Creation of an Explosive Mofo - My Training Journal :)

[coolcolj]

Better sleep and deeper sleep. Mild drained and warm feeling, so maybe a touch too much work for the CNS yesterday, but it's not too bad.
My whole body is pretty achey, even my pecs! Most of the moderate level of soreness is in my calves, VMO, hammies, glutes, spinal erectors all the way up the back, entire back from head to glute, rear delts and biceps

weighed 92.8kg 204.16lbs straight out of bed in underwear

Looking thinner. Calories were higher yesterday for my training days, about 1900, and 50 extra grams of carbs, but my bodyweight is down - sweet! Still mostly water I suspect.

20min walk today plus some stretching after. Should help recharge the CNS.

 

[coolcolj]

A bit tired and sleepy. Still sore in my VMO, upper back and posterior chain. Especially my glutes! They haven't been that sore in a while, either from the clean dead/RDL combo, hip back stiff legged deadlifts or the high rep explosive fullsquat set, or all of the above
Legs don't feel stiff or bloated though, despite all the heavy and high rep work last workout, which is unusual for me. They feely quite loose, light and springy, but not snappy - I would need to deload completely to get that feeling

I turned my toes out more in the last session in squats and that seem to hit the VMO much more. The toe angle was like what I would need to have if I was squatting in normal shoes or bare feet. If I just sit in the bottom of a fullsquat position in bare feet then that's the toe angle I get, almost 45 degrees. I can go much deeper like this and stay more bolt upright.
Lasy year I was making a conscious effort to keep my feet more straight ahead which does hit the hammies more, and cause you to sitback a bit more/more forward lean, but the its much harder to keep the back straight and you need to force the knees outward. Plus its not natural and you can't go as deep or go down as fast. I certainly can't fullsquat like that without olyshoes, so I might go back to my old toes out more form, which allows me go down a lot faster since you can drop straight down like a rock

weighed 92.9kg 204.38lbs straight out of bed in underwear

I'm looking leaner and I feel much lighter. A little heavier than yesterday, but I got up much earlier, so I was one leak away from a lighter bodyweight than yesterday
Damn amazing how much water stays in your system even after you stop drinking an hour before bed! Well I do drink a lot right now...

See how much I weigh before running today.

 

[coolcolj]

Thursday 12th January - Cycle 3 Get Lean+Maintain Strength - Week 3 - Day 3 - Energy Work - Microcycle 6

I was 205.7lbs before heading to the park. On Sunday before BBall 207.5 lbs, so the bodyweight is coming down nicely. I certainly noticed it today.

Was pretty humid, so I found it hard to breath during the warmups, but the mainstuff felt good even if I felt a bit crappy to start. Finished feeling refreshed even though I ran the last run flat out.
Also experimented with ISO holds at home and it worked really well. My body warmed up really fast and the swings and dynamic stretches after them felt really loose and snappy. A keeper. I've started experimenting with em on my gym sessions as well. I guess you get a bit of that static-dynamic effect

Put a foot into a small dent in the ground during the warmup jogs, could have sprained my left ankle, but I didn't feel anything. Lucky I did warm em up at home

Workout Rating - 8/10
Workout time - 35 mins

Warmup

warmup - 20sec ISO holds - quarter squat x 2, on toes x 2, on heels (toes pulled up) x 2, hip back wide stance squat at parallel, on side of feet (for ankles), narrow fullsquat at bottom on toes.

dynamic stretches and swings, rocking on side of ankle, standing on one leg with eyes shut, various hops in place in bare feet at home.

Slow Jog - 50m x 4 - 1 mins rest, 25-35secs duration each, getting faster and springy

Run complex increasing in speed each run to 50% speed - 1.5 mins rest

2 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 - 4 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 3mins

Tempo Runs + Energy Work

56 metres @ 75-85% speed - from a 3 points start

rest = walk back to start - 1min
11 runs - slowest 10+secs, fastest 8.49 secs, average was between 9.2 to 9.8 secs

rested 2mins then ran the 12th one flat out and got 8.09secs

Changed things up today, shorter runs, more of em, and shorter rests. Was breathing heavy all the way through and heart rate was soaring towards the end. But I didn't really feel tired until the 9-10th run and even then my form was good. The power in my legs and hips is really pushing me up high now.
My personal recent best is 6.66secs at a slightly heavier bodyweight, so that gives you an idea how fast I was running these.

The 12th one which I did all out felt strange, floaty, like I couldn't feel my lower legs doing anything or touching the ground at all! Also felt like I didn't have enough time to apply force. Quads pumped up as well, which I didn't notice on the slower runs. And when I came out of the start the first step popped me upright, like my legs and hips apply so much force into the ground that it pushes my body upright or something. That's what it felt like anyway

Pecs, lats and biceps were pretty pumped up, from my forceful arm drive, that's why I bench and do pullups I guess
Probably won't be doing much lower body work in 1.5 hours time, the last workout and this session is enough. Just some prehab work on the tibs, abductors, abs and lower back.

 

[coolcolj]

I did my usual prehab, high rep circuit workout in the gym 1.5 hours after the running yesterday. But I didn't record what I did, so I'll just do a breif summary -

I did 2 work sets of each exercise, and alternated between one upper body move and a lower body/ab exercise in one big circuit - 1min rest between each set

was stronger on some stuff, increased the load on some

Upper stuff -

Shoulder width pullups - 10lbs x 9, BWx9
Dip Shrugs - 2sec hold at top +10lbs x19 (+3reps), x16
Seated pulley rows - 50kg x 15, 45kg x 14
Closegrip triangle pushups - x16, x20
Dumbell Curls - 35lbs x 9, 30x11
Cable Rope Tricep pushdowns - 25kg x 15 (+2reps), x11

Lower/Mid torso -

Lat Machine Situps - 25lbs x 10, 60lbs x 10 - 3sec ISO at the bottom of each rep, up from 55lbs
Hip abduction/adduction on Keiser air machine - level 5/4 2x20
Sideways situp on hyper bench - BWx10, x8 - with 2sec hold at the top
Toe curls on lying leg curl machine - 2plates x 15, 3P x15 with a pause and hold at the top
Reverse hypers - BW x 15 with 2sec hold at the top, BWx20 - normal

 

[coolcolj]

feeling tired, but not drained. Achey upper back and spinal erectors, but not too bad everywhere else...interesting. No walking today, I need to rest

weighed 93.4kg 205.48lbs straight out of bed in underwear

Bodyweight back up, probbaly water weight, as there is no way I can gain any fat right now! Although I might gain some muscle....

 

[MrHD]

have you posted any progress pics yet?

 

[coolcolj]

have you posted any progress pics yet?

not yet, still way too chubby!

I'll post some when I hit 198lbs which is about the halfway mark for me, I should be looking semi decent, probbaly around 10-12% BF



---

Poor sleep = crappy me. Feel kinda achey up all over, in that slightly worn out way, feet, upper back and hammies. My Hamstrings feel strained, especially my right side which is the leg in front when I drive out of the 3 point start. The start sure hits the hammies hard.

weighed 93.1kg 204.82lbs straight out of bed in underwear

Bodyweight going back down again, but still not as low as it was a few days back, but I look "slimmer". I must be adding some muscle mass somehow...

My shoulder ROM is still really poor, I still can't get my arms totally vertical when I hold them straight above. Which reduces my reach when jumping by 1-2 inches, makes hook shots feel uncomfortable and not too good on presses as well, especially narrow grip and dumbell ones.
I've been stretching my lats and hanging on the chin bar, but non of em help.

Anyway I spotted this shoulder article, I figure there is probably some stuff in it about shoulder health, and boom I was right!

http://www.t-nation.com/findArticle...AC34AB7F1D5FF8B.hydra?article=05-183-training
In the first section there are 2 test. Both side don't do that well, thanks to my crappy ROM. And then the active impingement test - the right side doesn't hurt, but I can't raise it very high, because my body won't let me..
The left side hurts a lot in the start position!

So no more benching and presses for a while until I get things sorted.
My rotors are plenty strong, pecs have decent ROM, and I have good scapular control. I'm already doing most of the exercises, but I'll add the thoracic extension move a few times everyday to counteract my sitting down and hunching forward all the time and it targets my problem directly.
Definitely will use the Reach, Roll and Lift move on my stretching days. d**n when I tried it out my lats and serratus area were screaming! This should help restore my shoulder ROM, and when you hold both arms in that position, it makes a very nice lat stretch too.
I'll start on these 2 moves today

I'm already doing the closegrip triangle pushups, and they help a lot, a bit unstable and hits the upperback and scapulars hard. But I'll try the swissball version here, and will probbaly do it on a medball or BBall as well.

I probably should stop pullups in the meantime, but it doesn't hurt and I need it to counteract the pull from my overactive uppertraps, to keep my shoulder girdle down, especially now that I'm deadlifting a bit. See how I go for 2 weeks, if I see no improvement, I'll drop it as well.

 

[coolcolj]

Better sleep but I felt pretty pretty bad and weak this morning. I just had a deep 1.5 hour nap and feel much better, makes up for the lack of sleep yesterday.
Right hammie still pretty achey, but everything else feels ok

weighed 93.3kg 205.26lbs straight out of bed in underwear

Back up again, but I'm still 1 pound lighter than last week even with some carbs in me so that's good. I'm definitely leaner and may have gained some muscle too. Last 3 days have had slightly higher carbs, but not much more though, around 100-150grams, but total calories are still below maintenance. Tomorrow back down into the 60-70g area. So it's been a bit like a semi-carb load mini version of what I did before

Not sure what I'll do today, but I'm not playing BBall. Will be some form of interval work to boost the fat loss. And I'll do some of that lat stretch work etc at the start and some stretches after.

 

[coolcolj]

Sunday 15th January - Cycle 3 Get Lean+Maintain Strength - Week 4 - Day 1 - Energy/Prehab/Movement Efficiency work - Microcycle 6

A big change of pace today! I nail several birds with one stone - burn a lot of calories, elevate my metabolic rate for the next 12+ hours, improve my work capacity in several areas, prehab, maintain jumping and force absorbtion, improve whole body movement efficiency, strengthen muscles in my feet from being barefoot etc

I thought it would be a chore, but 25mins went by so quickly. It wasn't easy, but lots of fun! 30mins of normal cardio would be boring as hell...

Workout time - 30 mins
Session rating - 9/10

Reach, Roll and Lift move for lats and internal rotors - 2x6 for each side

warmup - 20sec ISO holds - quarter squat x 2, on toes x 2, on heels (toes pulled up) x 2, hip back wide stance squat at parallel, on side of feet (for ankles), narrow fullsquat at bottom on toes.

dynamic stretches and swings, rocking on side of ankle, standing on one leg with eyes shut

scapular pushups against chair - BWx15, pushups against chair BW 2x6, pushups on swissball x5

various hop patterns in place in bare feet, 10 reactive squats, 6 easy vertical jumps


Done circuit style in barefeet on carpet - 6 times through

1) 30secs of Burpees - jumping 18inches, sticking the landing, about 10 reps. Jumped slightly higher on last set. http://www.warriorforce.com/articles/burpeeclip.htm

2) resting one minute - while doing bodyweight only: 15 L-Lateral raises + 15 External L-Rotations

3) 10 Swissball Pushups - bounced slightly on ball

4) resting one minute - while doing bodyweight only: bent over 45 degree raises - 10 upwards, 10 out to side and 10 angled down

5) 30secs of Shadow boxing - moderate intensity, concentrating on punch combos, but some footwork too and switching stances.

6) one minute rest

about 25mins all up - then 5 mins of easy dancing and breakdance moves to cool down

static stretches for the whole body, especially pecs, lats, and rotors

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

Heart rate was soaring, shirt drenched in sweat and my pecs, upper back and delts were pumped and burning like a mofo! Lots of GH release me thinks.
First time jumping and landing on bare feet and it felt good, no problems in my feet or knees. Landing really softly on my whole foot, not just on the balls.
My legs didn't feel anything during the workout, but my calves and hammies are aching a bit now. Burpees sure make you work hard and need a bit of coordination. My vertical jump is over 30 inches, so not really jumping too hard, but it stills makes you huff and puff!

I used to do a bit of boxing so I know what I'm doing when I'm shadow boxing

The swissball pushups were a lot harder than I thought! I can crank out over 30 closegrip triangle pushups on the floor, but on the swissball with its shorter ROM and lighter load I was struggling with 10 reps, had to bounce a bit on the ball.

Felt really good after the workout, nice and refreshed, with a high and alive feeling. A couple months of this and I'll be a lean mean fighting and jumping machine

 

[coolcolj]

Slightly achey hammies and upper back. Pecs and triceps aren't sore at all which surprises me. The kickback and pulling back of the legs in burpees hits the hammies pretty hard. The pulling back bit, just before you jump, has a bit of reactive element to it in a really stretched hammie position.

weighed 93kg 204.6lbs straight out of bed in underwear

Bodyweight down from yesterday and I look a lot leaner, damn that workout yesterday is effective!
And that's with a whole lot of food in me from last night - one barbecued steak, 4 chicken pieces, and 4 lamb chops plus lots of veges. And I had 2 bowls of cereal+whey and spaghetti before training - so there is carbs in my system too. I took in about 2200-2400cals yesterday, a lot by my dieting standards. Didn't drink as much ice cold water - only 6-7 litres.
Back into low carbs today

I'm 2.4lbs lighter than this time last week since I started this 3 prong attack on the fat!
Waist is down 3/8 of an inch too, which backs up the 2.4lb drop in fat, and that's with me working my abs, obliques and lower back. Plus I figure I've gained some muscle mass as well. That's double the fat loss I was getting early last year. I might just reach my goals in 3 months instead of 6 if this keeps up! Imagine if I had access to thermogenics....

20min walk planned today if it dries up.