Volleyball player around 15 years now. Nothing super competitive like reached nationals or whatever. Didnt even try out for college out of fear of not graduating on time, plus my shoulder was at the height of it’s injury back then. Got stuck sitting most if the time 5 years in post grad. Only started lifting weights a little less than 2 years back. I guess it’s the latter, then, which is better than the first scenario you gave lol
1 Like
Yep, you’ve got a chance. Strength is the foundation, but the plyos and speed specific training will bring out your max abilities. Being explosive/fast is a skill. You have to practice moving that way to get your muscles to fire the way they need to for maximum performance.
Another goal worth striving for, then. I’ve been realizing this recently. The tip of my finger can usually touch the rim these days, but on a really good explosive jump, I can clip the ring with my phalanges. The explosiveness does indeed make a difference
19 May 2019
C2W2D1
Squat 75 x 3, 85 x 3, 95kg x 7, FSL
Bench 42.5 x 3, 47.5 x 3, 52.5kg x 9 (rep PR)
Was quite surprised I reached 9 reps. RPE 9 to 9.5 probably. That tucking your shoulder blades towards your back pocket is amazing
Cable Lat Pulldowns 50kg x 10 x 3
Felt easier than before. Will do this one more time and then add weight
One-arm Seated Cable Rows 4 plates x 10 x 3
4 Likes
Pulling the slack out of the bar…something I’d really love to learn/be good at. May not be the best video about it, but it’s pretty recent so I just went with posting this
Ur probably already doing it to some degree. Unless it’s a noodle bar you won’t actually get much slack at all. The cue is for building tension before the pull in your body.
1 Like
Yep, that’s what I want to get better at. But what do body builders know about these things anyway… sheesh… go back to your half reps 
1 Like
No idea if this fellow mentions it but don’t think of yourself as pulling the bar off the floor. Rather, imagine that you’re pushing against the floor through your heel. The bar just happens to be in your hands.
@magick Ok, I’ll try that out! I think my legs are more passive compared to my hips, and that may be the answer. Thanks man!
22 May 2019
C2W2D2
Unfortunately, wasn’t able to record anything this session. Phone was about to die and didn’t bring my power bank.
Deadlift 75 x 3, 85 x 3, 95kg x 10 – 100kg x 8 (PR), SSL x 2
Did the 95kg x 10 touch and go and they felt really easy. I was thinking maybe because it was touch and go and I was getting some bounce compared to a dead stop, so I tried 100kg x 8 full deadstop all reps. They felt fine too. After this cycle, I may have to recalculate my TM for the deadlift, or just go with getting more reps. The 100kg was supposed to be next week, so next week I’ll just try to get 10 for that.
Strict OHP 30 x 3, 35 x 3, 40kg x 7, FSL 3 x 5
Top set was RPE 8.5 to 9. Pretty sure I had at least 1 more rep which would have been a PR. Thing is, on the 7th rep, I hit the top of the rack where there’s a pull-up bar. Totally threw me off. Oh well.
Neutral grip pull ups 3 x 3 supersetted with dips 3 x 6
Relied less on momentum on the first rep, and 2nd and 3rd reps my arms were close to dead hang position, so really happy with the progress even though it’s just 3 reps
Seated cable face pulls 20kg x 10 x 3
DB Side Lateral Raise 7.5kg x 10 x 3
Will make sure to record some stuff next week so my log wouldn’t be that boring. Will also start doing some plyo
1 Like
For conventional do the leg/hip pump at the start a couple of times to put tension into the bar progressively harder. Lots of people do it
1 Like
It’s your program, I would absolutely just add 5 kg to DL and 2,5 to the pressing movements.
Trust the program, I promise you that you at some point will stall out, if you keep it going up nice and easy as you are you’ll reach longer before the stall.
5 kg each month will have you pulling 160 kg for 8 - 10 reps in a year, I would say that’s acceptable.
Before the deload weeks you could do a couple of Joker sets after the main lift, increase 10% do 3 reps another 10% 3 reps when you fail to get 3 good strong reps, the jokers are over. Don’t do FSL after this.
That is if you want to do a little testing, but remember it’s quite taxing to your body.
Great workout btw, quality. To bad with the OHP, but you know how strong you were, so you’re good.
2 Likes
Alright, alright, good point mort. Trust the program, even if it’s tempting to just add weight for ego purproses. Thanks!!
1 Like
Whatever you’re into bro…lol
Kidding aside, I can do those on sumo, but in conventional, what happens is my hips sink a little too much and my knees go forward, so when I start the pull, my hips rise first into it’s proper position. So I guess chances are, I’m doing them wrong. I’ll try to do them again but this time, less “pump” meaning less forward knee travel. Thanks man!
Pumping doesn’t necessarily mean forward knee travel not is it a bad thing? It’s just gonna vary according to your relative body proportions. When you pull tension right your knees will end up where they are meant to.
Ok, so I’ve been doing them wrong lol
Link us vids because can’t be bothered looking back thru ur log. If ur just sitting ur hips low as they can go it’s probably wrong. But maybe u have funky proportions
1 Like
I’ll try to record new videos when I get to. Haven’t tried using them lately because I thought they weren’t working for me. Turns out I’m just not doing them correctly
26 May 2019
C2W2D3
Bench 42.5 x 3, 47.5 x 3, 52.5kg x 10 (PR), FSL 3 x 5
10th rep I think wasn’t even that grindy I think? Felt like my upper back/right shoulder was about to cramp up though
Squat 75 x 3, 85 x 3, 95kg x 5
Knees were a little grumpy. Been driving for almost 2 hours in heavy traffic with a stick shift so didn’t push it. Not worried about it
Neutral grip pull ups x 4, 3
Got to the gym near closing, so just did what I could. Will post videos
2 Likes
From last training
Just realized now that I cut the pullups prematurely short
2 Likes
Those pull ups though