The Dedication I: Junior Year Dominance

I have another journal on athletes.com forums but I wanted to put one on here to get some feedback on my sprinting. I play football and thinking of running track next year if i get my 100 in the lower 11’s like a sub 11.3. I am just coming off a whole week off of nothingbut playing basketball and touch football. Here are my stats as off before spring break:

Height - 5’7"-8"
Weight - 160 lbs
Bench - 225lbs
Squat - 385 lbs
Clean - 205 lbs
40 - 4.78
Vertical - guess 30+
100m - 12.8s, 2 years ago

Dynamic Warmup

Box Squat to 34 1/2" Box Jump
x3
x3
x3
x3
x3
x3

Barbell Lunges (front leg elevated)
95lbs x8
95lbs x8

Natural GHR’s
x8
x8

Summary: Pretty good session. I would have did box jumps but I couldn’t find the platform I used last time so I chose a different exercise. I never knew what elevating the front leg would do on exercises but the added range of motion is something serious when doing them. Going to wait until it gets dark to run springts will be acceleration focused.

Dynamic Warmup

3-Point Stance Starts
x3

Falling Starts
(Thank you Tom Shaw)
x3

Jump Back Starts
x3

Mountain Climber Starts
x3

Pro Agility
x1

Summary: This is the best I’ve felt sprinting in a long time. I am officially in love with falling starts. I felt so explosive and my bodyangle is best on the falling starts. I read an article on the Pro Agility, by a guy from Parisi Speed School (Trained Matt Jones, Chris Simms, and others) tried the technique guestimating the distance. Probably ran it better that way then i ever have before with actual measurements. Here’s the link: http://stackmag.com/TheIssue/ArticleDraw/2364

u should do ur jump back starts with a med ball.

I don’t have a Medicine Ball though.

Good to see that you started a journal. Your squat is Monstorous!

Yea that’s really my strong point. I had a chacne to go to state and possibly place in top 3 for weight lifting but I had to work that day. I would have gotten gold at regional if I was feeling it that day.

Good Mornings
95lbs x5
115lbs x5
125lbs x5
135lbs x3
145lbs x3
155lbs x3 PR

Bulgarian Split Squat
115lbs x10
115lbs x10

S.L.D.L.
95lbs x12
95lbs x12

Summary: So I decided to not do any sprints today. If I had i probably would have died because this workout killed me. I read the periodization bible on T-nation.com and found out how to do a true ME day, and boy do I feel it. The split Squats were probably the worst when i was doing my left leg I was shaking on the way down. I am really feeling sore in my lowerback already. Tomorrow is DE Upper Body then I have a game.

Today in weight lifting I didn’t do too good with the offense. I guess I’m rusty after not really catching passes during the break. I was kind of trying to run before I caught it instead of looking it in fully. I also really need to start running tempos to condition because after I got the ball 2x and was running around finding room I was very winded and by the 3rd time when i got a jailbreak screen I was out of it.

Catching the football was my biggest problem last year. I always tried to run the ball after the catch instead of looking it in. But nobody ever told me that was the reason my catching was so bad. I just realized it when I played a touch football game with my family members.

I also need to start doing tempo’s more often. I get winded pretty quick.

Bench Press
185lbs x4, 2 forced
190lbs x4, 1 forced
195lbs x3, .5 forced
STOPPED

Hang Clean
140lbs x5
140lbs x4
150lbs x3
155lbs x4 PR

Watched Film…

Ran a couple Screen plays which went well…

Summary:Today was not good at all. Felt weak on both lifts. Bench Strengthhas definately been lost after not benching in almost a week. I guess this week will be basically getting back to where I once was before spring break. then I will probably do sprints and plyos tomorrow if I have a chance. I have a game. Plyos might be low intensity before sprinting.

Flag Football game today, which we won 40-20. I didn’t score. Only had 1 catch. I got overthrown just bearly on a post that I dived for but couldn’t come down with it. I also almost had an INT the same way which was tipped and missed diving. I need to get better at making the difficult catches. I don’t know if its practice or just concentration to get better at that.

Squat
325lbs x5
335lbs x4
345lbs x3
355lbs x2
365lbs x1

Tire Sprints
20 yards x6
50 yards x6

Summary: Squats were extremely tough by the time I got to the end. Tire sprints weren’t that fast. I ran with our best OL/DL who is a soph. and he was probably running faster then me.

Bench Press
155lbs x6
170lbs x6
210lbs x1
220lbs x1
225lbs x0

DB Bench Press
65lbs x10

Power Clean
135lbs x5

Ran plays…

Summary: Today I jumped around a lot because I was short on time. I’m glad I haven’t lost much strength from spring break. 225lbs was definately a no go. I feel I have lost some strength on power Clean too. I tried 210 lbs really quick and could bearly get it past my waist.

Bench Press
135lbs x10
225lbs x0
185lbs x7; 1 had help.

Nose Breakers
65lbs x12; strict form
65lbs x12
65lbs x12

BB Complex
-Curls
-BTN Press
-Upright Rows
-Curls
2x10

Ran plays…

Summary: I need get to class earlier to get a bench because I am always late and don’t get to bench until we are about to go outside. Everything was at home except benching. Was going to run but College Hill was coming on. Will try to do tempos Wednesday. Maybe 60 yarders. I can tell i’m getting in better shape. Running the plays alone has helped improve my conditioning.

Squat
135lbs x5
200lbs x5
225lbs x3
265lbs x3
300lbs x1
335lbs x1
385lbs x1 PR tie

405lbs x1 PR!!!

At Home…

Barbell Step-Ups
95lbs x10
95lbs x10

Natural GHR
x12
x12

Summary: Today was probably my first ever true ME day. al the other days in my lifting career didn’t ahve the warmup like Defranco described. His recent “Ask Joe” article. Definately helped me pull that 405lbs out. It was tough. Not sure about depth though. I was low but I kind of went from where I usually go. I thought I was pretty low because I paused at my usual sticking point. Not as pumped as I thought I would be after getting 4 plates. I’m kinda going to a “PolPow” style routine with a Upper, Lower, and Traps/Shoulders day. It’s a little wet outisde but when my food settles I’ll try to get off my butt and do some plyos.

Ankle Hops
2x30

Squat Jumps
3x6

Depth Jumps
3x3

Summary: good session. Would have done bounding but it was raining.

Ya man, your squat is huge. You are probably guaranteed to go to state in powerlifting. That defranco warmup probably helped, I dont ever have enough rest and time in my workout to use that many sets. Ya, my bench is better to than your bench by 20lbs, but your squat is better than mine by 60lbs. I would rather have a huge squat than a huge bench. Good job.

I don’t have much time to lift at school either. I did my first 3 sets with no rest to help for time. then I cut it down to 1rep pretty early to get done faster. then Ihave light weights at home I can do my aux. with.

Bench Press
45lbs x10
95lbs x5
115lbs x5
135lbs x5
155lbs x5
185lbs x3 lil tough, prolly should’ve done 1
205lbs x1
225lbs x0 grrrrrrr

DB Bench Press
65lbs x12
70lbs x10
75lbs x8 PR

BB Complex
x2

Crunches
x100

Summary: Today was horrible. Been around 220lbs for almost a month which is rediculous. I need a PR. I don’t think I’m doing something right. I’m gonna start a thread but maybe I should start ME’ing 3-Board Press for a bit. I don’t know. This is getting out of hand though. I hit a plateau like this last year at 175lbs. I don’t need to stress over this though, speed is my main goal for the reast of the off-season. Got a good bit of work to do but my speed session shouldn’t be but 40min-1 hour.

Ya man, you have all the strength in the world, so I would put more focus on your explosive/reactive strength instead of your limit strength.