Plan and Journal

[Tagio]

Started a new training cycle today. Gonna try and post workouts here. it's nice to have a record.

New split, subject to change if it's not working out:


tuesday: squats (heavier), pulldowns, overhead press, 100m sprints

thursday: light oly lifts (probably hang clean/jerk or hang snatches) complexed with box jumps increasing height, low volume plyos optional, abs, rotator work

saturday or sunday: squats (light), GMs or SLDL or RDL in heavy 5-10 rep range, bench, rows, 100m sprints


i haven't done much sprinting so that part of the workouts will likely get revised or refined or whatever. the volume of weights is low to accomodate sprinting but I'm gonna push the volume as the weeks go by and deload after a while. I'll do that by adding more sets/reps and accessory work.

 

[Tagio]

today's weight workout:

pulldowns, palms facing narrow grip

warmups, then 150x5x5, moved fast. will up the weight next week.

standing overhead press: warmups, then 60x5 fast, 70x5 fast, 90x5x4 sets. these are weak but they are getting stronger pretty fast. couldn't even hit 80x5 not too long ago.

squats: needed to fix my form today after the weirdness I had maxing out a few days ago (falling forward). I figured out my problem: feet out too far. I was squatting with a medium stance and high bar placement. these don't mix for me. a wide squat naturally involves more forward lean, but with a high bar you end up getting pulled forward. Today I placed my feet exactly like when I jump, quite narrow, and the squats felt fantastic. very upright and strong and easy on the knees.

also did 2 'bounces' or quick quarter squats before each set, which feels really comfortable (gets me in the groove). I'll probably make that a habit from now on.

warmed up, then

185x3x2 sets, easy
205x3x 2 or 3 sets, felt great. will do more volume next week, probably 8 triples or 6 sets of 4.


off to run in a minute.

weighed in at the gym at 198 today in shoes and clothes. I figure 5 pounds for shoes and clothes, 5 for water and food, weight probably in the mid-high-180s. hoping to gain or maintain weight over the next month.

 

[Tagio]

did 4 100m sprints. too tired for 5.

my conditioning will improve now that I am doing them twice a week.

I need to control my effort more. I was planning on doing something like 2 70% intensity, 2 at 80% and 1 all out. instead they all were more like 85-90% intensity. I'll get the hang of it in time.

 

[Zander1983]

Nice work. What are your goals?

 

[Tagio]

vertical jump and agility! also general explosive power.

short term goals are to oly squat 315+ and deadlift 405+ by the end of my first year of training (2 months to go), and get to 200 lbs bodyweight without being fat.

long term i want a 500-600 pound squat at 200 lbs bodyweight so I can absolutely maximize my vertical jump.

 

[louden_swain]

Looks like a nice plan to me. . I would love to see more details.

 

[Tagio]

I recovered surprisingly well from those sprints yesterday. i was expecting major fatigue and soreness, but I'm not tired and the soreness is there but manageable. In the past I've pushed through that 'that's enough' feeling when sprinting and I think that's why they killed me so much. If I had done a fifth I'd probably have trouble walking today (like i have in the past).

 

[Tagio]

midterm business makes it hard to keep up with the journal (I would love to be more detailed and I will be as soon as I am not swamped with work), but i'm still training of course. thursday workout was good, went as planned. did hang cleans/squat jerks with 95 lbs, used a very shallow dip before the cleans, 4-6 inches below the hip. added some sets of upright rows. benched friday, explosive triples with 115 and doubles/triples with 125 (my max is around 150). will do the rest of the day 3 workout later today. (squats, rows, posterior chain work, runs)

sore from running tuesday. gotta control my speed this time or i will overtrain or just be miserably sore.


The running really takes is out of me so I may scale back my volume of weight training next week to a very low level to let myself get used to the running. Only if necessary though.

 

[Tagio]

weights felt very good tonight.

ankle jumps x 20 low effort, x 20 medium effort, stepups onto a box as warmups


sets of squats and rows done alternately

squats: 185lbs 4x4 sets, 205x2 reps
moved the weight fast up and down. definitely faster than I've moved this weight before. trying to get form perfect. These really tire me out even at under 70% of my max. hopefully running will improve conditioning and make this less of an issue. Gonna keep weights low (under 80% max) for a while on these until sitting back feels totally natural. under 80% is fine for speed-strength and maximal strenth development anyhow.


cable rows: underhand grip, each rep touched to stomach just under sternum. kept back strictly still and straight with shoulders back.

warmup, then 140 lbs 3reps x4 sets. then 150x3 reps. not difficult, but this is a PR for that many sets at these weights. strength definitely going up.

threw in some light speed overhead presses, warmups then 70x5repsx3sets. I can toss this weight around like nothing now and it used to be a tough workset weight for me. Strength feels like it's going up here as well.

Straight-legged deadlifts: 135x10 reps, 155x8 reps, 175x8 reps.
felt good.

Very interesting thing happening with my appetite the last 3 days, which is that it is GONE. I have been gaining weight (and had quite an appetite) since the beginning of school and hit the scale at 201 lbs in clothes in the afternoon on thursday. since then my appetite has declined and is almost gone by my normal standards. I am getting my protein in and eating frequently (not letting myself starve) but I'm just not that hungry. Perhaps I've hit a weight my body feels comfortable at, or maybe these things just fluctuate naturally. I'm going to just see what happens, not try to force down extra calories or anything. Intestinal volume and weight have dropped a bit since then but nothing drastic.

got up at 10:40 this morning after 5 hours of sleep and had to work on my feet in the dishroom for 4 hours so I'm taking a nap now. Will run after I wake up, or tomorrow.

 

[Tagio]

did 4 100 meter runs tonight in 2 sets of 2, short rest in between reps, 10 minutes in between sets maybe.

ran at maybe 65-70% intensity. felt very good, like a workout rather than murder. I'll push back the running scheduled for tomorrow to the day after and do the same workout as today. in fact I'll do this until I feel like I can add another set of 2, and when that gets comfortable I'll start doing the final set of 2 at higher intensities probably.

recovery is doing well so loading will continue for the next couple of weeks probably.

 

[Tagio]

Weights felt excellent again tonight. I think the volume and split I'm using this time around are probably the best I've worked with so far.

Squats and pulldowns done alternately:

Squats: 185lbsx8 sets of 3 reps
Form feeling a whole lot better but still not perfect. Will probably drop weights on my day 3 workout to keep form even stricter. Again, these tired me out even though it is only 63% of my 1RM.

I am feeling that the form thing is definitely a weak quads issue (because leaning forward makes them easier by recruiting my posterior chain more and my quads less). Does anyone have any suggestions to correct it? I would do front squats but those are proportionately quite strong already, suggesting that they don't really hit my quads much more than a normal squat. Perhaps I'm wrong about that though. I'm sure running will help, but how about split squats? would those do the job? any ideas welcome.

Palms facing in narrow grip Pulldowns: 170x4 sets of 3 reps, 180x4 sets of 3 reps

PR for volume at this weight. strength going up pretty fast. I'll be using bodyweight for sets in not too long. (bodyweight in clothes was 197 today)

shoulder work: face down incline raises, and those weird thumbs-up snatch-position flyes with light dumbbells on the same bench, 2 sets of each exercise at 8-12 reps .

Overhead Press, 80lbs 5 sets of 5. easy, worked on making them fast. worked close to failure last week so I kept them lighter this week.

overall everything felt great. would love some ideas on the squat issue.

 

[Zander1983]

Yeah, split squats are a good idea. They're in-line with your goals too.

 

[Tagio]

ran twice since last update. first workout was 4x100 m sprints again, took them a little faster. they felt fine.

second running workout was yesterday. did something different: ran up stairs around campus. did 3x a really difficult run that goes about 200m horizontally and up 5 stories' worth of stairs. these are great because they will push my conditioning harder than the 100m sprints. also because of the way the campus is (on a hill), i can add another 50m and 2 flights of stairs to this line when my conditioning improves.

had some coffee at the campus coffee place then did 3x runs up a long flight of stairs, maybe 50-70m horizontal distance and up about 5-6 stories. i ran this flight about a month ago and it felt A LOT more explosive and fast this time around, and didn't get me as out of breath. I was really pleased.

did weights today, will post workout when i find the paper i wrote it on

 

[Tagio]

i was tired today, lack of sleep and tired from running. not a big deal though. will not run the day before weights next week.

(alternated with powercleans) overhand cable rows to stomach: 130 5 sets of 5, not too challenging. moved the weight fast.

warmups then 1 powerclean + 3 front squats with 135 lbs, 5 sets. then 1 powerclean single with 135 lbs.

front squats feel more comfortable than back squats although more difficult.

felt abnormally tired at this point, i'm assuming because of lack of sleep, working for 4 hours on my feet and running the day before. mostly the running though i suspect as i had work and no sleep last week and still had a good workout.

bench alternated with squats:

bench: 115x3, 135x3x3 (3x3 pr)
felt good, strength definitely going up on this movement.

squats: warmups, then 155x2, 175x2, 195x2, 215x2
215x2 felt really heavy so i left it there. need to not run hard the day before squats. form is feeling better though, though still not perfect.

not bad overall i was VERY pleased with my increases in running ability. probably 2 more weeks before i deload as the volume of my weight workouts hasn't been so high lately.