Adarq.org

Dec 22-28, 2013

Full Squats - Paused - Maintenance
455 #149 | 465 #4 | 470 #1| 475 #6
315 x1
365 x1
405 x1

Sun Dec 22 405x1 | +20 beginning to think that the volumes of shoulder pushing are tiring me overall. im not getting any weaker and can still force a 425 but 440-455 is impossible at this time. nothing feels strained or broken. just the feeling of overuse fatigue even after waking up from an 8hr+ sleep. if i dont get a 425-440 tmrw, i will cut everything else. did shoulder push volumes to look strong. will go 3-week vacation starting thur.

Mon Dec 23 405x1 x1 | +35 did another 405 after the 405 ramping singles. getting stronger but not enough leg explosiveness to pause rep 440 fast.  would have fatigued my back too much too soon if i put 440 and crawled that concentric. 425 would have been routine but decided to take it slow.

Tue Dec 24 405 x1 x1 | +35 gym was packed. thought about a 440 following the 405 but that means i have camp in the rack for another few minutes. decided to just take it easy for another day and repeated the 405. did this 2nd single within a min. of the first one. it felt just the same or a bit better

Wed Dec 25 405x1 | +35

Thur Dec 26 405 x1 x1 | +35 enough strength to rep 440 but still the same, it will be a grinding and uncomfortable lift. upper quads/hip muscles starting to feel recovered (no more of that overuse tightness soreness). need to get back to more 425+s to get better at lifting heavy. lowerback smashed again from doing very heavy leg press calf raises 2x this week. was expecting this. still sucks. can't sleep good.

Fri Dec 27 405x1 x1 | +35 last workout before i head to the airport for my 3-week vacation.

Sat Dec 28 365x1 vacationing. max of 365lb olympic sized plates. 80%RM to 455.  should be ok to maintain something heavyish.

Calf Raise - Leg Press or Seated 45 Deg Sled - Paused
9x45s x20 Tue
4x45s x20

Cable Rows or Chins - Paused
BWx20 Mon Tue Thur
100x20 Sun 

Dips - Paused
BWx20 Tue

Seated Shoulder Dumbell Press - Paused did these seated now to rest back.
55x20 Sun
 
* weak. resting. 455x1 1-2x per week until i feel better.

Dec 8-14, 2013

Full Squats - Paused - Maintenance
455 #148 | 465 #4 | 470 #1| 475 #6
315 x1
365 x1
405 x1

Sun Dec 8 425x1 | +20. calves starting to feel better slowly.

Mon Dec 9 405x1 | +30. calves are normal now. did not have enough straight sleep. meeting at work. will use 440-455 tmrw. 

Tue Dec 10 440x1 | +10.

making progress again but not as strong as last month. did 56 straight 455s. cant even do 1 for 8 days now. will definitely get the 455 tmrw. didn't do stupid things lately like a high rep calf raise or that standing dumbell press. those fatigued some squat muscles. made me question my form because something did not feel right when i lift anything over 405. have to really stick with dips and chins.

Wed Dec 11 455#149 | +10. no problem with this today. routine lift. will do this again tmrw if i get 7.5hr+ sleep in the morning.

Thur Dec 12 425x1 | +10. 7.5hr sleep. i used to get repeatable 455s coming from a 7.5hr sleep. used to.

Fri Dec 13 405x1 | +10.  this is BS. need more than 7.5hr sleep.

Sat Dec 14 405x1 | +20. sub 7.5 hr sleep. will do better tmrw.

Calf Raise - Leg Press or Seated 45 Deg Sled - Paused
9x45s x20 Sat
4x45s x40 Thur

Cable Rows or Chins - Paused
BWx20 Wed Fri
100x20 Sun Sat

Dips - Paused
BWx20 Tue Thur

Seated Shoulder Dumbell Press - Paused did these seated now to rest back.
50x20 Mon Tue Wed Thur Sat
 
* week 2 of 2 - maintain 210-212BW. maintain (or get to. lol) 455x1 top set

Hey man, what are your goals right now? Just maintain that squat?

until Q1-2 of next year - BW214-218.  BF15-17%max. daily 455-475s, max 495s.

after that, back to more jumping/leaning out. probably more cardio conditioning in my road bike.

Nov 24-30, 2013

Full Squats - Paused - Maintenance
455 #144 | 465 #4 | 470 #1| 475 #6
315 x1
365 x1
405 x1

Sun Nov 24 455#143 | +10

Mon Nov 25 455#144 | +10

Tue Nov 26 440 | +10 did not get enough sleep. sucks for a no-work day.  at least i'm really good now choosing my top weight based on the 405 speed.

Wed Nov 27 455#145 | +10
 
Thur Nov 28 405 | +40 not enough sleep. had to workout before 2pm because of gym holiday hours.

Fri Nov 29 455#146 | +10
 
Sat Nov 30 405 | + 20 tired from work. legs needed another set of 3-4hr sleep to recover. didn't feel like sleeping the whole day. squat with ~ 8hr sleep.

Calf Raise - Leg Press - Paused
9x45s x20 Thur Sat

Cable Rows or Chins - Paused
BWx20 Mon Wed Fri

Dips - Paused
BWx20 Tue

Standing Shoulder Dumbell Press - Paused
45x20 Sun Mon Tue Sat

* will put a weekly entry and just modify as i go along. makes it easier to track my progress.

* still not strong enough to go 475. i messed up a little last week by doing more low intensity jumping while im resting my top set. its been a long time since i felt a heavy 405. at sub 7.5hr sleep, it feels like my quads are still "shattered". happened last week thursday. would have gotten a 425 but did not feel like tiring myself too much.

** week 2 of 2. 455x7 weekly routine. rest. maintain 210-212BW.

My legs were usually shot after squats so there was no way I could do max jumping, and even regular jumping.

My first two months training for vert, 5 years or so ago resulted in a 7.5-8inch increase in vert in 8 weeks with no jump training with minimal jumping but my running vert stayed the same because my movement efficiency back then was horrible. For SVJ i don't know if it's necessary to practice it that often, however f/v time curves of RVJ is completely different and requires more than muscle strength than SVJ in proportion to tendon elasticity and stiffness.

Have you measured your RVJ? 

Yes ian that's what I mean, in short. It's difficult in my experience to train tendon stiffness with muscle strength for whatever reason but yea be consistent with jumps + squats and see where you can go.

squat with less intensity. leave yourself enough gas for the jumping drills.

most vert trainees really screw things up by wanting so much so soon.

Shorter stockier legs, shorter toes, indicates strength dominance, less tendon elasticity in general... so ST might be a better route (maybe). Longer legs, longer toes may indicate greater tendon elasticity and plyos may benefit you more, or rather, you may respond to plyos better. There are plenty of athletes that only do plyos and become high fliers and can't squat shit. But that doesn't work for us for the most part. Similarly, getting "stronger," and I put that in quotes because muscle strength gained in a squat doesn't transfer over to a running vertical jump for everyone the same way so the "strength" being applied during the jump is questionable, doesn't work for everyone either. You hear a few success stories here and there (Kingfush on this forum but i haven't seen his running vert not sure if it exists or his sprint times but if you want to squat to improve your vert, take at least 2 years and devote yourself to weightlifting. Many here take that route, and I haven't seen a single success story yet except for kingfish. As a newbie on this forum, I want you to synthesize your own ideas, like I did, instead of being sucked into the dominant paradigm.

Getting stronger over the past two years (not being able to squat 225 to being able to double 315lbs for two sets) made me slower, and decreased my running vertical jump. But I didn't sprint or jump at the same time. Currently, i am improving my lunge strength (right now doing 190lbs with each leg with dumbells) while doing plyos so we'll see how that goes.

My best vert has been obtained before I could squat 225 comfortably for reps, and afterwards. So clearly something is going on other than muscle size that helps produce "power."

the only thing i did non-conventional is to do my SVJ drills after my squat routine.

you strength trained without doing the skill work of jumping, then expect the jump to improve.. 

i do many reps of jump drills in a workout to improve my SVJ and those are done after i turned my muscles on with near-max full squat reps.

i could have a 20-40 total squat reps in the 6-8reps for my volume workouts but still have enough gas in the tank to do 100s+ reps of jump drills doing jump ropes, hurdles, jump squats, 2-hand SVJ dunks..

I didn't jump because I couldn't, I didn't feel like it because the motor pattern took over, as it does for most people here who get into lifting heavy. People become preoccupied with it and for get their original goals, to DUNK, and be an explosive beast, not a fat piece of steroid injected shit who deadlifts 1000 lbs... yet that's what you guys like to post in the beast thread, un-athletic fat powerlifters and olympic lifters, nothing to do with athleticism whatsoever.

not going to happen if you do more jump reps. get a jump rope and rep away.

Nov 11-12, 2013

Full Squats - Paused - Maintenance
455 #133 | 465 #4 | 470 #1| 475 #6
315 x1
365 x1
405 x1

Nov 10
425x1 | +40 

Nov 11
455x1 Day  | +10


Calf Raise - Leg Press - Paused
9x45 x20 Nov 12

Cable Rows or Chins - Paused
BWx20 Nov 11

Dips - Paused
skip

Standing Shoulder Dumbell Press - Paused
45x20 Nov 11-12

* 8-week (56 day) straight 455lb and over top set ended Nov 11. my form felt unstable at the hole with the 405 warmup. 405 concentric was still routinely explosive and fast. did not bother using 455 and break something. my hamstrings are a little sore from the weekend deep-tissue massage.

* decided to just go 425. should have used 455. i powered that 425 easily but would fatigue me if i do another heavy single. hamstrings soreness just made the stability approaching the hole somewhat weak and jello. quads blasted the concentric without any problem.

** week 1 of 2. 455x7 weekly routine. rest. maintain 210-212BW.

Nov 7-8, 2013

Full Squats - Paused - Maintenance
455 #130 | 465 #4 | 470 #1| 475 #6
315 x1
365 x1
405 x1

Nov 7
455 x1 Day 53 | +10

Nov 8
455 x1 Day 54 | +5


Calf Raise - Leg Press - Paused
skip

Cable Rows or Chins - Paused
BWx20 Nov 8

Dips - Paused
BWx30 Nov 7

* change sleep pattern on a friday because of a weekend vacation plan. was supposed to be at least +10lb strong over the 455 but i was off from being awake on a friday early afternoon. my usual work night sleep is 8:30-4:30pm.. i was already up at 1:30pm today. still got my 7.5hr+.

** week 3 of 475x1, 455x6 weekly routine. on repeat until i start to feel more recovered.