Creation of an Explosive Mofo - My Training Journal :)

[coolcolj]

Saturday 13th September - Micro Cycle 9 - Week 9 - Day 1

Really hot today. Bodyweight was pretty heavy today, up 1kg from last week!

Did some foam rolling at home before heading to the court

I went and checked out that schoolyard rim, and it measured out at 9'6". So because of the slope of the court, if you jumped a bit further out it would be like 9'4", maybe even 9'3".
I did a few jumps and managed to touch the rim cold, but I didn't fancy landing on such an uneven surface, and I felt comfortable jumping in a school with a security notice about trespassers... so I hauled my ass out of there...


Bodyweight = 89.2kg 196lbs in shorts and t-shirt

Schoolyard Outdoor BBall court - Nike Free 7.0 Trainer


35 mins total

1) did some dribbling, shooting, moves and low/medium intensity jumps

2) did max effort jumps of all types for another 10 mins, resting about a 30secs to 1.5min between jumps

I went to the usual outdoor court complex and it was still occupied by netball leagues games, then went to that outdoor court with a bent rim, it was full, so decided to check out some courts at another schoolyard. Which turned out ok, 2 courts, 4 rims there, and only one hoop being used. Crap rims though and the surface is a bit uneven which I think effected me a bit mentally when jumping.

Shot the ball ok, and pulled off some pretty sweet moves. Upper body felt pretty beat up from my part time job.
Well I couldn't jump for crap today. Rim I played on, was around 9'11" and I was nowhere near touching it! Jump was at least 3 inches lower than last Sunday.

I don't think I've ever jumped well on a Saturday. Either I need more than 4 days rest from my weights on Tuesday, or I'm just too tired from my part time job on Saturday mornings, or both. The heat didn't help either.
Plus Saturdays is always crap with my fav court busy, and too much traffic.

Guess I'll make BBall/Jumps on Sunday for good from now on.
Doesn't look like cutting down the volume a bit of squats did anything!
I know I jump well after 5 days rest from squats, on Sundays, but I'm not sure how well I'll fair with 4 days rest.

 

[coolcolj]

Sunday 14th September 2008

late night so not that much sleep, around 6 hours, will get some naps today, since it's pouring rain.
Feeling beat up, especially my spinal erectors. Feet and calves no longer getting smashed, much stronger from the calf raise work.


weighed 88.8kg 195.35lbs this morning
waist is 34.5 inches around belly button

With this http://home.fuse.net/clymer/bmi/
it puts me at 14.8% bodyfat

measurements straight out of bed as well
Arms - flexed 15.25 (+0.25)
Hips/Glutes - 40.25 (+0.75)
Thighs - 27 (+0.25 inches)
Calves - flexed 16.25 (+ 1/8)

Bodyweight is up, waist is up 0.5 inches. So that's why I'm heavier than last week. Either I've gained muscle all over, or just holding more fluid in my muscles, or fat gain....

 

[coolcolj]

Just wanted to add - my legs are looking pretty sick , from the side!!!

Never seen my hamstrings and glute make my quads look so much smaller relatively speaking. And I've always had big quads.

 

[coolcolj]

I was reading this interesting article about max size of a drug free person. Most natural guys would be hard press to get over 200lbs, lean.

The WeighTrainer - Your Maximum Muscular Bodyweight and Measurements

I believe this calculator uses the formulas from the article
http://www.hypertrophy-specific.com/maximum-size-calculator.html

go find some pics of the guys in the article, and they are still big!


and yet most are not over 200lbs and they aren't really that lean, but they're still bigger than most people will ever get to

ie Clarence Ross - 5'10" 198lbs

Strength and perseverance were the hallmark of Clarence Ross. These were regular accomplishments … overhead press 315 lbs, multi-reps: Squats with 450 lbs – 10 reps: bench-presses: 385 lbs – 10 reps, and repeated curls with 200 pounds of resistance. These, Mr. Ross did without additives. Other than protein powder and a well-balanced food menu, plus the consumption of copious amounts of milk, Mr. Ross never touched the additives then available but, instead, prided himself on the consumption of well balanced, healthy, meals.

---

Also if you plug in that BB'er Clarence Ross's numbers into a rep calculator. You get a 600lb squat and 510lb bench. Plus a 1.5+ x bodyweight press, and over doubleweight bench and squat for reps. Drug free.

that's a genetic freak if you ask me! And training science, recovery and nutrition wasn't like it was now.
Enough strength for some SquatDR type 44-48 inch vertical jump numbers too if he was into jumping and dunking. He did play basketball when younger, but we're talking about the 1940s here ;D
From the quote below, he loved squats

He always said his favorite exercise was squats perhaps because he was once called Bird Legs. It gave him all of the incentive he needed to build his legs for all he was worth, so he always performed squats first in his schedules, and he did lots of them: hack squats, front squats, quarter squats, high rep squats, heavy power squats. Lots of squats!

Considering he weighed 135lbs before training, he added 63lbs of muscle to get to his level of development and strength, without getting fat.

------
quote

Physically below par, with flat feet, Clarence was quite skinny, with rounded shoulders. However, his tremendous spirit and self-reliance helped him to overcome his adversities, and despite or because of the ridicule he received about his physical shortcomings, he decided to engage in as many varied sporting activities as possible, including football, basketball, and most track events.

By 1941, aged 17, his height was 5'10". He weighed 135 lbs. and decided it was time to build some muscle. It was here that he began training with weights, following a basic York barbell system, putting on 15 lbs. over a period of training. The infamous bombing of Pearl Harbor, 7th December 1941, made Clancy determined to join the Forces, and he quickly enlisted in the US Air Force and was stationed in Las Vegas. He was instantly assigned as the weightlifting instructor because of his promising build and interest and trained alongside Cpl. Leo Stern, who was to become an extremely positive influence in his progress.

Leo's more modern methods, rather than the stereotyped basic schedule, as sold to one and all, helped Clancy pack on a further 35 lbs. of real solid muscle, along with the power that such big muscles suggest. Clancy was soon to be recognized as one of the strongest of all bodybuilders. It was also around this same period that he married (aged 18 years) his wife, a girl from his home town, who always encouraged him as much as possible to train and compete.

By 1945 with a symmetrical but hardly over muscled physique, helped by a superb posing routine and an ability to exhibit his newly acquired muscles, Clancy won the Mr. America contest held in Los Angeles. The win helped focus many bodybuilding journals in Clancy's direction, and he began to make cover man and the art pages of most muscle journals of the period (e.g. Your Physique, Iron Man, Muscle Power, Health and Strength and others.) He was released from the Services in November 1945 and opened a gym in Alameda, California. He also joined up with the American Health Studios as manager of their West Coast Gyms.

His own training methods included pushing continually for power, along with size, using medium repetitions of 8 - 10 in sets of 3 - 6. Prior to Clancy Ross, most bodybuilders were still using the single set system, but multiple sets proved superior as experimentation of the period discovered along with many other new principles. Clancy would then use for example 2 X 140 lbs. dumbbells in repetitions, (almost a strength record in those days) for incline and flat bench presses, which may have been just one reason for his famous huge pectorals

---

The US bodybuilders dominated the muscle world in the late 1940's and '50's. Mainly due to their far superior diet, for example unlimited milk, eggs and steaks. The Brits were still under post war rationing, and food depravation and perhaps more importantly, better, more modern, experimental training methods e.g. the set system.

The fashion in physiques during this era of discovery was inspired by America, going for either size or bulk. European bodybuilders tended to concentrate on washboard abdominals and agility with some defined deltoids thrown in.

However UK trainers preferred, and soon copied their American friends, both in their training methods and also in the practice of drinking literally gallons of milk daily. Clancy was a supreme example of these methods and yet somehow managed to maintain good shaped and definition of the abdominals. He enjoyed the then new found set system and also cheating or loose style, wherein one can handle far more weight. Plus flushing - ensuring each section of the body is exercised completely i.e. flushed with the blood, before moving on.

He always said his favorite exercise was squats perhaps because he was once called Bird Legs. It gave him all of the incentive he needed to build his legs for all he was worth, so he always performed squats first in his schedules, and he did lots of them: hack squats, front squats, quarter squats, high rep squats, heavy power squats. Lots of squats!

----

one more quote -

BB'ers back then did oly lifts, because they used to test them at BB'er comps and exhibtion displays. They were functional unlike today

---

Certainly his strength kept pace with his muscles. Clancy was considered one of the strongest of all bodybuilders. Consider this, he overhead pressed 315 lbs, snatched 280 lbs, clean and jerked 360 lbs, deadlifted 650 lbs, squatted 10 times with 450 lbs, bench pressed 385 lbs 10 times and curled in loose style 200 lbs for 10 reps. For his favourite exercise, the include bench press with dumbbells, he used a pair of 175 lbs dumbbells for 10 respond then did lateral raises standing, with bent arms. No drugs, no steroids, no lifting suits or other training aids, just plan old developed strength on healthy foods. Real championship standards, hard to beat even today.

 

[coolcolj]

Tuesday 16th September - Micro Cycle 10 - Week 1 - Day 1 - Workout A Volume

Starting a new block
Pretty good workout, despite the lack of sleep last night, but I did have a morning wood again this morning, so that always means, high testosterone = good workout

Skipping in warmups was crappy though, from lack of sleep I guess
Prime times are feeling much better, nice and snappy. Feet and calves feeling stronger

Had to cut out some of my usual upper body work as I was in a hurry


Body weight at gym - 198lbs
Workout time - 1.25 hours
Workout rating - 8/10

foam roll and cricketball release routine at home before going to the gym

General warm up -

3 min moderate speed walk on treadmill

1 set each of my usual dynamic mobility exercises
behind the neck band pull aparts - green mini-band help 3/4 length 2x8
lateral deep lunge x8
situp complex on swiss ball
single leg RDL mobility + psoas activation walk
2 short runs of low effort prime times (stiff legged runs)

A few sets of hops in place - 2 legged and then single legged
3x10 seconds rope skipping - 2 legged then 5 reps single leg, each leg, then alternating legs - 30secs rest

45lb oly bar complex - slow clean pull, GM onto toes, high hang powerclean, military press - 5 reps each


Low bar Full Back Squats - shoulder width stance - Oly Shoes - no Belt

warmups - 45 seconds rest between double sets on the same weight. Then 2-3min rest between each weight increase

in Nike Free 5.0 trainer - 95x4, x2, 135lbs 2x2, 185lbs x2, switched to oly shoes 205x2, 225x2, 255x1, 285x1, 315x1, 335 x 2 sec support


1) 335lbs x 5 (+10lbs -1 rep) --> gut busting grind on last rep

rest 6 mins

2) 295lbs x 8 ---> hard strain on last rep

video of the main worksets
YouTube - 16th Sept 2008 - Low Bar Full Squat 335lbs x 5, 295lbs x8

I had planned to do 2 sets of 295lbs and try and get at least 8 reps, but the warmups felt so much "lighter" and solid that I decided to take a crack at 335lbs. While it felt good, I wasn't much stronger than when I did 325x6, two weeks ago. Although having 5.5 hours sleep last night doesn't help.

295 felt light after having 335lbs on my back.
Would have had no problems getting 295lbs for 2x8 today - that's still a nice increase in strength from where I was a few months ago.
Spinal erectors were raped today - massive pump! Maybe not a good sign, as fair as glute activation goes....

In any case I could feel my gains stalling since 2 weeks back, that's why it's times to change things up, and go back to my 2 sets of 6-8 reps on this Workout A Volume day. Workout B will be low rep, high set Pripelin chart style. Still only squatting once a week off course.
When I can get around 335lbs for 2x8 or so, I'll switch back to my single all out set in the 5-7 rep range to "deload" and peak out my strength and jump.
Should be able to squat around 365x6 by then, 1RM well over 405lbs. And enough strength to move my vertical jump up to 35+ inches and the big 40 off 3 steps. Still need to gain another 100lbs on my squat to hit my medium term goal of a 40 inch vertical jump, only if I can keep my bodyweight under 200lbs....


rested 6 mins before moving on

Single leg kneeling Deadlift

1.5 mins rest between each side
- 2 sec pause at bottom - BW x 5, 2x50lb dumbbells x 8

dropped the total load 10lbs, felt hard, but good.


Upper body/shoulder prehab stuff

close grip triangle Push up on floor - paused top and bottom x 20 (+1 rep)

finally hit my goal, not much of a challenge anymore, so time to change things up. Although I was using these to kill 2 birds with one stone - scapular/serratus work and front plank hold.
I could probably close grip bench over 225lbs without much work, even though I haven't benched in years
I used to do around 30 reps on these with no pause, when I was close grip benching around 295lbs.

Side Plank hold warmup - supported leg raises x 8

30 secs each side - glute contracted

just maintenance work, damn hard after the pushups though, my scaps and rotary cuffs were screaming.

Single leg standing calf raise machine

warmup - BWx5, 2 plates x 3

1.5 mins rest between each side

weight on big toe, all toes crunched down, legs straight, glute contracted
1 rep + 30 sec ISO hold at top x 5 plates (+10 secs on ISO)

 

[coolcolj]

Saturday 20th September - Micro Cycle 10 - Week 1 - Day 2

Another hot day. Netball season is finally over, so back to my usual outdoor court complex I go.

Did some foam rolling at home before heading to the court

Bodyweight = 89kg 195.8lbs in shorts and t-shirt

Outdoor BBall court Complex - one with 8 foot netball rims on the back of each hoop - Nike Free 7.0 Trainer


45 mins total

1) 1) did some dribbling, shooting, moves and low/medium intensity jumps and some dunks on the 8 foot netball rims for 25 mins

2) did max effort jumps of all types for another 20 mins, resting about a 30secs to 1.5min between jumps

right shoulder felt a little gimpy, pulled my subscap or something in there at my part time job
Made shooting a bit uncomfortable, and the same with reaching up in a jump.

Couldn't jump for crap like last week. Too much fatigue in my system, and I just felt lethargic. Just barely touching the 9'10.5" rim...
There is a positive though - seems like all Calf Raise ISO work I've been doing is starting to pay off. I stayed on the balls of my feet while approaching, and jumping off 2 and one leg without even thinking about it. Feet and ankle felt strong and solid.
Jumped pretty well off one leg, without my heel touching the ground. In the past I jumped higher if I planted my heel first. Was able to get just as high with no heel plant today.

I've noticed I jump best when I have 2 full days where my legs don't feel sore and has light/loose feeling. Right now if I squat on Tuesday, my legs are sore up to Thursday, and only starts to feel good on Friday. So that means I don't jump well till Sunday. It takes my CNS that long to fully recover. Muscles recover first off course.

In hindsight I should have skipped BBall/jumping this week. I'm due for a total break from it sooner or later.

 

[coolcolj]

Sunday 21st September 2008

Decent sleep, and I feel decent. A little achey all over, but not too bad. Mostly in upper body and spinal erectors.
Feet, ankles and calves feel ok too, given how I jumped and landed with heels off the ground. Those ISO calf raises are certainly effective, and only 1 set, once a week for a month.

short walk today for active recovery

weighed 88.3kg 194.26lbs this morning
waist is 34 inches around belly button

With this Body-Mass Index, Waist-to-Height Ratio and More...
it puts me at 13.8% bodyfat
Tanita scale = 22.8%

measurements straight out of bed as well
Wrist - 6 6/8 inches
Ankle - 8.75

Arms - flexed 15.25
Chest - lats flexed 43 (-0.5)
Hips/Glutes - 40.5 (+0.25)
Thighs - 26.5 (-0.5)
Calves - flexed 16 (-1/8)

Waist is down 0.5 inches. Weight and measurements as well, looks like I was just holding water last week. Even if I did eat a shed load last night.
Well my arms are still 15 1/4, so they are bigger. The triceps I think from the close grip triangle pushups, cause I haven't done any curls

Interesting my legs shrunk, but my glutes went up a little. Considering how much my squat has gone up over the last few months, and how much smaller/lighter I am compared to when I was last this strong, looks like I've been getting stronger from my body learning to use my existing muscle mass more than anything. Although my glutes and hamstrings do look bigger.

Maybe there is hope for me improving my relative strength, and realistically squatting 405lbs for 8 reps or higher while weighing under 200lbs! Putting my 1RM at 500lbs or more, and power cleaning over 330lbs. A 44 inch vertical jump may not be a pie in the sky dream after all
Decreasing training frequency, volume and deloading when needed has been the key. Strength is going up much easier than I have ever had, almost linearly and as fast as when I was begineer, for now anyway,

 

[coolcolj]

Tuesday 23rd September - Micro Cycle 9 - Week 10 - Day 1 - Workout A

Pretty average workout, kinda tired, and felt weak. I think all these weeks of high intensity lifting, and staying above 85% 1RM is starting to take it's toll.
But I left the gym feeling ok. The low reps sets on squats, and the short rest between each rep on upper body work keeps me feeling "fresh"

skipping was kinda lousy again this week - noticing some trends here

Foam rolled at home before heading to the gym

Body weight at gym - 198lbs
Workout time - 1.5 hours
Workout rating - 7/10

General warm up -

3 min moderate speed walk on treadmill

1 set each of my usual dynamic mobility exercises
behind the neck band pull aparts - green mini-band help 3/4 length 2x8
lateral deep lunge x8
situp complex on swiss ball
single leg RDL mobility + psoas activation walk
2 short runs of low effort prime times (stiff legged runs)

A few sets of hops in place - 2 legged and then single legged
3x10 seconds rope skipping - 2 legged then 5 reps single leg, each leg, then alternating legs - 30secs rest

45lb oly bar complex - slow clean pull, GM onto toes, high hang powerclean, military press - 5 reps each


Low bar Full Back Squats - shoulder width stance - no Belt - Nike Free 5.0 Trainer + Oly shoes

warmups - 45 seconds rest between double sets on the same weight. Then 2-3min rest between each weight increase

in Nike Free 5.0 trainer - BWx8, Bar x 8, 95lbs x4, x2, 135lbs 2x2, 185x2, switched to oly shoes 205x2, 225x2, 255x1, 285x1, 315x1, 335 x 2 sec support

controlled
1) 335lbs x 2 (90% of estimated 1RM - 375lbs) --> hard strain on 2nd rep
3 mins rest

2) 320lbs x 2 (85% of 1RM) --> hard strain on 2nd rep
3mins rest

6 sets of 3 - 70% of 1RM - 2 mins rest

3) 265lbs x 3
4) 265lbs x 3
5) 265lbs x 3 --> feeling easier
6) 265lbs x 3
7) 265lbs x 3
8) 265lbs x 3 --> feeling harder


Warm ups felt decent, but I didn't have that aroused/fired up feeling like last week. First 2 worksets with the heavy stuff felt hard. Should have stuck to the plan of 8x3 with 65-70% 1RM.

Bar was tearing up my back on the 265lb sets! Probably gonna have a lot of cuts and red marks there....


Upper body/shoulder prehab stuff

Low incline dumbell face pull to forehead - elbows at 90 degrees, palms facing with a hold at top - 2x1kg x 3, 2x3kg x 3 , 2x4kg dumbbells x 16 (+1kg + 2 reps)(2-3sec rest between each rep)

6kg dumbell x16 (+2 reps) (2-3 sec rest between each rep)
single arm lying on back/floor subscap rotation
standing Cuban rotation into press

dip shrug - 5sec hold + 5 reps, BW x 15 reps - not near failure

Single leg standing calf raise machine

warmup - BWx5, 3 plates x 3

1.5 mins rest between each side
1 rep + 20 sec ISO hold at top x 6 plates
up one plate, -10 sec on ISO. Really hard!

Lat machine situp
warmup - each rep progressively lower - 3 secs rest between each BWx10
BW+20lbs x 3, BW+35lbs x 3, BW+45lbs x 8 paused middle and bottom + 2 reps - solid

plus single arm "farmers walk" carrying dumbell to and from the rack, switching arms - about 20 metres. Nice oblique work

 

[coolcolj]

feel a bit sapped, but without that stale feeling

overall achey feeling - glutes, upper hamstring, spinal erectors and upper back/arms extremely sore! Quads and calves less so.

short walk for active recovery

 

[coolcolj]

damn still pretty sore!
I think it will take a good 5 days to recover from the last workout. Big increase in squat tonnage from what I have been using in the last block. 6600+lbs vs 2100-4000lbs

So probably no BBall tommorrow, and I'll see how I feel on Sunday. I have been planning to skip BBall/Jumping this week anyway.

legs and hips feel significantly bigger as well. We'll see on Sunday if that holds up to scrutiny with the measuring tape

 

[coolcolj]

finally not feeling so sore - and it's a great day, perfect weather and temp...

I've been doing release work with a cricket ball against the wall on my entire back for a while now. And I never had any sore spots or trigger points on my lower/mid traps which puzzled me

but a few days ago, I decided to roll that area, and then pull my arm/shoulder forward on that side to put the back into a stretched position and BAM, ouch major trigger point activity shows up! The whole lower/mid trap area is infested with sore spots!
And I also dug the ball under the scapular a bit as well, and lots of pain to be found.

 

[coolcolj]

Saturday 27th September - Micro Cycle 10 - Week 2 - Day 2


Did some foam rolling at home before heading to the court

Bodyweight = 89.5kg 197lbs in shorts and t-shirt

Outdoor BBall court Complex - one with 8 foot netball rims on the back of each hoop - Nike Free 7.0 Trainer


50 mins total

1) 1) did some dribbling, shooting, moves and low/medium intensity jumps and some dunks on the 8 foot netball rims for 25 mins

2) did max effort jumps of all types for another 25 mins, resting about a 30secs to 1.5min between jumps

The usual crappy Saturday BBall/Jumps session. I wasn't sure if I wanted to do this today, and in hindsight I should have skipped it.

Legs felt like balloons. Jumps felt a little better than last week, but no higher. My usual fatigued state jumps

Just getting the 9'10.5" rim off a run, so a 30" running jump. That's at least 4 inches lower than my current bests on this court and rim!
Vertical jump was around 29.5 inches. Maybe I can hit 32-33 inches now, when I'm fresh....which would mean my squat would have to be around 395lbs

 

[coolcolj]

Sunday 28th September 2008

Crap sleep, and I feel groggy. A little achey all over, but not too bad.
Legs feel tight though. Pulled a muscle in the bottom of my right foot..... makes walking uncomfortable.

weighed 88.9kg 195.6lbs this morning
waist is 34 inches around belly button

With this Body-Mass Index, Waist-to-Height Ratio and More...
it puts me at 13.6% bodyfat
Tanita scale = 22.7%

measurements straight out of bed as well
Wrist - 6 5/8 inches
Ankle - 8.75

Arms - flexed 15.25
Chest - lats flexed 43.5 (+0.5)
Hips/Glutes - 40.5
Thighs - 27 (+0.5)
Calves - flexed 16 1/8 (+1/8)

Weight is up a little and waist is the same.
Legs are bigger as I suspected, they sure look and feel it!
The is probbaly the biggest my legs have ever been at this waist size and bodyfat %. I've had my legs as big as 29-30 inches, but I was much fatter then.

So potentially I should be the strongest I've ever been on squats, deadlifts and powercleans. And eventually jump much higher when I freshen up
I think my legs will need to hit 29 inches for me to squat 405x8. My shorts and pants start to get tight around then, and thighs start to rub excessively, they rub a bit already, but getting leaner should drop 2 inches off em and get them back down to 27. So it's all good

 

[coolcolj]

Wednesday 1st October - Block 10 - Week 2 - Day 1 - Workout B

I was supposed to train yesterday, but I didn't feel like it. And for once I listened to my body! I felt much better today, that certain stronger kind of feeling, and most importantly I woke up with morning wood
Still felt pretty tried and sleepy though from lack of quality sleep.

Skipping was horrible again. Not sure why...maybe the big increase in squat loading and volume is killing my fine motor control....

Dropped the calf raise ISO from this workout. Only doing em every 2 weeks now

Left then gym feeling totally exhausted. High reps with relatively heavy weights on squats, going to near failure, does that to you!
Along with all the other crap I did.

Foam rolled at home before heading to the gym

Body weight at gym - 199lbs
Workout time - 1.5 hours
Workout rating - 8/10

General warm up -

4 min moderate speed walk on treadmill

1 set each of my usual dynamic mobility exercises
behind the neck band pull aparts - green mini-band help 3/4 length 2x8
lateral deep lunge x8
situp complex on swiss ball
single leg RDL mobility + psoas activation walk
2 short runs of low effort prime times (stiff legged runs)

A few sets of hops in place - 2 legged and then single legged
3x10 seconds rope skipping - 2 legged then 5 reps single leg, each leg, then alternating legs - 30secs rest

45lb oly bar complex - slow clean pull, GM onto toes, high hang powerclean, military press - 5 reps each


Low bar Full Back Squats - shoulder width stance - Oly Shoes - no Belt


warmups - 45 seconds rest between double sets on the same weight. Then 2-3min rest between each weight increase

in Nike Free 5.0 trainer - Bar x 8, 95x4, x2, 135lbs 2x2, 185lbs x2, switched to oly shoes 205x2, 225x2, 255x1, 285x1, 305 x 2 sec support

controlled
1) 305lbs x 8 --> hard strain on last rep
rest 6.5 mins

2) 305lbs x 8 --> close to gut busting strain on last rep

Felt fairly strong today, not bad considering I haven't squatted since 8 days ago. First set of 305lbs was continuous and piston like. 2nd set a little more disjointed. Took a few breaths on the final rep on the 2nd set.

2nd set was brutal! Even after 6.5 mins rest, my heart rate was still racing and me breathing hard after the first set. My VMO, upper rectus femoris where it connects to my hips, along with my glutes and spinal erectors were hammered and pumped like hell. Hamstrings were worked to, but I never feel them during or after squatting, but they sure get sore the next day.

Good for 9 reps with 305lbs today if I went all out. So I should be able to do at least 315x7, a gain of 1 rep from the last block, a few weeks back, but more like 315x8, and 335x6 --> also a gain of 1 rep from a few weeks back.
Not too shabby. This proves you can certainly improve leg strength training once a week.

Finally squatting a touch over 1.5x bodyweight for 8 reps. Next goal is 1.75x for 8, 350lbs. Then eventually 2x for 8.....
305x9, 315x8, 335x6 = 390lbs 1RM on the rep calculator. So pretty close to my estimate I posted in my BBall/Jumps session of 395. I guess that means I'm just about at 2x bodyweight squat, and good for a 32.5 inch vertical jump when I'm fresh, according to my VJ formula - sweet
http://www.higher-faster-sports.com/verticaljumpcalculator.html
Enough to curl the tips of my fingers over a 10 foot rim standing, and at least the middle of my hand off a short slow run, 36+ inches

rested 10 mins before moving on


Single leg kneeling Deadlift

1.5 mins rest between each side - weight on balls of feet, emphasis on big toe
- 2 sec pause at bottom - BW x 5, 2x50lb dumbbells x 8

Felt surprisingly good given the brutal squat sets.


Upper body/shoulder prehab stuff

Low incline dumbell face pull to forehead - elbows at 90 degrees, palms facing with a hold at top - 2x2kg x 3, 2x5kg dumbbells x 18 (+1kg +2 reps)(2-3sec rest between each rep)

close grip triangle Push up - feet elevated on 14 inch seat - paused top and bottom x 11 --> hard strain on last rep
elevated my feet and boy, did it feel a ton harder! Not just on the pressing muscles, but my scapulars/cuffs etc were hammered too

single arm lying on back/floor subscap rotation
6kg dumbell x18 (+2 reps) (2-3sec rest between each rep)


Side Plank hold - top leg elevated warmup - supported leg raises x 8

30 secs each side - up 5 secs

elevating the upper leg makes it twice as hard! Ouch

 

[coolcolj]

had a lot of problems sleeping last night. Combo of warm weather and jacked up system.

No surprises, I feel like I've slammed this morning. Definitely stale and beat up, and bit draineded
I'm really sore in my glutes and upper hammies, plus spinal erectors all the way up the back and my upper back muscles/cuffs etc.
Calves, abs and quads to a lesser extent.
The soreness I have sure feels different to what I got from last week with the mulitple low rep sets. It feels a lot deeper and more bruising, like someone smashed me with a sledge hammer...

may go for a short walk for active recovery, depends if I feel in the mood to do so

 

[coolcolj]

Sunday 5th October 2008

Feel groggy today. First time I got over 7 hours sleep last night. Sleep this week has been terrible. Just been so hot, and I keep walking up, plus I had to get up extra early yesterday. So recovery has not been great.

I was still really sore in my posterior chain yesterday, and even feel a bit sore today. Not sure if I should BBall and jump today. It's wet, so will have to head to an inddoor court for the first time in a while.

weighed 89kg 195.8lbs this morning
waist is 34.5 inches around belly button

With this Body-Mass Index, Waist-to-Height Ratio and More...
it puts me at 14.6% bodyfat
Tanita scale = 23.5%

measurements all the same, except my waist has gone up. And the BF% in both cases is up....
And I feel fatter too. Getting a pot belly. Like all the fat gain is all visceral fat in the organs...

 

[coolcolj]

Sunday 5th October - Block 10 - Week 3 - Day 2

cool, damp day. So I tried out that NSBA indoor court complex for the first time. It was pretty busy as hell.

Pretty tired, a little sore and definitely fatigued from squatting

Did some foam rolling at home before heading to the court. Some was done yesterday as well

Bodyweight = 89.5kg 197lbs in shorts and t-shirt

NSBA Indoor Basketball court complex - Nike Free 7.0 Trainer


1 hour 10 mins total

1) did some dribbling, shooting, moves and low/medium intensity jumps for 45 mins

2) did max effort jumps of all types for another 15 mins, resting about a 30secs to 1.5min between jumps

3) did continuous all out moves, shooting, tips ins etc for another 10 mins

this place has 4 full indoor courts, but most of them had been taken over by badminton games!!! I started some easy shooting on a proper rim, then had to move to a rim on the side of the court walls, when it got taken over by someone who booked it for a badminton game...

This side rim appeared to be 10 foot. And when I started doing my jumps against it, I was grabbing it pretty easy off a short, slow run, 2 knuckles over with one hand. And 1.5 inches under with 2 hands. Touch it off a step, and about an 1.5 under standing. Could hit my head on the nets easy, off 3 steps.
Horrible off 1 leg, like 6 inches under the rim....although I did use a pretty short/slow run up.
I later measured it and it was 9'10.5" - LOL no wonder.

One thing that struck me was how bouncey the wooden floors are. Made it hard to dribble, because it takes the energy out of the ball bounce! Unlike the concrete outdoor courts I'm used to.
Does make it a easier on the body though, especially the one legged jumps. But it has to add extra spring to your jump as well!
I didn't drop off on my jump height nearly as fast as on outdoor courts

Later on a proper rim was free and I did a few jumps on it, and the last 10 min hit out. I was able to touch the rim off a run, and I was pretty tired by now.

With the jumps on the 9'10.5" rim measured against my 7'4" reach.
I hit 32.5 off a run, 30.5 off a step, 29 vertical jump, and a horrible 24 off one leg
So I did jump better than last week, around 2 inches for the moving jumps. In the same, and probably more fatigued and sleepy state. Now I'm wondering if it's because of the springy wooden floors...maybe they do add an extra 2 inches

Right now I'm jumping 2 inches under my recent best across the board, and around 4 inches under what my vertical jump formula says I should be doing for my squat.
So in theory, if I deloaded right now, I should move up my vertical jump up to where my running jump is today, and get my running jump up to 36.5, middle of hand on 10 foot rim. Although I should be stronger by then, so may get even higher.

And maybe a couple extra for the springy floor when I test in this indoor court
I might start alternating indoor and outdoor courts. The different give off the surfaces might do something positive

 

[coolcolj]

Wednesday 8th October - Block 10 - Week 4 - Day 1 - Workout A

Pretty good workout, felt strong, even though I didn't get much sleep last night, but a nap before going helped a lot.

Skipping was crap again this week.....

Foam rolled at home before heading to the gym, did my quads yesterday though, just calves, glutes and upper back today

Body weight at gym - 199lbs
Workout time - 1.5 hours
Workout rating - 8/10

General warm up -

3 min moderate speed walk on treadmill

1 set each of my usual dynamic mobility exercises
behind the neck band pull aparts - green mini-band help 3/4 length 2x8
lateral deep lunge x8
situp complex on swiss ball
single leg RDL mobility + psoas activation walk
2 short runs of low effort prime times (stiff legged runs)

A few sets of hops in place - 2 legged and then single legged
3x10 seconds rope skipping - 2 legged then 5 reps single leg, each leg, then alternating legs - 30secs rest

45lb oly bar complex - slow clean pull, GM onto toes, high hang powerclean, military press - 5 reps each


Low bar Full Back Squats - shoulder width stance - no Belt - Nike Free 5.0 Trainer + Oly shoes

warmups - 45 seconds rest between double sets on the same weight. Then 2-3min rest between each weight increase

in Nike Free 5.0 trainer - BWx8, Bar x 8, 95lbs x4, x2, 135lbs 2x2, 185lbs 2x2, switched to oly shoes 205x2, 225x2, 255 2x1, 285x1, 315x1, 350 x 2 sec support

1) 350lbs x 2 (90% of estimated 1RM - 390lbs) --> hard strain on 2nd rep
3 mins rest

2) 5 sets of 2 - 85% of 1RM - 3 mins rest
330lbs

I had thought about deloading today and just doing 2x3 with 65-70%, but I felt strong, so I canned that and did something else!
350lbs felt pretty solid, a lot more stable walking out weights over 315lbs now. Getting stronger and stronger, 5lbs a week, just gotta keep it going

Even though intensity is up today, volume/tonnage is lower than the last 2 weeks.
2 weeks back - 335x2 (90%), 320x2 (85%), 265 6x3 (70%) = 6080lbs
last week - 305lbs 2x8 = 4880lbs
today = 4000lbs

So it sorta acts like a deload anyway, and next week I'll just do a single all out set with 355lbs maybe and that will drop the volume even more, down below 2000lbs tonnage.

Hopefully that will freshen me up enough to hit a 33 inch vertical jump and 37 off a run. I'm certainly strong enough to jump that high, since I'm squatting around 2x Bodyweight now.

Video of worksets - seem to be using quads more these days...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDpGMs374EQ


Upper body/shoulder prehab stuff

Low incline dumbell face pull to forehead - elbows at 90 degrees, palms facing with a hold at top -
2x1kg x 3, 2x3kg x 3 , 2x5kg dumbbells x 19 (+1rep)(2-3sec rest between each rep)

6kg dumbell x19 (+1 rep) (2-3 sec rest between each rep)
1) standing Cuban rotation into press
2) single arm face down on bench subscap rotation - hold at top

dip shrug - 10sec hold + 5 reps - not near failure


Single leg standing calf raise machine

warmup - BWx5, 3 plates x 3, 5plates x 3

1.5 mins rest between each side
weight on big toe, all toes crunched down, legs straight, glute contracted
1 rep + 30 sec ISO hold at top x 5 plates

dropped one plate down


Lat machine situp
warmup - each rep progressively lower - 3 secs rest between each BWx10
BW+20lbs x 3, BW+35lbs x 3, BW+55lbs x 6 paused middle and bottom (+10lbs -2 reps)

plus single arm "farmers walk" carrying dumbell to and from the rack, switching arms - about 20 metres.

 

[coolcolj]

Thursday 16th October - Block 10 - Week 5 - Day 1 - Workout B

I was supposed to train yesterday, but I felt dead tired and beat up from only having 5 hours sleep and all the jumping Sunday.
I decide to listen to my body and do the workout today - good decision because I finally nailed a new squat PR! Happy, Happy, joy joy!!!!

Skipping was great today - I wonder why?
I notice a definite correlation between my ability to skip well and nervous system fatigue levels...

Deload workout, so just one all out set on squats, cuts the volume way down. And also no upper body work.

Foam rolled at home before heading to the gym

Body weight at gym - 199lbs
Workout time - 45 mins
Workout rating - 8/10

General warm up -

4 min moderate speed walk on treadmill

1 set each of my usual dynamic mobility exercises
behind the neck band pull aparts - green mini-band help 3/4 length 2x8
lateral deep lunge x8
situp complex on swiss ball
single leg RDL mobility + psoas activation walk
2 short runs of low effort prime times (stiff legged runs)

A few sets of hops in place - 2 legged and then single legged
3x10 seconds rope skipping - 2 legged then 5 reps single leg, each leg, then alternating legs - 30secs rest

45lb oly bar complex - slow clean pull, GM onto toes, high hang powerclean, military press - 5 reps each


Low bar Full Back Squats - shoulder width stance - Oly Shoes - no Belt


warmups - 45 seconds rest between double sets on the same weight. Then 2-3min rest between each weight increase

in Nike Free 5.0 trainer - Bar x 8, 95x4, x2, 135lbs 2x2, 185lbs 2x2, switched to oly shoes 205x2, 225x2, 255x1, 285x1, 315x1, 335x1, 365 x 2 sec support

365lbs x 4 (NEW PR!) --> gut busting 1.5 sec strain at sticking point on last rep

WOot! I'm officially stronger than I have ever been at any bodyweight!
365lbs felt pretty good on my back, and not too wobbly walking it out.
That 4th rep was the slowest rep for me ever, strained about 1.5 seconds at the sticking point, and felt like failing, but somehow managed to push harder and up it went....maybe I don't push as hard as I am capable of...I'm usually, not so good at straining for long...very interesting....

Rep calculator puts 365lbs x 4 at a 398lb 1RM. Exactly 2x Bodyweight with shoes and clothing on!
Would have gotten 355x5 today, which is up 20lbs from the 335x5 I did exactly one month ago. 5lbs a week baby...1 workout a week.....Won't be long now till I start cranking reps with 405lbs, double bodyweight for reps....

I now have enough horsepower to vertical jump 33.5 inches, 35.5 off a step, and 37.5 off a run. Just a matter of getting fresh enough to display it

also focused more on gripping the floor/shoes with my toes, which activated the glutes much better

video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzbebgqC7cI

Single leg kneeling Deadlift

1.5 mins rest between each side - weight on balls of feet, emphasis on big toe, toes crunched down gripping floor
- 2 sec pause at bottom - BW x 5,
BW x 12 each leg

no load, just get some blood flow in there. Made my obliques and entire chain from toes to spinal erectors pump like crazy!

 

[coolcolj]

Had problems sleeping last night - jacked up CNS!
While I don't feel drained, I certainly feel a little spent.

A little sore all over as well, but legs and hips not as sore as usual. Spinal erectors all the way up, are the most sore.
Upper body is quite sore though, even though I didn't directly train it. Low bar squats stress the upper body a lot more that's for sure.

 

[coolcolj]

Sunday 19th October 2008

no changes in weight or waist size, but I look leaner somehow.

weighed 89.1kg 196lbs this morning
waist is 34.5 inches around belly button

With this Body-Mass Index, Waist-to-Height Ratio and More...
it puts me at 14.6% bodyfat
Tanita scale = 23.2%


measurements straight out of bed
Wrist - 6 5/8 inches
Ankle - 8.75

Arms - flexed 15.25
Chest - lats flexed 43.5
Hips/Glutes - 40.5
Thighs - 27
Calves - flexed 16.5 (+1/8)

much the same as 2 weeks ago, except my calves have gone bigger since last week. No hard to see why, I've been making more of effort to stay on the balls of my feet

if I can keep things as it is now, until I hit 405x5 on the full squat, then I'm gonna start soar for a bulky guy. 455lb 1RM, enough horsepower for a 38 inch vertical jump and 42 off a run!

 

[coolcolj]

Saturday 25th October - Block 10 - Week 6 - Day 1

Did some foam rolling at home before heading to the court

Bodyweight = 89kg 196lbs in shorts and t-shirt

Outdoor BBall court Complex - one with 8 foot netball rims on the back of each hoop - Nike Free 7.0 Trainer


45 mins total

1) 1) did some dribbling, shooting, moves and low/medium intensity jumps and some dunks on the 8 foot netball rims for 30 mins

2) did max effort jumps of all types for another 15 mins, resting about a 30secs to 1.5min between jumps

felt a little run down like I have been feeling whenever I play on Saturday afternoons. I didn't feel like playing today at first, energy seem to leave me in the afternoon. But a 30 min nap helped a little

Anyway the usual crappy jumps
No energy, no pop, and nowhere near my current bests in any jump type. Real low across the board. I don't know what's going on..

Gonna have to go through my log and see what the circumstances were when I just jumping good. Right now I just feel weak, no explosion and power in my legs at all, even if I did squat a best of 365x4 last week....
One thing I have noticed, my quads feel a lot smaller. May have something to do with it, I don't know.

I last jumped my best on the 7th of September in the last block. d**n 1.5 months ago and it's been downhill ever since!! That's the week I squatted 325x6 for one all out set. Did a 31 inch vertical jump and about 35 off a run.

main thing though - the hyper feeling is not there, like when I jump my best

 

[coolcolj]

Sunday 26th October 2008

Feel ok, not too sore in the lower body. Upper traps are pretty hammered though

weighed 88.6kg 195lbs this morning
waist is 34.25 inches around belly button

With this Body-Mass Index, Waist-to-Height Ratio and More...
it puts me at 14.2% bodyfat
Tanita scale = 22.6% (-0.6%)

the last 3 days of accidental intermittent fasting did something
I've been so busy and occupied during the day I don't end up eating, and then I pig out at night to make up
Waist down 1/4 inch, body down a pound. 4-5lbs per inch of waist for me...looks about right. Judging by the measurements below, it's all fat.


measurements straight out of bed
Wrist - 6 5/8 inches
Ankle - 8.75
Neck - 16

Arms - flexed 15.25
Chest - lats flexed 43.5
Hips/Glutes - 41 (+0.5)
Thighs - 27
Calves - flexed 16.25

Waist is down, but no major changes anywhere, so mostly just visceral fat and maybe water loss. Who knows, but I look noticeable leaner.
Now my glutes went up half an inch. All this time I've been squatting in this block there were no changes, but on the week I drop the volume and rest up, plus get leaner, it jumps up.

Quads may feel smaller, but the mirror and tape measure says otherwise, they still look pretty darn big

The only thing I can think of that is causing a big drop in in my jumping, is the big increase in squatting volume/tonnage and load, in this block vs the last one. On the weeks where I only did one all out set on squats in the last block my jump improved or was near my recent bests.

Now I did deload a bit in the last week and a bit, volume wise, and took a good 9 days off any training, but I still don't feel explosive yet. I think it may take a further 1-3 weeks of reduced volume training, and maybe load, before I fully rebound back.

We'll see. I know one other guy who has the same issue, it takes him a good 3-4 weeks after heavy squatting, before his jump returns to it's peak or improves

 

[coolcolj]

Tuesday 28th October - Block 11 - Week 1 - Day 1 - Workout A

Starting a new block today - deload a bit, cut down the squatting volume so that my system can rebound back and jump at my full potential. Because of all the fatigue from the higher volume/tonnage from the last block, I'm jumping quite a bit lower than my last bests 1.5 months ago, 31 inch vertical jump, 35 inch running jump. On Top of that, since I'm around a 2xBW full squat, I'm good for a 33 inch VJ and 37 running jump now.
Hope to hit that in a few weeks time as my system freshens up, and maybe higher if I get stronger which would be logical as fatigue drops...

Body weight at gym - 200lbs
Workout time - 45 mins
Workout rating - 8/10

General warm up -

4 min moderate speed walk on treadmill

1 set each of my usual dynamic mobility exercises
behind the neck band pull aparts - green mini-band help 3/4 length 2x8
lateral deep lunge x8
situp complex on swiss ball
single leg RDL mobility + psoas activation walk
4 short runs of low effort prime times (stiff legged runs)

A few sets of hops in place - 2 legged and then single legged
3x10 seconds rope skipping - 2 legged then 5 reps single leg, each leg, then alternating legs - 30secs rest

45lb oly bar complex - slow clean pull, GM onto toes, high hang powerclean, military press - 5 reps each

Jumps

Did 6 sets of 3 jumps before I started squatting, and inbetween the earlier warmup sets up till 185lbs. First 3 sets were lower effort warmup ones, getting harder/higher each set

The highest few vertical jumps got my fingers an inch "into" the 9'8" ceiling in the stairwell. So a 29 inch VJ with my 7'4" reach. Felt pretty easy, but 2 inches lower than my recent best, and about 4 lower than where I should be for my strength levels.

The 3 step jumps in the video were obviously a lot higher off course. Banging my head way above the 8 feet ceiling

Felt pretty good overall. Hip flexors were tight today, felt a bit of resistance and pump from em when jumping



Low bar Full Back Squats - shoulder width stance - Oly Shoes - no Belt

in Nike Free 5.0 trainer - Bar x 8, 95lbs x3, 135x2, 185x2
switched to oly shoes 205x2, 225x2, 255x1, 285x1, 315x1, 335 x 2 sec support

335lbs x 6 (+1 rep) --> hard strain on last rep

Not bad, added one rep to my 335x5 back on the 16th September, and the 6th rep was not as hard as the 5th rep back then. Possibly one gut busting 7th rep in the tank. Since I haven't squatted in almost 2 weeks, no need to kill myself trying for it on the first workout back. 335x7 = 405lbs on the rep calculator
335x6 today = an easier 365x4, especially the last rep was really slow when I set that PR 2 weeks ago. So I think I've actually gotten a little stronger since then

Not bad considering the jumps I did earlier. The jumping did help me warmup faster.

---


Video of vertical jumps, and some 3 step jumps etc, plus main squat set

YouTube - 28th October 2008 - Jumps + Low Bar Full Squat 335lbs x 6

 

[coolcolj]

Feeling pretty good so far, soreness is down alot today, mostly in my spinal erectors, and some residual aches in my hammies and glutes.
A lot fresher feeling 2 days after my workout than in the last block.
Glutes are very active as well, they seemed to have turned off in the last block for some reason

I thought about doing some core and upper body work today, but I won't now. I'll slowly introduce them next week in my only gym session of the week i think

 

[coolcolj]

Saturday 1st November - Block 11 - Week 1 - Day 2

Did some foam rolling at home before heading to the court

Bodyweight = 89.8kg 197.5lbs in shorts and t-shirt

Gore Hill Outdoor BBall court - 9'7" - Nike Free 7.0 Trainer


45 mins total

1) 1) did some dribbling, shooting, moves and low/medium intensity jumps and for 25 mins

2) did max effort jumps of all types for another 20 mins, resting about a 30secs to 3 mins between jumps

Cool overcast day, getting sick of the usual court I go to, so decided to head to this court that is a slightly sloped surface. The rim is quite a lot lower, 9'7".
Only has one rim, the other side is broken

Felt ok, but posterior chain is still sore from last workout and my left spinal erector was feeling pretty strained. Feeling a little bit more explosive now, but definitely not fresh yet. I will have to lower the squat weights next session, down to 285lbs I think, around the 70% range and just do a 2x3 or something

I jumped ok, still not as high as I should be for my current strength levels, so still fatigued. But I didn't feel sluggish like in the last few BBall sessions.
Overall running jump was 2 inches higher than the last time I came here a few months back, so that's good, but it should be more like 6 inches higher.

Could get the middle of my hand on the rim off a slow short running jump, and touch the top with 2 hands. Tried dunking a small ball, and I can only roll it across the rim, not high enough yet to push it down.
Still I'm getting close to be able to start using the court for dunk practise instead of those ghetto 8 foot netball rims!
Standing and one step jumps about the same as last time, can curl finger tips over it standing and 2 knuckles over it off a step. Can't even touch the rim off a running one leg jump

Some skateboarders came by and interrupted things, a few tried jumping up, the shortest one there could get as high as me, touch wise, he was 5'8" a little shorter than me, but he is like a stick, said he weighed 70kg 154lbs, and when we compared reach, his arms could reach at least 3 inches higher than me! 7'7"-7'8" reach vs my 7'4".
So I'm still more powerful than him at 20kg 44lbs more bodyweight and 3-4 inches less reach, even in a fatigued state
Turns out he used to do a jumping program, and could get about 2 knuckles onto a 10 feet rim, about the same as my recent highest, but I'm due for 4 more inches when I'm fresh.

So this 5'8" guy has a 7'7"-7'8". And one of the 5'5" skaters had the same reach as me! Gives you an idea how stumpy my arms are at 5'8.5" with a 7'4" reach stretching up as hard as I can when warmed up.
So when a 6' - 6'1" guy claims a 7'8" reach I just don't think they measure it properly..... and that inflates their claimed verts.....

 

[coolcolj]

Sunday 2nd November 2008

Feel ok, upper back not as sore as it usually is. My posterior chain, hamstrings and spinal erectors especially are moderately sore.
Nothing else is too bad, but I didn't do as much jumping yesterday, longer rests between each jump and I left before I got too tired.
Going more for quality now.

weighed 89.5kg 197lbs this morning
waist is 34.5 inches around belly button

With this Body-Mass Index, Waist-to-Height Ratio and More...
it puts me at 14.5% bodyfat
Tanita scale = 23.5%(+0.9%)

measurements straight out of bed
Wrist - 6 5/8 inches
Ankle - 8.75
Neck - 15.5 (-0.5)


Arms - flexed 15.25
Forearms - flexed 12
Chest - lats flexed 43.5
Hips/Glutes - 41
Thighs - 27
Calves - flexed 16.25

Waist is back up to my usual 34.5, weight as well. Just regaining some lost water I suspect. Neck measurement down, I probably didn't measure it properly last week.
The usual BF% and weight range for me. So far so good, I'm maintaining things pretty well. If I can keep things here till I hit a 525lb full squat, 455x6, 425x8 then I'll be strong enough to reach my jump and dunk goals, and then lean down to 180lbs and fly! I want 405x8 at least though, regardless of when I hit my jump/dunk goals

I feel like I should keep going on ahead and pushing my squat up, instead of deloading fully and try and peak my jump. I really need to be squatting 2xBW for reps before I can jump decent. Deloading fully will waste precious weeks....

 

[coolcolj]

Tuesday 4th November - Block 11 - Week 2 - Day 1 - Workout A

Whether I wanted to or not, I was forced to really deload today!
Absolutely crappy workout. I felt crap and tired as hell on the way to the gym, and that's how the workout turned out.

Poor sleep and diet the last few days, to blame.

Body weight at gym - 199lbs
Workout time - 40 mins
Workout rating - 5/10

General warm up -

4 min moderate speed walk on treadmill

1 set each of my usual dynamic mobility exercises
behind the neck band pull aparts - green mini-band help 3/4 length 2x8
lateral deep lunge x8
situp complex on swiss ball
single leg RDL mobility + psoas activation walk
4 short runs of low effort prime times (stiff legged runs)

A few sets of hops in place - 2 legged and then single legged
3x10 seconds rope skipping - 2 legged then 5 reps single leg, each leg, then alternating legs - 30secs rest

45lb oly bar complex - slow clean pull, GM onto toes, high hang powerclean, military press - 5 reps each

Jumps

Did 6 sets of 2 jumps before I started squatting, and inbetween the earlier warmup sets up till 185lbs. First 3 sets were lower effort warmup ones, getting harder/higher each set

The highest jump was 3 inches under the 9'8" ceiling, 4 inches lower than last week - and 6 under my current best. A dismal 25 inches... 8 under where I should be! Jumps felt ok, just no lift.


Low bar Full Back Squats - shoulder width stance - Oly Shoes - no Belt

in Nike Free 5.0 trainer - Bar x 8, 95lbs x3, 135lbs 2x2, 185lbs 2x2
switched to oly shoes 205lbs 2x2, 225x2, 255x1, 285x1

285lbs x 2 --> hard strain on last rep

Well everything felt pretty bad compared to my better workouts. Weights felt heavy on my back, and form was crap.
285lbs felt like a 3RM! Stopped on the 2nd rep and left the gym straight away.
Should have stopped at 255lbs, as it felt really hard.

Goes to show, the nervous system controls everything.
Lack of strength is reflected directly in my lack of hops as well.

 

[coolcolj]

Got my first 7.5+ hour sleep last night, in a few weeks. Felt good, but I still feel crappy.
Need a week of this, and I should be jumping and squatting good.
7 hours is like the bare minimum for me.

The rot started a few weeks back.
Sleep is more important than food, and even what you do, when you train. Something that I need to keep hammering into my head.

You can even just sit on your bum all day, and get 5 hours sleep and feel like your overtrained after a few days, even if you didn't do anything!

 

[coolcolj]

Need more proof squatting is good for your hops?

quoting Kelly Baggett

In one instance I had a client that I felt had way too many movement dysfunctions to ever benefit from increased strength. The guy was fairly strong and thick but didn't move very smooth and anyone who watched him would probably say the same thing. In a little more than a year he'd gotten up to around a 300 pound squat, weighed 170 pounds and gone from a 22 to 26 inch vertical jump. At this point I thought if he ever wanted to further improve as an athlete the guy should spend most of his time working on mobility, activation, and movement work and less on strength training. At this point he decided to stop sports training and take up bodybuilding. A year later his bodyweight was up 20 pounds, his squat was up almost 100 pounds, and he hadn't done any sports or movement related stuff in almost a year. He then told me he wanted to get back into vert training and I fully expected him to look like a trainwreck. After a couple of weeks of deloading and working back into some jump training he proceeded to go out and hit a 35 inch jump and easily dunk for the first time, so obviously my original assumptions were wrong. After observing a couple of more instances like that I realized I'd fallen into functional overanalyzation trap of the modern day strength and conditioning coach. This type of movmement impairment overanlyzation doesn't take place in sports like gymnastics and martial arts but people still improve just fine. Train with good form, play your sport, become aware of what proper movement feels and looks like, and most of the activation stuff will work itself out. To clarify I'm also not against the use of various progressions to ensure good form like you like to use. What I'm against is the notion that training for athletes and training for people coming out of joint replacement surgery needs to be the same

He's 5'10 185. I'm not sure of his exact reach but it's not that high. I believe he has to jump around 30 inches just to hit the rim. One thing about him is his body-fat is still the same now at 185 as it was when he weighed 170. He went all the way up to 205 at one point and then spent about 6 months cutting down to 185. It was at that point he decided to get back into vert training. I was still really surprised with his progress but that goes to show you how important basic strengyh is

impressive gains, just from bodybuilding as well

as I said before, it doesn't matter how you get the strength,
muscle mass/strength is muscle mass and strength
A bigger muscle is a stronger muscle.

We all know that, but plenty of people are paranoid of gaining weight and using bodybuilding methods.
All strength training does is teach the body to use it's existing muscle size better.
And the strength gain will always out number the muscle mass increase weight, if you train right.

No matter how much you trick out a 2 litre 4 cyclinder engine, and try to make it more effecient and rev higher, it can never beat a 6 litre v12 for raw torque, even if the V12 is a lot bigger and heavier....

Horsepower is horsepower, just get it no matter how you do it. Then when you teach your body to apply it, movement efficiency, the end result is the same.

 

[coolcolj]

another day of 7+ hour sleep under my belt, plus a 2 hour nap, and things feel even better, but still tired/sleepy feeling. Getting woken up by alarm probbaly does that to you, won't be till Sunday that I can sleep as long as I want

Twinges in my knee when walking downstairs in the morning are gone, lower spinal erector achey pain and lower back pain is gone - wow. The last few weeks I've had to do a whole warmup to just bend over the sink and wash my face first thing in the morning at 3:30am so I don't blow out my lower back, didn't have to bother this morning.
Glutes are firing like crazy when standing and just moving around. Big contrast

probably all symptoms of accumlated incomplete recovery, not just muscular/joint wise but CNS as well. Sleep is important me thinks...

 

[coolcolj]

Saturday 8th November - Block 11 - Week 2 - Day 2

Did some foam rolling at home before heading to the court

Bodyweight = 90kg 198lbs in shorts and t-shirt

Gore Hill Outdoor BBall court - 9'7" - Nike Free 7.0 Trainer


45 mins total

1) 1) did some dribbling, shooting, moves and low/medium intensity jumps and for 25 mins

2) did max effort jumps of all types for another 20 mins, resting about a 30secs to 2 mins between jumps. Plus a few dunk attempts with a small ball.

Cool overcast day

While I didn't feel fresh, because of my part time job, I felt decent enough. Fairly light on my feet, and explosive. No sluggish feeling etc.

Jumps felt good, a little higher on the standing and one step jumps compared to last week, but running jumps more or less about the same. Touching top of rim with 2 hands, middle of the hand with one hand with my funky hoping leg plant. Can even grab the rim with an awkward right/left plant with a small hop
Dunks attempt with small ball still going over the rim.

Tried a dunk attempt with a full size ball, planting right left off a dribble (my usual technique), and I can tap the top of the rim, with the ball shooting off
So I loose about 4 inches when dunking like that compared to max running jump height. Will need to touch the middle of my forearm on the rim to be able to dunk off a dribble, when the time comes.
Practised a few lob alley opps as well, timing is getting a little better

I think this is about as high as I'm gonna jump for now.
So I'm not gonna waste another week deloading. It's still under where I think I should be, but my bodyweight has gone up. So think this is it!
I'm still jumping higher than I have here before in a while

Back to driving up the squat. I just need more strength me thinks!

 

[coolcolj]

Tuesday 11th November - Block 12 - Week 1 - Day 1 - Workout A

Starting a new block today, more strength work. Enough of the deload, and time to drive my squat over 405lbs!
After the disaster that was last week's workout, where 285lbs for a hard for 2 reps on squats, with a week's worth of 7+ hours sleep and naps under my belt, I killed it today. Damn what a turn around today!
Lack of sleep has been my major problem all this time...

I dropped a lot of my usual upper body crap and core work I do after my squats and stuff. I decided to split them off into another workout for now. Shorten workout and save my energy

Body weight at gym - 200lbs
Workout time - 1+ hour
Workout rating - 4/5

General warm up -

4 min moderate speed walk on treadmill

1 set each of my usual dynamic mobility exercises
behind the neck band pull aparts - green mini-band help 3/4 length 2x8
lateral deep lunge x8
situp complex on swiss ball
single leg RDL mobility + psoas activation walk
4 short runs of low effort prime times (stiff legged runs)

A few sets of hops in place - 2 legged and then single legged
3x10 seconds rope skipping - 2 legged then 5 reps single leg, each leg, then alternating legs - 30secs rest

45lb oly bar complex - slow clean pull, GM onto toes, high hang powerclean, military press - 5 reps each


Low bar Full Back Squats - shoulder width stance - Oly Shoes - no Belt

in Nike Free 5.0 trainer - Bar x 8, 95lbs x3, 135lbs 2x2, 185lbs 2x2
switched to oly shoes 205lbs x2, 225x2, 255lbs 2x1, 285lbs 2x1, 315lbs x 2 support

1) 315lbs x 8 --> hard strain on last rep
rest 5.5 mins
2) 315lbs x 8 --> hard strain on last rep

video of 2 main sets
YouTube - 11th November 2008 - Full Squat 315lbs 2x8

WOOT! did 2x8 with 315lbs, up 10lbs from the 305lbs 2x8 I did a few weeks back and much easier too.

The warmups felt pretty crappy, but when I walked out with 315lbs it felt "light" and the first few reps shot up like nothing, like speed weight. I had to resist the temptation to bounce up and down with it, kept the reps and eccentrics nice and controlled. Form on 2nd set was sloppier, the first rep felt so light the bar shot off my back, and started to move everywhere each rep, not just left and right, but from higher bar to lower bar position! Made it a bitch, and hard to stay tight!

Used a narrower stance on the 2nd set, and I felt stronger for it. Rectus femoris, middle quad, was pumped as hell afterwards, as was my spinal erectors.

Damn I owned 315lbs today! First time 315lbs felt like that. Should be able to do 9 reps with it all out. But it was "boring" banging out the reps and waiting for the 8th one to come out!!!!
Another 5-6 more reps and I'll be strong enough to powerclean it with a high catch
Hope my bodyweight stays at 200lbs when that happens, 1.5+ bodyweight powerclean....


rested 7 mins before moving on


Single leg kneeling Deadlift

1.5 mins rest between each side
- 2 sec pause at bottom - BW x 5, 2x33lb dumbbells x 8

getting back into these, much lighter in weight than the last time I did these, with 2x50lb dumbells

 

[coolcolj]

sore as expected, but not as much as I thought. My upper hammies are really sore, followed by my glutes and upper back, and milder aches in the rest of the body. I never seem to feel my glutes get pumped, but they sure get sore the day after.

Most interesting thing - I don't even feel drained at all! That's a big depature from the previous weeks. Considering I'm doing 315lbs for more reps than I have ever done in my life.
I think that tells me that I've been in a slight state of fatigue in all the previous months (years?) becuase of the low level of average weekly sleep....

And I've had long of periods of time in the last few days where I don't eat. Didn't seem to effect my strength. Sleep is more important than food...

 

[coolcolj]

still really really sore!!!! Hamstrings, glutes and spinal erectors all the way up the back

man the way things are going, when I finally reach my jumping goals, I am gonna fly sprint wise as well, due to the way low bar full squats murder my posterior chain better than any other exercise I've ever done! Even though I don't use a wide stance, and my knees go well forward. It really does feel like a better snatch grip deadlift with the bar on your back, despite the fact I'm still pretty upright

 

[coolcolj]

Sunday 16th November 2008

Soreness is finally going away....
I skipped BBall/jumping yesterday, and will do so today, and not bother with it this week. Too sore for it, and not in the mood. I need a break, mentally. Change is good.

I had planned to do a workout for upper body crap and core work, but too sore, and just can't be bothered right now. I am not motivated to train my upper body. Especially in a separate workout


weighed 89kg 196lbs this morning
waist is 34.5 inches around belly button

With this Body-Mass Index, Waist-to-Height Ratio and More...
it puts me at 14.6% bodyfat
Tanita scale = 23.7%(+0.4%)

measurements straight out of bed
Wrist - 6 5/8 inches
Ankle - 8.75
Neck - 15.5

Arms - flexed 15.25
Forearms - flexed 12
Chest - lats flexed 43.5
Hips/Glutes - 41
Thighs - 27 1/8 (+1/8)
Calves - flexed 16.25


Skipped dinner last night, just didn't get around to it
So holding a lot less water. Everything the same, except my legs got bigger!
That's backed up my the Tanita scale reading. It just shoots a signal through your body and measure the resistance to the current. So more body mass = higher BF%. More body mass, Tanita BF%, at same bodyweight and waist size = more muscle

We all know a bigger muscle is a stronger muscle, so it won't be long till I own 405lbs on squats. Just matter of teaching my body how to use it now.
Which my current workout B setup will do the trick. 90% of 1RM x 2, 85% 5 sets of 2 etc. Which I will most likely do this coming workout.

 

[coolcolj]

Tuesday 18th November - Block 12 - Week 1 - Day 1 - Workout B

Slept in an hour too much, so I had hurry to the gym. Didn't get to foam roll before heading there
I sure missed it, some tight muscles. I think it messed form. Didn't feel too strong today, energy level wasn't there.

Didn't have much time to do anything else but squat.

Body weight at gym - 199lbs
Workout time - 1+ hour
Workout rating - 3/5

General warm up -

4 min moderate speed walk on treadmill

1 set each of my usual dynamic mobility exercises
behind the neck band pull aparts - green mini-band help 3/4 length 2x8
lateral deep lunge x8
situp complex on swiss ball
single leg RDL mobility + psoas activation walk
4 short runs of low effort prime times (stiff legged runs)

A few sets of hops in place - 2 legged and then single legged
3x10 seconds rope skipping - 2 legged then 5 reps single leg, each leg, then alternating legs - 30secs rest

45lb oly bar complex - slow clean pull, GM onto toes, high hang powerclean, military press - 5 reps each


Low bar Full Back Squats - shoulder width stance - Oly Shoes - no Belt

in Nike Free 5.0 trainer - 45 secs rest between sets of within each weight - Bar x 8, 95lbs x4, x2, 135lbs 2x2, 185lbs 2x2,
switched to oly shoes 205lbs x2, 225x2, 255lbs 2x1, 285x1, 315x1, 345lbs x 2 support, 345x1, 365lbs x 2 support

1) 365lbs x 2 (90% of estimated 1RM - 405lbs)
3 mins rest

2) 5 sets of 2 - 85% of 1RM - 3 mins rest
345lbs

video of main sets
YouTube - 18th Nov 2008 - Full Squat 365lbs x2, 345lbs 5x2

Didn't feel all that strong today and form wasn't great. Hip drive seemed to be broken, which made me use my quads a lot more causing a pretty pronounced sticking point on every set and rep.

 

[coolcolj]

Saturday 22nd November - Block 12 - Week 2 - Day 2

Skipped the pre-session foam rolling today, had a heavy duty session yesterday. Hamstrings still pretty sore from the squatting 4 days ago...

Bodyweight = 91kg 200lbs in shorts and t-shirt

Willoughby Leisure centre outdoor BBall court complex - Nike Free 7.0 Trainer


50 mins total

1) 1) did some dribbling, shooting, moves and low/medium intensity jumps and for 20 mins

2) did max effort jumps of all types for another 15 mins, resting about a 30secs to 2 mins between jumps

3) 15 mins of dunks on the 8 foot netball rims - off a dribble, off lobs etc
pretty much one after the other

Cool, windy day

Pretty tired today, as usual. I'm glad I skipped BBall/Jumping last week, giving me a good 2 week rest from it, and my whole lower body and feet felt better as a result. Even with the break I was dribbling, shooting and moving much better! Dunks were better too, smoother and more flowing. Will cut back on the BBalling and jumps in light of this, especially right now, where strength gains are more important.

Jumps were pretty crappy overall, lethargic feeling, and lower back was getting tight. But when I moved to the dunks on the 8 foot netball rims, my back loosened up when I took my mind off it....maybe it's a neural thing...

When I do my max effort running jumps, I have some mental and form issues which I feel is robbing me a ton of jump height. I only hit a 31-32 inch running jump with one arm reach today, felt awkward. But later on I did a casual 2 handed running jump, and I got up a lot higher, almost matched my current best here, 34-35 inches.
All the dunks and jumps I did with the ball in my hands and off lobs, felt much smoother and more natural. So the smart thing to do, is to stop doing any running max effort jumps for a few months to unlearn the bad stuff
And only allow jumps with the ball in my hands and within the context of BBalling and dunking etc

Did a few vertical jumps and got about 29.5, crappy!
I could get both my wrists just about to the bottom of the 9 feet backboard, off a standing 2 handed jump, without really trying all that hard and standing a bit forward off the backboard, so my arms at an angle. That surprised me, that's the height I used to get off a run....just need another 12 inches then, and I'll hit my goal of dunking with 2 hands standing under the rim

But really I should be jumping much higher for where my strength levels are right now, at least a 33-34 inch vertical jump and 37-38 off a run!!!!
Bodyweight is up a fair bit, 200lbs, getting fat me thinks
My lowest weight of 188lbs a few months back seems like a distant memory...

 

[coolcolj]

Sunday 23rd November 2008

Feet are pretty sore today, but lower back not too bad.
Overall achey feeling. CNS feels ok


weighed 90.5kg 199lbs this morning
waist is 35 inches around belly button

With this Body-Mass Index, Waist-to-Height Ratio and More...
it puts me at 15.3% bodyfat
Tanita scale = 23.9%(+0.2%)

measurements straight out of bed
Wrist - 6.75 inches
Ankle - 8.75
Neck - 15.75 (+0.25)

Arms - flexed 15 3/8 (+1/8)
Forearms - flexed 12
Chest - lats flexed 44 (+0.5)
Hips/Glutes - 41 1/8 (+1/8)
Thighs - 27.25 (+1/8)
Calves - flexed 16 3/8 (+1/8)

Well it looks like I got fatter, bodyweight up 3lbs from last week, waist up 0.5 inches and 1/8 on everywhere just about.
Skipping BBall last week + more food = fat gain.

Need to start walking more to get it back down!

 

[coolcolj]

Tuesday 25th November - Block 12 - Week 3 - Day 1 - Workout A

Not the best of my workouts, didn't feel that good or strong

I've noticed since I stop doing all my ab work - side planks, pushup (front plank), lat machine sit ups and leg lowering ab move - my lower back has be come over active and tight when I squat and BBall as I mentioned on Sunday.
So I put them back in today. Not just for strength but for proper activation as well. My abs are still fairly strong, but the motor control is not there.

The side planks seem to help the most. My lower back was really tight and pumped from the squats, but the side planks, everything felt good again.

Body weight at gym - 200lbs
Workout time - 1+ hour
Workout rating - 3/5

General warm up -

4 min moderate speed walk on treadmill

1 set each of my usual dynamic mobility exercises
behind the neck band pull aparts - green mini-band help 3/4 length 2x8
lateral deep lunge x8
situp complex on swiss ball
single leg RDL mobility + psoas activation walk
4 short runs of low effort prime times (stiff legged runs)

A few sets of hops in place - 2 legged and then single legged
3x10 seconds rope skipping - 2 legged then 5 reps single leg, each leg, then alternating legs - 30secs rest

45lb oly bar complex - slow clean pull, GM onto toes, high hang powerclean, military press - 5 reps each


Low bar Full Back Squats - shoulder width stance - Oly Shoes - no Belt

in Nike Free 5.0 trainer - most reps paused at the bottom - Bar x 8, 95lbs x5, x2 135lbs 2x2, 185lbs 2x2
switched to oly shoes 205lbs x2, 225x2, 255lbs 2x1, 285lbs 2x1, 315lbs x 2 support, 315x1

1) 325lbs x 8 --> gut busting strain on last rep
rest 5.5 mins
2) 325lbs x 2 --> felt wobbly and unstable, hard reps, stopped it there

All the warmup sets felt terrible, but somehow when I walked out 325, it felt ok and banged out 8 reps. 8th rep was quite hard, so I don't think a 9th rep is possible today.
2nd set felt strange and unstable, and way too hard, so I played it safe and racked it after the 2nd rep. Better safe than sorry, plus I doubt I'd be able to get another 8 reps with it, even 6....

At least I got 325x8, that's what I wanted today. Only 30lbs to go to hit my short term goal 355x8 - 1.75x bodyweight for 8 reps

I'll probably take a crack at 365lbs in 2 weeks time and see if I can get at least 5 reps with it. Will be a nice improvement from the mega gut busting and slow 365x4 I did a few weeks back.

I've been pausing most of my warm up sets, and it doesn't feel too bad, even 315lbs.


Single leg kneeling Deadlift

1.5 mins rest between each side
- 2 sec pause at bottom - BW x 5, 2x33lb dumbbells x 8


Side plank
BW x 5 secs, BW x 40 secs each side - quite tough, worked my cuffs pretty hard too

dip shrug - 5sec hold + 2 reps, BW x 12 reps - not near failure

Single leg standing calf raise machine

warmup - BWx5, 3 plates x 3

1.5 mins rest between each side
1 rep + 20 sec ISO hold at top x 4 plates

Lat machine situp
warmup - each rep progressively lower - 3 secs rest between each BWx12

Leg lowering ab move BW x 9 - slow tempo
kept lower back touching the floor in all reps

 

[coolcolj]

Not as sore this time around after this Workout A, much less sore now 2 days on.
And not as drained, even if I had some pretty bad sleep on the night of the workout, with neighbours keeping em awake till midnight, meaning only 3.5 hours of deep sleep.....
Lots of hamstring and glute DOMS as per usual

my mid erectors have gotten way bigger since I switched over to low back full squats. I've got 2 lumber columns forming under my traps and lats, which I never had before

 

[coolcolj]

Saturday 29th November - Block 12 - Week 3 - Day 2

foam rolling at home before heading to the court. Legs, hips, calves, feet and cuffs/lats

Bodyweight = 91.2kg 200.6lbs in shorts and t-shirt

Willoughby Leisure centre outdoor BBall court complex - Nike Free 7.0 Trainer


55 mins total

1) 1) did some dribbling, shooting, moves and low/medium intensity jumps and for 25 mins

2) 30 mins of max effort jumps, resting about a 30secs to 2 mins between jumps. Plus dunks on the 8 foot netball rims - off a dribble, off lobs etc
pretty much one after the other

Felt ok today, somewhat tired as usual, but a little beter than last week. Also a little heavier as well bodyweight wise. Dribbling good, but shooting was crap.

Jumping not bad. Moving jumps were a little better than last week, but still crap form wise.

I'm using my standing 2 handed jump as my VJ benchmark from now on. I do it against the 9 feet backboard, and standing away from the backboard so I can see where my hands go. Which does take a bit off the jump reach. Got the same as last week, both wrists an inch under the backboard.
Using a steel tape measure, I touched 9'7" with both hands.

Now I measured my 2 handed reach at home at 7'1" standing flush against the wall - 3 inches lower than my single hand reach - stretching up as hard as I can. If I stand back from the wall like how I jumped it drops 1.5 inches at least, from the reach, but when I jump I do propel myself forward, so maybe it doesn't make as much difference then....
Anyway 9'7" - 7'1" = 30 inches. And maybe really 31 taking into account of the angle of the arms reaching forward.

Not bad but still 2-3 inches under where I should be jumping for my strength levels according to my VJ formula usinga 405 squat and 202lb bodyweight ---> Vertical Jump Calculator

About a 9'9.5" touch with 2 hands off a short slow run. Didn't get a good attempt in, too tired byt then

 

[coolcolj]

Sunday 30th November 2008

Good sleep. Overall achey feeling. Spinal erectors and upper back is trashed. Lower back was still somewhat over active yesterday. Feet feel good though - I did some toe crunches, gripping the shoes with my toes when warming up and it got my feet feeling great fast. Usually running around in Nike Frees on the balls of your feet, when my foot muscles are cold doesn't feel too good, but the toe crunches fixed that!


weighed 90.7kg 199.5lbs this morning
waist is 35 inches around belly button

With this http://home.fuse.net/clymer/bmi/
it puts me at 15.3% bodyfat
Tanita scale = 24%(+0.1%)

measurements straight out of bed
Wrist - 6.75 inches
Ankle - 8 7/8
Neck - 15 7/8

Arms - flexed 15.5 (+1/8)
Forearms - flexed 12
Chest - lats flexed 44
Hips/Glutes - 41.5 (+2/8)
Thighs - 27.5 (+0.25)
Calves - flexed 16 3/8

no wonder why I'm heavier, my legs and hips have gotten bigger!
No excuses for my squat not to increase then, except if I don't get enough sleep that is. Looks like my prediction is coming true, my legs will end up at 29 inches for me to full squat 425x8, 525lbs. Then when I lean back down to a 30 inch waist, it should shrink back down to around 27 inches or something.
Another 100lbs on my squat to go, with the 325x8 I did this week.
Should add another 8 inches on my vertical jump. Then lean back down to 180lb will add another 4. That will get me my goal of dunking with 2 hands standing flat footed under the rim.

So you have 2 natural people - one sub 10% bodyfat 210lb guy with a 30 inch leg full squatting 620+lbs, and another lean 250lb guy with a 35+ inch leg full squatting over 750lbs. And both can jump through the roof. So having big legs isn't such a bad thing for my goals. A bigger muscle is a stronger muscle

 

[coolcolj]

Lower back was really tight this morning at my part time job.
I did all my usual stuff to get rid of it, but nothing worked. Then I pressed my upper frontal thigh into the wheel arch of the van to release my quad/recturs femoris, and held it for a good 30 secs, and it hurt like a bitch. very tight. Straight after I felt so loose in my hip region, and my lower back relaxed like nothing happened......

sometimes what you think is causing the problem, is not the source of the pain. Sitting down all day yesterday made my frontal quad area very tight indeed

 

[coolcolj]

Tuesday 2nd December - Block 12 - Week 4 - Day 1 - Workout B

Pretty good and solid workout. Amazing how much stronger I feel when I get a decent level of sleep and naps over the weekend.
Long workout though, but it didn't feel like it.

heavy duty 40 min foam roll session at home before heading to the gym

Body weight at gym - 200lbs
Workout time - 2+ hours
Workout rating - 4/5

General warm up -

4 min moderate speed walk on treadmill

1 set each of my usual dynamic mobility exercises
behind the neck band pull aparts - green mini-band help 3/4 length 2x8
lateral deep lunge x8
situp complex on swiss ball
single leg RDL mobility + psoas activation walk
4 short runs of low effort prime times (stiff legged runs)

A few sets of hops in place - 2 legged and then single legged
3x10 seconds rope skipping - 2 legged then 5 reps single leg, each leg, then alternating legs - 30secs rest

45lb oly bar complex - slow clean pull, GM onto toes, high hang powerclean, military press - 5 reps each


Low bar Full Back Squats - shoulder width stance - Oly Shoes - no Belt

in Nike Free 5.0 trainer - 45 secs rest between sets of within each weight - slight pause at the bottom on most reps - BWx10, Bar x 8, 95lbs x4, 135lbs 2x2, 185lbs 2x2,
switched to oly shoes 205lbs 2x2, 225x2, 255lbs 2x1, 285x1, 315x1, 345lbs x 2 support, 345x1, 375lbs x 2 support

1) 375lbs x 2 (90+% of estimated 1RM - 405lbs)
3 mins rest

2) 7 sets of 3 - 70+% of 1RM - 3 mins rest
295lbs

video of main sets - but only first 4 sets of 295lbs, ran out of camera memory
YouTube - 2nd Dec 2008 - FullSquats 375lbs x2, 295lbs 7x3

Warm Ups felt kinda crappy, but better than last week. 345lb single in warmups felt pretty "easy and light", first time it's felt like that.
375lbs was pretty solid for a double, 2nd rep was quite a bit harder, but can definitely do at least 3 reps with it. Heaviest weight I have ever doubled so far.

295lbs still feels heavy'ish on my back, but I moved every set pretty quickly. Average concentric rep speed was 1 sec. Never moved 295lbs that fast before! And even the 3rd rep of each set didn't slow down that much like it normally would for me. Lower back started to get achey though on the last few sets.

Wonder if I can do 405x2 before he year is out?


Upper body/shoulder prehab stuff

Low incline dumbell face pull to forehead - elbows at 90 degrees, palms facing with a hold at top - 2x2kgx5, 2x3kg x 10

close grip triangle Push up on floor - paused top and bottom x 10

single arm face down on bench subscap rotation - hold at top
3kg x 5, 4kg x 10


Lat machine situp
warmup - each rep progressively lower - 3 secs rest between each BWx10
BW+15lbs x 8

 

[coolcolj]

sore all over, hamstrings, glutes, spinal erectors and upper back extremely sore!
Feel pretty drained as well. I definitely overdid it yesterday. Had problems falling asleep last night and then woke up an hour early

 

[coolcolj]

I'm still really sore and stiff. I most probably will skip BBall/Jumping this week

might deload next week

 

[coolcolj]

Sunday 7th December 2008

Skipped BBall yesterday.
Upper back and traps pretty sore from my part time job. Posterior chain a little achey as well.
I get to rest the next 2 days, which is nice.


weighed 91kg 200lbs this morning
waist is 35 inches around belly button

With this Body-Mass Index, Waist-to-Height Ratio and More...
it puts me at 15.2% bodyfat
Tanita scale = 22.4%(-1.6%)

measurements straight out of bed
Wrist - 6.75 inches
Ankle - 8 7/8
Neck - 16

Arms - flexed 15.5
Forearms - flexed 12.25 (+0.25)
Chest - lats flexed 44
Hips/Glutes - 41.5
Thighs - 27.5
Calves - flexed 16 3/8

Bodyweight has come up a little again, 91kg 200lbs on the dot, but it doesn't appear to be fat gain, just mostly water and a tiny bit of muscle maybe. Forearms have gotten bigger. Tanita scale BF% seems to have dropped quite a bit for some reason

Will go for a walk today and maybe some foam rolling and release work on my upper body and calves.

 

[coolcolj]

A quote from Kelly Baggett. I know Kelly has mentioned this before - but this is the reason why it's a good idea to gain some muscle mass and bodyweight, even if your goal is to ultimately propel your body around. Especially if your not gifted in body structure and leverages. To improve your Fastwitch to Slowtwitch muscle %

------

The appearance of muscle density is just a characteristic of having lots of muscle fiber per unit area in conjunction with low body-fat. In other words, if you and I both have identical forearm length and identical body-fat and your forearms are 15 inches around at the biggest point and mine are 12 you will appear more dense than me. If you look at dogs you'll see that pit bulls, boxers, and bulldogs are all extrmely dense and powerful. They are the mesomorphs of the dog world. People with lots of FT fiber don't tend to naturally do well with endurance work, which extended isos are a form of.


----

Well you can train for muscle density in as much as you can increase your muscle mass and lower your body-fat.

Yes, you can train IIB fibers to endure more, but they adapt by transforming to IIA. The difference between type IIA and IIB fibers isn't worth worrying about from a power/tension standpoint. In fact, if you're only measruing the ability to generate peak force (or maximum strength), fast twitch vs slow twitch ratio doesn't even matter. Rather, it's the total cross sectional area of ALL available fibers that correlates with success.

But anyway, when the IIB are recruited they almost immediately transform into IIA. Athletes don't express IIBs to much of any degree but sedentary people do.

As an athlete, what you really want is a greater proportion of all IIs over type I, since the type IIs do generate more force than type Is in explosive activities.

Someone with more types I's naturally excels at more enduring activities whereas someone with type IIs doesn't. The guy with more type IIs can just engage in more endurance activities, which will transform his IIbs into IIAs, and he'll then have all the benefits of greater type II fiber but with more endurance.

The guy with more type I's can really only increase his type IIs through hypertrophy. Take someone with a 50/50 ratio of slow to fast muscles in the thigh. Say he has a 20 inch thigh. Get his legs up to 25 inches and that extra 5 inches of muscle will all be type II fiber. So, now his thighs might be 65% FT and 35% slow twitch.

 

[coolcolj]

Supposed to have an easy deload workout on Tuesday, but I didn't feel like training, so I skipped it, and I'm glad I did. Body feels so much better now. Spinal erectors and lower back no longer complaining. Poor motivation = overreached state

Will probably skip BBall/jumping again this weekend, so I can get as fresh as I can given my lifestyle. Which isn't 100% fresh, more like 80-90%, but better than I have felt the last month for sure

Whenever my spinal erectors and lower back starts to ache a lot, I now know I am overreached, and not because of some posture issue or lack of a certain exercise, prehab move or stretching etc. Makes sense now - I use my back when I squat, at my part time job, and when I BBall and jump.

Based on how I feel, it looks like I can only tolerate 2 weeks of hard training. Which explains why my jumping is so bad and why I feel so run down and achey most of the time. Except after at least a 1.5 weeks without any training. I accumulate fatigue really quickly and the stronger I get the longer it takes for me to recover.

So in the next training block coming next week, I will have a very easy week, every 3 weeks.
That will also help simplify my training setup as well. 2x8 on squats one week, next week 90% x 2, 85% 5x2, then easy week, and repeat. Then once in a while I'll do my high volume session like I did 1.5 weeks ago and stop training altogether for at least a full week.
See how that goes, and then tweak things as needed.

 

[coolcolj]

Sunday 14th December 2008

When I woke, I felt pretty beat up, some upper back and spinal erectors. Slightly run down feeling. That sucks, since I haven't squatted or BBall/Jump'ed in 2 weeks! It's all from my part time job, after 5 days in a row, I don't feel so good. Makes it hard to tell how much "damage" BBall/Jumping does to my body on Saturdays when I actually do it.
I've been doing this job for so long, that you would think my body would be used to it by now....One reason why I am hardly motivated to train my upper body these days...

weighed 90.2kg 198.4lbs this morning
waist is 34.75 inches around belly button

With this Body-Mass Index, Waist-to-Height Ratio and More...
it puts me at 14.9% bodyfat
Tanita scale = 24.5%

measurements straight out of bed
Wrist - 6.75 inches
Ankle - 8 7/8
Neck - 16

Arms - flexed 15.5
Forearms - flexed 12.25
Chest - lats flexed 44
Hips/Glutes - 41.5
Thighs - 27.25 (-0.25)
Calves - flexed 16.25 (-1/8)

Bodyweight and waist is down, and I look leaner. Semi intermittent fasting does the trick once again. As long as you can occupy yourself enough to not notice the hunger pains
Leg size is down though, hope that doesn't effect my leg/squat strength. I do carry a lot of fat on my lower body though. At least my hips have stayed the same, glute power should still be good

Don't what the deal is with the Tanita BF% reading, it jumped back up to where it was 2 weeks ago, and another 0.5% ontop!
If I can eventually get back down to 80kg 176lbs, and be able to full squat 405x8, that's gonna be sick!!!! 2.3xBW for 8 reps means plenty of strength for massive hops.

 

[coolcolj]

Tuesday 16th December - Block 13 - Week 1 - Day 1 - Workout A

Back to the gym I go. Starting a new block today.
Not an ideal prep for this workout, had to rush there, as I was way late. Didn't get a chance to do my usual nap, so felt a bit drowsy.
Skipped a lot of my usual stuff I do in my warmups. Had to rush back home after the workout as well, to avoid the traffic jams! So I also skipped a lot of my usual post workout stretches.

Strength is down quite a bit.....so I'll have to abandon my plan, for now, and improvise till I regain all my strength back, which shouldn't take long...hopefully. Smaller leg size = weaker...?
It does seem like skipping the BBall/Jumping has an effect on strength to some degree.

Body weight at gym - 201lbs
Workout time - 1+ hour
Workout rating - 3/5

General warm up -

4 min moderate speed walk on treadmill

1 set each of my usual dynamic mobility exercises
behind the neck band pull aparts - green mini-band help 3/4 length 2x8
lateral deep lunge x8
situp complex on swiss ball
single leg RDL mobility + psoas activation walk
4 short runs of low effort prime times (stiff legged runs)

45lb oly bar complex - slow clean pull, GM onto toes, high hang powerclean, military press - 5 reps each


Low bar Full Back Squats - shoulder width stance - Oly Shoes - no Belt

in Nike Free 5.0 trainer - most reps paused at the bottom - Bar x 4, x 4, 95lbs x4, x2, x2 135lbs 3x2, 185lbs 3x2
switched to oly shoes 205lbs x2, 225x2, 255lbs 2x1, 285lbs 2x1, 315lbs x 1, 335x1, 365lbs x 2secs support

1) 365lbs x 3 --> gut busting strain 2nd and 3rd rep
rest 5 mins
2) 315lbs x 6 --> hard strain on last rep

365 was pretty brutal, the 2nd rep was almost as slow as the last rep of the 365x4 I did back on the 16th October. And the 3rd rep was as slow as that, and almost felt like failing. LOL exactly 2 months ago - which means that last 2 months were a waste in a sense. 315x6 was pretty solid though, had a rep in the tank.

Pretty dumb of me to go all all out after a 2 week break. Tweaked my back a bit too. Everything felt so different and unfamiliar. Warm Ups felt good though, good form and mobility, solid, stable, and fast. Plenty of glute action and the loads didn't feel too heavy on my back. Been a while since they felt like that. So when I overreach my warmup sets don't feel so good, and takes me much longer to get a solid groove going.
Walking out with the heavier weights felt pretty unstable though.

Feels like I'm down 20-30lbs strength wise, which equates to 2-3 reps at every load used today. I know I could do 315x9 at least, before the 2 week break, even though I was overreached. And have done 2x8 with 315, back on 11th November. I would guess it's mostly neural, so I should regain it back fairly quickly.
Maybe I could have done 395lbs x3 before the break....415 1RM?


Side plank
warmup - supported leg raises x 8
BW x 5 secs, BW x 30 secs each side - quite tough, worked my cuffs pretty hard too

Leg lowering ab move BW x 5 - slow tempo 30secs set time
kept lower back touching the floor in all reps - starting burning on the last rep

 

[coolcolj]

terrible sleep last night - took me a long time to fall asleep, and I kept waking up throughout the night. Needless to say, I don't feel so crash hot today, tired, but at least I'm not drained. Everytime I squat heavy, I just cannot sleep well. Jacks up my nervous system too much!!!
Achey in my posterior chain and upper back DOMs wise, but it's bound to get worse as the day progresses

Lower back felt really painful last night, but surprisingly doesn't feel too bad today, I was able to bend over and pickup moderately heavy stuff at my part time job this morning no problems. Just a moderate muscle strain, no structural damage.

Right hamstring has a moderate strain
And my right MCL is pretty sore as well! Right side of the body has some issues for sure, might be due to that old right ankle tear...
Injuries galore..all my fault for going so heavy and all out after a long break...
Knees feel pretty good though

CNS still feels pretty jacked up. Always notice that the day after heavy squats with not too much volume.

Good idea to go for a moderate walk today

 

[super_rice]

what's going on CCJ? where abouts are you in training now?

 

[coolcolj]

what's going on CCJ? where abouts are you in training now?

working on my leg strength, so I can reach my jumping goals.
And eventually get lean to also help me do so
Need to hit 405-425lbs x8 while weighing 180lbs or under

 

[coolcolj]

I'm no longer updating this thread, but if you want follow my progress you can check out my youtube channel

I just squatted 355lbs for 2x6 last week
YouTube - 21Jan09 FullSquat 355lbs 2x5 (Low Bar)

short term goals is 365 for 2x6

then onto 425lbs for 2x6. That should get me to my jumping and dunking goals at a bodyweight of 200lbs, even more so if I can get down to 180lbs and keep all my strength

I'm just squatting once a week, and doing 2-3 sets of 15 rep bodyweight squats on most of my rest days. Working well, getting stronger, and my legs/hips get bigger. A bigger msucle is a stronger msucle...

 

[iggy]

awesome coolj. glad your doing great.

 

[coolcolj]

awesome coolj. glad your doing great.

thanks

I actually end up hitting 375x5, 365x6 before having to take a break from squatting due to injury 3 months ago
YouTube - 1April09 FullSquat 375lbs x5 (NEW PR!!), 365x6, 345lbs Paused Warmup single - Low Bar


so short term goal achieved, now I'm heading down to a lean 175lbs and hope to get my squat up to 405x8, 495lbs one day

 

[tissot]

ok then how are you ? the chinse guy or adam barch ?
i am confused !!
- i folowed up your training and is ok !! i might say !! thou i think you are giving it to much time !! for this thing you want t prove !! dont get me wrong !!
-but what is your golll?
ok now i am pissed off i am watching your movies and i am quite not impresesd to see that all the reading i have done on your thred was a waist of time !!
- dude i dont know how old you are or what is your background !! or any of this stuff !! but your vertical leap !! is ....... actually is not !! 25 inchs anybody can do it !! all that talk about fast twitch and sloww twich ohh my good !!
- ok some advicees !! alot of people miss this !! you dont have jumping tehnique , there is not speed behind your jump !! you dont folow up with your arms as you should !!
-as for your nice gramar and very precise terms in training you have a 10 from me !!
i am upset dude !! couse i am an old fart i got 28 years !! and i strugling with my weight !! as i am endomorf !! like you said to much slow fiber !! i am 6 ' and 200 pounds !! but let me tell you i do the 100m in 11,5 and i breack the rim with a crapy 34 inch vert !!
-strange i dont do your wights by far i am under you and i dont train more then 3 times a week !!
i fell bad for me i wasted my time until i reach the youtube link !! shiit !!
i always knew the philipinos are creative but not like this

 

[coolcolj]

ok then how are you ? the chinse guy or adam barch ?
i am confused !!
- i folowed up your training and is ok !! i might say !! thou i think you are giving it to much time !! for this thing you want t prove !! dont get me wrong !!
-but what is your golll?
ok now i am pissed off i am watching your movies and i am quite not impresesd to see that all the reading i have done on your thred was a waist of time !!
- dude i dont know how old you are or what is your background !! or any of this stuff !! but your vertical leap !! is ....... actually is not !! 25 inchs anybody can do it !! all that talk about fast twitch and sloww twich ohh my good !!
- ok some advicees !! alot of people miss this !! you dont have jumping tehnique , there is not speed behind your jump !! you dont folow up with your arms as you should !!
-as for your nice gramar and very precise terms in training you have a 10 from me !!
i am upset dude !! couse i am an old fart i got 28 years !! and i strugling with my weight !! as i am endomorf !! like you said to much slow fiber !! i am 6 ' and 200 pounds !! but let me tell you i do the 100m in 11,5 and i breack the rim with a crapy 34 inch vert !!
-strange i dont do your wights by far i am under you and i dont train more then 3 times a week !!
i fell bad for me i wasted my time until i reach the youtube link !! shiit !!
i always knew the philipinos are creative but not like this

I'm Asian. Alan is just someone I know.
I'm older than you at 38 years and pretty fat myself at 200lbs at 5'8.5" and I only train once every 4-5 days, so I train a lot less than you do. 28 y.o is freaking young...

recent video shows me hitting my head over an 8 feet ceiling standing flat footed. I'm 5'9.5" in shoes, do the sums, and obviously I'm jumping higher than 25 inches
I'm coming back from a medial meniscus tear in my left knee over the last few months - I haven't been able to do much squatting or any jumping for that matter. So it's under the 30-31 inch I hit at 203lbs earlier in the year, in a fatigued state.

My hops are work in progress. I'll be working my way down to a lean 165-175lbs and upping my squat over 455-500, 345x12 etc
And then we'll see if I can hit my head on that 9 feet ceiling...a legit 39 inch standing vertical jump.
Not too many of those around, everyone either inflates their own hops or measure using reach which sucks

You should be able to hit a 405lb olympic full squat relatively quickly with a legit 34 inch vertical jump...

If you really have a 34 inch VJ you should have no problems getting your head within an inch of a 9 feet backboard standing flat footed. Let's see a video - talk is cheap

 

[tissot]

I'm Asian. Alan is just someone I know.
I'm older than you at 38 years and pretty fat myself at 200lbs at 5'8.5" and I only train once every 4-5 days, so I train a lot less than you do. 28 y.o is freaking young...

recent video shows me hitting my head over an 8 feet ceiling standing flat footed. I'm 5'9.5" in shoes, do the sums, and obviously I'm jumping higher than 25 inches
I'm coming back from a medial meniscus tear in my left knee over the last few months - I haven't been able to do much squatting or any jumping for that matter. So it's under the 30-31 inch I hit at 203lbs earlier in the year, in a fatigued state.

My hops are work in progress. I'll be working my way down to a lean 165-175lbs and upping my squat over 455-500, 345x12 etc
And then we'll see if I can hit my head on that 9 feet ceiling...a legit 39 inch standing vertical jump.
Not too many of those around, everyone either inflates their own hops or measure using reach which sucks

You should be able to hit a 405lb olympic full squat relatively quickly with a legit 34 inch vertical jump...

If you really have a 34 inch VJ you should have no problems getting your head within an inch of a 9 feet backboard standing flat footed. Let's see a video - talk is cheap

i can tell for sure a 39 vertical leap standing you will never get !!
from what i can see in your training you are quite limited in tehnique !!
- let me ask u your frined adam , true amaizing vertical !! strange there is no full lenght movie of him jumpimg over the rim there are just few pic , and that can be easy made up , or do some hanging pic , anyway i am really curios if you put a basketball in his hand would he jump as much he he does without ? but none the less awsome vert leap the guy has .
-i think you should quit gym and try more plyos and speed drils , in order to develop your speed . as you see you have plenty power nd you created a unbalance betwen those 2 .
vertical leap = speed/strenght and you got strenght .
also i see no streching routine in your journal .specific one i mean .
ok you want to see some real training for vertical leap and overall training check this kid .
he is doing great work and is very similar to what i do :YouTube - jumptrainee1's Channel you will learn more from his drills
- keep in mind your balance is crucial !! nothing against you man !!
but i was reading your stuff and really i was suprised to see the way you lineup your drills and it was such a diferent tempo and rep and the way you brake down your upper work out and i was convinced that maybe i need to exp this !! but i see no results in you so i guss your trainig has to value .since you a confortable with your gym sweet only.
do this it is called TRACK AND FIELD PLYOS
the bigger the wieght the slower you get .
and first lose the weight you will improve your slow twitch whille so heavy even when you do plyos . theres no cat with elefant strenght and no elefant that loses 40% his body fat will not be able to run as fast as a cat .thow he is 1000 times stronger .
and PS my enghlish sucks sorry i am not form the states or any english county i am trying .
-i will start a training journal and you will see the difereance . take care and start jumping dont just try .