Creation of an Explosive Mofo - My Training Journal :)

[coolcolj]

Sunday 7th April - Cycle 3 Get Lean+Maintain Strength - Week 2 - Day 1 - Upper 1 - Microcycle 8

Crappy workout. Felt tired, worn out, and not too strong. But hung in there and made it work. You know sometimes you bust ass, but it feels good, well today I busted ass, but it felt bad....
But I'm glad I did put the effort in, and now after a postworkout meal, I feel OK. Funny that...

Surprised I only weighed 200lbs today, given that I had carb'ed up yesterday and looked quite a bit puffed up!

Bodyweight at gym - 200lbs
Workout time - 1 hour
Workout rating - 7/10

General warmup -

1) dynamic stretches and swings
2) bar complex with 25lbs - RDL+shrug onto toes, military press and hang powerclean
3) scapular pushups - on bench x 15, on floor x 15

4) Stretched side of neck, traps, quad/hip flexor and external hip rotor on the warmup sets - 15secs each

Rotating Sets between each exercise

Resting 1min on warmups and 3+ mins between each exercise on work sets

Chest Supported 45 degree T-Bar Rows - Overhand grip

warmups - 2 sec ISO hold at top on last rep of each set - Bar+25lbs x5, +45 x4, +70 x4, +90 x3, +115 x2, +135x1 (no iso)

controlled, 3sec ISO hold at the top
Rotation 1) Bar + 135lbs x 4 --> very hard
Rotation 2) Bar + 135lbs x 4 (+1 extra full set) --> easier....
Rotation 3) Bar + 135lbs x 3 + 1 partial rep

Up one extra full set vs last week, but these were gut busting hard! Back was pretty tired from my part-time job.

Dip Shrugs

Warmups - lockout hold x 10sec + 4 reps, BW 2x4, 10lbs x4

3 sec ISO at top and bottom
Rotation 1) BW+15lbs x 8 (+5lbs)
Rotation 2) BW+15lbs x 6


Elbow On knee External rotation

warmups - 1kg x 8, 3kg x5, 4kg x 5, 5kg x5, 15lbs x2

3 sec Hold at parallel - 1min rest between each arm
Rotation 1) 20lbs x 5 (+5lbs)
Rotation 2) 20lbs x 4

Felt stronger, even though my cuffs were pretty trashed up

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

various static stretches for whole upper body and some lower body

 

[coolcolj]

Pretty deep continous sleep. Achey all over.

weighed 89.4kg 196.68lbs straight out of bed in underwear

Waist down 1/4 of an inch from this time last week to 34.25 inches. So I did lean up last week, even if my bodyweight stayed about the same, which means I regained some musclemass.

 

[coolcolj]

some quotes from Elitetrack

Vertical plyos will help top end speed because at MaxV it is actually vertical forces which are most important. Forward momentum is developed through the acceleratin phase and once top end speed is reached the net horizontal force production is actually close to 0 or may even be negative (the cause of deceleration). Once forward momentum is developed maximally (VMax is achieved) the body will want to remain moving forward at the same velocity as long as outside forces (friction, air resistance, braking foot contacts, etc.) don't decelerate the body. Vertical forces are what help maintain the system's forward momentum. Once VMax is achieved, and if vertical force production is great enough, the system will act like a spring-mass or elastic model system. That is, it will keep bouncing along at the same velocity. Deficient vertical force production (or more accurately impulse) will lead to the system acting less perfectly elastic and consequently momentum will be lost and deceleration will occur unnecessarily premature.

The qualities that Kebba and SMcMillan are very specific and can be argued that they are overspecific to sprinting and do not transfer at all. The "general" thought process is that they (the details of the plyos) will help with the only the overall adaptation of the nervous system (example increasing the quanta of neurotransmitter release.) while the "specific" train of thought would debate the carryover of specific motor programs to help with the end performance such as rhythm.

I personally believe in both trains of thought with the specific work being a very nice long term adaptation or skill. For example I feel that hurdle mobility must include great precision as well as the obvious range of motion. This will start leaking into all phases of training if done religiously and many times good coaches are unaware of their own brillance.

Some of the motor skill work can be seen in the weight room such as in the olympic lifts. I feel that power ball throws can improve performance from indirect qualites. The direct would be of course the training stress from the load of the ball and the effort, either elastic or starting strength, but the effort to relase the ball with linking all of the limbs and timing the joints can help improve skill capacity.

But.....just like the skill capacity that develops over time, so can stress injuries to tendons and joints from heavy loads of plyos. I think that this can be eliminated if tempo work(the hypospeed work) is don before and after training to heat the avascular tendons and improve synovial fluid viscosity.

reading between the lines then I can see that you can't have good top speed unless you can accelerate there in the first place. If you don't, then look at your accleration - 30m first

that's my problem, I pop up too quickly and I take short choppy steps. You can't accelerate unless you push behind your body, so your body has to be angled and your feet driving behind you. Although I made a breakthrough last session, so I need to build on that.
Faster people tend to acclerate for longer as well.

Then when you get to top speed, your mechanics must allow you to keep bouncing along without braking. Your upright now with tall hips and stepping over and driving the feet downwards, instead of pushing behind. Then your speed endurance comes in to keep you at that speed for as long as possible


sorta related, but good stuff anyway

here's my thoughts on the question i asked to start this---

i break jumps training into several categories for sprinters:

1) those which have an influence on starting power- explosive in nature, overcome inertia, double leg, require full extension (i.e. slj, stj) as a note, in conjunction with multi throws can provide very strong stimulus.

2) those which have an influence on acceleration- horizontal in nature, longer ground contacts (i.e. alt bounding)

3) those which have an influence on max velocity- vertical in nature, shorter ground contacts (i.e. shorter hurdle hops)

4) i would suspect that kebba would add a 4th category geared towards back end of races/deceleration. kt? things like endurance bounds

is it necessary- to a certain degree yes. providing a bridge between weight room to the track in speed of movement, coupling times, cross bridges, stiffness.

Intensity- doesn't have to be real high in my opinion. Low intensity in place jumps provide a nice base of ancillary strength and should be in the program throughout.
Start power and acceleration to me are the two biggest areas that benefit the sprinter with jumps training. max velocity is hard/maybe impossible to duplicate the ground contact times other than just sprinting, which some do in a loaded situation.

Some sprinters are just down right uncoordinated and the more complex the jump, the more likely it will be done incorrectly.

 

[coolcolj]

Still achey feeling all over. Legs and hips feel a bit tight, will try and get em foam rolled today before training. Probbaly should have went for a walk yesterday, did a bit of active recovery work and stretched a bit

weighed 88.6kg 194.9lbs straight out of bed in underwear

Sweet not far to go till I hit my short term goal of 88kg 193.6lbs. Might even get it by the end of the week. Then down to 185lbs next.
I've haven't been drinking as much ice cold water lately, so I jacked it back up to the 10 litre range and it should work even better now that it is getting cold. Was butt freezing yesterday and I sure look much leaner today

 

[coolcolj]

Tuesday 9th April - Cycle 3 Get Lean+Maintain Strength - Week 2 - Day 2 - Lower Strength - Microcycle 8

Ok workout, but did not feel hyper, but I am stronger than last session even though I'm much lighter so that's good.

Bodyweight at gym - 198.5lbs
Workout time - 1.75 hour
Workout rating - 8/10

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) back extension BWx5 + 4 twisting to each alternate side
3) reverse hypers - BWx9
4) situp complex on swissball
5) adductor/hammie stretch into back tumbells x9
6) usual bar complex with 30lbs
7) various hops

8) worked up to a few sets max effort vertical jumps - same as my current best. Then did 1-2 jumps on each round of the warmups for the exercises below until I switched to oly shoes on the 225lb fullsquats

Was hoping it would be higher, but did not have the snap today even though I'm light. Probably due to the diet. Landings were much more solid and stable thanks to the altitude drops from my speed workout

Rotating Sets between each exercise

Resting 1-2mins on warmups and 3+ mins between each exercise on work sets

Full Squats - high bar, medium stance - Oly Shoes - no Belt

warmups - Explosive in sneakers - BWx8, BARx5, 95x4, 135x4, 185x4
Controlled down explode up in oly shoes - 225x4, 275x2, 315x1

Controlled down, driven up hard
Rotation 1) 295lbs x 4 (+20lbs -1 rep) --> last rep hard, close to failure
Rotation 2) 295lbs x 4 --> last rep harder
Rotation 3) 295lbs x 4 --> easier (!)
Rotation 4) 295lbs x 3 --> 3rd rep felt hard

315lbs in the warmup felt good, so strength is coming back. Went up 20lbs on worksets. Form was not that great today, a bit unstable and my body kept trying to use the back and doing a slight GM. Got better on the later sets by pushing from the heels and forcing the hams to work more.

Didn't go down as controlled as I would have liked. And I should have reset between each rep with a few breaths to recharge and make each rep a quality one, first set was too piston like. That's why the 3rd set felt a bit easier when I expected to only get 3 reps. Thought about doing a 4th rep on the last set, but I had a nagging feeling I would fail judging by how the 3rd rep felt so called it a day there.

Will stay here until my form is solid and I get a few sets of 5. Then onto 315lbs. Will be nice to get to my old strength levels or even higher, when I get to a lean and mean 175lbs

clip of all 4 worksets
Right click on link and save as to avoid errors
http://www.members.optushome.com.au/coolcolj3/Movies/CCJ_FullSquat295_3x4_1x3_9May06.mpg

CleanPulls - Oly Shoes - HookGrip - no Belt

Warmups -
in sneakers - Hang Powerclean Bar x 5
Powerclean + HangPowerclean 89lbs, 119lbs. Powerclean 155lbs
in oly shoes - powerclean + hang powerclean + highhang squatclean - 155lbs. Powerclean - 205x1, 225x1

Lowered each rep under control RDL style, 10second rest between each rep and reset
Rotation 1) 235lbs x 2 (+10lbs)
Rotation 2) 235lbs x 2
Rotation 3) 235lbs x 2

Form and timing is getting much better, not much arm pulling today. Focused keeping the weight on my heels, toes up in the air at the start and first half to keep tension on the hammies and helps get the back arched, tight and stiff. Controlled off the floor, arms loose and then snap it hard when I clear the knees. Bar popping up nicely. Will film these next time to see if my form looks as good as it feels.


Standing Single Leg curl

warmups - 3plates x5, 5P x 3

Dead stop one each rep, semi-explosive, left side first - 10 secs rest between each side
Rotation 1) 5 Plates x 12
Rotation 2) 5 Plates x 12

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

static stretches for hip flexor/quad, glute, addcutor, upper hammie, calves, upper traps, and shoulders

 

[KOArtist]

hey coolj, I was wondering...is there any ultimate website that focuses on all the various types of "prehab" work you can do for ankles, shoulders/scap, etc???

Also, do you ever do jump/reactive squats in the same workout as some heavy squats? And if so, which ones do u do first??? thanks as always bruh, peace

 

[coolcolj]

^ Above squat vid should work now

-----

Dry lips, but don't feel trained. Achey all over, VMO is pretty sore. Calves, Abs, upper hammies and back a bit too.

weighed 88.9kg 195.58lbs straight out of bed in underwear

Back up again, maybe its musclemass gain? Thinking about carb loading today.
I am planning to switch to 2 carbloads a week, just a matter of which days.

12 min walk planned today, easy active recovery work and some light stretching

 

[coolcolj]

hey coolj, I was wondering...is there any ultimate website that focuses on all the various types of "prehab" work you can do for ankles, shoulders/scap, etc???

Also, do you ever do jump/reactive squats in the same workout as some heavy squats? And if so, which ones do u do first??? thanks as always bruh, peace

well there are a few articles scattered around the place - some on Kelly Baggett's site, Most of it in Eric Cressey's articles at tmag and just from my life's reading and experience

check the links in the article to previous parts
http://www.t-nation.com/readTopic.do?id=472224
http://www.t-nation.com/readTopic.do?id=535872

http://www.t-nation.com/findArticle...AC34AB7F1D5FF8B.hydra?article=05-183-training

Ian King articles

postural

http://www.t-nation.com/readTopic.do;jsess...titan?id=460268


http://www.t-nation.com/readTopic.do;jsess...titan?id=459716

shoulder issues


http://www.t-nation.com/readTopic.do;jsess...titan?id=459499

knee issues


http://www.t-nation.com/readTopic.do;jsess...titan?id=459259

back pain

I have done jump, and sometimes reactive, all the faster stuff is done first
problem is your trying to tell your body to be fast and snappy and then strain and stable at the same time, tehse are on opposte ends of the spectrum. Which probaly confuses it and dilutes the gains CNS wise. Not a problem muscle wise off course. If you after max power gains do the heavy stuff on another day

Also reactive squats are extremely taxing CNS wise and muscle/tendon wise too....

 

[KOArtist]

Also reactive squats are extremely taxing CNS wise and muscle/tendon wise too....

Ain't that the truth! After first reading about them and trying them, I was dying for days on end afterwards! I think I even posted here about it, lol. Thanks a bunch for all the great links

 

[coolcolj]

Ain't that the truth! After first reading about them and trying them, I was dying for days on end afterwards! I think I even posted here about it, lol. Thanks a bunch for all the great links

new one that just came through

http://www.t-nation.com/readTopic.do?id=1053531