Creation of an Explosive Mofo - My Training Journal :)

[coolcolj]

these 2 guys
http://www.members.optushome.com.au/coolcolj/Photos/CCJ_Zacky_Tiger.JPG

not mine though...they just live here

---

By yesterday afternoon, my throat got worse, and I got hit with a fever.
One of the worst night of sleep ever! Felt hot and cold at the same time, head throbbing, sore throat, a minor cough, upper glutes were killing me in bed. A long night, waking pulse of 93 says it all! Feels like I've been hit with a sledgehammer.

Too late for deloading cause I'm overtrained again, 2nd time in the last 5 months! Every time I start to make nice progress I kill myself. Must have been overreaching the last month or so. The signs were there - overall crappy feeling, I thought it might have been the diet.... One step vertical Jump down 1.5 inches even though I lost 4lbs last week. And squat feeling harder and harder each week, especially the last session that took me over the edge.

Yet I never seem to read these signs!
Gonna have to setup a complicated training schedule to keep me out of trouble cause my freestyle setup is not doing the job....
Medium, light and heavy weeks should do the trick. And I'll go back to waveloading and make it work better now that I understand why I keep hitting a brickwall...all is need to do is insert a light low volume week every so often and I should make some nice gains

Will rest up till Sunday and restart the training cycle with some light low volume sessions for a while and then ramp up until I get back to my 330x8 squat strength levels and then push it beyond and drive up my frontsquat too

SUCKS!

weighed 94.7 kg 208.34lbs straight out of bed in underwear
Ate a shed load last night, bodyweight didn't budge much, and I'll probably poop it all out later today anyway

 

[coolcolj]

Feeling better, but still sick. Really sore throat.

weighed 93.9kg 206.58lbs straight out of bed in underwear

Didn't eat much at night, but tried to keep the protein levels up. And being sick speeds up the metabolism, so not a surprise my bodyweight is dropping like a rock
Need to measure my waist tommorrow

 

[coolcolj]

Not really sick anymore, but still feel a bit under the weather. At least I can start to sleep more normally now. Throat got even more sore last night though! Plus I was getting a lot of saliva buildup in mouth for some reason.
Walked around a bit yesterday shopping and stuff
CNS is probably recovered by now in a general sense, felt rather strong at my part time job this morning. I think I should feel like this all the time if I get my workouts/fatigue and recovery sorted. Gotta add in the light weeks...
Should be able to start training again tomorrow. It's gonna be easy stuff anyway.

On that note I never quite agreed with deloading by keeping intensity the same or raising it, but reducing volume. It doesn't make sense to me. If you fatigued, why would you want to go heavy, even if the volume is low?! I have tried it this way just about every time and it never works, I become more overreached and then over trained....
Smarter to go low volume and lighter IMO...

weighed 93.2kg 205lbs straight out of bed in underwear

Another big drop in bodyweight. Ate more yesterday. Had 2 fruit and protein drink meals plus another meal of 2 big burgers with the works and extra egg, which I had to force down!
Metabolic rate is still jacked up from being sick, but not as much now. 78 waking pulse, down from 93. Plus I think the cold/flu medicine is jacking me up as well
Thanks to me being sick, it looks like I'll be ahead of schedule reaching the 198lb midway point

I gave myself some deep tissue massage with my thumbs this morning upon waking, on my IT band and rectus femoris. Bending my knees as I lie on back to put them in a semi-stretched state. That really loosened up some adhesions or something, certainly feels different when I walked downstairs afterwards.

 

[AugustusIII]

I don't mean to offend you, let you down or get in your way man, but did you notice you're in the wrong lane? You're very knowledgeable about training, been doing a lot of reading, watching videos and open to ideas, but I've been watching your journal for years now, and I see you writing the same things over and over 'now I really know how to train', 'now I know what works for me', yet you're standing at the same squat numbers, bench, military numbers or whatever for a long time, and then you put some effort in it, and your squat goes up, and again you leave it alone, and when you do a comeback your squat goes up again, of course it does, you just worked on it, but you're talking about this 405 squat for ages and how you're going to do this and that, but nothing really moves anywhere, you put a lot of effort into your training and love to share information and all, very motivated and motivating guy, and I bet you can do tons better and reach your goal, instead of trying every method around, just stick with something and the results will come in a hurry...

That's it...again sorry if I have offended you, that was not my intent.

 

[coolcolj]

I don't mean to offend you, let you down or get in your way man, but did you notice you're in the wrong lane? You're very knowledgeable about training, been doing a lot of reading, watching videos and open to ideas, but I've been watching your journal for years now, and I see you writing the same things over and over 'now I really know how to train', 'now I know what works for me', yet you're standing at the same squat numbers, bench, military numbers or whatever for a long time, and then you put some effort in it, and your squat goes up, and again you leave it alone, and when you do a comeback your squat goes up again, of course it does, you just worked on it, but you're talking about this 405 squat for ages and how you're going to do this and that, but nothing really moves anywhere, you put a lot of effort into your training and love to share information and all, very motivated and motivating guy, and I bet you can do tons better and reach your goal, instead of trying every method around, just stick with something and the results will come in a hurry...

That's it...again sorry if I have offended you, that was not my intent.

I'm not leaving it alone, I don't have a choice I always end up overeaching and then overtraining!!
Then I have to come back regain lost ground everytime.
So I guess I'm more on the advanced side now where training loads disrupt my system more. Plus I have a pretty erratic lifestyle where I do have to get up a 3:30am 4 days a week to go do my part time job. Which puts a serious downer on my sleep and ties in with this fatigue issue.
You know I train well, so it's the recovery management that sucks
Once I figure out this fatigue recovery issue for myself, I will consolidate my gains, which is half the battle. I've been overeaching a lot most of the time.

Plus I have to get a lot leaner, which is probbaly more important for my goals.
180lbs would be a good start. I've been trying for the last couple of years to get down there, but I think I have the right diet for the job now...so far anyway

I don't care about my upper body lifts anymore, not important for my goals

 

[coolcolj]

Things starting to return to normal. Sleep better, waking pulse down again to 64. Still got a semi sore throat and a cough, plus head cold, but not too bad.

Body feels ok. Will head back to the gym today and get in a light lower body power session and restart the training cycle and gradually ramp back up.
I will probbaly add a light low volume week every 3 weeks as the loads and volume start to rise and then every alternate week to be on the safe side and see how that goes.

weighed 93.4kg 205.48lbs straight out of bed in underwear
Waist = 35.5 inches

Waist down another half an inch from the last time I measured it, which goes hand in hand with the 1kg drop in bodyweight. I can at least start to see ab outlines now when I flex em, under that layer of lard.
Diet kinda back to normal yesterday, but appetite is still pretty suppressed

 

[coolcolj]

Sunday 4th March - Cycle 4 Get Strong+Maintain Weight - Week 3 - Day 1 - Lower 2 Power/Assistance DELOAD - Micro cycle 1

Felt ok at home, but when I started to exert myself in the gym, there is still some sick feeling. Strength and power wasn't there.
Bodyweight at gym is down 2.5lbs from last time. 12lbs altogether so far since I started dieting. Yet I can't seem to jump any higher than my recent PBs set here at 217lbs! That's what you get for overtraining

Deloading, way lighter weights and low volume. Didn't think there was any point in doing sub-max jumps so I jumped all out.

Body weight at gym - 207.5lbs
Workout time - 1.25 hours
Workout rating - 6/10

General warm up -

15sec 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 full squat at bottom on toes

1) standing Side leg raise x 6 each side
2) dynamic stretches and swings, rocking on side of ankle etc
3) back extension x 5 + 6 twisting to each side
4) sit up complex on swiss ball
5) Prone Scorpion - x12 each leg alternating
6) Braced Scorpion under - x8 each leg alternating
7) "hurdle" over and unders x 5 each direction and each type
8) glute bridge x 8
9) various hops, prime times, running in the spot drills, and low depth jumps


Rotating Sets between each exercise

Resting 2-3mins

Jumps and Hops

Warm up - sets of 2-3 jumps going higher/harder each time

did these in between the warm up sets on squats from bar to 255lbs

a) Speed hops on a 3 inch step x 5 to start, later sets moved to a 9 inch step

rest 1min
a) standing Vertical jump,
b) one step VJ
c) running one leg jump
d) 3 step vertical jump

3 hard sets or so. Jumps down about 2 inches across the board except maybe my one legged running jump, which feels easier to do at a lighter bodyweight. All landings feel easier to absorb too.
Man I am so much lighter and leaner, there are 2-3 inches extra waiting to be displayed!


Clean grip Front Squat + FullBack Squat Combo - sneakers - no Belt


warm ups - frontsquat 3 reps, rerack, rest 15secs, backsquat 3 - Bar , 95lbs , 135 lbs

frontsquat 3 reps, rerack, rest 30secs, backsquat 3 reps
1) 185lbs


Power Cleans - in sneakers

Hang powerclean from mid thigh - 95lbs 3x3


---------

Rotating Sets between each exercise

3 mins rest between each exercise

Good Mornings onto toes - high bar, sitting back enough for toes to come off the floor - 2 sec pause at bottom and hold at top - sneakers - controlled - bar x 3,

95lbs x 6

Reverse Lunge - vertical shins, medium wide stance, rear leg kept on the straighter side - 2 sec pause at bottom - sneakers- alternating legs - BW x 3 each side, Bar x 3 each side

95lbs x 4 each side

pretty hard compared to the 145lbs I have been using, could be because I did em in sneakers vs oly shoes normally

Toe curls on lying leg curl machine - paused top and bottom 1 Plate x 6

Lat Machine situp - BW x 12 (progressively lower each rep with hold at bottom)
hold at middle and bottom on each rep - 10lbs x 4

--

lower body, abs, lats and lower back stretches

 

[coolcolj]

Waking pulse coming back down to 60. Still got that nasty flemy cough and head cold.
Good to not feel drained for once after a lower body workout, even with max effort jumping. Even with the light loads and halved volume I am still moderately sore - upper back, quads, hamstrings, glutes and spinal erectors

weighed 92.5kg 203.5lbs straight out of bed in underwear

WOW, big drop in bodyweight, nice, but unexpected. Chocolate in post workout meal didn't hurt

If it stays dry I will go for a 12min walk and do some mobility work before and some easy stretching after

 

[coolcolj]

That was a pretty decent night of sleep, at least 8 hours of deep sleep and another 1.5 hours of lighter sleep and yet I still look and feel tired as hell! What is going on?!
Waking pulse rock bottoms to 51. Legs and hips still sore. Upper body looks skinny as hell.

weighed 92.4kg 203.28lbs straight out of bed in underwear

Appetite is coming back, ate more yesterday. Felt really jittery today though

 

[coolcolj]

Tuesday 6th March - Cycle 4 Get Lower Body Strong+Get Lean - Week 3 - Day 2 - LIGHT Prehab Rehab DELOAD - Microcycle 1

Bodyweight at gym dropped again, I didn't expect that. Strength is starting to come back

Body weight at gym - 206lbs
Workout time - 1 hour
Workout rating - 7/10

General warm up -

1) dynamic stretches and swings
2) Prone Scorpion - x8 each leg alternating
3) Braced Scorpion under - x6 each leg alternating
4) high glute mobility drill x 10 each side
5) hurdle over and unders x5 each direction and leg
6) Behind-the-Neck Band Pull-Aparts - green band held 3/4 length x 10
+ band dislocates with green band held full length x 10. For 2 sets
7) SLDL mobility walks
8) scapular pushup against bench - BW x 10

Rotating Sets between each exercise

Resting 1 min on warm ups and 1-2 mins between each exercise on work sets


Reach, Roll and Lift

stretches in the same position and 3 quick reps

Rotation 1) 3 sec hold x 3 each side, alternating


Pushup with extension at top and hold

Warm ups - push up on bench x 10

on floor
Rotation 1) BW x 10


High angle Dumbbell Rows to ribcage - palms facing - pulling with lower traps and delts

Rotation 1) 30lbs x 8

Low Incline face down dumbell Raise/External Rotation combo

Thumbs up Y raise + neutral grip side raise + Cuban rotation - all with hold at top
Rotation 1) 2kg x 5


Dumbbell Curls - hold at the middle on the way down

warm ups - 15lbsx5,

Rotation 1) 22lbs x 5


Box Squats - Wide Stance - high bar - Sneakers - no belt

warmups - Bodyweight x 10, Barx10, 95lbs x10

11 inch box + folded towel - pause and release - no rocking
Rotation 1) 135lbs x 10
Rotation 2) 135lbs x 10

folded towel compresses down to half an inch. I can tell my body prefers to squat down to about 12+ inches.
Felt good. These used to bother my left knee, and my adductor/groin and hips, not anymore. I guess thanks to the mobility work. The reduction in intensity last workout made some minor niggles in my knees, legs and hips go away as well. Deload has been low overdue.

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

Cooldown - ISO stretches

Subscap raises 3kg x 10 + 30sec Pec/Subscap stretched ISO hold

upper body/cuff and lower body stretches