I looked through your log, and I don’t see much dedicated core work. I have an iffy back myself, and core work has been very helpful, maybe it is a placebo effect. But I definitely include direct core work in my programs, don’t see how I can go wrong with it, even if just for the placebo effect.
[quote]sam_I_am wrote:
I looked through your log, and I don’t see much dedicated core work. I have an iffy back myself, and core work has been very helpful, maybe it is a placebo effect. But I definitely include direct core work in my programs, don’t see how I can go wrong with it, even if just for the placebo effect. [/quote]
I do very little dedicated core work.
Is there anything you suggest? Planking?
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Tuesday, 5th May 2015.
TRAINING
Team Football Training
-Agile 8 etc.
- Football training consisted of some passing, small sided drills and finished off with a 10 vs 10 game. The game was poor quality due to there been a too large of a mix of players with ranging abilities.
Wednesday, 6th May 2015
TRAINING
This is my first lower body work out since injuring my back.
Lower ME
-
Agile 8 etc.
-
Front squats: (10 x 40 kg) x 3, 5 x 50 kg, 5 x 55 kg, 5 x 60 kg. (6 rep pull-ups doen in b/w sets).
-
Supersetted 3 sets of BSS (10 x 12.5 kg), with hamstring curls (10 x 30 kg).
-
Farmer walks: 3 walks holding 45 kg dB’s, with 1 minute rest b/w each walk.
notes:
Happy to finally do some lower body work. Obviously weights were light and I was concentrating on being explosive, which I probably should be doing anyway. Lower back felt good, although I can still feel the slightest sensation which is reminding me to be careful as I start getting back into training.
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Good man. Good to see you’re getting back into it.
If you don’t mind, I’ll weigh in on the core training discussion because that used to be a pet area of mine. Planking is good, but only up to a point. There are a bunch of good articles on T Nation about how to do it properly, so I won’t rehash everything here - you probably know it anyway. Basically those cats on youtube that can hold a plank for ten minutes are mostly displaying an atrocious amount of lumbar extension and straining their passive structures rather than their muscles.
I also like unilateral loaded carries - especially overhead. You don’t need to go too heavy and you get rotator cuff work as well. I also do ab wheel rollouts and all sorts of upper body stuff from a half kneeling position. Also, my core strength exploded when I got good at pull ups - by that I mean I felt more stable when lifting and when running. You really can’t go wrong with pullups.
I know you’re already doing a lot of this - I’m just tossing some ideas out. Hope something helps 
[quote]TheWolfMan wrote:
Good man. Good to see you’re getting back into it.
Planking is good, but only up to a point. There are a bunch of good articles on T Nation about how to do it properly, so I won’t rehash everything here - you probably know it anyway. Basically those cats on youtube that can hold a plank for ten minutes are mostly displaying an atrocious amount of lumbar extension and straining their passive structures rather than their muscles.
I also like unilateral loaded carries - especially overhead. You don’t need to go too heavy and you get rotator cuff work as well. I also do ab wheel rollouts and all sorts of upper body stuff from a half kneeling position. Also, my core strength exploded when I got good at pull ups - by that I mean I felt more stable when lifting and when running. You really can’t go wrong with pullups.
[/quote]
Hey theWolf,
Great to hear from you again. How are you going? Training well?
Thanks for the info regarding the core work. Im going to have a look into some stuff such as one arm kb swings, and some anti-rotation core work. I already do lots of pull-ups and really do feel it helps with my core. Im not a fan of ab-wheel roll outs, for some reason they give me a headache.
Im also keen to do loaded carries, although I can only usually do that once a week when I get to the gym a bit earlier on Wednesdays, as usually the gym is too crowded for me to be walking around with weights in the air. Any particular carries that you would recommend? What weights and distance should I be using? Any tips/cues for when I am doing these.
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Thursday, 7th May 2015.
TRAINING
Repetition Upper
-
Agile 8 etc.
-
dB bench on a slight incline: 4 sets of 10 x 27.5 kg. (last rep on the last set was a grinder).
-Body weight pull-ups: 8, 8, 6, & 6.
-
Supersetted 3 sets of BB curls (12 x 35 kg), with face-pulls (10 x 30 kg).
-
I then spent 25 minutes practicing handstands, crow-stands and threw in some walking lunges in between.
I then went straight to football training…
Football Training
-Warmed up with some ball skills, played some small sided possession/closing down drills, and finished the night off with a 10 vs 10 game. I was positioned at centre back and Im assuming thats where I will be playing on Saturday night. Was a good session.
And un-related to training, I would just like make a call-out to my dad who has finally retired and worked his last day today. My old man has worked his ass off to provide for me and my brother. I have never heard of or seen a man work so hard. He has spent the last 40 years waking up at 4am, working 12 hour days, and often spending weeks and even months away in remote locations, all just to provide his family with the best. Well done old man. Inspirational.
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Friday, 8th May 2015.
TRAINING
*Solo Skill Conditioning
- Agile 8 etc.
-Spent 30 minutes with the ball practicing juggling, dribbling, turning and passing the ball to the wall. Did 4 sets of cone dribbles and then finished off with 7 tempo runs for 80 meters at about 70%. Finished off with some stretching and mobility.
notes:
Beautiful morning. I have now 36 hours to recover before kick off of my first home game for the season. I have been named in the 1st team squad of 14 players.
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[quote]theBird wrote:
[quote]TheWolfMan wrote:
Good man. Good to see you’re getting back into it.
Planking is good, but only up to a point. There are a bunch of good articles on T Nation about how to do it properly, so I won’t rehash everything here - you probably know it anyway. Basically those cats on youtube that can hold a plank for ten minutes are mostly displaying an atrocious amount of lumbar extension and straining their passive structures rather than their muscles.
I also like unilateral loaded carries - especially overhead. You don’t need to go too heavy and you get rotator cuff work as well. I also do ab wheel rollouts and all sorts of upper body stuff from a half kneeling position. Also, my core strength exploded when I got good at pull ups - by that I mean I felt more stable when lifting and when running. You really can’t go wrong with pullups.
[/quote]
Hey theWolf,
Great to hear from you again. How are you going? Training well?
Thanks for the info regarding the core work. Im going to have a look into some stuff such as one arm kb swings, and some anti-rotation core work. I already do lots of pull-ups and really do feel it helps with my core. Im not a fan of ab-wheel roll outs, for some reason they give me a headache.
Im also keen to do loaded carries, although I can only usually do that once a week when I get to the gym a bit earlier on Wednesdays, as usually the gym is too crowded for me to be walking around with weights in the air. Any particular carries that you would recommend? What weights and distance should I be using? Any tips/cues for when I am doing these.
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[/quote]
Wolf man hit it right on the head with that one.
I’m a big fan of cable lifts and chops especially in the half kneeling position, and your good to go.
Like Wolf man said planks/ prone bridges can only take you so far, but I know I will be using them for a long time to come; regular prone bridges, side bridges, weighted, 1 arm, 1 leg, bosu ball, stability ball, prone bridge march, the possibilities are endless.
And if you pay attention to detail, you’ll be progressing fora long time.
[quote]theBird wrote:
[quote]TheWolfMan wrote:
Good man. Good to see you’re getting back into it.
Planking is good, but only up to a point. There are a bunch of good articles on T Nation about how to do it properly, so I won’t rehash everything here - you probably know it anyway. Basically those cats on youtube that can hold a plank for ten minutes are mostly displaying an atrocious amount of lumbar extension and straining their passive structures rather than their muscles.
I also like unilateral loaded carries - especially overhead. You don’t need to go too heavy and you get rotator cuff work as well. I also do ab wheel rollouts and all sorts of upper body stuff from a half kneeling position. Also, my core strength exploded when I got good at pull ups - by that I mean I felt more stable when lifting and when running. You really can’t go wrong with pullups.
[/quote]
Hey theWolf,
Great to hear from you again. How are you going? Training well?
Thanks for the info regarding the core work. Im going to have a look into some stuff such as one arm kb swings, and some anti-rotation core work. I already do lots of pull-ups and really do feel it helps with my core. Im not a fan of ab-wheel roll outs, for some reason they give me a headache.
Im also keen to do loaded carries, although I can only usually do that once a week when I get to the gym a bit earlier on Wednesdays, as usually the gym is too crowded for me to be walking around with weights in the air. Any particular carries that you would recommend? What weights and distance should I be using? Any tips/cues for when I am doing these.
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[/quote]
Thanks for asking Bird. Training’s going beautifully. This is my first season back after an injury and I had a rocky start but now I’m hitting my stride. Feeling strong, fast, confident on the ball, gym numbers going up etc. Of course I know that everyone gets peaks and valleys and this type of progress can’t last forever, but if you have to push through the bad times you also have to enjoy the good times right?
Forgot to mention one arm swings. I messed around with them for a while and I’d say they’re a good option. My advice would be not to do everything. Pick one anti-rotation movement, one anti-extension and one anti lateral flexion. Just drill those for a few weeks and then switch things up. Carries can fit into any of those categories
I don’t really do farmer’s walks myself because I feel that a lot of grip training can dig into your recovery capacity quite a bit and as a footballer that’s not really a smart way to go. I prefer to use pullups and deadlifts for that purpose. However for anti lateral flexion you can’t really beat suitcase carries. I’m a bigger fan of one arm overhead carries (think I’ve seen them called waiter’s walks). I love what they do for shoulder stability and they light up the core much more than you’d think. You want to be conservative with the weight at first though, especially if you have dodgy shoulders.
With any type of carry I usually start at 2-4 sets of 40 paces and bump up the weight when I can do the same number of sets of 60. There’s nothing magical about those numbers. I can’t even remember why I do things that way. I’m not sure what that is in minutes/seconds. I think it would be easier to measure it that way, but it’s awkward operating the stopwatch with nobody else there.
As for cues, don’t shrug, don’t slouch and don’t forget to breathe. Probably there’s more to it, but that works for me. Also, read this; The Secret of Loaded Carries
[quote]sam_I_am wrote:
Wolf man hit it right on the head with that one.
I’m a big fan of cable lifts and chops especially in the half kneeling position, and your good to go.
Like Wolf man said planks/ prone bridges can only take you so far, but I know I will be using them for a long time to come; regular prone bridges, side bridges, weighted, 1 arm, 1 leg, bosu ball, stability ball, prone bridge march, the possibilities are endless.
And if you pay attention to detail, you’ll be progressing fora long time. [/quote]
Thanks for that. I will be investigating this soon.
[quote]TheWolfMan wrote:
Thanks for asking Bird. Training’s going beautifully. This is my first season back after an injury and I had a rocky start but now I’m hitting my stride. Feeling strong, fast, confident on the ball, gym numbers going up etc. Of course I know that everyone gets peaks and valleys and this type of progress can’t last forever, but if you have to push through the bad times you also have to enjoy the good times right?
Forgot to mention one arm swings. I messed around with them for a while and I’d say they’re a good option. My advice would be not to do everything. Pick one anti-rotation movement, one anti-extension and one anti lateral flexion. Just drill those for a few weeks and then switch things up. Carries can fit into any of those categories
I don’t really do farmer’s walks myself because I feel that a lot of grip training can dig into your recovery capacity quite a bit and as a footballer that’s not really a smart way to go. I prefer to use pullups and deadlifts for that purpose. However for anti lateral flexion you can’t really beat suitcase carries. I’m a bigger fan of one arm overhead carries (think I’ve seen them called waiter’s walks). I love what they do for shoulder stability and they light up the core much more than you’d think. You want to be conservative with the weight at first though, especially if you have dodgy shoulders.
With any type of carry I usually start at 2-4 sets of 40 paces and bump up the weight when I can do the same number of sets of 60. There’s nothing magical about those numbers. I can’t even remember why I do things that way. I’m not sure what that is in minutes/seconds. I think it would be easier to measure it that way, but it’s awkward operating the stopwatch with nobody else there.
As for cues, don’t shrug, don’t slouch and don’t forget to breathe. Probably there’s more to it, but that works for me. Also, read this; https://www.T-Nation.com/training/secret-of-loaded-carries[/quote]
Thanks theWolf.
Good to hear that your training and season is going well. Thanks for the tips. When I have time this week I will sit down and program this into my gym work, although Im going to keep the Farmer Walks. I love them!
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Played on the weekend. We drew 1-1 at home. Felt like a loss, as the other team scored in the last 5. I almost did not get selected to play, but thats a whole another story which I may write about when I have more time later in the week. Anyway, back into training as normal…
Monday, 11th May 2015.
TRAINING
AM
Solo Skill & Conditioning
- Agile 8 etc.
- Warmed up with some general ball to wall play, and then did 4 sets of cone dribbles and then an extra 2 sets using one foot at a time. I then practiced some particular moves and finished off with 3 x 300 meter sprints.
PM
Upper ME
-Agile 8 etc.
-Floor press: 5 sets of 7 with 50 kg.
-
BW dips: 12, 12, 10 & 10.
-
Supersetted 3 sets of dB hammer curls(10 x 17. 5 kg), with lateral raises (10 x 7.5 kg).
-
Practiced some handstands and did some wall squats for mobility, and finished off with some crow stands. I found a really good video on how to handstand which I will post sometime this week for future reference.
notes:
Gym was packed, so i couldn’t get a rack to do my floor press in, and hence 50 kg was the heaviest I could manage. Setting up correctly was almost impossible without a rack. Probably not a bad thing as Im feeling a slight irritation on my right shoulder. Next week i will have to get the gym either earlier or later to secure myself a rack.
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Tuesday, 12th May 2015.
TRAINING
Team Football Training
- Standard training session. Warmed up with some skill work and running and finished off with some possession games. A few players missing from the 1st team squad which always detracts from the quality of the session.
Wednesday, 13th May 2015.
TRAINING
PM
Max Effort Lower
-
Agile 8 etc.
-
Front squats; 5 x 5 with 60 kg. (4 reps of pull-ups in between sets).
-
Supersetted 3 sets of BSS (10 x 15 kg), with ham curls (10 x 35 kg).
-
Farmer walks: 5 rounds of 4 laps of the gym holding 45 kg dBs. (only managed 2 laps on the 4th round, grip was failing).
notes: Starting to feel my legs getting stronger.
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Single leg work, man; utilise it. 
[quote]nighthawkz wrote:
Single leg work, man; utilise it. :P[/quote]
Agreed.
[quote]TheWolfMan wrote:
[quote]nighthawkz wrote:
Single leg work, man; utilise it. :P[/quote]
Agreed.[/quote]
Thanks buddies.
Im going to add in some single leg deadlifts now that my back is close to been fully healed. Trying to keep the volume lowish on leg day as I am trying to get my my skills and footwork up to a decent level again. Need to start using my GHR machine that I have at home. Might put up a video of me on the GHR for some advice on set-up, as I am really bad on it.
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Thursday, 14th May 2015.
TRAINING
PM
Repetition Upper
-
Agile 8 etc.
-
dB bench press on a slight incline: (10 x 27.5 kg) x 3, (8 x 27.5 kg) x 1.
-
BW pull-ups: 8, 8 7 and 7.
-Supersetted 3 sets of BB curls (10 x 37.5 kg), and face-pulls (10 x 30 kg).
- Practiced some hand stands against the wall for 5 minutes.
notes:
Feeling Im plateauing on a few of these exercises, so next week I will change the routine around. Handstands are getting better, so hopefully next week I can start practicing “kicking up”.
Team Football Training
- I went to training after the gym. We warmed up with some skill work and then got straight into a small sided 9 vs 9 game. I felt fatigued from the gym and my touch was a little off. Once again a few 1st team players were missing. I have been named in the 1st team squad team to play on Sunday against one of the better teams in the league known for their endurance and short-passing possession game.
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Yo Bird,
What’s up?
Everything going good?
Do you have a plan for your new routine?
[quote]sam_I_am wrote:
Yo Bird,
What’s up?
Everything going good?
Do you have a plan for your new routine? [/quote]
Hey sam_I_am,
Good to hear from you buddy. Sorry about my lack of updates. All is good, although at the moment I am having issues with my football club. Not happy about the selection policies and general culture of the culture of the club. In the next 1-2 weeks I have to decide if I want to continue on.
At the moment I am doing DeFranco’s WS4SB in-season template.
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Wednesday, 20th May 2015.
TRAINING
Solo Skill & Conditioning
- Agile 8 etc.
- Warmed up with some juggling and some ball to wall passing. Did 5 sets of cone dribbles, 2 sets of doggies with the ball, 5 repeats of dribbling around cones in a “z” formation. Finished off with 4 x 350m sprints, with about 90-120 seconds rest in between each run.
Max Effort Lower
-
Agile 8 etc.
-
Front squats: 5 x 5, with 60 kg. Trying to be explosive. 5 rep pull-ups in b/w sets.
-
BSS; 3 sets of 10 with a 15 kg dB.
-
Hamstring curls: 3 sets of 10 with 35 kg.
-
Handstand practice.
notes: Will increase all weights next week.
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Thursday, 22nd May 2015.
TRAINING
PM
Repetition Upper
I have changed my template around a bit this week, as I was plateauing a bit with my previous template. I will probably change things around every 3-5 weeks as recommended by deFranco.
-
Agile 8 etc.
-
Weighted pull-ups: 5 x 5 with 10 kg. (last rep was a grinder).
-
Weighted push-ups: with a 20kg plate on my back: 10, 10, 8 & 8.
-
Supersetted 3 sets of: seated rows (40 kg x 12), with BB curls (12 x 30 kg).
-
Practiced some handstands and warmed up my legs for football training.
Football Training
- After the gym I went straight to training. We warmed up with some ball work/passing and got straight into some possession drills. Finished off with a 8 vs. 8 game.
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