7-8-09: DE Lower Body
Had to fill in for someone in a volleyball league on Monday so I pushed this workout back a day, although my left knee is still a bit stiff.
Bilateral speed hops: 4x15
Stair hops: 3x12
Box Jumps:
5x3 35" (from 48" away)
Hang Snatch:
1x140
0x145
1x145 1RM PR
0x150
0x150
Front Squat:
5x5 195
Abs: Iso holds with 30#
I have to do box jumps onto stairs so I can only move in ~7" height increments, and I have to jump from at least the same distance horizontally so I’ll have to increase the horizontal distance in increments before moving up in vertical distance. Front squats were pretty tough since my shoulders kept getting too tired to keep the weight racked comfortably so I might move to 5x4 instead of 5x5 and see if that helps.
7-11-09: ME Lower Body
Unilateral speed hops: 2x15
Tuck jumps: 3x8
Hang Clean:
3x180
3x190 PR
3x195 PR
3x200 PR
2x205 PR
Olympic Squat:
3x5 225
Reverse Lunge (4" platform):
3x10 20’s
Abs: Iso holds with 30#
Big 15lb 3RM PR on hang clean, although I think a significant part of that is simply technical improvement over the last 3 weeks. Squats were pretty sad even for coming off such a long layoff (my last olympic squat workout was 5x5 with 295 in late Feb during which I re-aggravated my ankle). I guess I’d like to get back to that level by the end of the summer but we’ll see… I’ll now be doing both back and front squats once a week (no more conventional deadlifts - maybe I’ll do RDL’s after front squats, though).
7-15-09: DE Lower Body
Bilateral Speed hops: 3x15
Stair hops: 3x12
Box Jumps:
5x3 35" (from 54" away)
Hang Snatch:
3x125
3x130 PR
3x135 PR
Front Squat:
4x205
4x205
2x205 Ankle pain?
Good Morning:
5x135
5x145
5x155
5x165
Everything went well until part-way through my 5x4 front squat workout when I could start to feel some pain in my ankle (same type as when I re-aggravated it in March). This time, however, I was sensible enough to stop immediately so I don’t think I’ve done any significant damage to it. I’ll see how it feels in a few days when I’m supposed to do olympic squats again and figure it out from there…
as anothe vball guy I have a question, do you not do upperbody work at all?
I do, but I’ve stopped recording it here since I feel the upper body work I do isn’t all that relevant to the focus of this log. Basically I’m kind of in maintenance mode since I have a decently developed upper body at this point (1.5xBW bench, 15+ strict pullups, etc…). My typical upper body workout these days consists of 2 pressing movements, a pulling movement, and a curl of some sort twice a week for just 3 sets per exercise.
Obviously, the top volleyball players in the world have pretty small/weak upper bodies in general so I think beyond some requisite amount of strength (maybe just the ability to do 5-10 good pullups) you’re not going to see much benefit aside from doing some work to keep your shoulders healthy. Hitting power is definitely more about skill and coordination than true muscular power.
I hear ya…I figured as much.
But uh…Clay Stanley and George Roumain may disagree about the hitting power aspect 
At first reading your training and training schedule sounds like you are trying to do a wetside barbell routine?
Yeah those guys are pretty beefy (well Roumain anyway) but for every one of them there’s a toothpick like Poltavsky or Miljkovic in the 6’7" 190 range who seems to defy all logic (like those scrawny teenagers with 95mph fastballs).
I guess you could call it a Westside routine with olympic lifting thrown in since it uses their conjugate periodization ideas. It might actually start to look even more similar to what they do if I have to start using dynamic box squats again because of my ankle.
7-18-09: ME Lower Body
Felt a little out of it while warming up on cleans - weight felt a lot heavier than usual so I think I’ll deload a bit this week.
Bilateral speed hops: 2x15
Stair hops: 2x15
Deficit Deadlift (2.5"):
3x5 315
Reverse Lunge (4" platform):
3x8 25’s
Abs: Inclined crunches
Yeah the ankle definitely can’t handle free squats, and this might turn into a long-term problem. I’ll try dynamic box squats in a couple days though because I think it can handle those.
7-21-09: DE Lower Body
Unilateral speed hops: 3x15
Box Jumps:
4x3 (35" from 54")
1x3 (35" from 60")
Dynamic Box Squats:
10x2 165
RDL:
6x265
6x275
Abs: Inclined crunches
7-24-09: ME Lower Body
Stair hops: 4x15
Hang Snatch:
3x125
3x130
3x135
2x140
Box Squat (parallel):
5x255
5x275
5x285
5x295
Reverse Lunge (4"):
3x8 30’s
Grip: CoC #1
Well it looks like I’ll be able to do parallel box squats, which don’t seem to bother my ankle at all, as my max effort lift for the next several weeks. The carryover to jumping probably isn’t as good as if I were doing front or back squats since box squats essentially remove the amortization phase of the movement, but they’re probably better than deadlifts. I’ll probably resume jumping again this week as well, so hopefully I can get back on track with that quickly. I’m currently shooting for a 36" 1-step jump by the beginning of October (my 25th bday), which means I need to gain 4" in 10 weeks. I think this is definitely possible with no more injury setbacks.
7-26-09: Jumps etc…
Bilateral speed hops: 3x15
Stair hops: 3x15
Jump serve practice + 1-step vertical jumps: ~32"
7-28-09: DE Lower Body
Bilateral speed hops: 4x15
Box Jumps:
1x3 35" (from 54")
5x3 35" (from 60")
Dynamic Box Squats:
12x2 190
RDL:
8x275
8x280
8x280
Grip: CoC #1
I can get 8-9 good reps on the #1 with my right hand now (only 4-5 with my left) so I’m gonna go ahead and order the #1.5 and see how that feels.
7-31-09: ME Lower Body
Unilateral speed hops: 3x15
Hang Snatch:
2x130
2x135
1x140
2x140
Parallel Box Squat:
5x280
5x290
5x300
5x310
Reverse Lunge (4"):
10x30’s
8x35’s
10x35’s
10x35’s
Grip: CoC #1
8-2-09: Jumps etc.
Bilateral speed hops: 3x15
Stair hops: 3x15
1-step vertical jumps: ~32.5"
I think I was getting a little higher than last week but it’s kinda hard to tell when you’re talking .5" increments…
8-4-09: DE Lower Body
Stair hops: 4x15
Box Jumps:
1x3 35" (from 60")
5x3 35" (from 64")
DE Box Squat:
10x2 205
RDL:
7x290
7x295
7x300
Grip: CoC #1.5 - got 2 reps RH, 1 rep LH
Well I think I’m getting close to the point where I can move up a step for my box jumps, which would be about 42" from 60" away. I’ll try and get 35" from 68" or so next week and then try and move up.
8-7-09: ME Lower Body
Bilateral speed hops: 3x15
Box Jumps:
3x1 35" (from 72")
Parallel Box Squat:
5x285
5x295
5x305
5x315
5x320
Reverse Lunges (4" platform):
4x8 40’s
Good PR on the box jumps moving back about 8" from a few days ago. I’ll try to get sets of 3 tomorrow from this distance if I can. I’m a bit worried about my ankle, though, since it was hurting pretty bad after playing volleyball yesterday (8/9) so I might not be able to do box jumps at all. On the plus side I was getting a lot of props for my jumping ability during volleyball even though I was probably only getting 34-35" on my best spike jumps.
8-11-09: DE Lower Body
Stair hops: 3x15
Box Jumps:
1x2 35" (from 72")
DE Box Squats:
12x2 185 (50%)
Bulgarian SS:
8x40’s
8x45’s
RDL:
6x305
6x315
6x320
As I expected my ankle made the box jumps a bit painful so I just worked up to a PR set and stopped. To make up for that I added a couple sets of a single-leg exercise (BSS). Basically everything feels strong except the ankle, but if I can keep adding 5-10 lb per week to the box squat and RDL movements for a while I’ll be pretty happy and the jumping will come around soon enough…
8-14-09: ME Lower Body
Bilateral speed hops: 3x15
Parallel Box Squat:
4x305
4x315
4x325
4x335
4x335
Reverse Lunge (4" platform):
4x8 40’s
Tried a couple box jumps, but they were a no-go due to the ankle. Was also feeling the adductor a little bit on the lunges so I didn’t try to increase the weight or reps any.
8-18-09: DE Lower Body
Stair hops: 3x15
DE Box Squat:
12x2 205
Split Squat:
3x8 50’s
RDL:
8x295
8x300
6x300 (grip was about to fail)
Grip: CoC #1 and 1.5
Also worked up to a 1RM on the bench press at the beginning of the workout and got 275 pretty comfortably. Tried 285 but my inexperienced spotter helped me before I had a chance to fight through the sticking point so I don’t know if I would’ve gotten it or not.