Thanks for the comments guys, I really appreciate it!
1. don't use gay as an insult. not a good look.
You are right that was really inconsiderate and totally out of line
What are the best weight room exercises to stimulate arm pumping during sprints or jump windups?
I don't know, but you shouldn't do that in the weight room. Best way to get better arms efficiency at sprints and jumps = sprint and jump more.
So are you suggesting I don't do any upper body work at all in the weight room?
I found these neat guidelines written by an Olympic sprinter coach (in the subforum for sprints), so that's what I will use for now
...
Bench press (chest development)
The bench press forms a key part of the sprinter's upper-body workouts - although it must be said that the exercise can be over-done, especially if athletes becomes too concerned with what they can 'bench' rather than with why they are training: for speed. The bench primarily develops the pectorals and triceps but in a plane of movement that is not specific to the sprinting action. Don't regard the bench as the equivalent of the squat for the upper body; although there are positive strength gains, these are less specific to the sprinting action than squatting itself.
Sample part session:
Bench - 25 reps x 50kg, immediately followed by 25 press-ups. Two minutes recovery, then repeat 4-5 times. Two mins recovery, then same again, but with 40kg on the bar.
Shoulder press, upright rowing, bent-over rowing
Developing the deltoids, rhomboids and traps, these exercises, like the bench, will generally strengthen the muscles used in the sprinting action. Performing front and rear shoulder press variants will provide the greatest dividend since the deltoids and traps work to pull the arms both back and forwards, as in sprinting. Christie's athletes perform seated shoulder press, which prevents the legs giving any assistance to the exercise.
Sample part session:
Seated shoulder press - 15 x 40kg, immediately followed by 15 x upright rowing, immediately followed by 15 x bent-over rowing (all with the same bar loaded at 40kg). Two mins rest, and repeat as above up to 5 times
Dumbbell work
Dumbbells allow for a more symmetrical body development, since a weaker left arm cannot be overridden by a stronger right one, as can be the case when using barbells. For this part of the session, Braithwaite used various weight dumbbells - 15, 10 and 7.5kg. The combination of exercises involved sprint arm drives, alternate shoulder press and curls, all done in succession with about 20-30 reps of each exercise. Once again, 4-5 sets would be carried out.
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Should I be trying to do my squats as fast as I can? I remember reading that faster squats translated to better vert gains.
No. You are doing squats to get stronger, so speed is irrelevant. Then you will want to express that bigger strength faster, so you will need to train RFD. Many ways to do that, one of them ( probably not the best though ) being fast squats. But you are at the first case now so don't bother.
Do I really have to choose between RFD and strength? Can I not do both?
Here's the article I was talking about
... I am not advocating psyching up for all sets and reps, the point is the intent of maximal bar speed. Lifting with a premium on SPEED of the rep, not grinding out rep after rep, is alot more cns friendly and will give more carryover to athletic performance than lifting a heavy weight slowly, the time under tension alone will be much greater for the latter, causing much more fatigue and cns drain. Explosive lifting is used by many as a recovery method, and it works very well in that way, in fact, a good way to deload from a heavy, low rep, maximal strength block is to perform an explosvie strength block and let the cns recover.
Finally, a note: Your RDL is way too weak compared to your squat. Also RDL is not like full DL, you can bump the volume up a bit, don't ramp up to a heavy triple, keep doing sets in the 6-8 reps territory. But heavier than 135, 3x8 at 160-180-ish should be very doable for you. Start with ~160 and see how it goes.
Well, I believe the problem with my RDL is almost entirely with my grip strength. During my last workout I held on to 205 as long as I could (which I get is abysmally weak grip). I tried RDL again today and the only place it really felt challenging was my forearms. I don't really see a point in continuing with these small weights that aren't going to transfer to optimal gains (for my glutes and hams) because of my grip strength.
So for the time being I'm just going to stick to GHR's, hip thrusts and BSS and train my grip strength separately. Then maybe once I have well-developed forearms I'll transition to RDL's.
4/17 BW:188
Supplements:Magnesium 500mg, L-Glutamine 1g, Creatine 5g, Multivit, 1.5g Fish Oil, Whey Protein 80g
Workout:(set x reps x weight lbs)
Full Squat:
1x5x225
1x5x275
1x8x225 (explosive)
1x3x275
2x10x225 (explosive)
Dumbbell alternating chest press:
1x15x30 (each arm)
1x13x35 (each arm)
1x10x35 (each arm)
RDL:
1x10x135
2x8x185
Hip Thrusts:
1x10x185
1x5x185(right leg only)
1x5x185(left leg only)
1x8x235
2x10x275
Comments: Had to cut workout short because gym closed early today. Hip thrusts were really uncomfortable because of the way the bar pressed down on my pelvic crests. Felt completely fine after workout, then I drank my protein shake and wanted to throw up for half an hour, which felt terrible.
