nice man, ya i was hoping you'd start using some singles/MSEM.. your explosive block looked like it was regressing, and to me that's from the lack of max strength work.. I mean, even if you did a MSEM session once every 2 weeks it would be much better than nothing at all.. i'd use it once per week for now just to get that pop back that has been disappearing.. you should feel better soon and get your jumps back up, then you can decide whether to extend it to once every 2 weeks etc, but you probably wont want to. :F
the only explosive block that should not have any max strength maintenance/progression is pure shock, because that is absolutely insane, and shock itself actually takes care of MxS/ExS.
Yes , i never knew you can combine maximum lifts with small fatigue & recovery time.
ya, thats partly why im going to start blogging stuff, because when you say it on a forum in a post it can go unnoticed or skipped over.. i have like 50+ topics written down so far haha.
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Also gotta adore how much less time they take at gym. And to be honest , i missed the heavy iron ( ok , 231 is not that heavy , i know! ) Next week is final gym week , then 1 week rest and then 1 week skiing ( every day , 8am to 4pm ). After that ( and some rest ) i gotta design my next block. I think i will continue just like now , subsituting the speed squats with MSEM. Lets just see how it goes...
nice, sounds good! ya i dont like speed squats much.. i only like them as a progression for learning REA/jump squats, after that, i dont think they are needed.
nice man, ya i was hoping you'd start using some singles/MSEM.. your explosive block looked like it was regressing, and to me that's from the lack of max strength work.. I mean, even if you did a MSEM session once every 2 weeks it would be much better than nothing at all.. i'd use it once per week for now just to get that pop back that has been disappearing.. you should feel better soon and get your jumps back up, then you can decide whether to extend it to once every 2 weeks etc, but you probably wont want to. :F
the only explosive block that should not have any max strength maintenance/progression is pure shock, because that is absolutely insane, and shock itself actually takes care of MxS/ExS.
hmm, hey dude, why are u hitting out with all those reps?
trying to get back in very good condition.. i don't want to go heavy with weight training any time soon, so i have to put in alot more volume to achieve strength gains.. but with that volume im also improving my strength endurance pretty good, feeling in much better shape.
i strained my left oblique shadow boxing tho, didn't see that one coming.. i guess it was because of all that time off.. it's the oblique insertion so doesn't feel too great.. i'll see tonight.
i think im relatively strong enough... but im just not getting high enough... kinda disheartening...
workout, 1/26 & 2/5
are your workouts spaced that far apart?
why are you doing REA squats with 10kg? 10kg is so light.. REA's are done from 30-70%... i mean at least get to 30% if you feel ok.. 10kg is like 5% hehe.
your speed squats/stepups have been increasing.. how often are you doing max jumps?
why are you not including heavy squatting at least once every 2 weeks or so, i know you're in season, but, the speed squats for a top set of 3 isn't going to cut it.. also, why a top set of 3 on speed squats? that's something you'd do for max strength... speed squats need a little more volume like - 4x3 at your work-set weight.
i just don't get why everyone is completely dumping heavy squatting when they enter an explosive/in-season phase... you have to go heavy once in a while to maintain that max strength, or it'll drop.
this is a post you wrote a while back:
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hmmm,
monday; - warmup - single leg jumping (~5-8 max jumps after warmup jumps) - light single leg bounding: ~10 reps in a row for a leg, rest, 3 sets, just work on form - squat: 3-4x3 (near max triples), double leg ankle hops before each set (~5 reps), just working on form (complete triple extension) - very light REA squat: ~45 lb, 5x3, 3 minutes rest in between, work on really exploding out of the hole (dont land deep, land above parallel) - core/stretch
wednesday: - warmup - double leg jumping (~5-8 max jumps after warmup jumps) - low box barbell stepups: 3x5 (dont go max 5, especially right off the bat) - db or bb walking lunges: 2 x 5 each leg - core/stretch
alternating between these 2 schedules huh? hmmm... i tot i was doing something similar alr, as in 1 double leg exercise (squats), 1 single leg (walking lunges), light movement plyos (the rebounding box jumps), with the added core exercises and extra upper body work on my 2nd day in the week days.
why do you like speed squats? if you're doing rea/jump squat, you definitely don't need speed squatting..
and in that routine, the dont go above 45 lb thing on rea squats was temporary.. that should be light to you by now and you should have the form down.. you could step it up, as long as you're not fatigued by the end of the workout.
Blog #1: 2/05/2010: Maximal Strength Effort Method
By: Andrew Darqui
*** Keep in mind this method is intended for intermediate athletes who have plenty of experience, or advanced athletes. Beginners shouldn't play with the stuff in this blog entry. ***
When people think about performing one rep (singles), they always think about maxing out (1RM lifting). There is a method out there which utilizes single repetitions in order to improve maximal & explosive strength. This method is formally referred to as the "Maximal Strength Effort Method" (MSEM) as described by Verkhoshansky (http://www.verkhoshansky.com). I have found this method to be extremely effective, from experience in my own training & for those who I have coached.
MSEM improves Max strength (MxS) & Explosive Strength (ExS)
Improving maximal strength (MxS) & explosive strength (ExS) are both very important for athletic performance. When ExS reaches a certain limit or threshold, the most effective way to improve it further is to improve your MxS. ExS is the ability to produce maximal tension in minimal time, this is what we see in sport, whether it be jumps, acceleration, or change of direction. Simply put, if you produce the same force in less time, or produce more force in the same amount of time, you will jump higher or run faster.
MSEM improves the ability of your muscles to relax following an intense contraction
Not only does MSEM improve MxS & ExS, it also improves the ability of your muscles to relax following an intense contraction. This becomes especially important in sport, because it means you recover sooner in between explosive movements. A faster recovery allows for replenishment of high energy substrates (fuel, ATP-CP) sooner, which allows for an even more powerful contraction - this offers a significant enhancement in cyclic activities such as sprinting.
Another very important aspect of MSEM is the effect it has on your central nervous system (CNS) & musculoskeletel system. When comparing MSEM versus 5x5, MSEM leads to much less CNS fatigue, as well as barely any soreness or fatigue. In fact, from my own personal accounts with MSEM, it is a potent CNS stimulator; power and nervous system excitability are increased. This makes MSEM a perfect tool to be used in the pre-season or in-season.
MSEM increases strength without an appreciable increase in body mass
Finally, for those athletes wishing to improve power without an increase in body weight, MSEM becomes a valuable tool. Increasing power without an increase in muscle mass is not the easiest thing to do, but it can be done. Since MSEM is low volume & uses single repetitions, instead of consecutive repetitions, there simply is not enough time under tension (TUT) to cause any sort of significant hypertrophy (increase in muscle size). Instead, MSEM improves power by improving maximal strength and the rate at which muscle fibers fire (rate coding).The rate at which muscle fibers fire, has an important impact on rate force development (RFD), because this firing frequency directly affects two of rfd's main components: starting strength & acceleration strength.
MSEM can help to break out of traditional strength training ruts
Utilizing moderate/high volume + high intensity (> 75 to < 90% 1RM) strength training programs for too long can lead to negative effects on RFD & various hormones. Though traditional strength training programs (TSTP's) such as 5x5 increase lean muscle mass far better than does MSEM, TSTP's are notorious for causing RFD to "shfit to the right", in other words, TSTP's can cause one to produce more force in a greater amount of time (not good). The reason this happens is simple: Heavy consecutive repetition lifts require that the body & muscle groups involved maintain a high amount of tension for a significant amount of time, move each rep with a decreased amount of speed, and require more time & resources for the body/CNS to recover. When it comes to hormones, spending too much time in a fatigued state, especially when frequently going to failure, can lead to decreases in testosterone and increases in cortisol, which can negatively impact power production.
The graph below will illustrate my point. The explosively trained group produces a greater amount of force in less time, this is essential in sport, as most plays & movements occur in fractions of a second.
Sedentary vs. Explosively Trained vs. Excessively Strength Trained:
Grinding out rep after rep for too long can negatively impact the FORCE / TIME curve
The above paragraph is for people whose performance seems to be dropping or stagnating for far too long (~1 month). TSTP's have their place of course, they are good for general physical preparedness (GPP), hypertrophy, strength gain, etc. They can effectively be done in blocks or in conjunction with explosive training, but if done excessively and for too long, performance can suffer. So if that's your case, you might want to consider MSEM (this blog) or some other strategy (future blogs).
With MSEM, two sets of three (2 x 3) refers to:
- Set 1: Rep1, rest, Rep2, rest, Rep3 - recovery - Set 2: Rep1, rest, Rep2, rest, Rep3 - recovery
So, if we use the barbell squat in our MSEM example, this would require the barbell be re-racked after each rep, giving a brief amount of rest to shake out the legs, take deep breathes, and rid yourself of some tension. The rest you take between reps could be anywhere from 15 seconds to 1 minute.
MSEM Protocol as defined by Verkhoshansky
The two variants
Variant 1
Parameters
Sets: 2-4
Reps: 2-3 (rest between reps)
Intensity: 90-95% 1RM
Rest between reps: 15s-1min
Rest between sets: 4-6 minutes
Frequency Off-season: 1 session every 2-3 weeks
Frequency In-season: 1 session every 1-2 weeks
Variant 2 - Much more intense:
Parameters:
Sets: Wave loaded
Reps: 2-3 (rest between reps)
intensity:
Set 1: 90%
Set 2: 95%
Set 3: 100%
Set 4: 95%
Set 5: 100%
Set 6: Attempt PR
Rest between reps: 15s-1min
Rest between sets: 4-6 minutes
Frequency Off-season: 1 session every 2-3 weeks
Frequency In-season: 1 session every 1-2 weeks
MSEM is STIM, it help to PR on the field or in the weight room
I have seen success with those exact methods, and slight deviations. Instead of limiting it to 2-4 x 2-3, I've used just one set of 4-8 singles, increasing or decreasing weight by 5-10 lb. depending on how I feel after each single. When playing with MSEM, you will notice that sometimes the second and third reps feel more explosive than the first. This is a stimulatory effect, which can definitely be taken advantage of. Another stimulatory effect is seen in the performance of subsequent sets, such as the 2nd and 3rd. This is taken advantage of in Verkhoshansky's second variant.
I personally wouldn't use Variant 2 in-season for sports like basketball, tennis, baseball, football etc... Variant 2 lends itself more to track and field / weightlifting events, or sports with more time to recover in between events.
To implement MSEM, make sure you're in a strength or power block. Not a good idea to utilize MSEM sessions in a GPP block. If you're in a strength or power block, you could throw in a session once every 1-3 weeks, making sure to include adequate recovery time before AND after. For your next session following the MSEM session, test your vert or speed. Use a session like this to get rid of some fatigue, prime the nervous system, and test your performance a few days following. So, in general, start off throwing in an MSEM session once every 3 weeks, and as you get closer to trying to peak your vert utilize MSEM once every 2 weeks, then 1 week, then peak.
I've effectively used MSEM using the barbell squat for double leg jumpers, single leg jumpers, and sprinters.
Example sessions might be:
Session: - (~8 minutes) warmup - (~35 minutes) sprints / jumps / explosive stuff / something - (~45 mins) - barbell squat: MSEM: 2 x 3 OPTIONAL: db walking lunges: 2x5e (for people who love the unilaterals) - core - (~10 minutes) - stretch
MSEM can be used by sprinters, double & single leg jumpers, weightlifters, or in-season strength maintenance/improvement
If you're a single leg jumper or sprinter, and would like to try using this method with more specificity, it's a little tough but the best way to do it would be to utilize 12" barbell stepups. Alot of experience with this lift is required before hitting 90-95%. I would stay clear of 100% lifts using 12" barbell stepups. You can perform the singles on both legs, one at a time, then rest. Otherwise, as purely a jumper, you could just perform MSEM on your dominant jumping leg, and then perform lighter reps after the session on your non-dominant leg.
An example progression, incorporating upper body, utilizing MSEM in weeks 9-12:
Ok, so for people who have no idea what i'm talking about, here's a general example 12 week program which illustrates how to phase in MSEM. It includes upper body work to give an idea of how to taper it.
GPP: Weeks 1-4 STRENGTH: Weeks 5-8 POWER: Weeks 9-12 PEAK: Week 13+ F: Failure AF: Almost Failure 10e: 10 each SL: Single Leg
neutral grip pullups throughout the day: 20,19,19,18,18
at night: tons of normal pullups, lost count
safety squat bar 18" stepups: - 50 total - 30 total - 30 total - 30 total - 30 total - 1 min rest in between or so.. need to get to 10 sets of 50 - 30 total takes like 1min 30 seconds - alternating each legs for each rep
those are real good for building up lactic acid tolerance.. 10 sets of 50 with 1 min rest in between = ten 3 minute rounds.... good stuff.
going to do first blog entry on the singles things, taking stuff from my experience (& people ive trained), and great quotes from supertraining/verk.. got to find some exact quotes in supertraining, i remember them but i'd like to cite them.
Thanks man. What's an REA squat? Workout tonight consisted of two hours of indoor ultimate. My hamstrings and glutes were sore already from the SLRDLs but my whole legs are gonna be dead tomorrow, I predict. Still, it was good to shake out the rust a little and run around. Might postpone the next workout until Thursday to give some recovery time.
it's a brief freefall, followed by ballistic reversal + concentric.
can be done above parallel, no need to go deep.. much safer this way too.. just have to stay tight during the entire lift.. ie, inhale/hold breathe until almost all the way back up.
this exercise targets the isometric mainly, that brief transition period between ECC and CON... this is very important, yet often overlooked detail in SVJ/RVJ.
My RFD/explosiveness is garbage, as you've both pointed out. I think Andrew's right: I got some sweet gains in strength from SS (vag: my squat is 320, thankyouverymuch) but definitely got stuck in a rut and mixing things up should be good. I'm going to try 5/3/1 for five or six weeks (one full cycle plus deload), retest and then try a couple of weeks of singles, per Andrew's suggestion. Then test again. Then probably switch to maintenance on the strength part and start working more heavily on sprinting and plyo-type activities, as well as conditioning, because by then it'll be the beginning of April and the ultimate season will be just around the bend.
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The paused box jumps and depth jumps are meant to improve RFD and explosiveness/reactivity. Just to be clear, Andrew, you're suggesting that I add jump squats or some similar overloaded explosive movement (suggestions?) before heavy lower leg days, or before upper body days? I wasn't quite clear on what/when you were suggesting with those.
Thanks for the feedback.
before heavy lower leg days.. some good exercises are, from most simple to advanced: - paused jumping clean pulls from hang : sets of 3-5 - jump squats for singles (rest between reps of ~30s, like you would when testing vert) (barbell or vest, preferably barbell, 20-30% 1RM) - REA squat : work up to ~50% initially, 3-5x3. - depth jumps from at or above SVJ: 3-4x5
np man
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Oh, one more thing, actually: The great thing I've discovered in my first two 5/3/1 workouts is that they're SO MUCH FASTER than SS. When you're doing a full warm-up and heavy sets across for two lifts, plus warm up and cool down, that shit takes forever, drains you and doesn't leave much time for anything else. With the new setup I can do core stuff, RFD stuff, etc. without spending 2+ hours in the gym.
ya man....... that's not a good thing when it comes to peaking your performance.. it can be fine in short blocks, but people tend to spend way too much time in a fatigue state, when it's so easy to jump out using low volume/high intensity training - get in get out type training.
pc man hope this new stuff goes good for you.
if you need links of the clean pulls or whatever tell me, i have them on my youtube.
That was a damn good article man , take it outta here and post it on the site! LOL
lol, nah.. i'll leave the "gems" (hah) in the forum, for the cool people to read hm, maybe i should put a training blog inside the forum.. honestly i dont like writing articles, thought I would, but i'd rather converse with people than just write an article which has no direct correspondence, if that makes sense?
i'll find some quotes from Prof. Verkhoshansky on singles and 'rest between reps' sets tomorrow.. you'll like those.
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