Thanks Fezzmeister.
Ill start my new Thursday routine as you suggested, in 2 weeks. I plan to do 10 20m sprints, followed by 3-4 80m runs.
I do 350m runs as I have previous experience with them, and they had a positive result on my stamina. You really feel winded as you run the last 100.
I remember once when i attempted to do 10 100m sprints, and I could only get up to 7 or 8, and then there was nothing left in the tank. Its amazing to read how some people claim they can do 10 repeats of 100m. Im calling BS.
Anyway kiddo. Nice training. The Bird is on your side.
The runs felt good enough, maybe expected a little faster in the 120, looking to approach 16.7 and 13.4 for those runs by the end of the year although right now that sounds optimistic.
Muscle Ups
6, 6, 10
Dips
20, 20, 15
Was 5kg heavier when I last did muscle ups and wow can I notice the difference. I was cautious for the first two sets and could’ve done more than ten in the last but had dips straight afterwards.
Previously I’ve gone to parallel, with one of those ‘it’s kind of parallel’ attitudes, which was a 39cm box no shoes. With very strict form I found my new box was 30cm with shoes on.
I tested this out and could get to about 55cm last night without breaking form and realised that’s pretty shit. The main help was the youtube video about the squat to stand 4 step movement to improve RoM/mobility. Anyway, on with the journal…
*for those unfamiliar with my notation, (1) means I alternated between these two exercises
KB Swings
3 x 15 x 16.5kg
Full Squat (1)*
8 x 21kg (5cm off)
8 x 26.5kg (2-3cm off)
7 x 34kg (1-2cm off) + 1 x 34kg full depth (woo!)
8 x 40kg to box
Squat to Stand Drill (1)
3 x 6
SL Calf Raises
3 x 12 x 21kg
Plantar Flexor Res. Band pull
2 x 12
Ab Bridges, 4 mins
Phew!! Each of those squat sets took over a minute to complete and there’s a serious stretch at the bottom of the movement. I upper the weight because it wasn’t an issue and I thought the heavier it was the deeper a stretch I could get at the bottom of the lift. I’m not going to suddenly whack on 100kg and compromise form so I think i’ll keep it light until September. My back has always been inflexible so my main reason for choosing to squat deeper was to improve hip and back mobility.
Interesting read. Im trying to improve my squat depth aswell. I kind of get to about parallel at the moment. You should check out mobilitywod.com for some more mobility tips. I think short hamstrings are really stopping me from getting much deeper.
You do ab bridges for 4 minutes straight??
Keep training hard kiddo. The bird is on your side.
250m (60 secs) 150m in 31.1 PB, 19.4 total 50.5 secs PB
(25 mins)
300m (60 secs) 100m in 39.3 PB, 12.4 total 51.7 secs
Surprised is not the word. I can’t attribute it all to the extra mobility as I did push harder this week, but I finished the 250m feeling great and didn’t lose form in any of the runs.
For those of you who didn’t see this session last time my totals were 53.4, 52.5 with 90 secs between runs, this was 60 secs rest. The first run works out at 12.4 secs per 100m.
Enjoyed today’s workout, had my new housemate join in with me. Glute ham raise is back into my routine now I don’t have access to HS curl machine. Depth is now solid if not a strain to hold form and I was able to sneak up the weight in squats to feel like i’m being challenged to complete the set.
The dips were easier this week, think it was becuase i’m now hanging the weight off my waist and not shoulders. Not sure on rep range but probably sticking with 12-15 for now. I’ve felt incredible the last few days, really optimistic about my race on August 10th and want to see what my training times will do before then.
Times weren’t as fast as last week but I didn’t feel great this morning and the box jumps before it were laboured. Think part of the reason has been that i’ve performed better than expected the last few days and it has caught up with me.
July 25
KB Swings
3 x 15 x 16.5kg
Squat to Stand (1)
4 x 6
Full Squats (1)
8 x 44.5kg
8 x 61.5kg
8 x 66.5kg
8 x 69.5kg
SL Calf Raises
2 x 18 x 21kg
Plantar Flex. Res. Band
2 x 15
Ab Bridges, 2 x 4 mins 30
Squatting 61kg felt easy which is a nice sign of progress, and I managed to get up to BW to full depth on the final set. There’s a muscle near my hip which is a notable weak point and if I can continually target that then i’ll creep the weight up while maintaining very strict form. Good burn in the calves from raises.
How deep do you get to with your squats? At the moment Im at about parallel.
I heard that as sprinters/athletes, parallel is deep enough to produce maximal results for sprinting needs.
I go a touch below parallel, so my hip crease is definitely lower than the top of my knee, which for me is squatting to a 30cm box.
July 27
Changing my sessions completely as i’ve failed to keep the workouts in the speed, speed endurance and specific endurance categories and they’re currently all over the place.
Track Work (SPEED)
Blocks 5 x 30m
2 x 2 x Flying 25m
Glute-Ham Raises
2 x 6
1 x 8
Squat to Stand (1)
4 x 6
Full Squats (1)
6 x 68.5kg
6 x 76.5kg
6 x 78.5kg
6 x 81kg (form compromised on last two reps)
Pretty fresh after track. Was getting ahead of myself in squats and need to remember it doesn’t matter how heavy the weight is if it’s not lifted properly.
I’m back on a seven day cycle, which looks roughly like this:
Edit:
MON - Massage
TUES - Tempo, Stretching
WED - AM Speed PM LB Weights
THUR - Mobility, Tempo, Stretching
FRI - Speed Endurance
SAT - AM Weights
SUN - Specific Endurance, UB Weights
5 x 76.5kg. Camera cuts out after it’s been on a while so only got 4 of my reps.
July 30
KB Swings
2 x 15 x 16.5kg
Full Squats (1)
8 x 68.5kg
5 x 76.5kg (video)
4 x 81kg
4 x 81kg
Drop Jumps (1)
3 x 5
Weighted Ab Work
Really good session today, felt fresh for KB swings and i’m really working on my hip snap. Squats were better with drop jumps between, been told complex training has benefits so will do these once a week.
DAMN! I nailed that 200m, got a really smooth bend and worked on rhythmical arm drive in the last 50m without fading at all. Almost a pb in the 150m and there wasn’t even a tailwind.
Weighted Dips (1)
1 x 12 x 15kg
1 x 12 x 17.5kg
1 x 12 x 20kg
Explosive Pushups (1)
3 x 8
DB Rows
3 x 8 x 41kg
Ab Circuit, 2 x 4 mins
Did upper body with a mate and was very comfortable with dips today so upped the weight. Abs were killer.
Only doing squat to stand drill until i’m comfortably hitting depth with good form. Could’ve done more today but I had a great track session and will need to recover from that. Bridges were sick, was cramping up and the sweat was pouring off me.
Next race is August 10th. My new training methods should have some effect already but i’m eyeing up a race on the 29th as the chance to smash my pb.
Good work. When you say Ab bridges, do you mean planks?
I was doing some sprinting today, and I have a quick query; when I was sprinting I felt like I struggled with technique in the first 5 metres of the sprint. It was almost like I was not sure of what stride length I was to aim for and it felt laboured. Is there anything particular I need to do in the first 5 metres of the sprint that will improve my acceleration?
Yeh planks. It’s not like 9 minutes of front bridge i do four: lie on back feet off floor, side plank, other side, front plank, repeat, with around 45 secs in each position.
How do you start. 3 point? rolling start? I would recommend a falling start, one foot in front of the other, crouch down, flat back, then fall forward putting the weight on your front foot and before you go face first into the ground you start running. I think soccer players work on short sharp steps to accelerate so i’d have an aggressive first few strides
I would say you need a good forward lean and to use your arms a lot in the first 10m. You could do a whole session going no further than 15m because if you aren’t happy with the first 5m then that will have a knock on effect on the rest of your run.
Aug 5
Track Work
Blocks 2 x 30, 2 x 40m
80, 100, 120m falling. 9.20 PB, 11.48, 13.71.
Did NOT expect that in the first run, I mean if felt good but not pb shape. only 0.04 off my 100m training pb so that backed up the form.
Wobbled slightly on the final rep at 88.5kg, good to see i’m close to my limit as the previous set seemed so easy. Getting such height off the drop jumps, love it.
Always like doing these two days before my races. The runs were submax but rather than doing them relaxed I had to actively slow on the straight on two of the reps to stop me hitting my normal target times (before a race I try to do these runs in 27 flat). Finishing with a warm down then some long static stretching tonight, quick soft tissue work tomorrow morning then rest up for race day.