RCRM's Training Log

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1

Bio

I am a 20 year old college student that is looking to get back into competitive sport.

I have only played cricket and Australian rules football at a competitive level from age 10-16 – I played cricket to a decent level as a junior (opening medfast outswing bowler at district rep level in a dominant team), but was ordinary at Australian Rules football (only B team material at high school level) IMO largely due to lack of confidence to get proactively involved in the play, as well as also below par reading of the play and fitness levels, rather than poor skill levels with the ball. Shin splints limited me after that and I completely stopped playing competitive sport in my final year of HS and haven’t played again since.

I believe I have good all-round general co-ordination skills, but I’m definitely not gifted athletically in the traditional sense (the curse of East Indian genetics!) – without training I was both a (at best) mediocre sprint and endurance runner at school (generally in the middle to low divisions finishing mid to low placings for 100/200 and finished middle off the pack in cross-country runs) and was skinny/weak with a typical long limbed, true ectomorphic build before being introduced to weights at 16 where I now have a more developed an ecto-meso build but whilst improved still not at a particularly good level at sprints, strength or endurance.

Over the past few years (2007-2009), I haven’t made much progress with my fitness IMO mostly due to inconsistency with training frequency (never stopping training completely except for during exam periods), but also not eating enough food to support recovery, growth and progress with training when training frequently.

My main goal ATM is to play Australian Rules football at WAFL League level (semi-pro state football league in Western Australia that is the level below the premier league - AFL) within the next 3-5 years. If I told this to anyone who had seen me play football before they would probably laugh in my face, but if I work hard and smart enough, I think it is possible. I am looking to start off by playing a season of amateur football (WAAFL) this season.

I will be to using this journal to keep track of my progress, motivate me to maintain consistency in my training and hopefully get some feedback from other members on where my training can improve.

Current Stats (as of 14/12/09)

Height: 182cm
Weight: 82kg
Wingspan: 191cm
Standing Reach: 234cm
Handspan: 22cm
%BF (est.): 13%

BSquat: 91kg
FSquat – 80kg
Dead – 153kg
MPress – 49kg
CGBPress – 79kg
BRows – 90kg

VJ – 60cm
SLJ – 2.65m
20m - ?
Beep - ?

Goal Stats (by early March - start of season)

Weight: 80-85kg
%BF: <10%

BSquat – >120kg
FSquat – >110kg
Dead – >180kg
CGBPress – >90kg
MPress – >60kg
BRows – >100kg

VJ – >65cm
SLJ - >2.7m
20m – ?
Beep – ?

Training

Done on my own on a grass soccer/cricket field for running and at home for strength training.

For now up until club training commences the basic template is:

Mon – Short Sprints + Plyos + FB Weights
Tue – TempoR/GenFit + Skills
Wed – Short Sprints+ Plyos + FB Weights
Thu – TempoR/GenFit + Skills
Fri – Short Hills + Plyos + FB Weights
Sat – Tempo/GenFit + Skills
Sun – REST

Warm-up consists of general warm-up of foam roll (HF/quad, ham, groin, calves, foot), static stretch (HF/quad, groin, piriformis, calves), thoracic mobility (foam rol ext, quadraped ext/rot) hip mobility (leg swings, lateral squats, reverse warrior lunges), ankle mobility (self ankle mob), glute activation (bridges, birddogs, fire hydrants, bowling squats) for all + drills for sprints (walking lunges, high knee walking lunges, butt kicks, side skips, walking Bs, running As, running Bs, build ups – x20m each)

Diet

No set diet. ATM I’m trying to put on some muscle weight and hopefully get upto around 85kg at less than 1 by mid to late January before shedding off any excess before the season starts.

General nutritional guidelines I follow:

  • 5-6 meals per day averaging 500-600 calories
  • At least 1 serve of complete protein per meal (fish, chicken, beef, lamb, eggs etc)
  • At least 1 serve of fruit or vegetables with each meal
  • At least 1 serve of fat (walnuts, almonds, mixed nuts/seeds, avocado, EV olive oil) with each meal except post training
  • Typically only drink water and green tea

Supplements

1 of each Vit B,C & D
6-8 Fish Oil
1 Mg complex
1 Zn complex
1 Digestive Enzymes tab per meal (trying these out as of today)

2

14/12

Gen Warm-up

Sprints – short session because it was getting dark quickly and no lights. Barefoot, starts have been poor of late, but all were clean and fluid.

10m , 20m, 30m, 20m, 10m (1min/10m R) from 3pt, lying, mountain climb and standing starts

Plyos – OK.

Pause Jump Squats – 2x 20kg x 5, Explosive Push-ups 2 x BW x 5

Weights – First 3 all OK (could’ve pushed more on GM, but not a lift worth risking and form on last rep of MP was questionable), not making much progress with the ab wheel.

GMornings – 3 x 65kg x 6
MPress – 45kg x 5, 3
BRows – 80kg x 5, 3
AbWheel (on knees) – 2 x 10 rolls

3

When does your club training start?

Also what plyos are you doing?

Doing sprints + plyos + weights 3x per week will probably be too much once your pre-season starts.

Other than that, your plan looks pretty good.

good luck

4

4th week of January.

Plyos - ATM pause Jump Squats (explosive strength), shock jumps (reactive strength) and explosive push-ups (upper body)

Agree, that seems likely - I will probably cut it back to 2 days/week when club PS training starts.

Thanks.

15/12

Didn’t get up early enough and work all day so could only do a General Fitness circuit indoors at night (too dark for tempo and skills).

General Fitness Circuit

Jumping Jacks x15
Burpees x15
Mountain Climbers x15
Ergo Rowing 1 min (approx 230m/min pace)
MB Crunches x15
Push-ups x15

No rest b/w exercises, repeated 3 times with 1 min recovery b/w circuits

It was a lot more challenging that I expected.

5

16/12

Plyos

Standing Long Jump 3x5 (didn’t record distance)
Depth Landings 2x5 (from 3rd ladder step)

Weights

Deadlift - 145kg x 4
Floor Press - 60kg x 7,6
WG Pull-ups - BW 12,10
Paloff Press Hold - 2x30s

6

17/12 and 18/12

No training (going to bed too late - I need to get up earlier - too much stuff on during the day).

19/12

Sprints

10m, 20m, 3x30m, 20m, 10m (1 min per 10m rest per rep)

Done in V5F - very hot conditions. Went OK.

Weights

Hip Thrusts - 2 x 75kg x 8
Dips BW x 8, 6
Unilateral Cable Rows - 35kg
Landmines - 2x 35kg x 10

Solid session. I’m going to stop dips - only just started doing them again (last time I did them was in 2006) - they are way too hard on my shoulder joints.

20/12

General Fitness Circuit

Jumping Jacks x15
Burpees x15
Mountain Climbers x15
Rowing x 1min (225m)
MB Sit ups x15
Push-ups x15

Repeated 3 minutes with 1 min rest between circuits.

Much quicker pace than the last one.