do that is triggering the growth even though my calories aren't that high

damn my shoulders have blown up a bit from all those 1lb laterals and external rotations :)
Just the sheer volume of work and pump....
 
Sarcoplasmic hypertrophy, no doubt. Will likely go away if you stop doing those isolation movements, you big baby. ;)
 
Tuesday 24th January - Cycle 3 Get Lean+Maintain Strength - Week 5 Day 2 - Upper + Lower Strength DELOAD - Microcycle 6

Ok workout. Deloading a bit, next week I'll change things up and deload even more. Drop the intensity a bit.

Form was really bad today on both squats and Clean deadlifts. Legs were wobbly and all the old habits returned!
Maybe I'm starting to get too elastic/springy from all the running, jumping, and dancing etc...

On the plus side, my bodyweight at the gym has been inching down and my strength levels are holding steady so far, depsite the low calories and crap sleep

Bodyweight at gym - 207lbs
Workout time - 1.5+ hours
Workout rating - 7/10

General warmup -

20sec ISO holds - quarter squat, on toes, on heels (toes pulled up), hip back wide stance squat at parallel, on side of feet (for ankles), narrow fullsquat at bottom on toes

1) dynamic stretches and swings, rocking on side of ankle etc
2) reverse hypers - BWx10
3) back extension BWx6 + 6 twisting to each alternate side
4) situp complex on swissball
5) sitting in bottom of a narrow fullsquat for 40secs
6) adductor/hammie stretch into back tumbells x8
7) usual bar complex with 30lbs

Rotating Sets between each exercise

Resting 3.5 mins between each exercise on work sets


Full Oly Back Squats - in Oly Shoes - RAW

Warmups - semi explosive
rest - 1min between earlier sets, 2-3mins between later sets
BWx8, Bar x5, 95x5, 135x5, 185x5, 225x4, 255x2 singles (30secs rest), 285x2 singles
Frontsquat - Bar x5, 95x3, 135x3
Wide stance fullsquats - Bar x5, 95x5

Controlled down, slight pause at bottom
Rotation 1) 325lbs x 2 (+10lbs)
Rotation 2) 335lbs x 2 (+10lbs) --> hard strain on 2nd rep
Rotation 3) Explosive - 245lbs x 10 (+10lbs -2reps)

explosive squats -
Rotation 1) 285lbs x 2 (+10lbs)
Rotation 2) 295lbs x 2 (+10lbs)

Form on the heavy sets were crap. Legs wobbling like hell, and my old GM'ing habits with my knee rebending to stop it returned. Doh, thought I had fixed it for good! Looks like my stance was a bit narrower than I normally use which probbaly help caused the problems.
Plus my olyshoes are really worn out at the rear, which probbaly doesn't help. Not nice when you have a wooden heel that's uneven...time to get a new pair me thinks.

245lbs x 10 set was quite a bit harder than the 235x12 last week


Clean/RDL Deadlifts - in Oly Shoes - RAW - HookGrip

Warmups - 139lbs x2, 196x2, 243x2, 293x1

semi-explosive up, lowered under control RDL style, then reset
Rotation 1) 333lbs x 2 (+15lbs)
Rotation 2) 313lbs x 2
Rotation 3) Hip back Stiffed Leg Deadlifts to knee level - normal grip - medium stance, toes angled inwards a bit - 243lbs x 10 (grip failure)

Crappy form and didn't seem to lock my back as straight as I should have.

---

clip of the main squat and deadlift worksets - except the 333lb deadlift - camera didn't film it, I stuffed up...

right click on link and save first to avoid errors
http://www.members.optushome.com.au...d_285_295x2_245x10_CleanDead313x2_24Jan06.mpg

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

Rotating Sets between each upper body exercise

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


Chest Supported 45 degree T-Bar Rows - Overhand grip

warmups - +45lbs x8, +90x3, 135x1

controlled,
Rotation 1) 135lbs x 5.75 (+5lbs)


Elbow on Knee L-Fyle Extenal Rotations

Warmups - 4kg x8, 15lbs x 6, 20x2

starting from bottom, controlled - 2mins rest between each side
Rotation 1) 22lbs x 9 (+2lbs +2reps)

Just the one set
 
Actually feel Ok considering the late night and all. I'm forcing myself to wake up later, so I can actually sleep in for once when I return to my normal sleeping time....
Waking pulse is pretty low at 55 for a day after a heavy workout. My pulse hasn't gone over 60 in a while and average pulse is quite a bit lower these days. Either I'm just a lot fitter or I'm not stressing my body much, even on crap sleep.

Don't even feel drained either. Slightly sore all over. Moderate soreness in my posterior chain and upper back/rear delts. Notice it mostly in my glutes and mid traps.

weighed 92.8kg 204.16lbs straight out of bed in underwear

Must say the new interval structured workouts I've been doing on Thursday and Sunday are pretty effective for leaning up so far.
 
Meh on the sleep - 6 hours...
Glutes still a bit sore, but at least my hammies are fine.

weighed 93.1kg 204.82lbs straight out of bed in underwear
Carbed up a bit yesterday

Yesterdsay I did
2 sets of 5 Reach, Roll and lift
10min walk + whole body stretch after
 
Thursday 27th January - Cycle 3 Get Lean+Maintain Strength - Week 5 DELOAD - Day 3 - Energy Work - Microcycle 6

Not much of a deload in volume today.
Weighed 204.4lbs in shorts and t-Shirt at home before the session, which is actually lighter than what I was this morning straight out of bed in underwear..... So my training/playing weight has come down 3+ lbs so far in 19 days. Plus I have gained some musclemass in that time as well.

Workout Rating - 7/10
Workout time - 40 mins

Warmup

warmup - 20sec ISO holds x 2 each - quarter squat, standing on toes, on heels (toes pulled up), hip back wide stance squat at parallel, on side of feet (for ankles), narrow fullsquat at bottom on toes.

dynamic stretches and swings, rocking on side of ankle, standing on one leg with eyes shut, various hops in place in bare feet at home.

Slow Jog - 50m x 4 - 1 mins rest, 25-14secs duration each, getting faster

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 prime times (stiffed legged runs), 10m straight run, then into lateral run, right side 5m, left side 5m, into backwards run 5m, then three 360 pivots runs

2 sets - 4 dropsquats (hammie to parallel) sitting back, focusing on activating the hammies + 3 point start into 40m accleration runs to 70% speed - 1mins rest

then rest 2 mins

Tempo Runs + Energy Work

56 metres @ 70-80% speed - from casual standing start

rest = walk back to start - 1min
3 runs - average around 10secs

then ran one lap around the football field - about 340ms, did that in 1 min 16.39 secs - 3 sec improvement over last week

rested 2mins - did 8 more 56 metre intervals as above

Shins started to ache on last run and fatigue creeping in so I stopped.
Pretty hard today, did not feel loose. Ran a bit choppy and tight. Plus the field seemed chewed up by someone doing burnouts or something...So grip wasn't good.

Calves were pretty trashed today.
These do not seem as effective as the stuff I do on Sunday in leaning me up I must say.
 
Thursday 26th January - Cycle 3 Get Lean+Maintain Strength - Week 5 - Day 3 -

Upper + Lower Prehab - Microcycle 6

Did this 1.5 hours after the above running session. Circuit interval style. 10-30secs rest between each, twice through, made it about 30mins, sweet, perfect. Sweating like a pig and breathing hard, but my heartrate wasn't as high as it was on Sunday. But combined with the above running session, I should burn a crap load of calories, especially over the next 24 hours.

First time through was more relaxed and controlled, but the 2nd rotation was more explosive and ballistic as it got quite a bit harder!

Bodyweight at gym - 208lbs
Workout time - 1 hour
Workout rating - 8/10

General warmup -
1) dynamic swings etc
2) back extension BWx6 + 4 twisting to each alternate side
3) reverse hypers - BWx10
4) Situp complex on swiss ball
5) warmup complex with 30lb bar
6) scapular pushups - on bench x 12, on floor x 12

Rotating Sets between each exercise, one upper body exercise then one lower/mid toso move - all stopped short of failure

Resting 30secs on warmup sets, and then 10-30secs between each exercise and 1min after each complete rotation

Upper Body -

Shoulder width Pullups - warmups - Pulldowns 35kgx8, 50kg x5, 65kg x 3, Pullup x3

Rotation 1) +10lbs x 9
Rotation 2) BW x 6

Dip Shrugs - warmup - BW x 10sec hold + 5, BW 3x5

2 sec hold at the top each rep
Rotation 1) BW+15lbs x 20
Rotation 2) BW+15lbs x 16

Seated Cable Rop Pull to Neck - warmups - 10kg x3, 10kg x5, 15kg x3, 20kg x3

1 sec hold at the top each rep
Rotation 1) 20kg x 15
Rotation 2) 20kg x 12

Closegrip triangle Pushups - warmups - BWx3, BW 3x5

Rotation 1) BW x 20
Rotation 2) BW x 20

Dumbell Curls - warmups - 2kgx10, 4kg x5, 15lbs x5, 30lbs x3

Rotation 1) 35lbs x 10
Rotation 2) 30lbs x 12


Lower/Mid torso -


Lunging Step-up - warmups - BW 4x4

alternating between each side
Rotation 1) BW x 20
Rotation 2) BW x 20

see clip down the middle of it
http://www.t-nation.com/readTopic.do;jsessionid=6D1DE1B547AEA7F85651B6D6E9C03663.hydra?id=890123
Not too hard loadwise, but man was my legs wobbling /buckling a lot on the concentric, especially my left leg. Obviously a weakness for me so I'm gonna be doing these a lot from now on! I did get a bit more stable towards the end though. Great move, feels like a single leg version of a hips back fullsquat, lots of stretch on the upper hammies.

Lat Machine Situps - Warmups - BWx6, 25lbs x5, 60lb x3

dumbell on chest, 3sec ISO at the bottom of each rep.
Rotation 1) 60lbs x 8
Rotation 2) 60lbs x 8

Single Leg Back Extension - Warmups - BW 4x2

2sec Hold at the top on each rep - No rest between each side
Rotation 1) BW x 10
Rotation 2) BW x 10

Sideways situp on hyper bench - Warmups - BW 4x3

No rest between each side
Rotation 1) BW x 8
Rotation 2) BW x 9

Standing Single Leg curl - Warmups - 4plates x 5, 6P x3

deadstop, feet angled inwards
Rotation 1) 6Plates x 15
Rotation 2) 6Plates x 12

Toe curls on lying leg curl machine - warmups - 1plate x 12, 2P x10

Rotation 1) 2Plates x 20
Rotation 2) 2Plates x 20


CoolDown and Stretches

Pec/subscap stretched ISO hold 5kg dumbells x 1min

bunch of static stretches
 
Feeling a bit tired, but I got 2 days of rest so all is well. Sore all over as expected. Which is fine cause that will just boost my metabolic rate in the recovery :)

weighed 92.5kg 203.5lbs straight out of bed in underwear

Looking leaner. Will be carbing up a bit today. I didn't eat all that much yesterday, about 1700 calories. Not much time to eat when you exercise a lot, plus I didn't feel like eating after those 2 sessions, killed my appetite. Just went to straight to bed after the postworkout meal
 
Crap sleep - keep walking up too early!!!
At least I'm starting to get that loose snappy feeling back.

weighed 93.1kg 204.8lbs straight out of bed in underwear
 
Much better and deeper sleep, just need more of it, but I woke up much later than before. I ate a lot of fat and carbs before going to sleep, that probably made the difference. A taboo thing to do, but I look leaner this morning :)
Still a bit achey all over.

weighed 92.9kg 204.4lbs straight out of bed in underwear
 
Sunday 29th January - Cycle 3 Get Lean+Maintain Strength - Week 6 - Day 1 - Energy/Prehab/Movement Efficiency work - Microcycle 6

Nice workout, changed things up, much better balanced. And it sure worked my ass off! Did most of the workout outside in the backyard concrete, so I wore shoes today.

Workout time - 32 mins not including warmup stuff
Session rating - 9/10

Reach, Roll and Lift move for lats and internal rotors - 2x6 for each side

warmup - 20sec ISO holds x2 each - quarter squat, on toes, on heels (toes pulled up), hip back wide stance squat at parallel, on side of feet (for ankles), narrow fullsquat at bottom on toes.

- dynamic stretches and swings, rocking on side of ankle, standing on one leg with eyes shut
- scapular pushups against chair - BWx10, pushups against chair BWx6, pushups on swissball x3
- various hop patterns in place in bare feet, 10 reactive squats, 5 easy vertical jumps.
- Then a few reps of each of the exercises


Done circuit style - 4 times through
10-20secs rest between each move - however long it takes me to get ready etc

1) 30secs of Burpees - jumping 80-90% effort, sticking the landing, about 10 reps.

2) 30secs of Shadow boxing - high intensity, concentrating on punch combos, but some footwork too and switching stances.

3) 10 x 12lb MedBall 2 handed Throwdowns - slight hop, throwing hard enough to bounce the medball to head height, 75% effort

4) 10 Swissball Pushups

5) 30 x 12lb MedBall twists in situp position - touching the floor on each side of the body as fast as possible

6) resting 2 minutes - while doing 15 External L-Rotations, bent over 45 degree raises - 15 thumbs-up upwards, 15 out to side --> all with 1lb collars

about 30 mins all up

- then I did 5 more burpees, focusing on the landing
- 12 more medball throwdowns
- a few hop/dance patterns

static stretches for the whole body, especially pecs, lats, and rotors

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

Decided to use my Nike 12lb Medball which looks and feels like a Rubber BBall, but a lot heavier :)
Bounces nicely on those throwdowns, which is sortalike doing a 2handed tomahawk dunk, and catching it after the bounce works the upper body too.

Phew I was gasping for air with this new combo of exercises much harder than before! Just about worked every major muscle group in my body in a dynamic/explosive fashion.

Less overall sets, so I jumped harder on the Burpees. Felt good, and a lot more tiring. I kept landing with my feet flared out and it felt a bit strange on the slight slope. Burn in my VMO. So I did an extra set of 5 facing down the slope and focused on landing with feet more straight ahead and pushing the knees outwards - that felt much better. Something to work on next week.
I was back more on heels on that last set when jumping, versus the other where I was up on my balls of my feet, and I felt some serious hang time! Interesting, having to wait for the landing....not sure how high I'm jumping now, but I hope to surprise myself when I head back to the BBall court in the future :D

Something I've noticed since I started doing these 20sec ISO holds in the warmups, which I do 4-6 times a week...my calves and tibs are blowing up.
Either that they just look like it because I'm getting leaner...?
 
More sleep, but I feel a bit groggy and light headed.
Mild aches all over - mostly in my upper body and spinal erectors. Left lower/outter hammie is a bit strained. Only on the knee joint side, ie when I do a leg curl motion. Not sure how that happened, but I think it might be from the dynamic stretches which I did more aggressively yesterday.
Funny that I didn't feel anything during yesterday's the workout or even hours after...

weighed 92.5kg 203.5lbs straight out of bed in underwear

Down 1+lb from last week. And I really look and feel a lot leaner. Even the unflattering mirror in my room, with soft cross lighting, which shows up my spare tyre really well. I can see my waist has shrunk, but it still measures 35.5inches...hmm guess my spinal erectors and some muscles there have gotten bigger.
Even my girlfriend confirms I've gotten leaner, and she would know - LOL :D

The combo of stuff I did yesterday is sure effective, even more so that sprint intervals and normal weight circuits. You can't beat the combo of whole body explosive/fast moves and unstable compound exercises and lots of lactic acid all mixed up together.
Been thinking about adding some stuff like this after my heavy lifts on Tuesday to keep the ball rolling.

10min walk planned today and some easy stretching
 
Need more sleep, and I forgot to take my waking pulse. Man I look really tired, bags and all...
Still achey. Spinal erectors are sore, and my left hammie still a bit trashed up. So not sure if I will do deadlifts today like I had planned. See how it feels when I warmup. Forearms a bit sore and have blown up from the medball work it seems

weighed 92.5kg 203.5lbs straight out of bed in underwear

No change from yesterday, and I ate well below maintenance too...
Got the phospher jitters yesterday evening as well. Need some carbs in me, so time to load a bit.
 
Tuesday 31st January - Cycle 3 Get Lean+Maintain Strength - Week 6 Day 2 - Upper + Lower Strength DELOAD - Microcycle 6

Not a bad workout, but not great. Not really that much of a deload in hindsight. Bodyweight at the gym down a smidge.

Left hammie felt fine, I didn't even notice it during the warmups so went ahead with the deadlifts, which were the main item today. Did squats and powercleans to maintain things. ISO complex on the deads to "stiffen" up my system to balance out all the reactive, explosive and springy things I've been doing.


Bodyweight at gym - 206.5lbs
Workout time - 1.5+ hours
Workout rating - 7/10

General warmup -

20sec ISO holds - quarter squat, on toes, on heels (toes pulled up), hip back wide stance squat at parallel, on side of feet (for ankles), narrow fullsquat at bottom on toes

1) dynamic stretches and swings, rocking on side of ankle etc
2) reverse hypers - BWx10
3) back extension BWx6 + 6 twisting to each alternate side
4) situp complex on swissball
5) adductor/hammie stretch into back tumbells x10
6) usual bar complex with 30lbs

Rotating Sets between each exercise

Resting 3.5 mins between each exercise on work sets


Clean/RDL Deadlifts - in Oly Shoes - RAW - HookGrip

Warmups - done the same way as the worksets - 205lbs x1, 255x1,

Pulled up an inch, 3 sec ISO hold, pulled up, lower down to knee level RDL style, then 3 sec ISO hold
Rotation 1) 305lbs x 1
Rotation 2) 325lbs x 1
Rotation 3) 345lbs x 1 --> near limit, body shaking a bit, slight grind and form breakdown

These went pretty well, I'm stronger than I thought :)
Pretty hard though as you'd expect on the 2nd and 3rd set, ISO holds kick my ass! Slight bit of waveloading wth the powercleans


Powercleans

warmups - Powerclean + hangPowerclean - 133lbs, 155lbs

Rotation 1) Powerclean + MidThigh HangPowerclean - 155lbs
Rotation 2) Powerclean + HangPowerclean - 175lbs
Rotation 3) Powerclean - 185lbs --< chickened out on the hang powerclean...

Been a while since I did these so was a bit rusty. Was gonna do a hang powerclean with 185lbs, but didn't trust my grip on these crappy bent bars.
Crappy bars at my gym do not make olys feel too good unfortunately :(
But I've decided I officially suck at olys! :)
I just don't have the feel and mind set to do em right....


Full Oly Back Squats - in Oly Shoes - RAW

Warmups - semi explosive
rest - 1min between earlier sets, 2mins between later sets
BWx8, Bar x5, 95x5, 135x5, 185x5, 225x4, 255x2, 285x2
Frontsquat - Bar x5

Controlled
Rotation 1) 295lbs x 3
Rotation 2) 295lbs x 3
Rotation 3) 295lbs x 3

While I wasn't straining or grinding the squats, they still felt hard as hell. Even if it doesn't look it on video, but they felt really good form wise, pretty stable and solid. Best in a while. Maybe those lunging step-ups are helping, especially with the firing balance between the adductors and abductors.
Although I wasn't able to control the bottom half as much as I wanted, maybe due to my hammies being fried in the deadlift complex.

---
clip of the 1st and 3rd deadlift worksets, 155lb powerclean set and last set of squats

right click on link and save first to avoid errors
http://www.members.optushome.com.au...ad305_345ISOComplex_PowerClean155_31Jan06.mpg

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

Rotating Sets between each upper body exercise

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


Powerack Pullups - Ttumbless overhand grip

warmups - BW x 2

explosive
Rotation 1) BW x 2
Rotation 2) BW x 3

Elbow on Knee L-Fyle Extenal Rotations

Warmups - 4kg x8, 15lbs x 6,

starting from bottom, controlled - 2mins rest between each side
Rotation 1) 25lbs x 5 (+3lbs -4reps)

That felt pretty hard. I should have done a warmup set wth 20lbs x 2, like last week. As the jump from 15 to 25 was huge for such a small musclegroup!
Grip felt a bit trashed from the pullups too.
 
Crap sleep, what else is new? Gonna have to eat some small amount of carbs before bed to get that serotonin in me...
Mild drained feeling, overall achey feeling, but not really all the sore. Mostly in my upper back and erectors, but hams and glutes aren't that sore at all.

weighed 92.1kg 202.6lbs straight out of bed in underwear

Looking leaner. Can't wait to hit 90kg. Vertical Jump should be up 4 inches by then and I should be running way faster.

2x5 Reach, Roll and Lift
10min walk plus some light stretching
 
Gotta ask now...why the thumbless pullups? I actually do them this way as well, 'cause they're comfortable.
 
well it's just more comfortable and natural to do on a thick square powerack frame :)
Plus you don't swing around as much.
although you can beef up your thumb strength if you use a normal grive on the square powerrack frame

I remeber reading from Poliquin, saying that type of grip recruits the lats better. He has special pullup bars at his gyms, that have that type of grip/bar


-----


While the sleep was interrupted, and it felt much deeper and I slept in longer for once. I carbed up a bit yesterday and took about 20g of carbs at dinner. That made me nice and relaxed and so better sleep, which should get better tommorrow. Will keep this going everyday now, 20g of carbs on the last meal of the day. Might slow down the fat loss, but lots of deep sleep is more important

Spinal erectors and upper back still a bit trashed up

weighed 92.2kg 202.84lbs straight out of bed in underwear

I'm holding a lot of water from the carbs, look puffy, and my muscles have filled out, yet my bodyweight hardly went up at all. Nice! Lowest carbed bodyweight by far.
 
I don't see how it would make a difference in lat recruitment, honestly. Either way, I'll agree it's more comfortable and stick to doing 'em myself. Feels like it keeps my wrists neutral, too.

As for thumb strength, I get that from pinching clamps. No joke, it's part of the KTA program (and something I decided to assimilate with my grip training anyway) for dynamic thumb strength.
 
he meant the L-Shaped grip on square bar vs a regular round bar. There is better lat recruitment, you pull with your lats rather than the elbows and arms
 
Thursday 2nd February - Cycle 3 Get Lean+Maintain Strength - Week 6 DELOAD - Day 3 - Energy Work - Microcycle 6

Deloading so volume of runs is quite a bit lower. Felt nice and refreshed after
Pretty humid so was drenched in sweat!

Workout Rating - 8/10
Workout time - 30 mins

Warmup

warmup - 20sec ISO holds x 2 each - quarter squat, standing on toes, on heels (toes pulled up), hip back wide stance squat at parallel, on side of feet (for ankles), narrow fullsquat at bottom on toes.

dynamic stretches and swings, rocking on side of ankle, standing on one leg with eyes shut, various hops in place in bare feet at home.

Slow Jog - 50m x 4 - 1 mins rest, 40, 30, 20, 16 secs duration each

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
25m prime times (stiffed legged runs), 10m straight run, then into lateral run, right side 5m, left side 5m, into backwards run 5m, then three 360 pivots runs

2 sets - 4 dropsquats (hammie to parallel) sitting back, focusing on activating the hammies + 3 point start into 40m accleration runs to 70% speed - 1mins rest

then rest 2 mins

Tempo Runs + Energy Work

56 metres @ 70-80% speed - from casual standing start

rest = walk back to start - 1min
3 runs - lowest 10.03secs, highest 10.6 secs

then ran one lap around the football field - about 340m, did that in 1 min 8.81secs - 7.5 sec improvement over last week!

rested 2mins - did 3 more 56 metre intervals as above

Hee, big improvement on the 340m run! While my legs felt heavy from the carb bloat and I didn't feel explosive from fatigue from last workout, my lower legs felt nice and snappy. Better starts today, and I changed my armswing form. I usually do a sorta tricep extension, but today I kept my arms locked at 90 degrees with hands half closed, and that made the arm swing a lot shorter, sharper and snappier. Shoulders felt more relaxed and that powered everything up.

Plus on the last 2 runs, my legs were landing perfectly straight on the balls of my feet. Probbaly because I'm getting stronger, stiffer and lighter/leaner. A potent combo indeed :)
 
Ahh, then yes, I agree with that. It's much more difficult to pull with the arms that way. You can, but it's just not comfortable.
 
Thursday 26th January - Cycle 3 Get Lean+Maintain Strength - Week 6 DELOAD - Day 3 - Upper + Lower Prehab - Microcycle 6

Did this 1.5 hours after the above running session.

Damn forearms were hammered today!

Bodyweight at gym - 208lbs
Workout time - 1 hour
Workout rating - 8/10

General warmup -
1) dynamic swings etc
2) back extension BWx6 + 4 twisting to each alternate side
3) reverse hypers - BWx10
4) Situp complex on swiss ball
5) warmup complex with 30lb bar
6) scapular pushups - on bench x 12, on floor x 12

Rotating Sets between each exercise, one upper body exercise then one lower/mid toso move - all stopped short of failure

Resting 30secs on warmup sets, and then 10-30secs between each exercise and 1min after each complete rotation

Upper Body -

45 degree Chest Supported T-Bar Rows - overhand grip - warmups - Pulldowns 35kgx8, 50kg x5, Rows - 45lbs x 8, 70x5

Rotation 1) Bar +70lbs x 15
Rotation 2) Bar +70lbs x 15

Dip Shrugs - warmup - BW x 10sec hold, BW 2x5

2 sec hold at the top each rep
Rotation 1) BW+15lbs x 22 (+2reps)
Rotation 2) BW+15lbs x 20

Seated Cable Rop Pull to Neck - warmups - 10kg x5, 15kg x5

1 sec hold at the top each rep
Rotation 1) 20kg x 15
Rotation 2) 20kg x 13

Closegrip triangle Pushups - warmups - BW 2x3

Rotation 1) BW x 20
Rotation 2) BW x 20

Scapular Pullup Shrugs

Rotation 1) BWx20
Rotation 2) BWx20


Dumbell Curls - warmups - 4kg x8, 15lbs x5, 30lbs x5

Rotation 1) 35lbs x 11 (+1rep)
Rotation 2) 30lbs x 12


Lower/Mid torso -


Lunging Step-up on 12inch box - warmups - squats BWx8, Lunge StepUp 2x4

alternating between each side
Rotation 1) +30llbs in dumbells x 20
Rotation 2) +30lbs x 20

Lat Machine Situps - Warmups - BWx6, +10lbs x 5, 25lbs x5

dumbell on chest, 3sec ISO at the bottom of each rep.
Rotation 1) 65lbs x 8 (+5lbs)
Rotation 2) 65lbs x 8

Single Leg Back Extension - feet angled inwards - Warmups - BW 4x2

2sec Hold at the top on each rep - No rest between each side
Rotation 1) BW x 10
Rotation 2) BW x 10

Sideways situp on hyper bench - Warmups - BW 4x3

No rest between each side
Rotation 1) BW x 8
Rotation 2) BW x 8

Standing Single Leg curl - Warmups - 4plates x 5, 6P x3

deadstop, feet angled inwards
Rotation 1) 6Plates x 15
Rotation 2) 6Plates x 15

Toe curls on lying leg curl machine - warmups - 1plate x 12, 2P x10

Rotation 1) 2Plates x 20
Rotation 2) 2Plates x 20


CoolDown and Stretches

Dip/Pushup stretched ISO hold - knee supported x 1min
more for stretching my front delts

Pec/subscap stretched ISO hold on low incline bench - 5kg dumbells x 1min

Prone Cobra Hold - x 1min

bunch of static stretches
 
Cobra hold? I'm guessing that's the same as the McKenzie/Cobra Pushup, just under a different guise. Those feel damn good on my back.
 
Anthrax Invasion said:
Cobra hold? I'm guessing that's the same as the McKenzie/Cobra Pushup, just under a different guise. Those feel damn good on my back.
Click to expand...


not sure what that is, but this is what I did

http://web.mensfitness.com/images/mf/50/5943.jpg

» Squeeze your shoulder blades together as you lift your chest, shoulders, and arms—rotating your palms out so your thumbs point up—as high as possible. (Keep your feet and legs on the floor.)


strengthen postural muscular endurance



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

freaking dog woke me up! Feeling a bit worn out. Light aches all over

weighed 92.4kg 203.28lbs straight out of bed in underwear

Slightly up.
Also I came across a proper kg to pound convertor and it spat out 203.7lbs, a bit higher than my method :)
 
very light sleep, tossing and turning, and I keep waking up every couple of hours. I think it's the humidity.

weighed 92.5kg 203.5lbs straight out of bed in underwear

upper body is feeling quite a bit more explosive/stronger at my part time job
 
Talk about the worse week of sleep ever! Neighbour were talking in their backyard from 9 to 2am in the morning!! 5 freaking hours, and it's so frigging loud late at night. Gonna try and grab some sleep today before training...

Other than that, starting to get that lighter, snappy feeling back. I don't feel so bulky anymore, and I even carbed up last night too.

weighed 92.4kg 203.28lbs straight out of bed in underwear

My bodyweight may not be down a whole lot so far, but I look really different. Kinda slim and slender :)
 
Sunday 5th February - Cycle 3 Get Lean+Maintain Strength - Week 7 DELOAD - Day 1 - Energy/Prehab/Movement Efficiency work - Microcycle 6

Pretty good session, felt a little easier than last week.

Workout time - 35 mins not including warmup stuff
Session rating - 9/10

Reach, Roll and Lift move for lats and internal rotors - 2x5 for each side - 3 sec hold on lift part

warmup - 20sec ISO holds x2 each - quarter squat, on toes, on heels (toes pulled up), hip back wide stance squat at parallel, on side of feet (for ankles), narrow fullsquat at bottom on toes.

- dynamic stretches and swings, rocking on side of ankle, standing on one leg with eyes shut
- scapular pushups against chair - BW 2x10, pushups against chair BWx6, pushups on swissball x4
- various hop patterns in place in bare feet, 10 reactive squats, 5 easy vertical jumps.
- Then a few reps of each of the exercises


Done circuit style - 4 times through
10-20secs rest between each move - however long it takes me to get ready etc

1) 30secs of Burpees - jumping 24 inches - 75% effort, sticking the landing, about 10 reps.

2) 30secs of Shadow boxing - high intensity, concentrating on punch combos, but some footwork too and switching stances.

3) 10 x 12lb MedBall 2 handed Throwdowns - slight hop, throwing hard enough to bounce the medball to head height, 75% effort

4) 10 Swissball Pushups full extension at the top

5) 30 x 12lb MedBall twists in situp position - touching the floor on each side of the body as fast as possible

6) 2 minutes worth - 15 External L-Rotations, bent over 45 degree raises - 15 thumbs-up upwards, 15 out to side --> all with 1.25kg 2.75lb plates
slight hold at the bottom or top of each lift

7) rest 1min

about 30+ mins all up

then I did
- a few maximal vertical jumps
- 30 hops on/off a 4 inch step.
- 8 x 360 degree jumps, 4 each direction

static stretches for the whole body, including my external rotors
---------------

Pretty darn fast and powerful on the shadow boxing. I would not like to fight me :p
When I shift this workout to the gym, I'll start using a boxing bag for that.

Increased the loads on the raises from the 1lb collars last week. I was able to stay pretty strict for the first 3 sets. Last set was painful and heaved them a bit more, or rested between each rep. Huge lactic acid build up!

Did a few vertical jumps afterwards. Lacking pop and probably a bit rusty form wise, but they were a little higher than a couple of months ago even though I was tired, and felt strangely easy and floaty. Armswing is much easier thanks to better flexibility in my shoulders/lats. Hardly any leg bend when landing. Whereas on the Burpees I'm deliberately landing lower.

360 degree jumps were fun :)
Clockwise is perfect. Spinning the other way is a little short and I land off balance.
 
apart from the fact I forgot to turn off my alarm which woke me up at 4am, I had a pretty nice sleep. Very deep, lots of dreams and enough of it.
Carb loaded yesterday so that is probbaly why.
Not really all that sore at all, posterior chain and upper back aches.

weighed 92.6kg 203.7lbs straight out of bed in underwear

Not much gain in weight for a carb heavy day yesterday. I am holding a lot of water under the skin and in the muscles too. Slowly leaning up, and gaining some muscle too.

10min walk today and light stretching after.
 
Sleep quality is improving. Damn lowest waking pulse ever at 50!
Yet I felt a bit crappy and my posterior chain and side of my lower legs are a bit trashed up. I guess the jumps I did after the main workout on Sunday may have done a number on me. It may not seem much, but it doesn't take a lot to push me over the edge sometimes...

weighed 91.8kg 201.96lbs straight out of bed in underwear

Woo, finally under 202lbs, but only just :)
Muscle carb bloat is gone, but I'm still holding quite a bit of water. Lightest bodyweight in the last 2 years. Still so much fat to drop though...
 
Tuesday 7th February - Cycle 3 Get Lean+Maintain Strength - Week 7 Day 2 - Upper + Lower Strength DELOAD - Microcycle 6

Workout was productive, but I felt a like crap. While I didn't feel weak, the weights didn't feel all that "light" or snappy either like they normally do when warming up on squats and deads etc
Sleep needs to get better, and the 25g drop in protein from one serve of whey a day I cutout last week is probbaly not helping either, so I need to add that back. The extra 125 cals is worth it.

On the plus side my bodyweight at gym is lower again, looked much slimmer at the gym today. And my fitness is another level thanks to all those intervals I do on Thursday and Sunday. The 3.5 min rest today felt like an enternity and those clean complexes were a breeze. They used to gas me out.

Bodyweight at gym - 206lbs
Workout time - 1.5+ hours
Workout rating - 7/10

General warmup -

20sec ISO holds - quarter squat, on toes, on heels (toes pulled up), hip back wide stance squat at parallel, on side of feet (for ankles), narrow fullsquat at bottom on toes

1) dynamic stretches and swings, rocking on side of ankle etc
2) reverse hypers - BWx10
3) back extension BWx6 + 6 twisting to each alternate side
4) situp complex on swissball
5) adductor/hammie stretch into back tumbells x10
6) usual bar complex with 30lbs

Rotating Sets between each exercise

Resting 3.5 mins between each exercise on work sets


Clean/RDL Deadlifts - in Oly Shoes - RAW - HookGrip

Warmups - Powerclean + MidThigh hang Powerclean + HighHang SquatClean - Bar, 88lbs, 108lbs, 138lbs, 155lbs

done the same way as the worksets - 205lbs x1, 255x1, 293x1,

Pulled up an inch, 3 sec ISO hold, pulled up, lower down to knee level RDL style, then 3 sec ISO hold
Rotation 1) 323lbs x 1 (+18lbs)
Rotation 2) 343lbs x 1 (+18lbs)
Rotation 3) 363lbs x 1 (+18lbs)

Pretty hard and heavy on the last 2 sets. Upper back was not as straight as I would have liked, judging from the video, but it felt straight - strange. And my shins were not angled back too much on the 2nd hold. More SLDL than RDL like.

Powerclean complex in the warmups felt much better. I think I finally did em closer to the proper way than I've ever done before. While I didn't curl my wrists back at the start from the floor. I kept my arms loose and focused on powering my heels into the floor and slightly dragging the bar into my thighs a bit. Rather than pulling the bar up, which tends to half muscle the weight up. My arms looked to have stayed more relaxed and straighter in at the top, and my traps popped more too. It felt a lot smoother and easier. The cleandead ISO holds look to have ingrained the proper positions into my CNS :)
I don't seem to have as much rebound on the squatcleans though, but I'm way stronger off the bottom thanks to the paused squats. Stance felt a lot narrower than before though, bit more solid feeling.

Really sh*tty bar though, slippery, curved and doesn't spin too well!

Full Oly Back Squats - in Oly Shoes - RAW

Warmups - semi explosive
rest - 1min between earlier sets, 2mins between later sets
BWx8, Bar x5, 95x5, 135x5, 185x5, 225x4, 255x2, 285x2, 315x1
Frontsquat - Bar x5

Controlled
Rotation 1) 315lbs x 2
Rotation 2) 315lbs x 2
Rotation 3) 315lbs x 2

felt like crap today and form was not that great. Up from sets of 295x3 last week.

---
clip of the 1st and 3rd squat worksets, 155lb powerclean complex set and last 2 sets of cleandeads

right click on link and save first to avoid errors
http://www.members.optushome.com.au...ead343_363ISOComplex_PowerClean155_7Feb06.mpg
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rotating Sets between each upper body exercise

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


Powerack Pullups - Thumbless overhand grip

warmups - BW 2x2

explosive
Rotation 1) BW x 5


Elbow on Knee L-Fyle External Rotations

Warmups - 4kg x8, 15lbs x 6, 20x2

starting from bottom, controlled - 2mins rest between each side
Rotation 1) 22lbs x 11 (+7 reps)

Woah! way stronger!! 30x8 not to far off now, but its a big jump % wise.
The stuff I do Sunday may only weigh 2.75lbs, have short rest, and lots of burn, but they sure make my cuff stronger :)
 
LOL, I feel better today, after a heavy workout than I did yesterday! Damn low waking ulse of 53 as well, lowest after a heavy workout. Zero drained feeling as well.

weighed 91.9kg 202.18lbs straight out of bed in underwear

Not bad at all, lots of carbs last night and minimal gain in bodyweight. Also just under 203lbs right now in shorts and t-shirt, 4lb drop so far.

2x5 reach, roll and lift
10min walk today and light stretching after.

I also did a new stretch of my lats/serratus area yesterday in the gym - you sorta lean forward under the bars of a long dip unit, hold the bars and bend the arms like in the stretched position of a overhead tricep extension and then let the bodyweight do the work. I guess it has the same effect as pullover.
Shoulder ROM is improving, I can put my hands together in a prayer position behind my back now, faicng downwards, not quite able to do it upwards yet :)
 
Feel a bit crappy, it's like I always get a delayed effect from heavy weights. Feel great the day after, CNS is stimulated if the volume is fairly low, but then crash bad the next day....
Posterior chain and mid section a bit achey. Spinal erectors have blown up.

weighed 92.1kg 202.62lbs straight out of bed in underwear

Bloated
 
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