March 2, 2014 Conditioning

• Broad Jumps: 8' 4", 8' 7", 8' 4", 8' 5", 8'6", 9'1"(!), 8' 4", 9'0", 8' 5", 8' 9"
• Bench Clap Pushups: 5
• Seated DB Press: 60*10 65*7

Again, more shoulders.  Really focused on clamping down core and transferring power violently through the floor for maximum explosiveness here.  Took a few jumps to really get going, but saw some great results.  Let me put it this way; my PR is 9' 2", at 192 lbs.  I weigh about 226 right now, so I'm 34 lbs. heavier and only missed it by an inch, then two jumps later by 2".  I'm happy. 

January 26, 2014 Conditioning

• Broad Jumps: 8' 1", 8' 2", 8' 3", 8' 5.5", 8' 6.5", 8' 5", 8' 3", 8' 5.5", 8' 6", 8' 7.5"
• Plyo Bench Clap Pushups: 5, 5

14 mins

More broad jumps.  I'm not going to do them every week when I'm at this weight.  I'm probably about 25 lbs. heavier than I was over the summer, at this point.  Nice quick session here though. 

October 20, 2013 Conditioning

• Jump Rope: 30, 25
• Unilateral KB Swings: 28kg*15 28kg*15
• Row: 400m*1:21 NEW PR!!
• Bench Plyo Clap Pushups: 5,5,5
• Battling Rope-Rope Slam S.S.: 35-10, 35-10
• Row: 200*0:38

Good session, shins are a bit splinty still from all the jumping recently, going to lay off it for a bit.  On rowing for some reason I notice my ass muscles get sore, not sure why. My hips aren't tight or anything by the time I get to the rowing, I just get this really uncomfortable feeling in my hips, quads, and glutes when I row really fast.  Did manage to set a PR here though, so yaaay, etc. 

August 4, 2013 Conditioning

• Bench clap pushups: 6,5,5
• TRX Dismount: 46"
• Battling Ropes: 60, 40
• TRX Dismount: 47"

Just a quick session, lower back is exhausted after yesterday, and so are my legs.  For battling ropes was using the thicker ropes they have now. 

July 21, 2013 Conditioning

• Broad Jumps: 8' 6.5", 8' 7.5", 8' 10", 8' 5", 8' 7.5", 8' 7", 8' 8", 8' 5", 8' 8", 8' 5"
• Plyo Bench Clap Pushups: 5, 5, 5
• 90 lbs. sled speed pushes: 5, 4

23 minutes

Light session. Absolutely killed the broad jumps. Felt great.  I need to go back and figure out what my averages were for sessions, it must be moving up.  Good session.  Felt good. 

July 7, 2013 Conditioning

• Jump Rope: 50, 50, 50,45 (6:48)
• Plyo Bench Clap Pushups; 5, 6
• 31" seated plyo box jumps: 10
• plank sled drags: 70*2

23 minutes

Wanted to take it easy here, nothing too intense, felt a bit fatigued.  

June 30, 2013 Conditioning

• Broad Jumps; 8' 5.5", 8' 4.5", 8' 5.5", 8' 0", 8' 1", 8' 6"
• speed sled push: 90*6-glutes too sore
• Plyo Bench Clap Pushups: 6, 5
• Ab-Wheel: 10

19 minutes

Posterior chain was beat to heck still from all the hanging power cleans last week, and the squatting Friday.  Did a ton of stretching after this for like 20 minutes, and lacrosse ball work. 

April 21, 2013 Conditioning

• Broad Jumps: 8' 4", 8'5", 8' 6.5", 8' 4.5", 8' 5", 8' 10", 8' 3", 8' 4.5", 8' 3.5", 8' 8", 8' 8"
• Plyo Bench Clap Pushups: 6, 6
• Jump Rope: 8 minutes, 37, 24, 46, 52, 60, 60
• 10 lbs. Plate Transfer Planks: 4*2

Well last week was not supposed to be an off-week for my legs completely, but since some assholes bombed my city, and then put the city on lockdown my gym was closed Friday. It's ok, my lower back & hips were getting tired anyway, I actually feel much fresher.  Plus I still sprinted.  I was curious how jumps would go.   Well, they went well. Very well.  I feel like I'm zeroing in on form on them, really exploding forward.  I could still stand to do it more forcefully, but it's definitely getting better. Plus most importantly to this session, I don't let my feet trail behind me.  I threw them forward as I landed which resulted in the longer jumps, previously my body would almost always be 'ahead' of my feet, costing me several inches off the jumps.   

Jump rope is coming along great, I found a rope I really like there.  Now that I'm doing longer sets I can start recording them, since there will be fewer overall.  On the 46, 52, 60, and 60 I actually did not stop because I messed up, I was just gassed.  I also get shin-splints on the last few sets, I need to land softer.   Finished with some plate transfer planks, which also went great.  They are REALLY taxing for some reason, I think because your arm is crossing the median line of your body.  Here's a video of Lee Boyce doing them.  Check out his site here and his articles on T-Nation here.  A great deal of my core work, as well stretching/diagnostic stuff that I don't record on this blog are from him.  

April 14, 2013 Conditioning

• Broad Jumps: 7' 8", 8' 1", 8' 1", 8' 0", 8' 2", 8' 0.5", 8' 1", 8' 1"
• 31" Plyo Box Jumps: 15
• Plyo Bench Clap Pushups: 6, 5
• Jump Rope: 9 minutes (hit 40 twice, 31 once)
• Row: 500m*1:55
• Push-Up Position Plank: 1:00, 1:01

42 minutes

Posterior chain still stiff/sore/drained from leg workout Friday, wasn't expecting much on jumps, which is good because I'd have been disappointed.  Getting better at jump-rope, found a rope I really like at my gym, it's longer than the others, which means I don't smack myself in the head as often with it.   Got to 40 a couple times, and 31 once, as well as several in the high teens and low 20s!   Was going to do a full viking quest on rowing, but was pretty beat and decided to just set a benchmark for 500m, since I didn't have one set already.  

April 7, 2013 Conditioning

• Broad Jumps: 7' 4", 7' 10", 8' 4", 8' 0", 8' 0", 8' 1.5", 8' 0", 7' 9", 8' 4.5", 7' 9.5", 8' 1.5"
• Jump Rope: 6:15
• Plyo Bench Clap Pushups: 6, 5

29 minutes

Bought a tape measure at Home Depot since the one at my gym disappeared.  Been over two weeks since I did broad jumps.  Still not bad, hit a peak of 8' 4.5".  As I'm cutting a few more pounds off I assume I'll get another couple inches on the average, plus as I refine form and keep practicing it should get better.  I need to stay disciplined on these and not get all loose with my form on them.  Decided to try jump rope after, since it's so easy to do.  Not sure how I'm going to track it, since I'm not going to stop and record each time I mess up and write how many times I jumped it successfully.  Maybe just the highlights?  I got to 16, 15, 14, and 10 a few times.  It's surprisingly intense.  Will do again Monday. 

March 24, 2013 Conditioning

• 31" plyo box jumps: 15
• 31" seated plyo box jumps: 15
• plyo bench clap pushups: 8, 7
• knee down half court medicine ball push sprints: 5 per knee
• battling ropes: 75, 50
• stair climber: 3:09 / 15 floors
• Wide-Stance Anti-Rotational Chops: 50*10 60*10

24 minutes

Did a bunch of stuff here....the royal sampler (bonus points if you get the reference).  My posterior chain is absolutely wrecked from Friday's lower body beatdown.  Still did plenty of stuff here.  I like the stair climber, climbed to the top of the statue of liberty, looked around, then did some anti-rotational chops and called it a day. 

March 10, 2013 Conditioning

• Broad Jump: 7' 11.5", 8' 4.5", 8' 1.5", 8', 8' 5", 7' 11", 8' 2.5", 8' 2.5", 8' 1"
• 16 lbs mb twist wall slams: 10, 10
• Plyo bench clap pushups: 6, 6
• Rowing: 400*1:23 NEW PR!!

24 minutes

The cluster set of squats on Friday didn't leave me sore, but definitely tired, didn't have a lot of pop in the jumps today.  I only felt a sort of 'snap' or 'pop' on takeoff on the 8' 5" attempt, and the 8' 4.5" one.  The rest I feel like I just sort of ground out. Threw in some side twists and combined with throwing a medicine ball against a wall, catching it on the bounce, then repeating.  Clap pushups felt great, felt really powerful on them, see if that translates to benching tomorrow.  Rowing went good, set a new record on the 400m!  Really happy about that since I haven't rowed a ton the last couple weeks.  

March 06, 2013 Conditioning

• Broad Jumps: 8' 3", 8' 1.5", 8' 1", 8' 2.5", 8' 3.5", 8' 1", 8' 1", 8' 2", 8' 2", 8' 4"
• 7kg mb slams: 50, 50
• Bench clap pushups: 5, 5
• Paloffs: 90*10 110*8

Good session, wanted to get a few different things in.  Hopefully next week I can start sprinting again, as the track should be melted by then I hope.  We shall see

February 17, 2013 Conditioning

• Broad Jumps: 7' 8",  7' 10",  7' 11.5" , 8' 1.5", 7' 11.5", 8' 0.5", 8' 1", 8' 5" NEW PR!!
• 31" Plyo Box Jumps: 15
• Plyo bench clap pushups: 5, 5
• wood-choppers: 20*10 45*10
• Knee-down mb push 1/2 court sprints: 5 per knee

33 minutes

Happy with the jumps; got further and further as I warmed up, all consistently in the high 7s or low 8s....then on the last one I absolutely sold out, thought I was going to face plant with how hard I jumped.  Maybe I need to do it like that every time, because I set a new record for myself.  Was really pumped up for this workout, felt great.  Tried wood choppers (where you take a cable station, set it to a high point, and then go diagonally down and across your body then back up), may throw them in again at some point.  Finished with sprints.  I'm getting hyped for this cut that's coming up, thinking of trying keto at the start, or maybe end of it.   Or at the very least I'm thinking of finally having a 'high carb' and 'low carb' day that makes sense, as opposed to just swapping a couple foods like I've done in the past.  Not that there's anything wrong with it, but I always felt like the low carb days were half-assed. Not only that but I was doing them on days when I sprinted, which makes no sense.  If anything I should be doing them on upper-body workout days, and my sunday light conditioning days.   We shall see!   

December 16, 2012 Conditioning

• Unilateral Tall Box Jumps: 10, 10
• Plyo Bench Clap Pushups: 5, 6
• 10 lbs. Plate Transfer Planks: 4*1 4*1
• Viking Quest: 200*0:38 400*1:36 800*3:03 NEW PR!!

28 minutes

Getting used to the jumps, I like the tall box better, I land softer.  The plate transfers were a stack of four 10 lbs. plates, hence the 4*1.  I did one transfer per side per set.   Set new record in the 800 on the rowing.  Next up is sub 3:00

December 9, 2012 Conditioning

• Unilateral 27.5" plyo box jumps: 10, 10
• Bench Plyo Clap Pushups: 5, 5
• Viking Quest: 200*0:36 400*1:24 800*3:22
• 28kg kb swings: 30
• wide-stance anti-rotational chop: 50*10

29 minutes

Good stuff, getting the unilateral jumping down.  The first few weeks I realized I was basically doing an explosive leg raise.  This time I tried making sure I was moving my hips back and exploding, with good results.  Definitely felt the difference.  Tied a record on the 400m portion of the rowing.  It's funny I always think I'm way off pace on the 800 since I'm usually toasted, but I'm never more than a few seconds off my PR pace.  Finished with swings & chops. 

December 2, 2012 Conditioning

• Unilateral Tall Box Jumps: 5 per leg
• Place Jumps: 10
• Plyo-Bench clap-pushup: 5, 5
• Side-Planks: 40 seconds
• P.U.P.P.: 1:00

18 minutes

Quick session here, did tall box jumps unilaterally this time.  Didn't get them quite as cleanly as the medium box jumps.  We'll see how it goes next week.    Brought back side-planks.  

October 21, 2012 conditioning

• Viking Quest: 205*0:46 410*1:24 800*3:16 400*1:27 200*0:37
• Plyo Bench Clap Pushups: 5, 5

whoooowheee.  This week I'm going to do the viking quest rowing each day I'm in the gym (except Tuesday).  Getting ready for Halloween, clamped down on my diet, want to make sure I"m as cut as possible for it.  I did a little twist on the rowing though, where you go back down.  Actually I just looked up the T-Nation Article that references them, apparently you're supposed to do 125-250-500-1000.  I like my round number version better. 

September 30, 2012 Conditioning

• 34.5" Plyo Box Jumps: 5
• 31.5" Plyo Box Jumps: 15, 15
• 31.5" Seated  Plyo Box Jumps: 15
• Plyo Bench Clap Pushups: 6, 5, 5
• Battling Rope - Rope Slam Superset: 60-10, 50-15

Wheeee. First Sunday conditioning session in a couple months.  Back/whatever injury kept me from doing jump stuff, plus summer day trips. Back at it now.  Did some tall+short (34.5") box jumps.  Honestly I still have the same problem. I do several, and then start over thinking the motion, and how to do it, and what if I catch my shins, etc.  Then my body just locks up. No idea why.  On the 31.5" jumps when I land on the box it's pretty forceful because I'm like 7" over the top at my peak, minimum.  Still had fun here. Did some clap pushups, liked them a lot, need to work more plyo bench stuff in to work on bar speed.   Love my jumps though. Missed them greatly.  

July 29, 2012 Conditioning

• Low Box Jump Over - Medium Box Jump Over - Broad Jump Superset: 10, 10, 10
• Bench Plyo Clap Pushups: 5, 5, 5
• PUPP: 2:01, 1:31

After those first two supersets I thought my lungs were going to immolate. Holy crap that drained me.       Definitely what I was looking for in a conditioning workout.   I got a couple videos of me doing them, the first from the side/back and the other going towards the camera