Creation of an Explosive Mofo - My Training Journal :)

[coolcolj]

Deeper sleep, but still broken and not enough of it. Yet waking pulse still remains pretty low and I don't feel beat up at all..I'm so confused....
Time like this where I wished I had access to an OmegaWave!
Sore posterior chain and groin

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

20min walk today plus stretching after.

 

[coolcolj]

Need more sleep! Legs feel good though loose and lighter feeling.

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

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

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

Wet, so I might not be able to run today. If not then I'll do some other stuff instead.

 

[coolcolj]

Thursday 5th January - Cycle 3 Get Lean+Maintain Strength - Week 2 - Day 3 - Energy Work - Microcycle 6

Pretty good session

Workout Rating - 8/10
Workout time - 35 mins

Warmup

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

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

Run complex increasing in speed each run to 50% speed - 2 mins rest

3 sets - trying to stay as smooth, relaxed and fluid as possible
25m prime times (stiffed legged runs), 10m straight run, then into lateral run, right side 5m, left side 5m, into backwards run 5m, then three 360 pivots runs

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

then rest 2.5 mins

Tempo Runs + Energy Work

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

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

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

felt good, my feet and ankles certainly noticed the improved ROM from the stretching. Especially after the runs when I cooled down, usually I stiffen up and it starts to ache a bit, not today.
On the last run my body was upright with arms and legs swinging freely, hips under me, but damn was my core twitching hard trying to stablise. Kinda reminds me of a frontsquat position actually....I was thinking about a frontsquat + clean deadlift/RDL combo for the next workout actually

 

[coolcolj]

Had to get up early so only 6.5 hours sleep. A bit achey, but don't feel beat up or all that sore the sheer amount of stuff I did yesterday!

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

20min walk planned, and some stretching after.

 

[coolcolj]

Could use more sleep as usual.....
Some soreness - triceps, upper back and hammies

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

I was going through old photos and waist measurements from that time, and it looks like I haven't gained too much muscle since then even if I'm a lot stronger. I'm just a ton fatter! I looked kinda semi-lean with a 32inch waist, 10-12% bodyfat or so I figure. But I carried a 30-31inch waist for most of my life and I was still carrying quite a bit of fat then. So that means I need to drop my bodyweight down 176lbs to be even remotely lean looking now! Damn I have a long way to go! Maybe I should go on a semi-starvation fast. I'd get there a lot quicker....things are going so slow right now!!!!

 

[coolcolj]

Had to get up early so only 6 hours sleep, and I was feeling like crap. Did try and get some sleep later on, not deep though.
Legs and hips feel nice and loose though. Looking forward to BBall. Have a strange desire to squat as well

weighed 94kg 206.8lbs straight out of bed in underwear

Back up again...but it's probably water and food weight. I'll see how much I weigh for BBall later today. I do look trimmer and the fat seems softer like they're loosening up...
I'll cut back on the protein a bit this week, 25g a day and see how that goes.

 

[coolcolj]

Sunday 8th January - Cycle 3 Get Lean+Maintain Strength - Week 3 - Day 1 - BBALL - Microcycle 6

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

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

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

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

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

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

I can use this day to do maybe some Alywn Cosgrove style weight circuits at the gym http://www.mensfitness.com/fitness/22
or just some burpee intervals at home. Which is kinda reactive and should maintain some full body movement effeciency. Plus maybe some shadow boxing/dancing or bagwork etc. Whatever

 

[coolcolj]

Better sleep, but need much more. Feel tired, but not drained. Sore calves and lower legs, achey posterior chain, upper back and shoulder girdle

weighed 94.1kg 207lbs straight out of bed in underwear

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

Been working on my ankle/Achilles/soleus ROM a lot the last couple of days. And my right ankle is within an inch of my left now, and both have improved a lot. I can get the left side's knee 5 inches in front of my toes now. Right side is still a bit painful from old ankle injury, but I'm sure it will get there eventually. Then I have to reprogram a lot of protective motor patterns as a result of this...
I wish I had never jumped and landed on the BBall many years ago - lots of scar tissue in there

 

[coolcolj]

Kept waking up every 2-3 hours for some reason, but I always managed to get back to sleep for a total of 8.5 hours, so I feel pretty weird right now. Walking pulse nice and low at 53.
Posterior chain a bit achey, from the walking I guess. Upperback and shoulders/traps still a bit achey as well

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

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

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

20min walk yesterday

 

[coolcolj]

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

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

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

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

Rotating Sets between each exercise

Resting 3 mins between each exercise on work sets


Full Oly Back Squats - in Oly Shoes - RAW

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

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

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

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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Rotating Sets between each upper body exercise

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


Chest Supported 45 degree T-Bar Rows - Overhand grip

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

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

quite hard after the deadlifts


Elbow on Knee L-Fyle Extenal Rotations

Warmups - 3kg x6, 15lbs x 5,

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

need to get these up to 30lbs to match my future bench goals