Last picture looks crazy

Tried to post Friday but the site was down for me... Recapping:

Wed Night:  Bounding, 5x150m.  HT Avg ~18 sec, best 16.9.  (this is promising for above 200lbs).
 
Thur Night: 400,200,150,100 @ 15s tempo

2/3/12 Friday:  BW 204

OVHS: 5x95,115,8x135
HangPsnatch: 3x140,155,165
Pause Fsq: 3x225,255,275
50 Pullups/Dips
Recovery Run

2/4/12 Saturday: Bw 202

*Was supposed to run in track meet... Unfortunately other responsibilities got in the way.
2x 110m  max effort sprints.  HT ~ 12.X.

2/5/12 Sunday: Bw 203

Weighed in heavy after refeeding for superbowl.  First day over 1800 calories (3000 actually) since Wed. 

2/6/12: Monday

AM: OVHS: 5x95,115,6x135,140
HangPSnatch: 5x140,150,160
Pause Full squat: 3x295,315,335*
Jump Circuit:  5x5  (SVJ w/ball, SVJ^, 1 leg VJ, Approach Dunk^, Running VJ)

*It might be because of the diet,  it might be poor recovery because of the high volume of track work and the addition of jumping/bounding... But strength loss reared its head today.  Because I am trying to lose weight and get quality track work in I chose to do the 5/3/1 template for squatting because it allows you to do relatively modest percentages of your max and I figured it would hinder recovery less than the 90%+ work I had been doing....  Last week was 5,5,5 @ 275,295,315.  You are supposed to rep out the last set, and I got 7 reps pretty easily at 315.   After the third rep of 335 today I was pretty much done.   Pretty terrible considering I did 4x365 a few weeks back.  Still, I was able to DO the workout even if I was not able to get any extra reps, so I will continue on 5/3/1 and hope I can just keep to the template while I drop weight.  Hoping to weigh in tonight under 200lbs. 

^The jumping was a bit better than last week.  For standing vertical jump I do standing two hand rim touches.  On the first attempt today I jumped up and found myself hanging on the rim with both hands quite easily.  Didn't know I could do that.  Also I couldn't repeat it on ANY of the four following jumps.  Kept jumping too far foward and found myself reaching behind for the rim.  Weird, but still a PR.  Also was able to do some easy walking 1 handed dunks.  Could not jump with any power off 1 leg because of knee pain. 

Haven't logged for awhile.  Had a productive but tiring week last week.  Ran in a meet Saturday.  It was an all-comer meet with mostly high-school and junior college kids, so there were no times that were extremely fast.  Ran the 60m, 200m and 4x400m.  It's really good to compete again... But either competing or just the little bit of special endurance work I have been doing has absolutely killed my strength.  Two weeks ago after vacationing for a week I squatted 315x7 and had energy for more.  The next Monday 335x3 was hard.  And then on this monday I almost got pinned at 355x1 (One month ago I semi-paused 410 all the way down and the weight seemed easy!)!

I am dieting but this strength loss is extremely frustrating.  Additionally, I jumped really well last monday and have lost about 4 inches on my jump since then.  Of course I have ran every day since last monday except for Friday and Sunday....  Additionally, my hamstrings are in a constant state of sore.   

Anyway: Monday 2.12.2012

OVH: 5,x115,135,6x145
Hang Power Snatch: 5x145,155,165
Full Pause Squat: 5x295,3x315,1x355
Track workout

Tues: Track: 4x150, 4x20m

Anyway today:

OVH: 3x95,115,135
Half Squat: 5x225,315,405 (quit here because of knee pain).
Skipped rest of workout. 

I really don't know what to do about this strength loss.  In college when I sprinted I blew off weights so I have never had an experience at sprinting and maintaining squat strength.  Is it just impossible?   I am thinking of switching to front squats so I can avoid the mental anguish of lifting so much less than my previous max while still getting work for my legs....

Anyway, the best part of the meet was the 4x400.  We ran 3:32 which means someone ran REALLY fast cause I don't think I ran much under a minute.  Will hopefully get splits this weekend.  I ran a 60m as warmup and then ran a 200m which I completely died in.  Really humbling being slow, but I got 3 more meets in this series to feel things out and hopefully improve.

Sorry about the music a friend didn't want his voice in the video and this was the solution:

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66C2H1wPnQA" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66C2H1wPnQA</a>

Hey, just in case you miss it, I sent you a PM.  Thanks.

Nah, not cutting weight anymore.  In in the middle of what I hope will be a long season (First outdoor hundred on tomorrow) and cutting just wasn't working.  I came off a winter vacation at around 205 in late January and cut vigorously down to about 183 a few weeks ago.  But I also lost about 100 lbs on my squat and more importantly had no strength on the track.  The day I weighed in at 183 I had a tempo workout and 400m at 68 felt like 50 seconds. 

I gave up on actively cutting after that and quickly refed to about 195 pounds.  I hope to lose weight as the competitive season progresses because my weight for most of my PRs was near 180, but I am no longer going to actively try to lose weight by restricting calories as much as I was.  In the last two weeks my pause front squat has gone up from 225 back to 285 for a couple reps so I am getting near my old strength levels pretty quickly , workouts on the track are better as well. 

What are you cutting for?  Are you an athlete?  Do you have much fat?  I was largely trying to cut non functional muscle as my bodyfat was already single digit and it was most surely a mistake to be so aggressive with the cut.  Hopefully, by June I was be closer to 185 and it won't result in the loss of a lot of strength.  Upper body muscle is really a pain to get rid of.

I'm in transitioning careers and indoor season ended unceremoniously so I'm just training for some summer meets rather infrequently.  Still been lifting about 2x a week, bounding 2x a week and doing regular track workouts 3x per week.  Let my diet slip and gain some way.  Wow, it's so easy to get strong IF i don't mind gaining weight... so impossible otherwise.  Anyway, this is what a big part of my workout is now (plus some shot throws and accels):

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uy6oricXESQ" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uy6oricXESQ</a>


Besides, that I have hit some PR's in the front squat (340) and deadlift (540) and bench (295)  but haven't been back squatting much or jumping at upwards.  Finally broad jumped 10+ feet today! My strength is def up but I am also inching back toward 200 pounds so I am going to hopefully reel my diet in more sensibly and focusing on maintaining this strength to the best degree I can.

The best news I can really log is..... When I get to the track this morning, none other than Manny Pacquio was in the middle of his workout.  That guy is really short and lean in real life!  His entourage (team pacquio) is pretty large so I didn't get too close to him and maybe I just caught the end of the workout but he must have done like 1000 crunch variations in the 20 minutes before he left.  Hopefully, I'll see before my next morning workout and I can log his workouts since mine have been so uneventful. 

hah sick! pacquiao getting ready for bradley.. he definitely can't underestimate bradley, that dude is a freak.

cool vid, thanks for posting. i've been struggling with bounds -- never done 'em before and i'm the opposite of naturally reactive. helpful to see someone do them properly.