notes:
-power outs in the warm up are finally feeling very fluid. my steps were always too choppy or forced to eel this way before, so i think i’m finally getting my driving mechanics down. my 1st 10m was already pretty solid just from strength/explosiveness, i can’t wait to see the damage i do out of the blocks once i’m even better at applying force
-all weights felt much lighter today. again, the lower reps probably helped
-went into the workout with some noticible chest doms, but went away after a set or two. still, by my last set, getting up the 8th rep actually required some considerable effort. i’ve also been improving my benching mechanics (narrower grip to minimize shoulder stress, more arch in back to use more chest, stabler base and core) so that I look like the kids on my team who put up massive benches. right now, 'm not sure its helping me, but i thin as I get used to it I’ll be able to put up heavier weights than I would’ve with my old mechanics
warm-up (bike,erg,jump rope, medball throws, backflip)
7x8 each human flag
3x10:
-cable twists
-bosu ball weighted crunch
-side bends
-ab rollouts
-prone cobras
cool down (stomach vacuums, weighted back bends, standing z’s)
stretch (core)
notes:
-hitting totally straight while parallel was much easier
-not much soreness
-added in an additional ab exercise because my core day was much oblique heavier. the bosu crunch will work full ROM and I’ve always gotten great progress (and doms, haha) from rollouts
6.8.12
full warm-up
7x5 clean@165 (too light, 1 set at 175, last set at 185)
7x8 power squat@250
3x10:
-weighted hyper
-calf raise
-hammy curl
cooldown (x-band, shins)
stretch (lower)
notes:
-still working on looking down during power outs. my body tends to follow my eyes, so looking down will keep me in a driving position better
-starting to really get used to the “driving” mechanics. they dont feel forced anymore. havent taken video in a bit, so hopefully they are still good and I’m running fast
-finally got back to some reasonable weights in my primary lifts. ill be back squatting 300s and cleaning 200s in no time (though once the team program starts I’ll only hit those numbers like once every few weeks because of intensity cycling of the weightroom)
-really torched my cns, my secondary beach lifts i had to do much lighter because I was so exhausted
-work capacity back up/mentally im in lifting mode again. I’ve always had to block out pain and really zone out except for the motion while lifting and I was able to do that today
-even after 6 sets, 185 went up the easiest it ever has in the clean, and I got 5 reps not even close to failing
-i’ve already added a few pounds. I’d love to come into fall training near 160 (as long as bf is under 10% of course), but we’ll see if my weight plateaus like it usually does. i could stop seeing mass gains when I get near 155
note:
-jav throwing i much better when I don’t put too much arm into it, once I try to throw it hard, everything goes haywire. I think my best bet with it would be to get some good run up speed and to continue working on improving my core snap, and just having my arm whip through, as opposed to trying to “throw” it
-surprised that my benching hasn’t skyrocketed like my leg lifts have. definitely starting to add a little upperbody bulk though, my arms aren’t looking super thin anymore and my back is starting to fill out a bit
full warm-up
lj work
javelin work
3 pt starts
hill/stair runs
a couple build ups on grass
light warm-up
7x8 each human flag (quick hold), 3’ rest
3x10:
-each cable twist
-weight bosu ball crunch
-each side bend
-ab rollout
-weighted prone cobra
cool down (core)
stretch (core)
notes:
-hipheight looked low on run ups in lj’s. also, gotta work on my landing and in the air I end up in like a cannon ball instead of having my body extended
-in jav, throws were, again, much better while relaxed. I have some video, and its because I release the jav with my arm at more vertical an angle, so the flight is much striaghter. i’m also slowing down a ton in my crossovers, and am practically just running forward with my shoulders twisted instead of crossing over. everything i’m doing wrong is pretty obvious fixes, but it might be a lot to put on my plate with only a couple days more practice til baystates
-in the starts, my last one looks pretty solid. i just really need to make sure my leg ends up parallel to the ground while my plant leg is hitting triple extension, or my heel recovery kicks up and I end up cycling instead of pushing. I think part of the cycling problem is arising from my hip height being to high while exiting my starting stance. I will try running with lower hip height at the start next time I’m running to see if that can fix up some of the angle problems I’m having. I think my leg will naturally stay more bent if I’m lower to the ground, and more bend will make the pushing motion necessary and natural. my hip height does tend to be lower on my better starts, so possibly that’s the key
full warm-up
3 pt starts
7x3 clean@185,195,205 (too heavy)
7x5 power squat@275,315(too heavy)
3x10:
-weighted hyper
-calf raise
-hammy curl
cool down
stretch
notes:
-i got it. finally I’m able to accelerate without thinking and my stride rate is high without thinking about it. keeping my com lower was all i needed to do. with just trying to go faster, I was hitting pretty close to triple ext, knee height got to a minimum to perpendicular to my body, no overstriding occurred, stride rate was high, stride length not bad and I could do it mindlessly and it led to a god transition position. mechanics are finally all set, i don’t think I need to tinker with anything anymore, just maybe tweaks here and there if coaches tell me, but I finally feel comofrtable at all stages in the race
-went too heavy on the primary lifts today. I think the running faster than I normally do took a toll on me, and I also went up a lot in weights just because I was getting excited about putting up solid numbers again (over 200 and over 300). I’ll make sure not to do that next lower day
javelin approach work
3 pt starts
lj approach work
functional warm-up
7x5 bench@165 (too light), 3’ rest
3x8:
-lat pull down
-db shoulder press
-db biceps curl
-side shoulder raise
-db bentover pull
cool down
stretch
notes:
-found my cue today. “pop” to exit my stance or blocks and this puts me in a triple extension stance, the “scramble” to get me to accelerate
-went lighter rather than heavier in the bench because I didn’t want to risk two days in a row of overdoing the weight and not hitting the reps. reps were still a bit of work, but wasn’t struggling by the last rep, arms still felt fresh when testing some push-ups
jav apporahc work
lj “flat-flat” work
3 pt starts/a couple flys
lj approach work
warm-up
7x5 each human flag (short hold), 3’ rest
3x8:
-each cable twist
-bosu ball weighted crunch
-each side bend
-ab rollout
-weighted prone cobra
cool down
stretch
notes:
-watched a race of donovan bailey breaking the wr, and I noticed that the elastic response his hip flexor had while launching his knee up was ridiculous. I then thought about the natural anterior tilt I tend to have, and maybe that’s why I’m having so much back side at the start and why if I don’t force em up my knees dont go up. my coach also makes this reference to “uncooked spaghetti vs. cooked spaghettit” as if you flick the hard piece on one end it goes shooting across the table whereas the wet spaghetti collapses on itself and barely goes anywhere. by making sure my abs were nice and tight (but nothing else), my hip tilt got to neutral and I wasn’t collapsing on each step. knees got up, was getting elastic responses I normally don’t, backside mechanics were minimized and I could do it without thinking about anything but tight core. I was even getting hip rotation I normally don’t
-concentrating on keeping my hips neutral for exercises now and I will put added emphasis on my hip ROM to a neutral/slightly posterior tilt/keeping my core tight. hip height was huge on the flys
-noticed two things wrong with my start still. on my second step, my arm flys out practically straight on the back swing. I think keeping it at a bit more of an angle would give me a better elastic response in the shoulder. also, on my second step, heel recovery is still often too high (to pass under my body, but over my knee it actually has to travel downwards). after that it gets to an acceptable point. when my second step is a push parallel to my body angle as opposed to trying to push directly back, it happens less. i think these things might be more idiosyncracies than things terribly hampering my start (especially since I’ve never turned out a fast time) so I’m not going to steer away from keeping things natural, though maybe some cueing during drills will starighten that stuff out and just being aware of them
full warm-up
jav approach
lj “flat-flats”
3 pt starts
7x3 clean@200, 3’ rest
7x5 power squat@300, 3’ rest
3x8:
-hyper
-calf raise
-hammy curl
cool down
stretch
notes:
-made sure to keep core tight and hip neutral as compared to my trunk. definitely helped my clean, but getting down to parallel in squats was more difficult. maybe I was just too aggressive with the weight in that exercise
jav work
lj work
functional warm-up
3 pt starts
some drive phase work
a fly
stretch
notes:
-can consistently get an okay throw with a full run for jav. still definitely using too much arm and not enough core, but now that i’ve got the arm motion down I thinkl I can just snap my core through and I should add some more distance between getting more comfortable with the crossover steps and using core muscles. I was just extending my arm too far away from my body too early, so I was looping the javs path
-i’m having a lot of trouble getting good height on my lj jump, which in turn is messing up my landing mechanics because I’m not getting enough air time. I think this might just be a manifestation of the issue I’ve always had with jumping off one foot. I think I need to really try to jump high and get some power in my takeoff, as It really just looks like a tap of the ground as if its just another running step
-didn’t try to stay low as long, just let it happen and tried to really step down parallel to my body. things are better, though I’m realizing that a lot of the problems I’m fighting I think are stemming from my first tsep being too long. my knee lift in that stride is higher than most elite’s and I think its causing me to overstride and step down too much, forcing my body angle up and trying to compensate with a shorter second step. I’ll try to recue this first stride and I think it wil reduce heel recovery, becaue my foot striking further back will allow for more of a push, and I think I’ll be ina better accel position where my ROM ends up better, I don’t end up upright/cycling as fast and the transition to top speed mechanics is mroe natural to make
notes:
-won’t be touching the start anymore, I can see nothing wrong, I feel fast and look fast and my mechanics are finally pretty solid. I reduced my first step by thinking wrist flick instead of hitting super triple ext, stay low longer because my first step is back further so I’m not forced up and heel recovery is low becaus I realized that I can simply think of applying force in the plane parallel to my body and when I do I have a solid core, and my mechanics come out right (stepping back at the start and down at top speed). I even realized I started to get some of that natural hip rotation that appears a bit like side stepping as I’m finally low enough that my body does it to compensate. steps aren’t choppy, my knees are ending up without forcing them and all is good… finally, haha
-steadily improving at jav. flight still hooks a bit (sometimes more than others), and I’m not buckling my front leg, which I think would help me convert some of my forward momentum up and away. also, my crossover steps are a bit slow, so I don’t get to take advanatge of the speed advanatge I have on most jav throwers I’d compete against. I will do some 5-step work tomorrow (no actual jav), and a premeet on Wednesday (just a couple fulls) and have a meet on friday so I’ll rest until then because I’ve been throwing a bunch lately. if I do well, I’ll continue jav work, and if I can get up to the 170 range before going back to school, I might even be able to work on jav for my team
-worked on really getting some hegith on my “flat-flat” work for lj. I have decent speed, a decent sbj and a great vert, so I feel like I should at least be breaking 20ft if I can get a good jump. I’ll do a little more tomorrow to try and gte some “pop”
7x3 snatch@115, r: 3’
5x3:
-full squat@225 r: 3’
-bench@135
-human flag (brief hold)
cool down
stretch
notes:
-build ups felt fantastic in the warm-up. just thought about applying all my force parallel to my body and I felt that sensation of running downhill/gliding while just stepping down. power outs felt pretty solid too, though I did my warm up on grass, so I ahd to be a bit cautious with my exit angle or I would slip. hip height at start is lower
-feels weird blocking out my front leg in jav, probably a habit from baseball where my front leg was always bent
-still not great at getting pop while jumping off one leg. luckily I’m just doing this meet for fun and to experience some other events so its not high pressure to perfrom something I’m not any good at, haha
-i may have only done 5 or 6 sets of snatches, but meant to do 7. I didn’t keep track very well. either way, wanted to keep volume fairly low with a new exercise and trying to unload this week
notes:
-wanted to do my premeet today (meet on friday) but got called into a night shift at work. I will just do it tomorrow. probably better that way anyways as I have a cubicle job 8-5 so I’ll be pretty inactive day off before the meet
-watched a bunch of the video I had built up. noticed that my arm drive in front is very passive after my first step and that it appears as if I’m barely applying any force to the ground after my first step. my leg moves through the rom, but there’s a total lack of pop until I’m upright. my giant lag in the 2nd half of my drive phase I think has to do with me quitting to accelerate for this stretch in between exiting my starting stance until I get upright. I don’t know why my legs are quitting on me like thisI think I might be overdoing relaxtion at the start to the point of not using any of the explosivenss I’ve developed through plyos or lifting
-in the long jump, I’m simply just not jumping high enough. my whole jump is pretty much flat
-in the jav, the jav is twisting a bunch while I’m throwing it which explains its curved flight and right before I throw I hit the brakes really hard and lose all my momentum
notes:
-I think I’m not straightening my leg in jav because I’m cushioning the impact so I don’t slip, since I’ve been throwing on grass and don’t have heel spikes. I think this would add some distance
-as long as I try to keep the jav’s path/flight straight then I can get a pretty solid flight. I’m having trouble getting my jav to stick on the tip, though. Might just be because my jav is not of great quality
-had probably my best long jump ever. I just took steps my steps, tried not to think and jumped as high as I could. everything was probably still messy, but I went decently far. I really am just not good at jumping off one leg though. I can barely touch the net on a basketball hoop from one foot but can grab rim off two
-took a video of my start. when I just think naturally and try to run away from the starting line, my mechanics look pretty solid, except my second step is always so choppy. I think this occurs because while my heel recovery is very low on my first stride, its recovery lags really heavily, I don’t start to pull it forward until my other foot already is making contact with the ground. I think after the wrist flick I should immediately start my next step as opposed to I always feel a little bit of hangtime
Baystate qualifiers:
jav -> 153.x ft
400m -> 55.9h
lj -> 19.5 ft
ice ankle (15’)
notes:
-bruised up the inside of my lower ankle/inner heel during a botched run through for lj. I think all my numbers would have been better without that, especially my lj because it was swollen by that point
-it was unfortunate I couldn’t lj before the 400, my legs were jelly after
-doing events was interesting. I had never really stressed about running from event to event or missing a race start and warming up was much more hectic than I’m used to. Also, because of storms, they really rushed the meet along
-in jav, most of my warm up throws were better than my 153. I think I can throw in the 160s with a decent throw. also, I’m not currently using any torque at all and not much core, because my release gets messy if I do. I really think I can add a ton of distance if I can get that down and speed up my run up
-in the 400m, I felt great through about 250m and was right up with a 50s runner without feeling tired, then my lack of conditioning and se for the last 2-3 months kicked in, haha
-sped up my second step out of the blocks and its definitely smoother, i’d like to look at it on tape
-in the lj, I still have no landing form. I jump and kind of end up in a cannonball position. personally, I didn’t really enjoy lj that much and I’d have to be breaking 23’ to jump at my school so after the finalist meet for baystates I probably won’t go back
-ankle was a bit discolored after the meet and starting to swell a bit
-qualified for the finalist meet in the 400, possibly in the jav and possibly in the lj
notes:
-heel a bit tender at beginning of jog, but got better as it went along. going downhill was still a bit iffy and being on grass was better
-taking ibuprofen and just trying to get my ankle back to injury free. waited 24’ from injury time before applying any heat, and contrasted that with icing in case circulation blew it up even with the epsom salt
-watched some videos and it looks like most better jav throwers throw a lot more similar to baseball throwers than is often taught, as it looks very rotational, not linear, just they release the jav going off to the side a bit so it straightens itself out. also, they can go very fast on the crossovers and have a solid block with their front leg
notes:
-really twisting off to my left (I throw righty) on my jav throws, gotta get rid of this baseball habit if I ever want the jav to fly straight. I know I have the core strength and the right explosiveness to make the jav fly, just I need it to fly straight while I still can use my core. when I try to use my core, I keep sending it in a hook and I fall off to my left. What’s funny is in baseball, when throwing from the outfield, I used to fall directly forward. the extra weight of the javelin must be even screwin up my mechanics if I were to try and throw it just like a baseball
notes:
-working on controlling the weight more in lifts, even if it sacrafices a bit of weight. controlled and smooth on the way down and as fast as possible on the way up
-tried to go heavier in the clean at first, but my catch was too messy, I think I was nervous about getting under it
warm-up
7x3 each human flag (max hold, less jump on the way up)
3x5:
-each cable twists
-bosu ball crunch
-each side bend
-ab rollout
-prone cobra
cooldown
stretch
notes:
-minor chest doms. ligaments in my armpits a bit tender?
