Adarqui's Journal

[flipcollar]

So much to address here. Thanks for the shout-out above! Your IG has been fun to follow, good to see more T-nation dudes following mine these days.

Lunges are the worst for me. I get a crazy leg pump so fast, my quads are just not built for high rep lunges, or I’m not currently conditioned for it, or whatever. They suck. I’ve never been particularly good at unilateral leg movements, something I should probably practice more. A mile is absolutely insane.

Duke: avoid grinders in your training if jumping is a priority to you. And definitely avoid failed reps. I would recommend dynamic movements often. Power cleans (or any dynamic variation of any lift), sprints are definitely good. For jumps, I’ve always liked box jumps. I have knee problems, so box jumps are awesome for me for softening joint impact. But they have to be done correctly, which I’ll explain here:

When you perform a box jump for the purposes of athletic performance, do not set the box at the absolute highest you can jump to. The higher you set it, the more you’re relying on very specific technique to land on a high box. That’s not the point. If you’re capable of, say, a 50" box jump, set the box at 40 instead. Something you have no chance of missing. You still jump as high as you can, as explosively as possible, you just don’t want to have to worry about the landing. The box is ONLY there to protect your joints while being able to do jumps at high volume with little impact. After the jump, you STEP off the box, not jump off. If you jump off the box, you’ve lost the training effect, because you re-introduce impact. Box jumps allow you to train jumps frequently without injury risk.

As Adarqui said, actual dunking requires a lot more than just a high jump, but it sounds like that is your current limiting factor if you can’t even touch the rim. You’re going to need a shit-load more height on your jump, which will take time. My guess is at LEAST another foot of vertical leaping ability. Train consistently and explosively, and you may get there, but it’ll have to be a priority.

Adarqui: that track picture in Kenya you posted is amazing. Love it.

And running in the wind absolutely sucks. Just watching you run in that video above made me feel terrible, hahahaha.

[adarqui]

Nice to all of that.

And ya, weights 1 day with sprints/bodyweight on another could work fine. But, early on it’s all about easing into it and just slowly getting acquainted with sprints, jumps, and all of the various movements etc, so being really strict about it in terms of programming (from the start), can become overkill. So someone may prescribe say, 6 x 60m sprints with 6 minutes rest, but that is probably also assuming that someone is going near 100%. If you were to do 6 x 60m sprints, even with 6 minutes rest, you’d want to do them at 75% effort for example, nowhere near 100%. So whatever you end up deciding on given your schedule/availability etc, just ease into it very slowly and stay away from max effort sprinting or max effort reactive exercises (like bounds/depth jumps etc).

So ya maybe start with one day weights, and another sprints/bodyweight … Ease into it. Then if you like it, maybe add some light sprint work before lifting or add another day etc. See if you enjoy it first though, you’ll be able to figure that out fairly fast. Running fast over short distances is really fun tho, hard not to enjoy it.

peace!

[adarqui]

@flipcollar

So much to address here. Thanks for the shout-out above! Your IG has been fun to follow, good to see more T-nation dudes following mine these days.

Thanks alot man! and no problem!

@flipcollar

Lunges are the worst for me. I get a crazy leg pump so fast, my quads are just not built for high rep lunges, or I’m not currently conditioned for it, or whatever. They suck. I’ve never been particularly good at unilateral leg movements, something I should probably practice more. A mile is absolutely insane.

I imagine you have (without lifting), proportionally more fast twitch fibers than I do (it’s probably obvious haha), so that might offer an explanation. Once I can do something in the higher rep ranges, I can then usually extend that into the very high rep ranges → I can recover and grind it out without succumbing to say, massive pump/lactic acid. But initially on walking lunges, i’ll feel that “quad/glute pump” pretty significantly, then several sessions later, I won’t. It’ll come back once I jack the volume way up, but then after a few sessions of that, it disappears again. Obviously on a lunge, bodyweight is a huge factor, so that definitely contributes as well.

@flipcollar

Duke: avoid grinders in your training if jumping is a priority to you. And definitely avoid failed reps.

Great advice right there!

Grinders really take their toll. They are effective occasionally, but definitely not frequently. Usually when I failed reps, it’s because I bailed out before grinding, so that was deliberate to avoid bringing so much unnecessary fatigue on myself. Another thing I learned to do, was adjust my “max” daily, turning it into my “training max”. I’d try to forget about what my true max was, and instead adjust it based on how I felt, how much sleep I got, etc.

I mentioned anger jumping earlier. Well for lifting movements, when I wanted to make sure I would be fresh for jumping 1 or 2 days later, I often would try and complete singles, heavy high rep sets etc, without straining much on my face: ie staying completely relaxed. So still going heavy but, not heavy enough to cause me to really bite down or grunt through a rep etc … kinda poker face the set/reps. Seemed to help me back off when I needed to.

@flipcollar

I’ve always liked box jumps

I’ve never been a huge fan of them but, from your use case (knee problems) then ya they can be beneficial. Also that advice you gave is spot on. Once you turn box jumping into a contest, it becomes a hip flexor/hip mobility (as well as vert, but less so) contest & it goes from accessory to skill. Becoming a good box jumper might be someone’s goal, that’s cool, but if the main goal is vert, PR’n box jumps should be done without “contorting” (IMHO).

@flipcollar

Adarqui: that track picture in Kenya you posted is amazing. Love it.

Sick. Yeah man i’ve got a ton more of those… Subscribed to some great feeds on IG. The pictures of Kenya & the training that goes on there, are unreal.

@flipcollar

And running in the wind absolutely sucks. Just watching you run in that video above made me feel terrible, hahahaha.

LMFAO!#!$

yeah it was a nightmare. I just got it done but, I was laughing like… I finally decide to try and knock off 26.2 and I get one of the windiest weekends in South Florida. That was “Miami Marathon” weekend so, people actually ran the official Miami Marathon (full and half) in about that level of wind, maybe a little less so because I was right on the beach.

At one point I hit sustained winds that basically slowed me down to a crawl, felt like I was running in place. lmao!!!

peace man!!

btw, what’d you end up doing with that trophy?

[adarqui]

02/11/2018:

soreness: glutes, alot! step-up in lunge volume smashed them. sucks, and awesome, simultaneously.

143 lb. today but will probably be a bit heavier tomorrow.

morning speed walk (grass/dirt/rocks):

• legs sore (glutes/hamstrings)
• 5 miles @ {13:XX, moderate}, 1 mile @ {11:43, very hard, 5.2 mph?, PR!}
• Huge PR - First sub 12 on soft surface, only 4s off all time PR of 11:39 (on concrete)
• 6 miles in 1h:19m

^^ previous non-concrete walking mile PR (hard grass/dirt) was 12:59 … HEH.

pretty happy with that 11:43 … Haven’t gone sub12 since my 11:39 → hips feeling strong, lunges might be helping already.

on a sidewalk this would most likely have been an all-time PR, so many little “speed bumps” in the area I walked.

wasn’t sweating too much on the 13:XX paces, but then when I pushed it hard on the last mile, sweat just pouring out … lmao. Very fast walking is so intense.

Several hours later… bottoms of both feet stinging. Might have crushed a bunch of rocks that I just didn’t feel at the time, and now i’m paying for it. Hope it disappears in the morning, feels annoying.

[duketheslaya]

@flipcollar

Duke: avoid grinders in your training if jumping is a priority to you. And definitely avoid failed reps. I would recommend dynamic movements often. Power cleans (or any dynamic variation of any lift), sprints are definitely good. For jumps, I’ve always liked box jumps. I have knee problems, so box jumps are awesome for me for softening joint impact. But they have to be done correctly, which I’ll explain here:

When you perform a box jump for the purposes of athletic performance, do not set the box at the absolute highest you can jump to. The higher you set it, the more you’re relying on very specific technique to land on a high box. That’s not the point. If you’re capable of, say, a 50" box jump, set the box at 40 instead. Something you have no chance of missing. You still jump as high as you can, as explosively as possible, you just don’t want to have to worry about the landing. The box is ONLY there to protect your joints while being able to do jumps at high volume with little impact. After the jump, you STEP off the box, not jump off. If you jump off the box, you’ve lost the training effect, because you re-introduce impact. Box jumps allow you to train jumps frequently without injury risk.

As Adarqui said, actual dunking requires a lot more than just a high jump, but it sounds like that is your current limiting factor if you can’t even touch the rim. You’re going to need a shit-load more height on your jump, which will take time. My guess is at LEAST another foot of vertical leaping ability. Train consistently and explosively, and you may get there, but it’ll have to be a priority.

@flipcollar thanks for the tips! when you refer to grinding,is that with upper body work as well? or do you just mean leg training?

i think il include jumps in warmups and practi

@flipcollar

I would recommend dynamic movements often. Power cleans (or any dynamic variation of any lift)

thanks man. iv never done much cleaning until recently when i had to clean the bar for overhead presses. what is your opinion on power clean to front squats?

@flipcollar

If you’re capable of, say, a 50" box jump, set the box at 40 instead. Something you have no chance of missing. You still jump as high as you can, as explosively as possible, you just don’t want to have to worry about the landing. The box is ONLY there to protect your joints while being able to do jumps at high volume with little impact. After the jump, you STEP off the box, not jump off. If you jump off the box, you’ve lost the training effect, because you re-introduce impact. Box jumps allow you to train jumps frequently without injury risk.

i dont have acess to boxes for jumps, but is making them myself okay? e.g stacking certain stuff on each other ( as long as its safe)

@flipcollar

As Adarqui said, actual dunking requires a lot more than just a high jump, but it sounds like that is your current limiting factor if you can’t even touch the rim. You’re going to need a shit-load more height on your jump, which will take time. My guess is at LEAST another foot of vertical leaping ability. Train consistently and explosively, and you may get there, but it’ll have to be a priority.

iv never done much explosive training so i wonder how i will turn out. im decent at 100m sprints compared to some people my age (athletics carnivals iv done well in etc) but iv always sucked at longer distance.

@adarqui

And ya, weights 1 day with sprints/bodyweight on another could work fine. But, early on it’s all about easing into it and just slowly getting acquainted with sprints, jumps, and all of the various movements etc, so being really strict about it in terms of programming (from the start), can become overkill. So someone may prescribe say, 6 x 60m sprints with 6 minutes rest, but that is probably also assuming that someone is going near 100%. If you were to do 6 x 60m sprints, even with 6 minutes rest, you’d want to do them at 75% effort for example, nowhere near 100%. So whatever you end up deciding on given your schedule/availability etc, just ease into it very slowly and stay away from max effort sprinting or max effort reactive exercises (like bounds/depth jumps etc).

So ya maybe start with one day weights, and another sprints/bodyweight … Ease into it. Then if you like it, maybe add some light sprint work before lifting or add another day etc. See if you enjoy it first though, you’ll be able to figure that out fairly fast. Running fast over short distances is really fun tho, hard not to enjoy it.

peace!

Thanks heaps man. it sounds basically like basic principles of lifting weights. build up work capacity and take it slow ( not too slow but you know what i mean) to avoid harm!

[flipcollar]

@adarqui

btw, what’d you end up doing with that trophy?

it’s at my office with my other trophys, plaques and medals, on a shelf on a book case. I really like it, I want to find a better place for it, but that’s where it is for now.

It’s a funny little collection of awards. I have my strongman awards, some powerlifting, some billiards trophy’s (I used to play pool competitively), a certificate for completion of a drug rehab program from a decade ago, and an award/scholarship I got from my fraternity loooong long ago.

I was definitely interested in what you would think about my own thoughts on jumping, given you’re clearly much better at it than me. Good stuff.

@duketheslaya

thanks for the tips! when you refer to grinding,is that with upper body work as well? or do you just mean leg training?

so I don’t believe grinders are useful for much. They have their place in training, particularly for a competitive athlete like myself as I have to become acclimated to working at my true max capacity. But for building strength and size, they’re basically useless, and in fact can be detrimental to progress if done regularly. Just as a general rule, for your goals, you should never, ever fail a rep, and on most sets, you should leave at least 1-2 reps in the tank. Going to failure is overrated, unless we’re talking about really high rep burnout sets or something Failure on low rep sets is so taxing on the body.

As for your specific question about upper body work, that’s not going to really affect jumping, but as I stated above, I don’t recommend grinders. So yea. Don’t do that. lol.

@duketheslaya

what is your opinion on power clean to front squats?

that’s called a full clean. lol.

I’m kind of joking, kind of serious. A full clean is dropping immediately into the front squat position to catch the bar low on a heavy clean. If you’re talking about performing a power clean and THEN squatting it, that’s fine, but there’s nothing particularly special about the training effect there. I have seen that sort of thing as part of a complex though. Olympic lifters do that sort of stuff. Liiiiiiiike maybe a power clean, front squat, strict press, push press, and a jerk, all without dropping the bar. Or something like that. That would constitute 1 rep in the set, and would be repeated as desired.

I like front squats. I like power cleans. Anything that incorporates both should be useful.

@duketheslaya

i dont have acess to boxes for jumps, but is making them myself okay? e.g stacking certain stuff on each other ( as long as its safe)

of course. stability of the box is the most important thing. Doesn’t matter what you’re jumping on, as long as it isn’t moving when you jump on it.

@duketheslaya

iv never done much explosive training so i wonder how i will turn out. im decent at 100m sprints

sprints are great. I used to do them a lot, not so much anymore, as most of my conditioning is now centered around carries, sled pulls/pushes, etc. But yea man, sprints are awesome. Such a basic, incredible human movement that every man woman and child should try to be proficient in.

[duketheslaya]

@flipcollar

so I don’t believe grinders are useful for much. They have their place in training, particularly for a competitive athlete like myself as I have to become acclimated to working at my true max capacity. But for building strength and size, they’re basically useless, and in fact can be detrimental to progress if done regularly. Just as a general rule, for your goals, you should never, ever fail a rep, and on most sets, you should leave at least 1-2 reps in the tank. Going to failure is overrated, unless we’re talking about really high rep burnout sets or something Failure on low rep sets is so taxing on the body.

As for your specific question about upper body work, that’s not going to really affect jumping, but as I stated above, I don’t recommend grinders. So yea. Don’t do that. lol.

I’ve only grinded twice that i remember and that was ohp. I dont like grinding reps anyway. Was just wondering in terms of upper vs lower grinding and yeh.

@flipcollar

that’s called a full clean. lol.

I’m kind of joking, kind of serious. A full clean is dropping immediately into the front squat position to catch the bar low on a heavy clean. If you’re talking about performing a power clean and THEN squatting it, that’s fine, but there’s nothing particularly special about the training effect there. I have seen that sort of thing as part of a complex though. Olympic lifters do that sort of stuff. Liiiiiiiike maybe a power clean, front squat, strict press, push press, and a jerk, all without dropping the bar. Or something like that. That would constitute 1 rep in the set, and would be repeated as desired.

I like front squats. I like power cleans. Anything that incorporates both should be useful.

Lol. Since i dont have a rack i have to clean the bar for everything . So i need to practice cleans anyway

@flipcollar

of course. stability of the box is the most important thing. Doesn’t matter what you’re jumping on, as long as it isn’t moving when you jump on it.

Okay cool.

@flipcollar

sprints are great. I used to do them a lot, not so much anymore, as most of my conditioning is now centered around carries, sled pulls/pushes, etc. But yea man, sprints are awesome. Such a basic, incredible human movement that every man woman and child should try to be proficient in.

How effective are sprints at building muscle? I mean given sprinters huge legs probably a dumb question to ask.

[flipcollar]

@duketheslaya

How effective are sprints at building muscle?

depends on what you mean by the question.

For overall leg size and maximal, they are inferior to basically any weight training. If they had a superior training effect to lifting weights for building either size or maximal strength, powerlifters strongmen and bodybuilders would all sprint a whole lot more.

What sprinting does well is help with balance and unilateral strength and stability, and they are a good accessory movement for a lifter of any kind. You can’t simply substitute sprints for squats and expect great results in terms of anything but running, but there is the potential for sprints to help you squat more. In my sport, they are valuable because they can translate well to carries, and they can help me build the smaller muscles in my hip area that may not get trained particularly well with the lifts I do.

[adarqui]

quick reply, plan on replying to other stuff later.

Yesterday’s workout was solid:

02/13/2018:

bw = 143

workout: (slight cold improving, glutes SORE) morning track with the group + long run: 20.06 total: random “speed” totaling 4.5 mi + 15.5 mi @ mixed paces with 6:5X’s at miles 9, 14, and 16 :: painted that track based on the GPS data - lol.

felt good, not great. lack of sleep & jumping right into track work with no warmup (i started off slow tho) didn’t help. Absolutely drenched within a few minutes.

top of right foot STILL bugging me from tying my shoe too tight a few weeks ago… so annoying.

absolutely nothing tomorrow, no walking etc… then going to do some speed thursday with another long run attached. Then two days rest and my first half marathon race. 8|

It’s going to be “scorching+humid af” for Sunday’s half/full, sooo… better get used to it quick - which is what I basically am trying to do today & thursday HEH.

after: right calf a bit tender, top of right foot a little but better than before the 20 miles (lol) … these long workouts make me feel GREAT.

workout #2:

workout: bw

• 04:30 PM

S1: 3sec paused dead hang ng pullups: BW x 11
S1: full dips: BW x 13
S1: standing single leg abductions: x 30
S1: neutral calf raises: BW x 30
S1: walking lunges: BW x 5 each leg

S2: 3sec paused dead hang chinups: BW x 10
S2: full dips, split stance: BW x 13
S2: standing single leg abductions: x 30
S2: wide calf raises: BW x 30
S2: walking lunges: BW x 5 each leg

S3: 3sec paused dead hang wide grip pullups: BW x 8

nice!! strong!

[adarqui]

quick reply, plan on replying to other stuff later.

02/14/2018:

bw = 143

3.5 mi light walk

Legs feel great after those 20 miles, not sore/wrecked in any way… heh. Legs/glutes considerably less sore than yesterday as well.

Tomorrow’s track session will be a bit similar, but less intense on the speed work. Last session before my first half marathon on Sunday haha. Stepping up the distance… This is just prep for the half I care about alot on 03/24/2018.

peace!

[duketheslaya]

That makes sense. I was thinking about people like olympic sprinters or sprint cyclists. They have huge legs but again there at an olympic level + weight training so of course there massive.

[muskratlifts]

Dude, awesome log. You’re super fast. Keep up the good work.

[adarqui]

Thanks so much man!! Definitely trying to get crazy fast, that’s the goal. Will do, peace!!

[adarqui]

Don’t plan on ranting or getting into any political debates, but that Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School is probably 7 miles from me. I was at work (which I do occasionally lmfao), when it happened. Driving home on the highway, the normally desolate & quiet high school by 6 PM ET+, was absolutely flooded with law enforcement, news crews, etc. The entire city of Parkland looked like a traffic jam from “above”. It was pretty eerie listening to the details on NPR Radio while driving right past it. RIP.

[adarqui]

02/15/2018

bw = 144

resting HR: watch said my lowest resting HR was 34… eheh. dno, optical HR can be somewhat off.

[b]workout: moderate speed w/ progression run:

• 17 miles
• w/u, strides
• 2 miles @ {6.05 driver, 6.03 passenger} (Teammate and I couldn’t go slower than that, lmfao)
• 2 x 200m + 4 x 100m equal jog rest
• 8 mi progression run from 7:XX to last two: {6:23, 6:13}
  c/d[/b]

great session.

The 2 miles @ HM pace, were supposed to be 6:20’s … but it was just so odd, by 0.65 or so in the first mile I was still at 5:58 and that felt so slow. I thought my watch was broken. I then tried slowing way down and still, just too much easy speed. So I was driving that … then teammate took over and she drove that last mile, no idea what the pace was until seeing the data just now. Pretty cool. hah. The driver/passenger style is legit, hopefully we do more of it. Passenger doesn’t look at their watch at all, just tries to stay more relaxed and feed off the driver who is doing that work. The driver needs to do a better job driving tho… lmfao!

Perhaps a good sign for Sunday … just too much easy speed. felt great. I want to go out at 6:15ish or so, we’ll see!

No more training until Sunday’s race.

good stuff!!!

FORGOT TO POST MY BODYWEIGHT WORKOUT WTF: strong!

S1: 3sec paused dead hang ng pullups: BW x 12 :wowthatwasnutswtf:
S1: full dips: BW x 14 :wowthatwasnutswtf:
S1: standing single leg abductions: x 30
S1: neutral calf raises: BW x 30
S1: walking lunges: BW x 10 each leg

S2: 3sec paused dead hang chinups: BW x 10 :wowthatwasnutswtf:
S2: full dips, split stance: BW x 15 :wowthatwasnutswtf:
S2: standing single leg abductions: x 30
S2: wide calf raises: BW x 30
S2: walking lunges: BW x 10 each leg

S3: 3sec paused dead hang wide grip pullups: BW x 8 :wowthatwasnutswtf:
S3: full dips: BW x 15 :wowthatwasnutswtf:
S3: standing single leg abductions: x 30
S3: close calf raises: BW x 30
S3: walking lunges: BW x 10 each leg

[adarqui]

^^ Also, at the tail end of my progression run, an NFL combine prep class walked onto the football field… By the time I was doing my cooldown, they were ready to fly, so I cut it short (at 17, wanted to hit 20 lol) and took some videos/photos etc.

Here’s a few, i’ll post all of them here tomorrow:

This is 10-20, ie after only 10 yards of accel, flying:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BfOiZkdne4u/?taken-by=andrewdarqui

.

This dude was a monster:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BfOXvORH0ZL/?taken-by=andrewdarqui

Cool stuff. Brought back memories of when I interned for a facility/coach, helping with their NFL combine prep (2007? I forget) → great times tho.

NFL Athletes fascinate me. Absolutely incredible at so many different things.

Will post a few more photos/clips tomorrow, I have some more nice ones.

peace!!

[adarqui]

Finally, just for fun … a beautiful Kenyan running photo that was posted today. It’s not from a pro photographer or anything, and I think that’s why it makes it even more impressive to me. That line of athletes, you never see that in the US. I mean it’s extremely rare. If you see a line like that, it’s usually Kenyan/East African Born athletes training/living in the US doing it. Beyond that, the landscape is beautiful. Kenya & Iceland are the only places on my TO-VISIT list. Incredible photo. 8|

https://www.instagram.com/p/BfMTOCxhp6L/?utm_source=ig_embed

Also here’s one more I guess. This is how they get ready to do their group fartlek runs → often 400+ people show up:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BfNmL0qBU-3/?taken-by=kenya_experience_iten

^^ Oh. And to make things more incredible, Wilson Kipsang (self coached (former) Marathon World Record Holder), usually leads out a group like this EVERY WEEK. He’s one of the best in the world, and pretty much every week he leads out one of the biggest groups in Kenya. He creates the workout & starts it off/leads etc. Incredible.

For reference, here’s Kipsang:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BeZRrEJBvBt/?utm_source=ig_embed

peace!

[The_Myth]

I teach HS on Long Island in New York. We had several students that had been to sleep away camp with kids from that school, many of them knew students that were killed and injured. We have one student that moved here from Parkland, and attended that high school.

It was an emotional day, and amazing how interconnected we all are.

[adarqui]

Damn man… Thanks for sharing that.

And yea, we’re basically a connected graph at this point. We’re at the point where there probably aren’t any vertices out there that don’t have an edge. (I’m not a mathematician, it’s just interesting to think about). There are more relationships now than ever before.

peace!

[adarqui]

Most of the photos/videos I took yesterday:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BfOXvORH0ZL/?taken-by=andrewdarqui
.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BfOfgyBHl3Z/?taken-by=andrewdarqui
.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BfOa9A9HIzw/?taken-by=andrewdarqui
.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BfOhfE0HZV2/?taken-by=andrewdarqui
.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BfOiJACniwi/?taken-by=andrewdarqui
.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BfOiZkdne4u/?taken-by=andrewdarqui
.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BfOi2BEHno5/?taken-by=andrewdarqui
.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BfOkKv6H-EJ/?taken-by=andrewdarqui
.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BfOoBFvn6w_/?taken-by=andrewdarqui
.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BfOpQzEnewC/?taken-by=andrewdarqui
.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BfOp1U-HWcJ/?taken-by=andrewdarqui
.
.
Also, some guy (and his team) been showing up alot lately, he’s definitely a boxer and looks like he’s getting ready for a fight:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BfOhxHEH9yl/?taken-by=andrewdarqui
.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BfOg1SNnz4K/?taken-by=andrewdarqui