Creation of an Explosive Mofo - My Training Journal :)

[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.