squats
warm up set;
10 x bar
10 x 88 lbs
8 x 132 lbs
5 x 198 lbs
3 x 242 lbs
working set;
3 x 264 lbs
3 x 275 lbs
3 x 286 lbs
3 x 286 lbs
3 x 286 lbs
barbell step ups
4 sets of 8 reps using 132 lbs.
PM
this is my new routine for the following 6 weeks;
30 minutes of ball work
5 pushups and then straight into a 70m sprint x 7(will try and build this up to 10 repetitions)
2 knee high jumps followed by 15m sprint x 6(will try and build this up to about 10 reps aswell)
I really struggled on the last 2 longer sprints and I felt slow with my shorter sprints, but Im sure this will improve as the weeks go on.
I saw your squat video over in the beginner’s forum. Looking pretty good to me. And look at that 286 for reps.
I like the weighted step ups too, but I use the cable machine.
About my little soccer player, I have more of a little Maschy than a little Bird. I did look up the Coerver method. I’ll have to look around more for training for her. We’re just started her in gymnastics. A friend from Norway says ALL the little soccer players there are also taking gymnastics now to help with coordination and control, etc… Makes sense, right? And helpful for really anything. She’s my most athletic kid so we’ll see how it goes.
Hi Powderpuff,
Cable step-ups sounds interesting. Is it harder than using a barbell?
Regarding your little junior Maschy. Im ok with her doing gymnastics once or twice a week, but I cant not emphasise the importance of ball work. She must feel completely comfortable with a ball at her feet. Let her walk around the house with a ball at her feet. Get her to do coerver atleast 4 times a week. She could be the next Hope Solo!
Anyway… todays update;
Today was shoulder day. Fridays are so hard to motivate myself to work out. I just want to pass out with a bottle of whisky. But anyway, I soldiered on…
10 minutes of foam rolling my back
rotator cuff warm up with a band
Standing military press
warm up:
8 x 110 lbs
6 x 110 lbs
6 x 132 lbs
5 x 143 lbs
working set:
5 x 154 lbs
5 x 154 lbs(at this point I realised this was too heavy and I had to decrease the weight. Dam)
5 x 143 lbs
5 x 143 lbs
5 x 143 lbs
(note to self: next week I should be more modest with my progression of weight. Next week aim for 5 sets of 5 using 148.5 lbs.)
Standing dumbell overhead press
3 sets of 10 with 44 lbs dB’s.
Just discovered…subscribed and will be following. First off your training looks interesting and I can appreciate the variety and uniqueness of it. I like the things like the cycling, sprinting, drills. foam work etc. I’ve always been into training geared towards athletics and love to see people who acknowledge that lifting weights is only one piece of the puzzle when you’re an athlete. There’s so much more involved. Secondly these bird references are rule, calling your trainer “the pigeon” and your infamous not gonna say it not gonna say it…love it. Finally feel free to throw in more than just your training, I see that you play football or soccer, I’m sure we’d all love to hear more about that. Whether it be funny moments at practice or epic game time situations. Anyways, looking forward to following. Cheers.
[quote]EF5127 wrote:
Just discovered…subscribed and will be following. First off your training looks interesting and I can appreciate the variety and uniqueness of it. I like the things like the cycling, sprinting, drills. foam work etc. I’ve always been into training geared towards athletics and love to see people who acknowledge that lifting weights is only one piece of the puzzle when you’re an athlete. There’s so much more involved. Secondly these bird references are rule, calling your trainer “the pigeon” and your infamous not gonna say it not gonna say it…love it. Finally feel free to throw in more than just your training, I see that you play football or soccer, I’m sure we’d all love to hear more about that. Whether it be funny moments at practice or epic game time situations. Anyways, looking forward to following. Cheers.[/quote]
X2!
How many more games do you have, bird?
Ah, so the ankle was a soccer injury? Good to know. I know you told me, but how long ago was it?
Sorry for the hijack - Puff, that sounds like a great idea with the gymnastics. ACL tears are common in female athletes, something about our hips and femurs, so getting her joints nice and sturdy will help keep her injury free. Plus the coordination and mobility skills will help keep her alert so as to avoid injury on the field. Its cool that they’re doing that!
the weather has been crappy, eh. finding it hard with the dark and the cold myself. just want to pass out with a bottle of whiskey, indeed. hopefully things will start looking up soon. increased levels of light always seem to help me out.
EF5217; Welcome to the house of pain! If there is anything that you would like to critique regarding my training, then feel free. We are all here to help each other. Looking at you avatar, it looks like your a cycling fan? I do most of my cycling in summer. I only do short rides(<60km). Last summer I even took part in some charity races.
Mashy; We have about 10 games left(about half way through the season), and at the moment sitting second bottom on the ladder.
My famous left ankle is a bit of a long story. In 2008 I was striding foward and as I put my foot foward to control the ball some retard came in with a sliding tackle and took out my ankle. I saw my ankle bend 90 degrees sidewards and I was sure something was broken. Nothing the broken but it took me 4 weeks to run again. The retard who tackled me accused me of diving. And then in 2009, I had the ball at my feet and some fat-fuck from one of the English-backed teams came in with a flying tackle and landed his studs on my anterior ankle. The ref called “play on” cause apparantly he made contact with the ball. I had a bruise there for weeks… and I think that has done the most damage. And then on 2010 because of chronic persistant pain I had to undergo arthroscopic surgery to remove a bone spur and floating bones from my ankle.
Alexus; Im in Perth, but I used to live in Melbourne, and I know you get a lot less light and warmth than us. Melbourne is always in winter. Although it made for a good drinking atmosphere. Im coming to Mebourne at the end of the year, maybe we can go down to lygon for a drink?
Todays update:
Normal pre-match day routine;
foam rolling
glute activation
30 minutes of ball work
2 light sets of suitcase deadlifts
bird dogs
a couple minutes of PNF hamstring stretching.
Tomorrows game is against the top side. We seem to play better against the better sides, although this particular likes to beat us since a famous cup game a few years ago that went into extra time. Our best player from last year has also transferred to this team, so it should be interesting playing against him.
Anyway enough chat from me, time to go carb load with some pasta!!
I’d just like to say, I think your training’s great. If I see anything I’m wondering about, I’ll ask or make a suggestion, but honestly I have no idea what your coaches and your exact goals/training purposes are. I can usually get a pretty good feel if a guy knows how to train though and I like what I see, therefore I think I’ll just let you do your thing and have trust in what you’re doing. I’m always curious to see how different people train for different sports. what level soccer do you play? I probably won;t be familiar with the league, are we talking semi professional, recreational etc? and as for cycling, I do enjoy it. I simply do it for that reason. Chemotherapy and corticosteroids have destroyed all 3 bones of my knee’s, leaving major portions of all 3 dead. Therefore I can’t do anything involving impact with them. I’d chose sprints over them any day but that’s deff not happening. It’s a good challenge though and always gives me something new to focus on. It feels good to see improvement on something other than how much weights on the bar. I have to be realistic and can’t focus purely on absolute strength, comparing myself to what I used to be before cancer. Although, I know I’ll surpass what I once was in no time, it still feels good to keep my head elsewhere. Anyways hopefully your game went good, cheers!
EF5127: I play in a semi-pro amateur league, so not serious, but serious enough to train for and teams like to win. We are the best leagie that plasys on a sunday, although there is a better league that plays on saturdays. Im looking foward to the summer time when I get back on the bike. And thank you for been an inspiration. Sounds like you have been through alot, but your still out there improving yourself!
Hi bird watchers!!!
Today was game day. We were up against the second best team in the league, who had the week before beaten the top team in the league. Many people said we had no hope. Well we sure told them… we won 2-1!!!
The game was played in windy conditions. We were against the wind in the first half. They scored the first goal in the 30th minute. The goal was a screamer from 40 yards out, obviously helped along by the strong wind.
Usually we would drop our heads and argue and concede more. But we didnt, we kept our shape and eventually equalised from a corner in the 10th minute of the 2nd half. In the 30th minute we scored the winner via a penalty, after one of their players handled the ball that was crossed in from the wing. The next 15 minutes were the longest of the season. We held on for a well deserved team. I would like to show you the youtube clip of the team celebrating in the rooms after the game, but that would reveal my secret identiy, You will have to take my work, we went off!!!
Personally I played ok. I was man marking one of the top strikers in the league, and I held him scoreless. I didnt have much to do in the game, except for keeping close to him and making sure he couldnt turn towards the goal when he got the ball. Ill take this as a victory to theBird.
I will like to finish this post on a different note…
[quote]EF5127 wrote:
One more thing, can you tell us what bird dogs are? Drill or stretch?[/quote]
I do the bird dog drill. 12 reps, 2 sets. I do it as part of my glute actication program. Although I might have to check with my trainer that Im doing it properly.
Yesterday was a rest day, while tonight I got my chest/back work out in. Im actually out of town for work at the moment, so I made a guest visit to the local gym, which I have been to a few times before. I call this place the “curl capital”, but thats another story for another time.
Anyway, here is the low-down;
Flat barbell bench
Warm up sets;
10 x 88 lbs (x2)
8 x 132 lbs
6 x 176 lbs
5 x 198 lbs
Working sets;
5 x 220 lbs
5 x 220 lbs (struggled)
5 x 198 lbs
5 x 198 lbs (too easy!)
5 x 209 lbs
Supersetted wide grip pull ups with normal grip chin ups
3 sets of 5 reps on each (felt strange on a foreign bar)
Supersetted flat dB press with incline dB press
3 sets of 10 reps using 50 lbs dB’s.
dB rows
3 sets of 12 using 66 lbs dB (that was the heaviest dB they had)
Supersetted face pulls with bodyweight pushups
3 sets of 12 reps(not sure of the weight with the face pulls)
Well today was my double session day. Always my favourite. I was super keen today as I had missed team training last night due to work commitments. At the end of this update I have included a link of me squatting today. For a more in depth discussion regarding my squatting, please visit the beginners forum and look for “critique theBirds squat”.
AM
foam rolling and mobility work.
squat
Today i had dropped the weight way back, and concentrated on going deeper, just breaking parallel.
warm ups sets;
10 x 88 lbs (x2)
8 x 132 lbs (x2)
8 x 176 lbs (x2)
working sets;
8 x 198 lbs
8 x 198 lbs
7 x 198 lbs (see video)
7 x 220 lbs
barbell step ups
3 sets of 10 reps with 110 lbs
PM
30 minutes of skill work with the ball
8 reps of 5 push-ups followed by 70m sprint
7 reps of 2 knee high jumps followed by 20m sprint
Nice squats Birds! looking at your training and trying to sift through it, can you give us a quick run down of what it looks like in the form of a microcycle. I’m just trying to figure out what a week of training would look like for you or how you go about organizing it. Ex Mon- Push emphasis or Tues Chest/Back, Wed Bench or however you organize it, whether it be by lift or muscle. I’m just curious to see how you organize your sessions and weeks. Also, Semi-Proffesional, do you follow a periodization model, whether it be linear or non-linear?
Today I have decided to add in crunches into my routine. I have not done a sit up for about 2 years now, since I had joined the “crunches are bad” bandwagon, but after reading Brett’s article today, I have decided I will introduce them 2 times a week.
Lets get down to business…
150 crunches on a swiss ball
1 minute of lying on my back and holding my legs up 6 inches off the ground
150 crunches on a swiss ball
1 minute of plank (Im hoping to increase the time every week)
rotator cuff warm ups
standing military press
warm up set;
10 x 110 lbs
8 x 110 lbs
6 x 110 lbs
5 x 132 lbs
working set;
5 x 143 lbs
5 x 143 lbs
5 x 143 lbs
5 x 143 lbs
5 x 143 lbs (next week Ill aim for 148.5 lbs, 5 sets of 3??)
Standing overhead dB press
3 sets of 8 using 50 lbs dBs
Lateral raises
3 sets of 12 using 17 lbs dBs (i might increase the weight of these next week to 22 lbs)
Everybody wants to be a semi-pro soccer player, nobody wants to do these god-dam presses!!!
[quote]EF5127 wrote:
Nice squats Birds! looking at your training and trying to sift through it, can you give us a quick run down of what it looks like in the form of a microcycle. I’m just trying to figure out what a week of training would look like for you or how you go about organizing it. Ex Mon- Push emphasis or Tues Chest/Back, Wed Bench or however you organize it, whether it be by lift or muscle. I’m just curious to see how you organize your sessions and weeks. Also, Semi-Proffesional, do you follow a periodization model, whether it be linear or non-linear?[/quote]
I do a weekly cycle. I try and change the routine every 6-8 weeks. Im not sure what you mean by periodization, but every 6 weeks or so due to work etc, I tend to have a “rest week”. Here is the run down;
Monday: Rest day
Tuesday: Chest and back.
Wednesday: Abs and Team soccer training
Thursday: AM: legs PM: skill work and sprints
Friday: Abs and shoulders
Saturday: extra mobilisation, glute activation, light skill work and stretching
Sunday: Game day!
Well today was the normal pre-game day. Lots of foam rolling and mobility work, followed by some ball work, and finished off with some stretching. I also spent 10 minutes trying to do a hand-stand. I have decided that I want to be able to hand-stand, and hence will be working on that every now and again.
Tomorrows game we are up against the bottom of the ladder team. Last time we played them, we beat them by 7 goals. We have to be careful not to take them too lightly, but I honestly expect a easy win.
Bad news. We lost to the bottom team. Half of the team were at a dinner dance last night and were still drunk this afternoon. Coach is not happy. Im very dissapointed. Lowest point of the season. Ill leave it at that.
Well Monday is usually rest day, but due to my dismal effort at yesterdays game I decided I would punish myself with a 30 minute slow-medium pace recovery run, followed by some wall hand-stand holds and hamstring stretching.
Well yesterday was rest day, so today I did the usual chest/back workout, followed by team soccer training. Due to time restrictions I had to cut back on some volume on the lifting.
150 sit ups (x2)
1 minute of bridge and 1 minute of lying on back with legs up (x2)
Barbell flat bench
Warm up sets
8 x 132 lbs (x2)
5 x 198 lbs
Working sets
5 x 220 lbs (x5)(I have included a video of the 4th set at the end of this update)
Supersetted wide grip pull ups with normal grip chin ups
3 sets of 6 reps of each
Supersetted dB flat bench with incline bench
2 sets of 12 reps each using 55 lbs dBs
And then I went to team soccer training for 90 minutes, which was pretty standard.
Please enjoy the following video and feel free to critique.
I did look up the Coerver method. I’ll have to look around more for training for her. We’re just started her in gymnastics. A friend from Norway says ALL the little soccer players there are also taking gymnastics now to help with coordination and control, etc… Makes sense, right? And helpful for really anything. She’s my most athletic kid so we’ll see how it goes.
