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if you go two pages back in his journal he describes, in detail, the turns his life has taken that have led him to detrain.

Quote from: acole14 on August 28, 2017, 09:24:29 pm

Quote from: fast does lie on August 28, 2017, 10:54:20 am

Quote from: LBSS on August 28, 2017, 10:41:36 am

if you go two pages back in his journal he describes, in detail, the turns his life has taken that have led him to detrain.

i have browsed his journal so far from like page 1 to 30, and now page 87 (last page) to 70.... is it somewhere in between?

whatever, was just curious, legit questions, not sure how it could be interpreted as trash talk or disrespect.....

You know exactly how it can be interpreted as trash talk. I've played team sports in Australia my whole life, I've seen every little shit-talking trick in the book and this is one of them. Which is fine, do that to your heart's content, but it just clutters up the journals when you post like this, and it's a neg-fest apparently. I offered you this competition as a friendly way of getting you back on track and training hard without the negativity, don't make me regret doing that.

Ok, so I was reading your journal and if I read it correctly you were doing like ~120kg reps, but later on you were doing a lot less. Was just wondering why, if you stopped training or got injured. Was just curious, even if we weren't in this friendly contest i'd still be curious.

I went from squatting 335 at 178 bw to becoming a fat fuck that couldn't even do 185, but got back in it a little bit in the last 6 months....

OK all good, just understand that I have my guard up to a certain extent with posts like that. To answer your question:

2011-2012 - really got squat up + jumping and running a lot because I had an easy technician job in a lab and could train lunches, after work and weekends with no worries --> 35'' SVJ and 37'' RVJ

end of 2012 - got patellar tendonitis from, in hindsight, jumping and squatting a lot without much P-chain work. Stopped jumping for awhile. My squat was at 155kgs x 3 but @ 85kgs BW.

2013 - lost weight, 155kgs 1RM squat, SVJ 35'', but didn't do much RVJ as I had real trouble getting to courts on weekends, had started PhD so less time.

2014 - early 2017 - started training with track squad to maximise training time/access to equipment etc. and to sprint again. At one point in 2015, squat was again around 155kgs but at 77-78kgs. Last year of training, coach changed focus a lot and it didn't work for me, got weaker and slower. Started training myself in 2016, hit around 140kgs at 77-78kg squatting once a week and just sprinting, jumping etc. No patellar tendonitis since end of 2012. In the USA I was squatting around 120 x 5, pause-squatting 100kgs for sets etc., but not much more, very busy with PhD now (self-inflicted so no complaints). Various niggling injuries from sprinting stalled the squat progression, and it wasn't a major focus anyway.

Since early this year, as LBSS mentioned, life mostly got in the way but steady now. Planning to get back the strength, getting SVJ up to 35'' again will mean that I have at least a 36'' RVJ (always about an inch gained with drop-step+), and that will be a good place to try to tip dunk. The key right now is that I'm healthy, so starting light and slow is to try and keep the momentum going and not get hurt.

Quote from: acole14 on August 29, 2017, 12:53:23 am

IMO, I think you're too hard on yourself. You're not a lost cause by any means. Anyone who can train themselves to full squat nearly 400lbs has got something to work with. You could comfortably go from 25% to 15% in a few months of 2x/week tempo sprints (fartlek or 400m repeats). That's what I'd be doing right now along with strength maintenance. Sprint repeat sessions are fat furnaces. Even just HIIT sled pushing with light weights, only takes 10mins of a gym session at the start, and you'll see big gains. Counting cals is boring, just train harder !

What is "fartlek"?

Anyway, if you reach 37" rvj, mad respect to you, and even if you don't reach it and get 34-35" in a year, still mad respect, I'd guess the majority of athletes don't even have >32in SVJ.

[100 sprint:100 jog]^n or similar (alternate 100/200m distances etc.)

It depends on the sport I guess. I'd be stunned if most competitive club-level olympic lifters had a SVJ of less than 32''. Your average weekend pick-up basketball player probably is much less though. IMO, basketball at recreation levels is a pretty horizontal game. Smaller guys aren't jumping for rebounds that much, and big guys don't need to. Before I started focusing on it, my jump was pathetic even though since I left school, I played basketball 2-3x/week.
___________________

Had two weeks of solid training. I've found the best time for me to hit the gym nowadays is 10-11:30PM, this works really well as it's usually empty and I can sprinkle in some squat jumps/SVJs/DSVJs to the roof. The ceiling is a standard 9' height so I know if I'm getting close to hitting it = ~35''. I changed what I wrote a few weeks ago a little bit so there's a bit more volume:

Warmup: rehab exercises (ham levers for 45sec/leg, banded hip abduction, light pallof press, banded pull-apart, BSS, box pistols) // 400m @>15km/h

Day 1 (heavy): Squats (10-7-5-5-7, currently@80/90/100kgs for 10-7-5 reps) // GHRs (3x10) // banded hip thrust (2x20@20kgs) // Farmer's walks (~40m x 2@40kgs) and 80kg front squat rack holds (3x15-20sec, in between squats)

Day 2 (very slow eccentric, full RoM exercises): RDL (3x5@70kgs) // SL squat (2x6/leg@8kgs // BSS (2x10/leg@15kgs) // wood-choppers to pallof press (2x10/side@15kgs for both) // hanging leg raises (3-4x10)

+ 5-6 squat jumps (no countermovement) in between exercises wherever there's room. Mostly bludging UB, just doing seated rows, light bench press, DB shoulder press, pullups.

I changed some of the core exercises. The excessive weighted window washers and weighted situps were really stuffing my neck up. I have a longer torso so the leverage is quite a lot to overcome, and lots of reps leads to my sub-occipitals getting jammed up, usually giving me headaches 24hrs after. The farmer's walks and front squat rack holds are isometric and can be loaded up pretty good. Then on the light day it's anti-extension with the pallof press (good for back) and regular hanging leg raises, neither of which involve the crunch movement, which suits me better I think. The heavy weighted eccentric core exercises that T0ddday recommended are dynamite, but I just can't keep getting headaches - writes off whole afternoons/evenings.

This squat jump is about 28-29'':

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6dnm1b-FUQ" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6dnm1b-FUQ</a>

and my SVJ is a couple of inches more with the countermovement, so no real improvements yet. Looking at that thumbnail, I need to straighten up! Will work on that. Once I'm hitting good squat numbers I'll start doing SJ+SVJ, then SVJ+RVJ in blocks. For this experiment, I'll stick to weighted squat jumps and jumps practice for plyometric activity, no stuffing around with Olympic lifts, bounding or depth jumps etc. yet.

heavy decline situps are what he's talking about, i'm pretty sure.

Quote from: fast does lie on August 29, 2017, 01:05:12 am

Quote from: acole14 on August 29, 2017, 12:53:23 am

IMO, I think you're too hard on yourself. You're not a lost cause by any means. Anyone who can train themselves to full squat nearly 400lbs has got something to work with. You could comfortably go from 25% to 15% in a few months of 2x/week tempo sprints (fartlek or 400m repeats). That's what I'd be doing right now along with strength maintenance. Sprint repeat sessions are fat furnaces. Even just HIIT sled pushing with light weights, only takes 10mins of a gym session at the start, and you'll see big gains. Counting cals is boring, just train harder !

What is "fartlek"?

Anyway, if you reach 37" rvj, mad respect to you, and even if you don't reach it and get 34-35" in a year, still mad respect, I'd guess the majority of athletes don't even have >32in SVJ.

[100 sprint:100 jog]^n or similar (alternate 100/200m distances etc.)

It depends on the sport I guess. I'd be stunned if most competitive club-level olympic lifters had a SVJ of less than 32''. Your average weekend pick-up basketball player probably is much less though. IMO, basketball at recreation levels is a pretty horizontal game. Smaller guys aren't jumping for rebounds that much, and big guys don't need to. Before I started focusing on it, my jump was pathetic even though since I left school, I played basketball 2-3x/week.
___________________

Had two weeks of solid training. I've found the best time for me to hit the gym nowadays is 10-11:30PM, this works really well as it's usually empty and I can sprinkle in some squat jumps/SVJs/DSVJs to the roof. The ceiling is a standard 9' height so I know if I'm getting close to hitting it = ~35''. I changed what I wrote a few weeks ago a little bit so there's a bit more volume:

Warmup: rehab exercises (ham levers for 45sec/leg, banded hip abduction, light pallof press, banded pull-apart, BSS, box pistols) // 400m @>15km/h

Day 1 (heavy): Squats (10-7-5-5-7, currently@80/90/100kgs for 10-7-5 reps) // GHRs (3x10) // banded hip thrust (2x20@20kgs) // Farmer's walks (~40m x 2@40kgs) and 80kg front squat rack holds (3x15-20sec, in between squats)

Day 2 (very slow eccentric, full RoM exercises): RDL (3x5@70kgs) // SL squat (2x6/leg@8kgs // BSS (2x10/leg@15kgs) // wood-choppers to pallof press (2x10/side@15kgs for both) // hanging leg raises (3-4x10)

+ 5-6 squat jumps (no countermovement) in between exercises wherever there's room. Mostly bludging UB, just doing seated rows, light bench press, DB shoulder press, pullups.

I changed some of the core exercises. The excessive weighted window washers and weighted situps were really stuffing my neck up. I have a longer torso so the leverage is quite a lot to overcome, and lots of reps leads to my sub-occipitals getting jammed up, usually giving me headaches 24hrs after. The farmer's walks and front squat rack holds are isometric and can be loaded up pretty good. Then on the light day it's anti-extension with the pallof press (good for back) and regular hanging leg raises, neither of which involve the crunch movement, which suits me better I think. The heavy weighted eccentric core exercises that T0ddday recommended are dynamite, but I just can't keep getting headaches - writes off whole afternoons/evenings.

This squat jump is about 28-29'':

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6dnm1b-FUQ" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6dnm1b-FUQ</a>

and my SVJ is a couple of inches more with the countermovement, so no real improvements yet. Looking at that thumbnail, I need to straighten up! Will work on that. Once I'm hitting good squat numbers I'll start doing SJ+SVJ, then SVJ+RVJ in blocks. For this experiment, I'll stick to weighted squat jumps and jumps practice for plyometric activity, no stuffing around with Olympic lifts, bounding or depth jumps etc. yet.

that was the first thing I noticed, the round back. still though, pretty good squat jump after a pause like that. looks strong.

I love the very slow eccentric stuff, even very slow ECC+CON tbh. I've personally never enjoyed weighted core work though, kind of freaks me out tbh. I'd rather exert more control/perform more reps/do longer holds than hold weights with my feet etc.

pc!

Quote from: adarqui on September 09, 2017, 07:29:26 pm

that was the first thing I noticed, the round back. still though, pretty good squat jump after a pause like that. looks strong.

I love the very slow eccentric stuff, even very slow ECC+CON tbh. I've personally never enjoyed weighted core work though, kind of freaks me out tbh. I'd rather exert more control/perform more reps/do longer holds than hold weights with my feet etc.

pc!

Yeah it's sloppy. Of course, as soon as I noticed and corrected it, the jumps instantly feel stronger, not leaking out tension through the torso. 

nice!

I hear you on the weighted core. I prefer the modified exercises I'm doing now because it feels more controlled doing a isometric rep you can bail from at any time. The holding weight with the feet was awkward and I didn't keep it up very long, wasn't getting anything out of it.

ya, so awkward. i've tried it a few times and gave it up quick .. to everyone who does that stuff good/comfortably, impressed.. hah.

I'm thinking of boosting the hanging leg raises to something like a total of 50-60 across 2-3 sets to incorporate some muscular endurance, that might be the right mix.

nice!

SVJ training's going well. I was inspired by maxent's beastly squat volume sessions and thought I probably needed a bit more volume too. Changed the 5x5 to a 10,7,5,5,7 and got up to working with at least a double-double (2x20kgs each side) for all sets: 100/110/120/120/100 from starting at 80/90/100/100/80. Other lifts:

sick!!

high volume nation.

BSS: 2x10@17.5kgs DBs
GHR: 2x10, 1x8
RDL: 3x5@100kgs (grip giving out before hams)
SLsq: 2x6@10kgs

I'm constructing another vertec (this time with PVC pipe and connectors as I don't have any good tools) to start ramping up the jumps. I should have enough backyard space to make it work. The gym is so close that I might go there first, do a full warmup, squat a bit, then drive home and jump. The hardest bit (same as last time) is getting the spacing right between slats with a home job.! Ideally want it 1/2'' increments, but might have to settle with 1.5cm jumps instead as I can't get the right nut/washer/slat combo to work for =1/2''...oh well. It's fun making another one though, and so much cheaper than a commercially constructed one (~1100AUD here).

great stuff. drop some photos or a vid of it when it's complete!

What is SLsq?

single leg squat i'm guessing, not sure which variation of it though.

Training: I had a busy life week/10-day period and didn't train much. The Melbourne weather is still very schizophrenic and hasn't eased into consistent clear days yet, so I haven't been jumping outside. I decided to go back to volume on my squats as, before my forced rest week, the 5x5@120kgs had stalled a bit, and I wasn't very happy with the rep speed, very grindy. For the next few weeks I'm gonna do 3x10, full ATG paused reps (I'll put up a video next time). Starting at 80kgs and working up to 100kgs before trying heavier/less reps again. I'm going to take my time here.

More notes on core exercises: I'm increasingly being persuaded by my very athletic, knowledgeable friend that the ability to produce a lot of concentric abdominal force is less important than the anti-rotational function of the abs/obliques, especially for injury purposes. I think you can get trapped a bit with weighted/high-rep crunch movements, feeling very 'strong' and producing a lot of 'force' that really goes nowhere and isn't worth spending excessive time on, compared to strengthening anti-rotation. Ideally for me, the core portion of the workout should be developing endurance and strength in exercises like: dead bugs for time, woodchoppers (lateral and high-to-low, each side) and one-arm suitcase carry as opposed to smashing out a million crunches or ab pulldown-ing 100kgs etc. Of course, direct abdominal work e.g. hanging leg raises are still required, it's just the balance needs to be in favour of the anti-rotational stuff that also brings in the glutes and shoulders. The reasons for which are: better stability in movements like running, jumping, squatting etc.

Vertec notes: The trouble I had with the PVC pipe is that, because my backyard gets windy, the top part was not very stable, especially as I want to use metal slats and nuts/washers that add a bit of weight to the top. So I'm gonna use those on a wooden frame like my old one, which I'll make when I go home next and I have access to tools. In the meantime I made a homeless man's vertec using zip ties around the PVC pipe at each inch, just for training, not testing as such. So in the end I should have a nice solid wooden vertec for testing, and a crappy one just to jump at.

Edit: 3rd set of 3x10@85kgs, fairly easy with a relatively light weight, focus is to maintain this form getting up to 100kgs.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4yHcnmgIbA" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4yHcnmgIbA</a>