Aivala's long jumping log

On saturday:

[i]
4 x lrlrlr

4x220m @ 60% 30s rest
circuits (incline bench, pull overs, ghr, ovh squat)
[/i]

On monday:

[i]
multiple medball throws (backwards ovh, forwards, side twists, jav like)
double footed hurdle hops 3 x 5 hurdles

javelin throw > lots of @ 600 / 800g
[/i]

My javelin is improving. I believe I was flexing my elbow too much and was holding the javelin like a tennis racket. I feel much more comfortable and throw more with the 800g than the 600g one. Right now I am throwing from standing and from 3 step since it was awful to see it fly, it landed backwards, etc. I just also got the feeling of the quick quick plant and felt the pull on the javelin.

Yesterday:

[i]
5 x LRLR + j
short approach lj (6 step)
4 x sfs (90m, easy)

clean: 3x2x 70kg, 1x75kg
squat: 4x3x 90 / 90 / 95 / 95kg
bench: 4x4x 50 / 55 / 60 / 65kg
complex: 3x5 x (jump squats 27kg + dinamic step ups 27kg)
[/i]

The sfs were done with a very big technical emphasis. I run well under 90% but got me on tape and am running taller than ever, legs straigt at contact.

Today:

[i]
a little bit of hurdles during the warmup
hj from 4 steps (letargic > aborted)
javelin throw (incredible)

4x250m @ 60% 30s rest
[/i]

Worked with a thrower today. He corrected on spot my grip and literaly twisted my shoulder a little bit. Made wonders. It feels like a complete new event to me now, the javelin flys perfectly and my issues are suddenly gone. Extremely extremely pleased with today’s session, even thought the HJ sucked, had no pop.

Carl Lewis looks like Holm preparing to plant for high jump take-off on the first picture.

Yes, but he is planting really close to his COM and has anything but an agressive take off. Perhaps is it due to his posture that he is able to get height?

Today:

[i]
discus throw 1.5kg
5 x LRLR+J 2 steps walk in, avg 16m
4x short app ljs

3x40m from blocks
aborted session
[/i]

It went wonderfuly well until the 3rd 40m, I had a weird feeling in my right hamstring and the lower back of my knee. It was nowhere near a twingle, mostly like a “muscle distension”. Hammy hurts if I push something backwards.

Cause? Sprinting in 5ºC and pushing it harder than I should have. I was perfectly warmed up but the long recoveries made me cool down. So no sprinting till next week, I will have to figure out a way to train with no indoor track. And perhaps the 250 from yesterday were too much.

Btw. I video timed some LJ approaches:

4.00s / 30m avg for progressive accelerations
3.87s / 30m for hard accel

Things going bad.

Saturday:


Jerk: 5 x 4 x 40 / 45 / 50 / 52.5 / 55kg
Front squat: 3 x 4 x 60 / 75 / 75
Row: 3x5x 60 /65/70kg
I bench: 3x10

Today:

Warmed up but during strides hammy hurt. Went to lift but felt very very very letargic. I had trouble cleaning 70kg. On top of that my right ankle still gets swolen and hurts while squatting / cleaning in the medial side since I believe to have twisted it inwardly while learning to snatch some weeks ago. Called it a day (a week?) after the fourth clean single. Just felt unmotivated to continue training.

I believe I will take the week off or at least from lower body work (again). It’s really annoying starting the season well but not being able to train over a week without some kind of hampering.

Btw. I am evaluating seriously “calling it a season”.

Things going better. Taking it relatively easy these day and hoping to pump the volume up a little bit this week.

On thursday:


hurdle jumps x 6 (3 each leg)
med ball throws (ovh, side twits, jav like, backwards) + circuits
discus

On friday:


javelin throw (x25) 3 step with 800g
short approach lj x 10
3 x 120m @ 90%

Started working with a cuban coach in the javelin. 3 stepped arround 35m consistently, using wider diameter javs feels much much better and the javelin doesn’t slip anymore. The ones I used at my former school are too small for my grip.

Today:


snatch 2x3x40kg 2x45 2x2x47.5kg
third squat 5 x 4 x 90 / 100 / 110 / 115 / 120kg
bench 4 x 4 x 50 / 55 / 60 / 65kg
ghr 3x12

Weirdest day of my lifting time. Started very very sluggish with the snatches, and until the fourth squat set I was bein totalled by the weight. Then suddenly something clicked in my head and 120kg felt easy! The same happened with the bench. It seems to me that pressing my teeth and tensing up my body makes me lift much much more.

I am going to continue with my LJ mechanics overhaul. During the last bounding sessions I realized to have found a good balance between relaxation and power. I tended to overrelax both running and jumping / bounding. I am suddenly able to bounce down the runway much more powerfully, since march I was “asleep”, or affraid of attacking the board and also slowed down unconciously on the runway, I also started feeling bounding and jumping more as a whole body thing rather than localized in the legs. I felt this specially while triple jumping, where my hop take off felt great and was getting more height than in my LJ take off. Weird, isn’t it? It’s as if I felt my whole body acting as a big spring.

I am switching to a much more agressive style. Main focuses:

*good posture during runup and jump (no butt out, high hips)
*attack the board, don’t slow down
*free leg knee drive
*kick far in front of my during landing

Regarding mid air tech I don’t know, I might even end up doing something simil sail. Whilever I don’t crach into the sandpit anything is acceptable. Once I am in the air I will start worrying about it.

Sunday:


extensive tempo 10x100 5x110 2x100 hopping knee drive
incline bench 4x10 50kg

Monday:


short approaches lj (sucked)
4 x 50m
clean 3x60kg

Way way too cold! 5ºC and windchill. Ran the 50m repeats at 90% and then called it a day, I just cooled down between reps. When I came to the weightroom was already too sluggish.

Tuesday:

[i]
javlin throw

(rest 1 min between reps)
clean singles 5x70kg 3x75kg
full squat 4x4 90 / 95 / 100 / 100kg PB
row 4 x 5 x 60 / 65 / 65 / 70kg
ghr 3x12
[/i]

Was supposed to do bounding but it was again too cold and windy, my jav sucked since I had no mobility. 8:30pm workout, 3ºC, 85% humidity and wind, great conditions.

Total PB in the squat, felt easy and could have gone for 6 reps. I am squatting barefoot right now because with trainers my ankle twisted inwards. I am having some achilles light pains so I believe it’s related with increased rom at barefoot squatting, gotta get some weightlifting shoes. The cleans felt easy too.

Today I was supposed to do extensive tempo but work at the factory is killing me. Came home and dropped dead on the bed.

Nothing wrong with squatting barefoot but I’d ease into it to get your feet used to it.

Have you tried it before? Any input would be great.

Today:


short approaches lj (4 step!!) x 10
5 x 60m

In the LJ I am switching back to a style I used one year ago for what I believe to be my best jump given the circumstances.
Switched back to grass training, felt weird. Could feel the unlevel terrain and bothered my running. The grass was wet so the accel wasn’t hard as it could have been.

Yes, a lot of people do it. I suggest doing a few easy sessions to get used to it and make sure you don’t have any problems. It feels quite natural to me.

Haven’t posted in a while.

Thanks for the input Juggler!

Friday 26:


3x6 cmj + 10 x LRLR
snatch 3x40kg 3 x 2 x 45 kg
third squat: 5x4 90 / 100 / 110 / 115 / 120kg
bench: almost died

Was very tired during this workout. Made the biggest fuck up of my lifting career while bench pressing, missed the rack and released. Elbow hurt after that. The rack layout saved me. Conclusion: don’t lift when you are falling asleep during the warm up.

Saturday:


short app jumps
16 x 100m tempo

UNLOADING WEEK

Monday:


1 x 90m progression until 90%
30 x very short approach jumps

Was too cold and windy outside. Jumped in a handball court onto some gymnastics mats. Focused on landing and some postural issues. Jumped from a jog approach.

Today:

[i]
4x4 cmj
5 x LRLRL

squat 2 x 6 x 60 / 70 .-. 2 x 4 x 90 / 100 KG EASY
[/i]

Squatting 100kg felt easy today. Don’t know what’s happening to my body, this month and since the implementation of special endurance (i.e. 2x130 @ 90%) my BW has gone up by 3kg to 76.5kg at 1.85m tall and strength seems to be skyrocketing. Interestingly enough I am equally skinnier as before. So where is the weight gain visible? I have gained 7kg in the past only with intensive tempo, but never 2kg within a month. It might be also that my usual winter weight (Fat) gain adds.

My left achilles is a little bit irritated. Big jumping volume + lifting + running + pressing a pedal constantly in the factory are doing the job. Will skip tomorrows tempo session and do some achilels strengthtening instead.

On saturday I will compete, will run 100m at 13:30pm and LJ at 15:30. Will be interesting since I haven’t run nor jumped as much as I wanted due to weather. Lately I have focused more on plyos and added some SE. This month I have just done:

  • 8 max v sessions
  • 4 speed endurance sessions (mixed with max v, ie 90m sfs)
  • 14 jumping sessions
  • 10 lifting sessions
  • 7 extensive tempo / circuit sessions

I am aiming for sub 11.20 on saturday.

Today was a wonderful day here in Buenos Aires, warmer than the average, clear, no wind but meet got suspended. Motherfuckers of the government didn’t implement swine flu curfew because of elections one week ago and magically the day after elections they suspend almost every type of activity. Right now I have no facilities where to train at but a park. So no weights for an undetermined period of time. Thoughts on how to replace them are welcome.

I am crazy about this because I am excellent right now, running really fast, relatively unloaded and last year I got fucked up the same way by the gov. They were unable to control forestal fires (shitty landfires for other countries standards) so Buenos Aires got covered by a dense smoke. Meets were suspended, I was in really good shape and after that got injured. So if you are looking for a serious country were to train avoid Argentina.

On top of that some people came from Brazil and Uruguay for this meet, so I am still not taking the worst part of this crap.

Btw on thursday and already knowing meet was going to be suspended:

[i]
short approach lj

all out:
4x30
3x60
1x100
[/i]

Right now I want to see some politician’s heads rolling on the ground.

Well, at least now I can use a rugby field but still no weights and I am feeling the effect of it.

On sunday 5/7:


2x30 uphill
2x30 downhill
3x130 @ 90% unlevel terrain

On tuesday:

4 x 30 + 4 x 60m

Today:


short approach jumps ( best one off 8 step +/- 5.80m)
4x60m

Here are some pictures of my actual facilities. As you can see the pit is a little bit rough (it’s a kids playground) and the surrounding surface is unlevel. I don’t jump off that board much because I skid too much, but the surrounding terrain is very soft with lots of sand and dirt.
Off an historic perspective on the very same pit it was jumped during the 1918 south american championships held in San Isidro, Buenos Aires. The board seen there dates back from those years. The argentinean team of those years also trained there.
The rugby field I am sprinting on has very very long grass, it’s extremelly soft and when you run on it it feels as if you were running on a matt in slow mo.




Hmm, that sounds exactly like the training facility at the highschool I coach at, but you forgot to mention being very uneven, and having lots of places to risk wrecking an ankle or knee on.

Yes, but at least this special field has been leveled to an extent with sand. Anyway sprinting there the day after a match is terrible. Not to mention normally the ride feels quite bumpy and you suddenly feel your hips dropping or after hitting a sand spot you kinda either slip or slow down. It’s like flying through turbulence. I am also starting to believe there is a very slight uphill there.

How much faster do your athletes run on a synthetic track?

Was out of town this week. Trained in a village next to the see on sand roads. Did some up and downhill sprinting:

Friday 10/7:

Finally managed to convince the gym guy to let me use the weights.

[i]
3 x LRLRLRLR
5 x LRLR
depth jump 3x5

deep squat 4 x 60 / 70 / 80 / 90 / 100 2x 100 4 x 90kg
step up 3x10x 50kg
[/i]

Saturday 11/7:

14x100 tempo

Sunday: 400km travel.

Monday 13/7:


5x60 on hard sand (+/-90%)
some box
beach football

Tuesday 14/7:

16x100m tempo
5x5 depth jumps

15/7:

[i]
distances are guestimates:
6x25 uphill
4 x 25 downhill
2x40 normal

5x5 depth jumps
[/i]

Today 400km drive back and just some abs and pushups, I don’t feel like travelling to do some tempo work.

This is the surface I ran on:

Friday:


easy accels
shot throws
1x5 depth jumps
short approach lj
2 x 140 @ 90%

Almost distroyed my right knee while ljing. Had way too much overrotation, the hang wasn’t enough and dived into the sand pit. My right leg twisted on landing, had a brutal pain in the area but nothing sharp. Pain disappeared almost immediatly, no swelling at all. My gastro and my quad seem to have absorbed the impact since they are a little bit sore.

I am working on completing my take off since I have been rushing it since last year. Off six strides the difference is already brutal: a completed take off gives me arround 19ft, while a rushed one (the one I used this year) just 17ft. I get lots of air with this bettered take off.

Today:

[i]
clean 2 x 2 x 70kg 1 x 75kg
squat 4 x 4 x 80 / 90 / 100 / 100kg
bench press: 3 x 5 x 50 / 55 / 60kg
i bench: 2x10 2x5

2x4 cmj
4x5 depth jumps
[/i]

My right knee was a little bit sore. First time I am doing plyos after weights, felt a little bit weird.

Videos from today:

//youtu.be/5klYr1FogXA

//youtu.be/8y2pWPEe-lU

//youtu.be/G0SwlFgOSyM

//youtu.be/SKwnutVc_Hc

//youtu.be/D71dODi5k0A

It’s very cold down here, it even snowed yesterday. I am forced to stay in the gym. Also had a weird and severe cramp in my left calf on tuesday while I was taking a nap.

Yesterday:


6 x cmj
clean 4 x 2 x 70 / 70 / 75 / 75kg
squat 4 x 4 x 80 / 90 / 100 / 100kg
quarter leg press 2 x 10 x 200 / 215 kg
8 x 4 x rebounds (lessened drop height)

Today more strength, some strides and more plyos. I will wait for the temp to rise above 10ºC again to perform serious speed training. Meanwhile I want to do a mini block of eccentric strength development.

Thurs:

[i]
snatch 3x2x 40kg 3x2x 45kg
snatch grip dl 3 x 4 x 90 / 95 / 95kg
quarter leg press: 3 x 10 x 200 / 230 / 230kg
i bench 3x5

4 x 4 double footed rebounds

6 x 100m strides to loosen up
[/i]

Felt great.

Friday:

[i]
jerk 4 x 6 x 40 / 45 / 50 / 50kg
front squat: 3 x 6 x 70kg
step ups: 3 x 5+5 x 60kg

3x100m strides in order to loosen up
[/i]

Felt great.

Saturday:


8x llll rrrr as shown on vids
6x100m strides

Today:
[i]
3x continuous take offs
3x40 3x60

hang clean 3x3x50kg
depth jumps 4x4 as shown on vids

superset:
quarter squat 3 x 4 x 90 / 120 / 120kg
rdl 3 x 8 x 50kg very very fast

rrrr+llll x 4
[/i]

Continuous take offs felt better than ever. For the first time ever I am capable of conciously completing my take off. I get tons of air, the difference is brutal with my take off of one month ago. I just push my self off the penultimate and think about extending, wait until I am fully floating and only then I start with the anti overrotation movements.

On the other hand I couldn’t get on the trance status I am used to while sprinting. I have developed the ability to perform every single rep in the trance status were I am not concious of time. It’s very funny because I remember well when I was a kid (+/- 5 years) had the same feelings while playing games. It triggers when I get my first accels ok but on soft surfaces it doesn’t happen. Don’t know why.

//youtu.be/YlAR8nQXwv4

//youtu.be/fKikbcdfedk

//youtu.be/rMEaAuLaGD0

Well a major overhaul at home that left everything dusty, the cold and low air moisture have taken it’s toll.

My nose got extremelly dry. On sat I had some minor bleeding at home, on sunday while lifting moderate bleeding and on tuesday while doing some warmup 30s a blood vessel exploded and didn’t stop bleeding, so had to have it cauterized. Hurt as hell. So no physical activities until saturday.

During this week, even though I didn’t train, I felt extremelly good and more explosive than ever this year. All this after a week of just lifting.

Yesterday (no more bleeding):

[i]
clean 3, 3, 2, 1 x 70 / 70 / 72.5 / 75kg
squat 3 x 4 x 90 / 100 / 100kg
bench press 4 x 2 x 55 / 60 / 65 / 70kg
quarter leg press: 2 x 10 x 210 / 230kg

8 x 4 x depth jumps (double legged)
[/i]

Cleans were extremelly easy. Last week I was doing singles at 70kg. On the other hand squatting felt very hard.

Today:

[i]
jerk 4 x 6 x 40 / 45 / 50 / 50kg
superset:
front squat 2 x 6 x 60 / 70kg
rdl 2 x 8 x 65kg
rdl 1 x 8 x 65kg

3 x 4 single leg depth jumps (rrrrllll)

6x100m strides
[/i]

Tomorrow some LJ (finally!!) from 12 strides. If conditions are ok looking for 6.30m+.