Congrats mate! Glad to hear it!
19.02.14PM
Rest this week has been awful! I’m not sure if any universities internationally have a rag week- but its essentially our version of spring break.
Except with awful weather… and more beer… AND MORE BEER.
A good friend is the head doorman of one of the biggest nightclubs and drafted me in for the week.
So- I’ve been working 8.00 to 17.30 before doing security 21.00 to 2.30. Roughly 4 hours sleep.
I travelled the hour to my old club for sparring again last night for sparring. I lucked out and got a 91kg Polish national am champion and an 81kg English ABA finalist. Both 6’1" southpaws with speed to burn.
Epic sparring. I opened the lungs and felt dangerous in there.
24.02.14 AM
First session back after a crazy weekend…
It started of with a whirlwind of travel and excitement- I signed a 4 year deal with a solid promoter…
but finished chilling out with my daughter and a nice catch up with some good friends.
I genuinely believe, sports aside- I’m becoming a better more rounded person.
So getting up this morning was easy…
Bound into box jumps 5, 5, 5.
Med. Ball Throws 3, 3, 3.
Power Snatch 2, 2, 2, 2, 2.
Military Press
2s @ bar, 88, 95, 10
1s @ 110, 110, 110, 110, 110.
JK @ 121
Benchpress
10s @ 132, 132, 132, 132, 132.
Chins
4 x 8s
DB Rows
4 x 10s @ 25kg
EZ Curls 3 x 10s @ 30kg
Today will be a long, gruelling day.
Lets fucking have it!!!
edit 1
Break from work 1 - 2.
In my gear in the gym next door by 1.10.
Light warmup
6 x 3s Bagwork
3 x 2s Sahdowboxing - mirror.
I’d like to write a paragraph on this work, but there was nothing fancy about it. Aggressive upright boxing and throwing regular combinations.
Granted on the shadowboxing I worked on angles (I can be very 2d on offense,)but it was sweet simple session. Kinda like me haha.
Cardio later… the thing is… I don’t like running as I had horrible shin splints. Steady state cardio isn’t something I believe in.
So, I’m going wrestling. Love that sport and it will be a refreshing change in the coming weeks.
[quote]donnydarkoirl wrote:
Cardio later… the thing is… I don’t like running as I had horrible shin splints. Steady state cardio isn’t something I believe in.
So, I’m going wrestling. Love that sport and it will be a refreshing change in the coming weeks.[/quote]
Wrestling seriously will make you a much more powerful, explosive person as a whole. It will also kill you lol. Brutal cardio, good work.
Major congrats on the deal with the promoter! Good news sir
[quote]Aragorn wrote:
Wrestling seriously will make you a much more powerful, explosive person as a whole. It will also kill you lol. Brutal cardio, good work.
Major congrats on the deal with the promoter! Good news sir[/quote]
Ha- that is the truth. I grew up with brothers, cousins and a lot of rough housing. Sincerely wish this sport had been an option then!
Thanks- sincerely appreciated! I will be trying to get some footage up this week.
I was actually looking forward to asking you a question also…
Go for it!
[quote]Aragorn wrote:
Go for it![/quote]
Ok, well as you’re probably aware- abdominal work is very traditional (outdated) in our sport.
I am happy with 2x core sessions a week to develop the core in terms of athletic use.
What I do worry about is endurance- the ability to take it to the body.
if only performing 2x sessions a week for the abs will I be more inclined to be hyurt to the body?
or
should I perform my two sessions and mix in some bodyweight static holds daily?
Your opinion would be gold here.
25.02.14
A good morning after the night before. Wrestling last night was just technique drilling for the intermediate level guys.
I wont say that I was disappointed, but I was leaving guys for dead in terms of fitness. A couple of weeks and I should probably jump to the advanced wrestling group. Will need to be watching the body then in case of injury.
This morning getting up was tough. I was in bed for 11 last night, maybe a little bit too late for me. Slept well though.
When I got myself out of bed, I mixed some oats & blueberries in a cup and hit the road.
Box Jumps 3 3 3
Ovh. Med Throws 3 3 3
Sprints 1 1 1 1 1
Deadlift
1s @ 132, 176, 220
1s @ 265 265 265 265 265*
SG Rack Pulls
10 @ 132, 176, 176, 176, 176.
Pullups 5 5 5 5
Calf Raises 20 20 20 20
Rev Flye Machine
15 15 15 15
*Aaaahhh so welcome back training hard. The first 265 I went to pull felt hard! I couldn’t believe it as I never find DL difficult and I’m questioning my TM- I believe I should lift a lot more.
I absolutely ate up the rest of the lifts, but it made me smile. Normal service has resumed!
Bought in a bunch of supplements yesterday evening. Some new whey- some casein…
was an expensive haul, but with a long long training camp, I need to be fed!
Feeling good and enjoying training; dunno if any of you guys use social networking- but on twitter I’m @donnydarkoirl
25.02.14 PM
So, I left work at 17.29 and hit the motorway quickly. This weekend holds the National Elite semi-finals, so I had the opportunity to grab some sparring with two of the big guys and one middleweight.
I lost count of how many rounds we did. All I know was that with two rounds to go, I was leaning over the ropes witth that sweat that seems like boiling water, seeping down from inside my headguard. The last two rounds I boxed technically- well very defensively and did some severe damage from counter opportunities.
Thats my gameplan now.
Aggression doesn’t always equate to scores. Sometimes hanging back and waiting for an opportunity is crucial.
You expend less energy, you get hit less and you have a better viewpoint as to how you will mount your attack.
In order to enable this you must establish a threat though, to dissuade your opponent from piling on the pressure, when you look to stand off him. For me this is where the jab comes into play.
26.02.14
So this is my rest day in terms of strength work… This is all about to be turned on its head next week, but what can one do?
I woke this morning with a good stiffness around my scaps; pretty standard after heavy sparring.
I had a lie in until 7am and i think i benefitted.
Hit the gym for 13.00.
4 x 15s Leg Raises w/ 10kg on the abs
4 x 20s Sprinter Crunches
Back Raises 4 x 10s.
(all of these supersetted together, felt good.)
4 x 10s Rope Crunch 155, 155, 155, 155 (these just did not feel “right” today. Very strange)
4 x 20s Bicycle Kicks w 10kg on the abs.
4 x 15s Facepulls (added some weight here… definitely an erogenous zone haha)
4 X 15s Paloff Press
(added a little bit of weight here too, very much enjoyed them.)
Completely undecided about training later. Its gonna be a surprise session I guess!
[quote]donnydarkoirl wrote:
[quote]Aragorn wrote:
Go for it![/quote]
Ok, well as you’re probably aware- abdominal work is very traditional (outdated) in our sport.
I am happy with 2x core sessions a week to develop the core in terms of athletic use.
What I do worry about is endurance- the ability to take it to the body.
if only performing 2x sessions a week for the abs will I be more inclined to be hyurt to the body?
or
should I perform my two sessions and mix in some bodyweight static holds daily?
Your opinion would be gold here.[/quote]
Well there are a couple ways to approach this, but first have you always trained the core 2x weekly? If so I don’t think that you’re going to see a drop in performance training the same frequency you always have. That just doesn’t make any sense.
If you used to train it every day, why did you stop? Was it taking up time you wanted to use for other things like sparring or athletic development, or boring, or what?
In general I am a fan of frequent ab training for performance sake, but I also hate training abs myself. So my solution for my own training has been to put abs into my dynamic warm-up. This takes up very little additional time, and every time I step into the gym I am at least doing SOME ab work–because I know that after my weight training I will be too tired to do it and I know that I won’t go to the gym to ONLY do abs because it’s boring as hell to me. I also do abs as part of a contrast set or superset with something else in my training. Takes up less time and still gets the job done (plus I use my rest period as my “reward” for finishing a set of abs).
I think static holds are a good idea as part of a warm-up, and I think any time you can train multiple aspects of the core it’s a great idea. Your sport demands strong rotation power, strong anti-rotation power, good flexion power, very strong obliques, and tons of endurance.
You should address all these qualities as many times as possible in the week, although in my opinion it is easier to gain endurance than strength.
The best way to approach this in my mind is to train the aspects that don’t take much time every day you go to the gym, and train the very long endurance only a couple times. As a fight gets closer endurance takes more priority and strength should be put on maintenance level (but not ignored! Or you will gradually regress in strength).
Long story short, daily holds and something in your warm-ups for every workout is a good strategy without using too much time out of your day. Then hit the full ab workout a couple times a week and get as many different kinds of attributes worked as you can while focusing on endurance. This would be outside of any “rotational power” work that you do, such as the medicine balls slams from the videos I posted obviously because that is sport specific power work, not “ab training”.
Make sense? Or clear as mud?
[quote]Aragorn wrote:
Well there are a couple ways to approach this, but first have you always trained the core 2x weekly? If so I don’t think that you’re going to see a drop in performance training the same frequency you always have. That just doesn’t make any sense.
If you used to train it every day, why did you stop? Was it taking up time you wanted to use for other things like sparring or athletic development, or boring, or what? [/quote]
The core is something I’ve only really addressed since 2010. Prior to that I had been in the amateurs and subjected to the archaic abdominal conditioning. I never had a problem with body shots, but I had pain in my upper back and shoulder- with some detriment to posture.
Up until 6 months ago, what I used to do was 3 core workouts a week- as rest period between my sparring and bag sessions.
I used to spar 6.30 to 7.00. Do core from 7.00 to 7.30 and then a bags session.
In these sessions I tried to tick the following boxes;
Flexion, Anti-extension, Anti-lateral flexion, anti-rotation and posterior work.
In the gym I would then integrate some static holds and posterior work in my mobility work before Squat and deadlift sessions.
In the early stages I found the longer sessions hugely beneficial for my cardiovascular development.
I feel have the engine now, so I’m just trying to add gears!
So, now I try to train intensely for 1 hour and that is why volume to the core has reduced.
[quote]Aragorn wrote:
The best way to approach this in my mind is to train the aspects that don’t take much time every day you go to the gym, and train the very long endurance only a couple times. As a fight gets closer endurance takes more priority and strength should be put on maintenance level (but not ignored! Or you will gradually regress in strength).
Long story short, daily holds and something in your warm-ups for every workout is a good strategy without using too much time out of your day. Then hit the full ab workout a couple times a week and get as many different kinds of attributes worked as you can while focusing on endurance. This would be outside of any “rotational power” work that you do, such as the medicine balls slams from the videos I posted obviously because that is sport specific power work, not “ab training”.
Make sense? Or clear as mud?[/quote]
Not only does this make sense- you’ve pretty much pre-digested all the hard information and made it very simple to absorb. Thank you.
I had delayed pulling the trigger on daily core work- but this is a very innovative solution.
I will integrate portions of core work daily to compliment the primary exercises of that session.
Aragorn- obviously you are very well read and I sincerely appreciate the time you’ve taken to reply here.
You are as valuable a resource as T-Nation has to offer.
27.02.14 AM
Yesterday was my off day and I finished the day with a scorching bath of epsom salts.
Having the evening to relax was terrific.
The place I’m staying- it belongs to the guy who I grew up next door to. He’s ten years my senior- like my older cousin I guess and he is very close to my family.
Both of us are learning the guitar and he finds it hilarious, to grab my phone and see what trouble he can get me into with girls. Cool guy- but most importantly, in this context; I have a great home to really relax after long days.
I was in bed early, awake early…
Bound into box Jumps 5, 5, 5
Med Ball Throws 3, 3, 3
Power Snatch 2, 2, 2, 2, 2*
Benchpress
3s @ 132, 154, 165,
1s @ 176, 176, 176, 176, 176.**
Klokov Press
70ls - 10, 10, 10, 10, 10***
Chins
8 8 8 8
DB Rows 110lbs @ 10, 10, 10, 10.
EZ Curls 55lbs @ 15, 15, 15.
Notes:
*On the jumps & snatch became aware of a slight pull in my left glute. Its nothing serious or significant, but I will note it so as to roll it out tonight.
**Benchpress was rediculously easy this morning. This is week 6 (I THINK?!!) of the sss program, I shouldve taken the opportunity to do jokers to test my TM, but what can you do.
***Ok- this exercise was never meant to be tough, but the weight is crazy easy now.
I will be keeping this exercise, but switching it to OvH press day, so I’ll climb it slowly.
This morning was a great session- not because performance jumped, but because I could feel my body giving me feedback.
I did this session without BCAAs.
My body likes BCAA’s.
We’ve got to get some BCAA’s.
Next week my routine goes crazy.
I will have to install my 531 sessions; Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
I will have conditioning sessions Tuesday and either Thursday or Saturday. (I’m hoping Saturday, but we will see.)
So… I will have to rest from Saturday am to Sunday pm (with my daughter kicking my ass!)
So during the week, I would like to get in 5 no. Boxing sessions (mixed intensity) and 2 no. wrestling sessions.
Lets see can we attach a fancy chart…
28.02.14 PM
This training stuff is a lot of fun. One area I need to adjust is my eating. I haven’t been tracking my weight or my macros this week, but that will be the priority in the coming weeks. I’ve been eating clean. Now I just have to deal with quantities.
10.00 is my bedtime; I do not function correctly after this time. A couple of zma capsules and I’m out untill 5.30 or so.
This morning breakfast was 4 eggs, about 50ml of milk and a handful of blueberries.
I drink my eggs raw for speed and convenience. This may not be ideal, but I don’t like the idea of pasteurized egg whites.
Box Jumps 3 3 3
Med Ball 3 3 3
Sprints 1 1 1 1 1*
Squats
1s @ 132, 155, 176, 198
1s @ 220, 220, 220, 220, 220**
Deep Belt Squat
10s @ 45, 55, 66, 66, 66.
Pullups 5 5 5 5
Calf Raises seated 20 20 20 20
Calf Curls 15 15 15 15
Notes;
*Severe lack of explosiveness this morning. My first set of jumps were fine- but I died then, until the sprints, at which point I picked up again.
**Had severe trouble this morning with the knees buckling in. I put more effort into keeping my knees out than the lift. Once I kept the knees out 220 was easy.
The belts squats were lovely and i worked explosive tens. I know the weight was nothing, but hypertrophy is not what I want.
Overall it was a very satisfactory session. I think in my notes I highlight the negative, but in reality it was another session down and money in the bank.
Yesterday I had my first attack of training related crankiness.
A girl messages me regularly and each time I politely give her an excuse why I cannot meet her.
She irritated me yesterday and I went completely Bruce Banner - EPIC Hulk smash on her.
When I use big words, you know I must be mad haha
Debating an apology.
But I don not need that…
[quote]donnydarkoirl wrote:
Not only does this make sense- you’ve pretty much pre-digested all the hard information and made it very simple to absorb. Thank you.
I had delayed pulling the trigger on daily core work- but this is a very innovative solution.
I will integrate portions of core work daily to compliment the primary exercises of that session.
Aragorn- obviously you are very well read and I sincerely appreciate the time you’ve taken to reply here.
You are as valuable a resource as T-Nation has to offer.
[/quote]
Haha. Thank you very much for the kind words brother. I just made most of every kind of mistake myself in the past is all. I like coaching.
Your excel spreadsheet schedule looks fantastic, I would have set-up very similar to you. No need to change anything…for the moment that is lol. What is “target conditioning”? Regular conditioning based on 3 minute rounds I assume?
[quote]donnydarkoirl wrote:
28.02.14 PM
This training stuff is a lot of fun. One area I need to adjust is my eating. I haven’t been tracking my weight or my macros this week, but that will be the priority in the coming weeks. I’ve been eating clean. Now I just have to deal with quantities.
10.00 is my bedtime; I do not function correctly after this time. A couple of zma capsules and I’m out untill 5.30 or so.
This morning breakfast was 4 eggs, about 50ml of milk and a handful of blueberries.
I drink my eggs raw for speed and convenience. This may not be ideal, but I don’t like the idea of pasteurized egg whites.
Box Jumps 3 3 3
Med Ball 3 3 3
Sprints 1 1 1 1 1*
Squats
1s @ 132, 155, 176, 198
1s @ 220, 220, 220, 220, 220**
Deep Belt Squat
10s @ 45, 55, 66, 66, 66.
Pullups 5 5 5 5
Calf Raises seated 20 20 20 20
Calf Curls 15 15 15 15
Notes;
*Severe lack of explosiveness this morning. My first set of jumps were fine- but I died then, until the sprints, at which point I picked up again.
**Had severe trouble this morning with the knees buckling in. I put more effort into keeping my knees out than the lift. Once I kept the knees out 220 was easy.
The belts squats were lovely and i worked explosive tens. I know the weight was nothing, but hypertrophy is not what I want.
Overall it was a very satisfactory session. I think in my notes I highlight the negative, but in reality it was another session down and money in the bank.
Yesterday I had my first attack of training related crankiness.
A girl messages me regularly and each time I politely give her an excuse why I cannot meet her.
She irritated me yesterday and I went completely Bruce Banner - EPIC Hulk smash on her.
When I use big words, you know I must be mad haha
Debating an apology.
But I don not need random messages late at night from people who don’t appreciate an athlete’s lifestyle.[/quote]
Sluggishness is pretty normal sometimes. “They can’t all be gems” said a very brilliant coach once. If it is an ongoing thing for 2 weeks in a row then I would end up checking your eating/sleeping/vitamin habits and your volume/intensity in the gym. Otherwise you are fine.
You can also start taking your morning temperature. Establish a baseline for about what your temp is when you’re feeling good in training and rested. When your temperature drops for more than a couple days you are approaching a slowdown in metabolism or recovery driven either by overtraining. If your temp raises you are increasing your metabolic rate.
First thing in the morning, before getting out of bed even. Doesn’t matter as long as absolutely consistent measuring conditions every time.
Alternatively if you can get a reliable grip force meter you can use grip strength to assess training readiness. Grip is a better and more reliable indicator of training readiness. Temperature is a much better and more reliable indicator of metabolism status.
[quote]Aragorn wrote:
Sluggishness is pretty normal sometimes. “They can’t all be gems” said a very brilliant coach once. If it is an ongoing thing for 2 weeks in a row then I would end up checking your eating/sleeping/vitamin habits and your volume/intensity in the gym. Otherwise you are fine.
You can also start taking your morning temperature. Establish a baseline for about what your temp is when you’re feeling good in training and rested. When your temperature drops for more than a couple days you are approaching a slowdown in metabolism or recovery driven either by overtraining. If your temp raises you are increasing your metabolic rate.
First thing in the morning, before getting out of bed even. Doesn’t matter as long as absolutely consistent measuring conditions every time.
Alternatively if you can get a reliable grip force meter you can use grip strength to assess training readiness. Grip is a better and more reliable indicator of training readiness. Temperature is a much better and more reliable indicator of metabolism status.
[/quote]
I have often checked my HR first thing in the morning, but never thought to take temperature! I will start performing this now daily. It will be interesting to see the results!
My muscular recovery seems to be really good- I’m having next to no pain and mobility is a non-issue, so I’m mglad of that.
I’m sure the CNS takes a bashing; buts thats as much down to work as it is to training. I think we have a good routine in place.
02.03.14PM
Ok 3rd phase of SSS. As I had been performing my first session on a Sunday, I forgot my printout and disregarded the 5s progression for the size element of the work. I will abandon this until my Bench session Wednesday morning.
Bound into box jumps 5, 5, 5.
Med. Ball Throws 3, 3, 3.
Military Press
1s @ 66, 88, 100
1s @ 110, 110, 110, 110, 110.
JK @ 121
Klokov press
10s @ 77, 77, 77, 77, 77
Chins
4 x 5s weighted
Chest Supported Row
4 x 10s @ 40kg
Zotman curls
15 @ 16, 16, 16, 16
Knuckles up curl
15kg for 10, 10, 10
I dont often lift weights in the evening, but this was fine. Sunday being a day of rest, this will suit and I can push out my session on a Sunday evening from now on. The row can be improved. I have long arms, so even with the setup attached I was struggling to get a nice ROM.
I guess I have options;
-Change to smaller plates
-bump up my bench height.
-widen my grip
03.03.14 PM
I had a good rest and was awake early.
I had a meal last night, so I went in to training fasted. This mixed with damp, yet bitterly cold weather wasnt the ideal setup, but i was anxious to get into training.
Box Jumps 3, 3, 3*
Ovh. Med Ball 3, 3, 3.
Sprints 1 1 1 1 1
Deadlift
1s @ 132, 155, 180, 200, 220, 264,
275lbs 1 1 1 1 1
SG Rack Pulls (low)
90lbs for 10, 10, 10
Belt Squat
45lbs for 10, 10, 10, 10, 10**
Weighted Pullups
3 3 3 3
Calf Raises
4 x 20s
Calf Curls (Cable) 3 x 15s
Notes;
*It was a COLD morning and my dynamic exercises; they weren’t all that dynamic! The weather seems to be easing and hopefully these exercises will see me more productive in the coming weeks.
**This is my problem without a definitive program- I just love experimenting with exercises that make my body feel good. With the belt squat I shortened the chain, so I had to get the hips that much lower for the plate to touch the ground. Fantastic feeling and accelerating up is getting easier and easier.
As I warmed the session got better & better. the gym I attend is a large warehouse building- very well fitted out, but its a tough place to get warm. I like the challenging environment.
Aragorn- sorry I missed your above question. “Target” conditioning. Its actually just the name of the gym I’m going to do my conditioning tomorrow morning!
04.03.13AM
Holy Fuck Batman…
The morning I’ve had. Just Wow.
I woke just before the alarm and was out of my bed for 5.30am.
I went downstairs and had some infants rice. This wasnt as good as the brand I’ve used previously and I will not be using it again.
I was kitted out, warmed up and on the floor of the gym for 6.00.
Gerry is a trainer I know and trust. I also respect him- he is a very GOOD athlete himself.
We were performing 3 minute rounds of conditioning;
Simple 30/30 splits- 30 seconds high intensity, 30 seconds low intensity.
I know we started on shuttle sprints into bag repeats…
I know that there was a Bulgarian bag, an agility ladders and squats involved in it…
But I cant give you the order.
All I know is, I wouldnt quit.
As a cooldown we worked into some basic corework.
1 hour session. 1 hour visit to hell.
I was left with that horrible fluke feeling (like the prowler) afterward. My body is great for recovery, but I know I’ve worked hard this morning. Great session.