Thursday, March 13, 2008

Quick training today...

Squat:
405 x 1, 455 x 1, 475 x 1, 495 x 1, 455 x 1

Squats felt pretty good - should be enough to shock my system back into action after the travel etc...

Also going to be changing some things dietary wise and getting serious with other aspects of my routine.

Should be fun...

6 comments:

Unknown said...

how close are you to competition? What % of your training do you perform past %85? How accurately do you monitor those percentages? Do you keep a log that watches "feeling" of burnout vs purportion of workouts past %85? thanks man, call ya Sat! zzzzzzz

Brett Jones said...

Z,
I have a meet on March 29 - so I am two weeks out.
% of training past 85% - too much
Accurately tracked - not really - I am on the Weider Instinctive training now ;(
Feeling of burnout vs. workouts past %85 - nope - between sleep - schedule and training I actually feel fresh "most" of the time.
Talk to you later

Rick & The Family! said...

Brett-

I noticed you do a lot of singles lately in your squat workouts. What is the reason behind this? I don't ever see much increase in weight, just singles to 495 or so and that is it?

-Rick

Brett Jones said...

Rick,
Basically a busy travel schedule combined with wanting to dial in some form stuff with singles - I had run a quick 5x5 type of squat "cycle" and actually lost some tension and form.
Tying to maximize recovery but fixing the dietary stuff will help as well.
Not my best training cycle.

Rick & The Family! said...

I don't believe in "cycles" so to speak. I have always tried the basic progressive overload, periodization stuff, and though it seemed I was getting stronger, my max work was sloppy and I felt weak under a max attempt.

I have found a Westside style approach works best for me. Different bars, boxes, etc. for a max single every week, then trying to best that next time I get to that bar again moved my squat up fast, but also kept me used to max loads on the bar. When I was doing a "Cycle" of 5-4-3-2-1 each week, I felt like shit under 700 or more. Now 700 feels like 135 on my back, solid as a rock.

Our new approach now is some "CNS Trickery" stuff. Basically it is loads and loads of band tension, bar weights between 33% and 55% of meet best (725) for 5x2 off a box, every third week working up to 55% for single. Then deloading, then maxing straight weight. Followed by 3 weeks of special bars, deloading, then maxing straight weight, then back to crazy band tensions. So far so good. My raw strength is coming up, my speed is better then ever, and my strength is jumping fast.

Take some heavy band tensions and light bar weight for 3 weeks, then go back to straight weight. You re going to be 25 pounds stronger. Maybe more.

I am trying new stuff with my deads as well. I have found working sumos at 55-70% of my best conventional pull makes me stronger. I pull a single conventional every 6th week or so, and I am ALWAYS stronger.

-Rick

Brett Jones said...

Rick,
I think I may be approaching the time where I need to work with "special" exercises and increased band tension. In the past 2 years since I started squatting I have added over 100# to my squat (and that coming primarily in the past year) so progress up until this point has been good. But it is time to order some green and blue bands.
Thanks

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