You already have the VJ record w/ 38.5, so the power clean must have really took a bunch out of you. Good luck on the 40, I hope you break that record. And I saw you on NCAA 07.
Tuesday July 25
Testing Day #2
40: 4.4
I was pretty disappointed with this effort, I expected to go 4.28-4.32. I didn’t feel like I was firing on all cylinders out there today, my upperbody felt rather numb and heavy when usually on a good day I feel explosive and almost tight(in a good way). The good news is that I’m injury free and running well, with proper preparation I can get down into the range that I was expecting. I think I’m gonna throw some Prime Times into my warm-up and do them fairly often to reinforce mechanics.
Tomorrow we test the Squat and if my lower back feels good enough I should easily go over 500. I’ve been fairly tight around the sacrum I believe (just above the pelvis and to the left of my spine) and I can’t seem to get it loose. Suggestions?
Dang, this thread got cleaned up. Yesterday I posted about the potentiation and someone else suggested hang cleans. Posts are gone now 
I wouldn’t mess with your back now unless you can get some real therapy on it (professional massage or chiro). Otherwise just make sure you get a good squat warmup. Take some sets with very light weight to get loose (just the bar, 135, 225…) make sure you don’t take too big of jumps in warmups. ie: don’t jump in attempts from 300 to 450.
Ya I totally agree, if it’s not feeling up to par I’ll likely do a 6RM to keep the stress off of it. By the way I think the thread your thinking of is “Pre Race Potentiation”
Thursday July 27
Testing Day #4
Bench Press: 325
Standing Broad Jump: 10’10*
*New position group record, 2nd on all-time record board.
I felt really explosive today and even more so after a serving of Power Drive. I just missed locking out 330 which would have still been below my best.
After the bench I did some dynamic flexibility work on my hip flexors to get them loose, then I went over and did some hang cleans with the bar, really emphasizing the hip thrust. I did a few jumps and then jumped the 10’10. It felt really great, I wish we would have run our 40’s today I was feeling it.
I didn’t squat yesterday much to my disappointment, people were putting up huge numbers and we had the option of putting on wraps. People with similar strength levels as me were doing 455-490 for 6 reps. But my lower back was feeling a little tight when I was in the hole so I decided to play it safe.
Twhite, I dont know if you noticed this but you broad jumped 1" more than Reggie Bush! Your group broke a lot of records this year also, I think 22 were broken.
Ya I was happy with the result, at first I thought I had gone over 11’ which would have been great. Overall, I was really pleased with my results in the tests, except for the 40. Big John did a good job putting together a successful program over the summer.
Im ready to see yall play for against TCU! Ill be there at the game so Ill keep an eye on you #21.
Caught some of your game vs. Texas this weekend on ESPN. Lookin good out there man.
Hi I’ve just been reading your journal just now and dude you have some sick stats! Questions, when did you start weight training and what were you first lifting? Thanks, keep up the good work!
Well it’s the end of a long season, didn’t exactly turn out the way we would have liked but now it’s time to look forward to next season.
The issue for me right now is that my body is a little beat up from the every day wear and tear of playing football. My strength levels are way down for me and my bodyweight is about 6-8 lbs. less than the beginning of the year.
The question is this: what should I do from now until we start back up in January?
I was considering taking 1-2 weeks completely off or just dumbells and calisthenics in this period and then moving toward building back some of the lost muscle mass.
Suggestions?
Hear you on that. Would like to see what others have to say about that as well. Down to around 177-178 from 185 in the summer. No idea where I’m at strength wise, but it’s probably not anything I’d be pleased with! 
Odell James told me that when January hits, it will be just running yall into shape pretty much, and killing yall. I guess if I were you, I’d try to get your strength levels back up so the training in Jan wont be so bad.
Ya that’s one of the things I would really like to change about our program. There is no need in my mind to run at all in January or February, aside from short sprints.
I thought I would bump this, I think the best thing I could do between now and January is build size and stay away from high intensity heavy lifting. Does anyone have any recommendations for me? I’d like to go about this the right way
This past week we tested our 225 rep max and our broad jump. This was done to gauge our strength and power levels after the season. We also performed two straight days of circuits in the weight room.
225 bench reps: 16 reps (not bad considering I did a chest workout the day before, my best ever is 21 reps)
Broad Jump: 10’1’’ (did 10’10’’ prior to season)
From now until we start back up in January I’ll be doing the GPP workouts from Coach X/62.
1/5/07
Squat- worked up to 455x2 (2nd rep was probably a bit high, just above parallel)
Cable hip extension- 4x8
EMS- glutes. quads. hamstrings
Felt the urge to go heavy after about a month of GPP type work. Been running routes and doing low volume sprints and plyos as well.
An update:
We’ve been in off-season now for about 3 weeks and the basic set-up is as follows:
Monday:
Max-effort back squats (done a single at 500 already)
Various total body accessory work
Speed/conditioning
Tuesday:
Max-effort Power Cleans (progress has been a little slow, doing around 308, PB is 318)
Various total body accessory work
Speed/conditioning
Thursday:
DE Box Squats w/ chains
Various total body accessory work
Speed/conditioning
Friday:
Max-effort Bench press
Various total body accessory work
Speed/conditioning
Notes: We do lots of p-chain work along with a good amount of single leg work. Med ball throws are a part of each workout. Box Jumps 1-2 times a week. Lots of core work, both weighted and high reps. We have also been using weighted vests for dips and pullups and a lot of band work for curls, upright rows, etc. I can post more details if needed.
BW: 204-207
You’re a beast, man. Strong as hell. Keep it up.
Thanks man I appreciate it, I can’t wait to see what kind of speed and explosive ability comes after I deload in about 3-4 weeks. I think I should be doing singles on squats with about 530 or so in around 2 weeks, so I’m pretty excited. How is training going for you? It looks like you may be doing something similar to Mike Robertson’s “Designer Athletes”?