Gaining Mass/ROM for College Javelin

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82

4/27/2013 (am)

morning weight: 152
thrower’s warm-up
acrobat checks
oly lifts checks
3x5 pc@135
3x5 squat@225
1x10:
-hammy curl (1-leg negs, alt)
-calf raise
1x20:
-x-band, each
-ankle dorsi-flexion
self-massage
stretch lower
5’ bike
self-massage
jav stretches
flexibility checks
15’ ice (r.shoulder)

night weight: 154

notes:
-won’t be able to hit the gym for a full session on Thursday, so moved that to Sat. still will do am corework that day. will add in a couple days of MI medball throws for the unloading week

4/29/2013 (am)

morning weight: 152

notes:
-got caught up with some computer issues last night, resulted in a short night of sleep. should be fine for afternoon even if tired because I’m unloading, but I know I need rest to recover so I’ll be going to bed early tonight!

83

4/29/2013 (pm)

pre-workout weight: 152
5’ bike
oly lifts checks
250 reps core
3x5 pull-ups
1x20 pullover stretch (on stability ball)
yoga (10 poses)
self-massage
stretch core
night weight: 156

4/30/2013 (am)
morning weight: 152
thrower’s warm-up
125 reps core
15’ ice (r.shoulder)

notes:
-still felt exhausted in the afternoon, will be a big volume day today, but its all LI or MI and I won’t be able to access free weights next until Friday so I suppose that’s okay

84

4/30/2013 (pm)
pre-workout weight: 154
5’ bike
jump rope
oly lifts checks
leg swings and build ups
3x5 pc@135
3x5:
-bench@135
-squat@225
5x20 medball throws (variety)
1x10:
-hammy curl (1-leg negs, alt)
-upperbody circuit (10 exercises)
-calf raise
1x20:
-shoulder complex
-x-band, each
-ankle dorsi-flexion
-band pulls
125 reps core
stretch upper
self-massage
15’ ice (r.shoulder)
night weight: 157

notes:
-new heaviest for me. funny thing is, my bf looks the lowest its ever been. perhaps its just the same, or maybe even higher, but increased muscle mass is tightening up my skin/making muscle tone look higher. considering 157 is nearly overweight for a 5’7" person according to bmi, I’m surprised how thin I still look. I’m still looking at putting on another 10 lbs though, so still a long way to go
-lifts felt easy and explosive

85

BMI is not something you should be paying any attention to.

86

Agreed, haha. I just thought it was funny. I kind of assumed that, even its its lean mass, that anybody in the overweight section of BMI would look pretty thick, but I’m pretty close to it (and hopefully will be entering it!) and still don’t look like I have a “thick” build at all (a bit more built now than before, but still pretty skinny in general)

87

5/1/2013 (am)

morning weight: 153
5’ bike
depletion push-ups (31,18,15)
stretch core, lower

notes:
-didn’t do many reps because was keying on good form
-flexibility much improved

88

Whew! Very busy end of the week and weekend, but did manage to fit in some workouts. Also, will be switching the format of my training to as follows (hope to get it in an excel format sometime soon):

-timeline: may-power,june-speed,july-throwing (and overarching goal is get to mid 160’s for weight)
-plan to start throwing once a week, will think about moving to 2 days a week in june,3 days a week in july while up at school
-per week 3xlift,2xgeneral,1xthrowing,1xoff(,1xmassage?)

1 - lift 1
2 - general
3 - lift 2
4 - general
5 - lift 3
6 - off
7 - javelin

-am:
thrower’s warm-up

-prelift:
cardio machine/jump rope until sweat
oly lifts checks (5xfront squat, overhead squat,snatch squat)

  • means concentration lift for the day
    -leaving for school in the last week of June, unload the week before; move some volume around for vacation in couple weeks (will be very wary of overdoing HI, rather undertrain than over)
    -3 set min, 7 set max
    -fairly short rests, just catch breath, grab a drink, throw on more weight and go

key -> -lift name (1st week reps, 2nd week reps, 3rd week reps))

lift 1:
-clean and jerk(5,3,1)
*power squat(6,4,2)
-incline bench (8,6,4)
-row(10,8,6)

lift 2:
*power clean(5,3,1)
-full squat(6,4,2)
-overhead press (8,6,4)
-pull-ups(10,8,6)

lift 3:
-snatch(5,3,1)
-front squat(6,4,2)
*bench(8,6,4)
-upright row(10,8,6)

Post-lift:
-injury lifts (2x12xpullover stretch, ankle dorsi-flexion)
-core circuit (~500-1000 reps)
-stretch circuits(shj circuit, javelin circuit, anterior hip tilt circuit, w/spear circuit)
-ice where for as long as needed

pre-general:
-cardio until sweating
-thrower hurdle drills
-acrobat checks (human flag, pre-race jump, back flip)

general (max volumes if done alone, will adjust and mix and match, LI-HV to HI-LV overall):
-speedwork:
sleds(10-30m,~300m total)
hills(10-60s,~10 reps)
zones(penultimate crossover to 30m 3 pt,~300m total)
hurdle hops(5 hurdles, ~50 total contacts)
-medball:
javelin circuit(6 reps each, QUALITY)
distance throws(~10 reps/exercise,~50 reps total)
core workout(~20 reps/exercise,~100 reps total)
-fitness:
tempo(ie. cf big/small, King’s HS examples, etc.)
shj fitness circuits
cf bike workout

post-general:
-injury lifts(2x12xband pulls, x-band)
-self-massage
-yoga (10 poses: hit position, reset, hit position, hold until relaxed)

javelin:
-thrower’s warm-up
-pre-throwing drills
-throws (3-6 in approach-type set, stop when quality stops improving, work way from split standing throws to full approaches)
-cool-down jog
-shoulder complex 2x12
-15’ ice right arm

89

Wed 5/1/2013(pm):
5’ elliptical
self-massage
jav stretches
flexibility checks
yoga(10 poses)
15’ ice (r. shoulder)
night weight: 156

Thu 5/2/2013(am):
morning weight: 154
thrower’s warm-up
250 reps core
stretch core

Sat 5/4/2013
thrower’s warm-up
jav throwing
3x5:
-bench@135
-pull-ups@bw
1x10 upperbody circuit (10 exercises)
1x20:
-shoulder complex
-band pulls
-pullover stretch (on stability ball)

Mon 5/6/2013(am)
thrower’s warm-up
self-massage

notes:
-throwing went well. finally had a few with nice flight but those tended to be at a lower angle than I liked. standing throws reaching easily over 100, 3-steps making it to about 150. may have been possible that at this point I could throw the 185 ft my initial goal is with a full approach. still need jav boots to do that though :stuck_out_tongue: will be throwing on grass probably for a while, probably will just use an old pair of light cleats
-need to work on a harder push for the penultimate and a more solid block to come up and over
-found a working cue to allow my body to have shoulder hip and shoulder arm separation. as my hip begins to come through with the landing of my block leg, I try to relax and reach back as far as I can to the javelins original location before I began to rotate. feel a big stretch, jav saw good flight and made sure that I didn’t force the throw but instead had a long pull, stretch reflex means everything after that was essentially automatic. I know I can throw wayyy further because I couldn’t go in too aggressively without timing getting all messed up, but once my technique is down I’m almost certain I’m looking at 60m being a reasonable goal for next year. stretch reflex I know can take way more force, but just couldn’t get everything to fit together
-wrist elbow and shoulder all kind of tender, but in an out of condition, not an injured, way. huge amounts of doms in obliques, abs and lats. none in rotator cuff or back. Sweet!

90

Mon 5/6/2013 (pm)

bike & jump rope
oly lifts checks
clean & jerk x 5@95,115,135,155f@4
power squat x 6@225,275,295,315f@6
incline bench x 8@95,135,135f@7
row x 10@95,115,120,125
1x12:
-pullover stretch (on stability ball)
-ankle dorsi-flexion
stretch circuits (shj, jav, spear)
5’ bike
self-massage
yoga (sundancex2, downward dog practice)
15’ ice (r.shoulder)
night weight: 154

5/7/2013 (am)
morning weight: 154
thrower’s warm-up

notes:
-jerk felt better than ever. much more comfortable in a power jerk position than split jerk and now shoulders have the ROM needed. tried to ride the weight down to rock bottom and drop quickly after triple ext so I can prepare for a low catching position once I get on heavy weights and improve the jerk
-didn’t mean to fail on sets. feeling fatigued in the gym, was surprised I even got decent numbers for me up, but the concentration was just not there
-noticed that in the downward dog my lower back tends to get very rounded as opposed to me forming a nice triangle. I think this is the hamstring tightness I’ve noticed. I think that my body has compensated for tight hammys with a very flexible core (same with shoulders), so I’ll have to make sure I’m hitting the right muscles with my stretching

91

5/7/2013 (pm)
pre-workout weight: 154
jog
thrower hurdle walk-over drills
acrobat checks
shj recovery day circuit (minus core)
self-massage
ice r. shoulder
night weight: 156

notes:
-flexibility over hurdles not much worse than when I was doing them nearly daily in the fall. good sign that my stretching appears to be having general results as opposed to only getting better at that specific stretch
-lower body doms, but in the right placs at least

Wed 5/8/2013 (am)
morning weight: 154
thrower’s warm-up

notes:
-not planning on moving to my normal 3-1 load-unload set-up until I line up the unload with the 2nd to last full week of june. bc of vaca, will be essentially doing two weeks worth of volume over 3 weeks time, except with some added LI stuff when possible during days with no access to a track or gym

92

5/8/2013 (pm)
pre-workout weight: 154
jog
hurdle drills
acrobat checks
cf small tempo circuit
2x12:
-band pulls
-x-band, each
yoga (10 poses)
self-massage
ice r.shoulder
night weight: 156

Thurs 5/9/2013
(am)
morning weight: 155
(pm)
pre-workout weight: 158
jump rope
thrower’s warm-up
oly lifts checks
pc x 5 @135,186,205,225f@1
full squat x 6 @135,185,225,245,275
overhead press x 8 @95,100f@5
pull-ups x 10 @ bw,bwf@5
2x12:
-pullover stretch (on stability ball)
-ankle dorsi-flexion
150 reps core
ice r. shoulder
night weight: 157

Fri 5/10/2013 (am)
morning weight: 156
thrower’s warm-up

notes:
-poor weight session on thurs. not sure why. full squats did pretty good, took too much out for the rest of the workout though. was having trouble keeping second pull in during pc’s, weight got up high enough but I wasn’t quite hitting triple ext or pulling back enough with lats. will make sure to key on this on warm-ups
-a couple health changes, not sure which one (or combo) has caused my sudden increase in wakefulness, appetite and weight gain, but I like it! might even juts be finalyl adjusting to long acting treatment. things to note: started using a cpap to help with sleep apnea (only have a moderate case but worth a shot)am waking-up and going to bed to half a weight gainer shake, drastically increased my intake of calorie containing liquids and workout volume much lower than normal, but more intense overall.
-surprised that weight seems to have gone up so much, might be water retention helped by the weight gainer. still seems strange to me that my bf is staying so low with pretty serious increases in weight (about 15 lbs over 2 months, I’ve neevr pulled that off before). perhaps the increase in appetite is allowing muscle growth that has been waiting to happen but simply hasnt had the required enegery input. can’t wait to hit 160!
-glutes not sore, but exhausted after full squats. going ATG seems to hit my glutes real hard whereas to parallel hits my hammys. hit depth of sitting on hammys like bodybuilder style, didn’t realize it was felxibility preventing me from getting this low in the past, I thought I just wasnt structurally proportioned to get quite that low comfortably :stuck_out_tongue: cool to see I’ve essentially done no strength work to the extent of that ROM, but that other posterior chain and core work along with flexibility increases has my full squat looking better than ever. pretty interesting how sometimes training parametrically in multiple general aspects can yield better results than specific training has (for a less experienced/skilled athlete like me at least)

93

Fri 5/10/2013 (am)
morning weight: 156
thrower’s warm-up
(pm)
pre-workout weight: 157
jog
prethrowing drills
javelin throwing session (split stage standings, standings, easy 3-step/penultimates)
cool-down jog
ice r. shoulder
night weight: 158

notes:
-should start keeping better track of no. of throws and have some structure to my throwing sessions. only throwing 1x a week for now, but particularly because of how small my frame is, my arm has always been fatigued very easily (played baseball in hs, could throw nearly 85, but probably less than 10 pitches and had to be 85 degrees plus outside)
-measured out that it is 10 tip to tail flips of the javelin and then the length of the handle for 90 feet (used baseball diamond), so I can get pretty decent distance approx’s now. best throws appeared to be about 150 ft from a 3-step on grass, with a jav that I have no idea what it’s distacne rating is, in sneakers. I’d like to see me breaking 50m with a 3-step consistently before the spring season next year begins (from a track surface, with a 70m jav wearing jav spikes)
-still definitely working out motor patterns. session started off very weak and I was worried, was having a lot of trouble with the flight and movement sequencing. realized I was rushing my abdominal contraction, which in turn tightened everything else up above it including my already inflexible shoulder. lightened up on my penultimate step and just tried to let everything unfold on its own, and voila! flight was much improved, release velocity faster and I felt like I was moving slower. I think track surface and jav boots will definitely help. Also, a run up I think will do worlds for keeping me relaxed and help me produce power because my leverage just isnt fantastic being only 5’7"

5/11/2013 (am)
morning/preworkout weight: 156
thrower’s warm-up
oly lifts checks
5 x snatch@95,95,115,115,135f@3
6 x front squat (ATG)@135,185,225
8 x bench@135,165,185f@8
10 x upright row@45,65,105
2x12:
-pullover stretch (on stability ball)
-ankle dorsi-flexion
150 reps core
shj stretch circuit
night weight: 159

notes:
-totally blanking out my mind seemed to work in the weight session too. haven’t snatched in forever and got 2 good reps of 135 riding it down to rock-bottom so I’m ready to do that if needed once the weight gets up. shocked at the 185 bench, probably looking at a max around 225 since that was the last time I could rep 185. getting some back bend in the front squat, trying too hard to sit-back like in the back squat, need to squat between my legs
-minor elbow soreness from throwing, gotta hop on icing that, little bit of abdominal soreness too
-almost hitting 160 on my scale (might weigh a bit heavy but nonetheless I went from like 140 on it to almost, whatever I started at I’ve added nearly 20 lbs, probably 15 lbs not including water adn food weight)

5/13/2013 (am)
morning weight: 155

94

5/14/2013 (pm)
pre-workout weight: 156
thrower’s warm-up
oly lifts checks
3 x clean&jerk@135,155,165,185f2
4 x power squat@225,275,315,365f2
6 x incline bench@135,155,165f8
8 x bentover row@95,115,135,145(5)
2x12:
-pullover stretch (on stability ball)
-dorsi felxion
500 reps core
stretch (jav circuit, w/ jav)
ice r. shoulder

5/14/2013 (am)
morning weight: 154

notes:
-failed reps resulting from starting to think, rep before each fail went up super easy
-biggest lifts I’ve seen w/out a back brace for me
-front squat catch form better, not sure if comfortable enough to use it with heavy weights I’d need it for. would like to see front squat easy to do much heavier than clean pull max, then I’d have no worries
-need to quciken up workout time, will be amking sure full warm-up done in am and will superset the non-primary,non-oly lifts
-strength helping accel and flexibility doing worlds for feeling comfortable in upright mechanics, curious if just feel faster or actually seen speed increases. don’t want to get my head wrapped up in it until I get jav down tho so I won’t take any measurements outside weights and throws since that’s all I really need currently

95

Tue 5/14/2013 (pm)
pre-workout weight: 155
thrower’s warm-up
hurdle drills
acrobat checks
8xfitness circuit on grass (movement (50 yard) exercise followed by stationary exercise)
2x12:
-band pulls
-x-band, each
self-massage
yoga (10 poses)
night weight: 158

Wed 5/15/2013 (am)
morning weight: 156
thrower’s warm-up
night weight: 160

notes:
-feeling a bit sluggish because fighting off a cold
-160 is the heaviest I’ve ever hit on my scale. what I seem to be doing appears to be accomplishing my weight gain goal! bf still quite low, obviously not bodybuilder in season range (probably at around 5% for the usual bs approx people give, 8% more reasonably), but low enough that I’d still be happy to see increases in it to know I’m hitting a calorie excess for proper recovery (would like to hover around low double digits percentage)
-not as thick as I would’ve predicted for hitting 160s. perhaps due to thin frame making muscle gains less obvious. I think its pretty humorous when I get physicals and the doctor has to inform me that I’m overweight after seeing I have low bf and arent bulky looking

96

5/27/2013

notes:
-been sick and busy and on vaca last week or so, will update journal eventually, but this week might be all over the place. will hop back on for 3 weeks before heading up to school, dropping the unload week
-definitely breaking 50m from a 3-step, somewhere between 170 and 180 ft. let the arm slot drop and was more aggressive with the legs, relaxation still key but at least from a three a little “umph” seems necesary to me. formed a blood blister on my middle finger though, will have to take care of this asap
-need to improve crossover speed
-dropped a bit of mass and strength, nothing catastrophic though, because of rest probably will be right back in it in a week

97

7/24/2013

Have been very busy lately. Got sick, then changed living locations, had class, etc. I did keep a pretty decent training consistency, however.

Have a throwing session with the throws coach set up for tomorrow. I have seen immense technical improvement over the last month or so, shoulder/hip separation and the block now feel very natural. Seems to me that the keys for my technical success are shoulder ROM and speeding up my crossovers. at a point now where I am able to throw without too much thinking. when my shoulder is tighter, it’s very obvious to me because of the stress I can feel being created from reduced external rotation of the shoulder.

strength numbers definitely at a high. if I were to prepare for max testing a week out, I would put my max guesses at 405 squat, 275 clean and 225 bench. body weight has been sitting for a bit between 155 and 160. have been getting more calories down by eating less often (I seem to be able to handle 2 2000 calorie meals in a day much easier than 4 1000 cal meals; I try to eat a decent size meal when I wake up, a preworkout snack, huge postworkout dinner and some calorie “stuffers” before bed (olive oil, peanut butter etc).

haven’t been running very much, but am feeling much more elastic than in any point in my past. I also wouldn’t be surprised if over 30m I am my fastest ever. endurance has certainly suffered, but work capacity seems fine

lately, I’ve been limiting each potential aspect of a training session to an hour each. this has been helpful in forcing me to quit a workout that I am outputting poor quality in (and therefore more apt to go slow or take longer rests), limiting calorie expenditure (until I am hitting a consistent 165, my weight is my largest concern next to technical stuff) and reducing overtraining (recovery feels much more complete, each session able to be high quality, even body parts which I end up working less have seen more improvement than ever before).

I will be returning home in a couple weeks. I will likely complete one more meso cycle (4-week period) on my team’s program (which since switching to throws has always worked very well for me, weightroom wise), then start up doing my own thing again through the Fall semester (I will be in an internship, not at campus attending classes). I plan to take a week off, then an easy week, then put together some sort of relaxed testing before starting up a 3-1 load-unload scenario again. From what seems to have been working lately, I think I’ll see the most gains by only concentrating on clean & jerk, snatch, squat, bench and pullovers (with some pull-ups, injury prevention stuff and core work thrown in). I will put more emphasis on having a stimulating exercise to do each day (off days or easy days make me feel like crap) and limiting actual lifting to an hour per session.

sample:
1 - speed/plyos
2 - snatch, squat, ankle-dorsi flexion
3 - bench, pull-ups, shoulder complex
4 - medball throws
5 - clean & jerk, core work
6 - pullovers, band pulls
7 - tech work

will include extensive ROM work (particularly for the shoulders) post workout, occasional self-massage, icing of anything in pain or at risk of injury and solid warm-up before

just a draft, I’ll think about it more later, while the weather is good enough to throw a couple times a week, I’d want to structure it so strength training isn’t interfering with those sessions. hopefully I can accomplish this with variations of intensity. I recognize that spreading the work load out more means intensity/volume of each session must be lower to allow for proper recovery

I’ll put some video up soon, esp because if I don’t archive that sorta stuff I have trouble noticing changes (good or bad)

98

Whew! Been very busy between classes, work starting up and personal stuff, but I have definitely kept with the exercise. Just a quick update…

height: 5’7"
weight: 160 lbs
max lifts used for percentages:
-225 bench
-275 clean
-405 squat
throws: javelin in 170-180 range with relaxed effort (form definitely falling into place), all throws in baseball cleats on grass (will get jav spikes from team when I return to school in the spring)
-much improved on just letting my body do what its meant to do, less overthinking. caused a side strain originally because of hip-shoulder separation, but healed up and now getting more torque than ever.

flexibility at huge maximum, external rotation of right arm can go all the way back to 90* while static, hips loose enough to feel comfortable stretch but no tightness in lunges. most mass added to thighs and back. arms and chest starting to bulk back up a bit

started sleeping 6-8 hrs with a nap as opposed to 8-10 hrs bc of noticible energy increase. moved away from meal replacement type diet except for glutamine post workout, zma before bed and a multivit w/ b12 supp w/ breakfast. appear to gain weight and have consistent appetite if eating four meals a day as opposed to being a serial snacker. drink TONS of powerade during the day. not worried about huge sugar intake because have seen fat loss if anything and keeps me hydrated and energized. energy directly correlated to calorie intake for me, and appetite is affected by how much sleep. so I’ve found the equation to feel good: sleep the right amount, eat the right amount and exercise (what a surprise, right?)

in field sports, speed appears to be faster than ever (no surprise because of high weight numbers). can grab basketball rim easily on a vertical. endurance certaintly down, but fitness fine

been using team workouts, but limiting lifting sessions to 1 hr, throwing sessions to first sign of fatigue and conditioning to form breakdown

getting some oral surgery tomorrow :-/ will knock me out for a few days, but I’ll be back with a throwing/conditioning sessions on saturday

current workout schedule looks like this:
Sunday - off (maybe warm-up and cool-down?)
Mon - heavy lift
tues - easier lift
wed - easy throws, condition
thurs - medium lift
Fri - easy lift
sat - throws, condition

have some video I can put up, still lots of form idiosyncracies to work out, but I don’t plan to mess with success. I’d say that if a 5’7" kid looks like he could be approaching 200 ft in the jav throw you don’t mess too much w/ major staples of the form that does it, haha. looks a bit like an amateur combo of the wide, rotational soft penultimate into hard block zelezny uses, the arm doublecock from hohn, fast appraoch like pitkiamaki, few crossovers and intial drop of throwing arm like old times and big penultimate like greer.

so I’ve idnetified what my body seems to work well with natural and can perhaps try to mold each separate part of the throw to how each athlete I see did it similarly and better as opposed to simply trying to revamp to one model. I assume that if there aren’t many successful short jav throwers, then the textbook technique must not be made for them. I need to take advantage of shorter levers to produce more explosive rotation and arm action with a harder block off a faster approach, versus the leverage advantages taller athletes can get with a “long pull”. relaxation key for not tightening up

That’s a mouthful! but I plan to be more active in this journal primarily to track throwing numbers, document any mechanical stuff and to follow my health, so I’ll keep future posts much more succinct if I can help not getting too excited!

99

9/29/2013

weight: 160

notes:
-oral surgery midweek, starting lifts again tomorrow
-soft diet for a week, ironically easier to get more calories down bc liquid diet proportion
-threw on sat, had lines every 10 yards on practice football field. throwing on soft grass in cleats, about 120 ft standing throws, 150 ft 3 step, 165 ft short approach (all relaxed). need to get more consistent with hitting positions and block, but movement significantly more natural. flight still inconsistent, would like to feel like throwing through the tip is natural
-approach speed getting better and better, delaying withdrawal and turning sideways later in crossovers

100

10/7/2013

notes:
-arm ROM looking strong in some weighted ball throws
-not sure if slight bend in blocking leg that sometime occurs is due to insufficient force or a mechanical problem, I’m leaning towards the latter
-fairly weak week in the weightroom, no surprise though, with oral surgery finally just about healed
-making sure to get some whiplash going on my throwing arm without decreasing my pull length is going well, hope to see more consistent jav carry, elastic core and hard block through coming months.

101

10/21/2013

notes:
-since last post…
165 snatch (I believe a PB)
245 clean (got it up easily)
365 squat (also easily)
-less thinking=better performance. if I just envision my cues, but purely think about generating power from the ground and letting everything flow on its own, I throw, run, jump and lift better
-increasing action of rear leg on penultimate step. hitting block leg more abruptly as opposed to rotating around it
-throws with weighted ball much further than ever before
-still weighing about 160 lbs, appear to have lost some bodyfat. tend to add weight naturally as weather cools down. will make sure to concentrate on meal consistency and hydration