Topic: Max's Log

[Max G]

Well i've not been participating much in the forum, but i decided that i really need a daily log to just keep a daily tabs on my training's goings on.
Edit: I decided that i wanted to be able to look back on this first log post, so i'm putting in a bit of extra info. I am 15 right now; going to be 16 in a couple months. I am in 9th grade, and have been training parkour properly for 8 months now; Im in the middle of baseball's school season(i've been playing baseball for about 10ish years)-i just finished basketball's school season (Been playing basketball for about 8-9 years). I've been doing a lot of bouldering over the winter, and Tommy started practicing parkour with me back during late summer; he's still my training partner right now. I'm hoping to get my first muscle up done by mid summer; that's my main training goal currently. However, my goals are also oriented towards improving my play in baseball especially as well as my parkour.

For this past Easter Weekend

Friday:
Leg Circuit (this varies from day to day depending how i feel)
-3 laps quadrupedal movement (stability/strength)
-3 laps lunges (stability/strength)
-2 sets Ma-Bu (stability/strength)
-3 sets Squat Jumps (power)
-3 sets Squat Jump to hold (strength/power)
-Calf Raises
-Shin Raises
-2 foot drop absorbtions (stability)
-Side and back, back and forth jumps (explosiveness)

Saturday:
10 rounds of upper body circuit
4 pull ups (DH, slow down, explosive up)
4 push ups (slow down, pause at bottom, explode up)
4 diamond push ups (slow down, pause at bottom, explode up)
-Powerball rotations

"and"
Core Circuit
2 L-Sits (13 secs)
2 Tuck P's (10 secs)
2 Canoes (20 secs)
2 side Canoes (18 secs)
2 Reverse Chair Planks (45 secs)

I was just watching a video of muscle ups by Steven L from his log, and i just realized that my false grip may not have been false enough; seeing as how i can get my nips to the bar, i think that i could get a muscle up. Unfortunately, i can't test out this new theory because my pull up bar doesn't have space in the doorway to do a muscle up.


Goals:
True Bar Muscle Up (need rotator cuff work)
8.25 foot standing long jump (8 feet right now)
15 pull-ups (13 currently)
1 one arm push up

Completed:
One set of Pulls to the bottom of chest (straight vertical, not leaning back)

[Max G]

Forgot to post the past couple days; been kind of busy 

Well, since baseball practices now run everyday, i've only been limited to very, very light maintenance rounds. I'll be using my saturdays to make as much progress as possible, but until saturday, this is what i've been doing:

Monday:

-Baseball Practice 2 Hrs (very chilly out)
-One Round Upper Body (4 pulls, 4 pushes, 4 diamond pushes)
-One lap quadrupedal movement
-8 squat jumps

*like i said; very light 

Tuesday:

-Baseball game 2.5 Hrs (FREEZING! I was shivering for parts of the game in that damn snow/wind tunnel)
Nothing else..

Wednesday:
-2 Rounds Upper Body (4 pulls, 4 pushes, 4 diamond pushes)
-15-10 second L-sits
-2x10 second Tuck Planches
-2x30 second Canoe
-1x20 second side Canoe
-1 lap quadrupedal movement
-15 small stretch lunges
-8 squat jumps

i did a bit more today because i'm confident our game in Coon Rapids will be cancelled tomorrow; considering we have a fresh blanket of April snow.

Goals:
True Bar Muscle Up (need rotator cuff work)
8.25 foot standing long jump (8 feet right now)
15 pull-ups (13 currently)
1 one arm push up

Completed:
One set of Pulls to the bottom of chest (straight vertical, not leaning back)

[Max G]

Didn't do a whole lot today; just some maintenance work off of yesterday and goofing around in gym class..baseball was cancelled (yippee) due to the crazy april snow; so all i have to do is prep for my saxophone recital tonight, and not bomb it.

Thursday:
30 minutes of pull ups, swinging around, laches, and general monkeying around
30 minutes of floor hockey (fairly intense)

I'm really excited to make my forearm roller-device so i can start properly training my forearms' rotating strength(this will be really good for my hitting)
Also looking forward to saturday; me and tommy are planning on working out; i'm definitely going to do my core and upper body a ton then; i'm going to begin a lot of work on my rotator cuffs; these are the last piece of the puzzle for me to do my muscle up. and i will do my lower body mostly on friday.

Variation Update: I'm going to have to start my varied periodization section on the 19th of April, so as to refresh my CNS. I don't want to get burnt out after hitting a good peak like back during basketball season. I also need to make sure i do some benching/pressing during the summer when i start lifting again; my bench today was quite measly despite my quite strong push up.
For variation, i will be doing the following:
In one Upper Body Round
5 pull ups
6 wide pushes (feet elevated now)
6 diamond pushes (feet elevated)

and more rope climbing out back.

Core and legs will stay the same; they have been going fine; i will be doing more canoes and tuck planches though.

Goals:
True Bar Muscle Up (need rotator cuff work)
8.25 foot standing long jump (8 feet right now)
15 pull-ups (13 currently)
1 one arm push up

Completed:
One set of Pulls to the bottom of chest (straight vertical, not leaning back)

[Max G]

Had baseball today; went out to do some rock jumping with tommy, but my legs just felt tired and a bit sluggish so i just strolled around, drilled vaults and wall runs.

Friday:
2 hour baseball practice
  -1 home plate to left field foul pole to right field foul pole and back
  -Fielding drills; tough on the groin
  -Base running progression; sprint to 1st, sprint from home to 2nd, home to third, and home to home.
  -Canoes! Felt good; my form was never compromised

Goals:
True Bar Muscle Up (need rotator cuff work)
8.25 foot standing long jump (8 feet right now)
15 pull-ups (13 currently)
1 one arm push up

Completed:
One set of Pulls to the bottom of chest (straight vertical, not leaning back)

[Max G]

Forgot to post yesterday; i also finished my forearm roller to help with my forearms' hitting strength

Saturday:

-8 rounds upper body circuit
4 pull ups
4 push ups
4 diamond push ups
-5 sets of rotator cuff pulls (20 lbs)
-6x3 weighted forearm rolls (3 lbs)
-Lots of laches and arm jumps later on

"and"
-2 rounds of core circuit
10 second tuck planche
12 second l-sit
30 second canoe
20 second side canoe
-10 lb weighted tuck sit (5 seconds)
-Hanging Tuck lever 2x6 seconds

The rotator and forearm work went great; i really felt good, but the upper body circuit i had to push through; didn't get alot of sleep and felt a tad sluggish

Variation Countdown: 4 days
I'm going to also be changing up my core work; use my ankle weights to make my techniques harder; less time under stress, but a gretter contraction.
Sunday:
Rest

Goals:
True Bar Muscle Up (need rotator cuff work)
8.25 foot standing long jump (8 feet right now)
15 pull-ups (13 currently)
1 one arm push up

Completed:
One set of Pulls to the bottom of chest (straight vertical, not leaning back)

[Max G]

Baseball practice today, just worked on maintaining my strength as normal until saturday; we did some hill running which got pretty tough near the end, but it was manageable.

Monday:
-Baseball Practice (2 hours)
Conditioning
-2 regular hill runs
-1 backwards hill run
-2 sets of canoes (not sure how long it was)

on my own
-2x8 second Weighted Tuck Planches (5 lbs)
-2x6 second Weighted L-Sits (5 lbs)
-1x45 second lower back "bridge"

using weights now on my midsection just to give it some variety of a more intense contraction; i think i'll use some weights on the lower back section too.
Variation countdown: 3 days

Goals:
True Bar Muscle Up (need rotator cuff work)
8.25 foot standing long jump (8 feet right now)
15 pull-ups (13 currently)
1 one arm push up

Completed:
One set of Pulls to the bottom of chest (straight vertical, not leaning back)

[Steve Low]

BTW, what periodization routine will you be going on?

The thing about periodization is it will progressively overload muscles for more advanced lifters who can't get regular progress with linearized lifting schedules. This is more along the lines of where you are starting to push your genetic potential for strength. If you don't have a 2-2.5x bodyweight squat and DL and then at least 1.50x-1.75x bench, dips, pullups, rows, military press, etc. you probably DO NOT need to be doing a periodized routine. Linear gains will be and are MUCH quicker. If you're not new to weight training but can do a significant amount of work from lifting for a couple of years more or less then something like Bill Starr's 5x5 intermediate would probably be best.

edit: you can find some info on that and training theory here:
http://www.geocities.com/elitemadcow1/table_of_contents_thread.htm

[Max G]

well to be honest, my periodization is more so just changing up my exercises and the load or repetitions. I did a bit of research (though i don't know nearly as much as i would like) and the impression i got from some articles i read added to my recent training experience tells me that i should change up what i'm doing from time to time. (don't know if that's "right", but that's the basic impression i got)

I'm not the most experienced lifter; a couple years ago i started lifting on machines (definitely not the best, but my coaches got me into it), then last year i discovered parkour, switched to bodyweight exercises , sometimes with additional external load. This summer i'm planning on getting more involved in lifting when i have more time; sports and my family's individual plans make it complicated to get to the gym on a regular basis, so i've been making do with what i can right now.

And i've heard the term linear gains, though i'm not sure what it means?
As for the numbers you posted, i can only say yes to the squat; but that's just a friendly side product of sports.

So basically, i can see i don't need to do periodization, but do you think it would/wouldn't be beneficial to mix up repetitions/load/exercises every "cycle" (4-6 weeks)?

[Steve Low]

Depends on the program. If you're a beginner you could go on Starting Strength for like 6 months and still be making strength gains off it. Of course, that's probably an exception, but a good general rule of thumb is whenever you hit a plateau or are very close to stagnating on a training program (e.g. you are not making any strength gains from workout to workout) then that's when you want to switch it up. This is what is meant by linear gains -- you are gaining strength from workout to workout so that you increase the weight every or at least close to every time.

Yeah, periodization protocol is a manipulation of repetitions, sets and weights for set exercises to elicit strength gains over a mesocycle (~4-6 weeks)... has nothing to do with switching up exercises. Switching up exercises is good though because as your body starts to adapt to them, the strength increases become less and less which leads to plateaus.

[Max G]

allright thank you for the clarification; i will probably need to use a term more specific to my actual "changes" in my program. I guess variation would suffice. When this variation phase happens, i think i'll be changing the exercises a bit, the load, and repetitions.

Tuesday: Baseball game today, and i'm pretty pissed about how i played; 0-3, 1 walk, fielded fine, and pitched crappy..not a terrible day, but it was a mile south of my standards that i expect of myself..so i did what i always do when i am not satisfied with my play-i hit in the dark out back for 40 minutes and swore alot because the ball was hard to see. But; if you can hit well when you can't see, you'll hit even better when you can.

-Baseball game (2.5 hours)
-Hitting (40 minutes)

Variation Countdown: 2 days


Goals:
True Bar Muscle Up (need rotator cuff work)
8.25 foot standing long jump (8 feet right now)
15 pull-ups (13 currently)
1 one arm push up

Completed:
One set of Pulls to the bottom of chest (straight vertical, not leaning back)

[Max G]

Had practice again today; we worked on pop ups and double plays as well as general throwing..took us forever, but our infield eventually caught 10 infield pop ups in a row (alot harder than it sounds) but i got a good feel for it by the end..my flick on the double play turn from short needs some work-it's usually around thigh high when i want it at the chest or face.

Wednesday:
-Baseball practice (2 hours)
Fielding, throwing, pop ups
Conditioning
-3 rounds of chase the rabbit; run as fast as you can around the bases until someone catches the guy in front of them.
-Hitting (1 hour)

Variation countdown: 1 day

Goals:
True Bar Muscle Up (need rotator cuff work)
8.25 foot standing long jump (8 feet right now)
15 pull-ups (13 currently)
1 one arm push up

Completed:
One set of Pulls to the bottom of chest (straight vertical, not leaning back)

[Max G]

Variation time. Today i had a baseball game, so i'm pretty bushed; but i GOT MY HIT! i was worried that i'd start off slow, but today i went 1-2, BB, 2 runs scored (including the game winning run). It felt great- i was in control, and focused. I've found recently in school and in sports i've had a harder time focusing; my mind has been drifting, which isn't necessarily bad, but it can be detrimental. Anyways; i'll be commencing my variation training tomorrow after my 3rd game of the week against Hill-Murray (have no idea who the hell they are though).

Thursday:
-Baseball game (2.5 hours)
-Fancy glovework waiting for the bus, some running around.

Goals:
True Bar Muscle Up (need rotator cuff work)
8.25 foot standing long jump (8 feet right now)
15 pull-ups (13 currently)
1 one arm push up

Completed:
One set of Pulls to the bottom of chest (straight vertical, not leaning back)

[Max G]

Baseball game against Hill-Murray, we won 9-5. I went 1-3, BB, 2 RBI's, 1 run. A solid day, not bad; fielding was good, and i pitched 2 and 1/3 in relief-got the win and figured out my mechanic problem. I have a tryout for traveling ball tomorrow, but i'll do hitting in the morning and condition after (it's in the damn middle of the day, so that sucks)

Friday:
-Baseball Game (2.5 hours)


Goals:
True Bar Muscle Up (need rotator cuff work)
8.25 foot standing long jump (8 feet right now)
15 pull-ups (13 currently)
1 one arm push up

Completed:
One set of Pulls to the bottom of chest (straight vertical, not leaning back)

[Max G]

had baseball tryouts for summer league; arm hurt a ton, fielding was ok, and the bat was hot; in the scrimmage (which had a combination of soft toss and live pitching from the A coach) i hit for the cycle-i hit two to the wall which was 340 feet away, as well as a liner in the same left field gap followed by a soft liner.

Saturday:
-Baseball Tryouts
hitting, throwing, fielding

-5 rounds new upper body
5 pull ups
7 push ups (feet elevated)
7 diamond push ups (feet elevated)
-5x2 forearm roll-ups (3 lbs)

and
-drilled precision jumps and foot placement out back

Didn't do core work today; my hip flexors are sore from running alot at tryouts (surprisingly enough) and my midsection is just tired..i will do some leg work tomorrow, though i won't do too much with practice and games coming up next week.


Goals:
True Bar Muscle Up (need rotator cuff work)
8.25 foot standing long jump (8 feet right now)
15 pull-ups (13 currently)
1 one arm push up

Completed:
One set of Pulls to the bottom of chest (straight vertical, not leaning back)

[Max G]

did some morning leg work; baseball's been keeping my legs in good shape (surprise surprise) so i found they're doing well still..after my music lessons i'm going to go do some more hitting out back.

Sunday:
-Leg Work
15-8 squat jumps
5 squat jump bottom holds
30 pop jumps side to side
30 pop jumps front and back
2x10 small step lunges (5 each leg)
2x10 long step lunges (5 each leg)
40 mountain climbers (20 each leg)
3x15 second ma-bu (25 lbs+)
2 laps quadrupedal movement
3x15 one legged calf raises (25 lbs+)
4x15 shin raise/flicks

-Hitting (1 hour)
I'm going to be trying to splice in weight lifting on saturdays to complement my bodyweight exercises, as well as help my baseball play and get me ready for more intense lifting during the summer


Goals:
True Bar Muscle Up (need rotator cuff work)
8.25 foot standing long jump (8 feet right now)
15 pull-ups (13 currently)
1 one arm push up

Completed:
One set of Pulls to the bottom of chest (straight vertical, not leaning back)

[Max G]

uhh having a cruddy day; i have to squeeze in time to shoot video for a project after practice, and now i found out that we have to spend 4 hours on saturday afternoon trying to sell coupons for papa johns..F**k that. Ah well; anyway, i had baseball practice today, and it went pretty well; we drilled outfield work and double plays.

Monday:
-Baseball Practice
fielding, throwing, etc.
-Conditioning
3x sprints to second
1x sprint all the way around
Push up holds; surprisingly enough, these were pretty tough

Goals:
True Bar Muscle Up (need rotator cuff work)
8.25 foot standing long jump (8 feet right now)
15 pull-ups (13 currently)
1 one arm push up

Completed:
One set of Pulls to the bottom of chest (straight vertical, not leaning back)

[Max G]

game in hopkins; we won by 4 i think-our team is really looking good now. I pitched, and the curveball was kicking those royals around; it was very sharp. According to the book, i went 1-3 with 4 RBI. sounds good, right? well actually, three of those rbi came from a "double" that was an error in the outfield..but i'll take it. Coach told us we're only going to hit tomorrow in practice, so i'm looking forward to it.

Tuesday:
-Baseball Game (2.5 hours)
-Deadlift technique work (+50lbs)

I've come up with a basic rotation that i will use when working out on saturdays and during the summer;the rough sketch is something like this (after warming up, of course) :

-Bodyweight Cycle (20-25 minutes)
5 pulls,
7 pushes,
7 diamond pushes

-Lower body (30 minutes or less hopefully)
Pop Jumps
Squat Jumps
Deadlift
Lunges
Ham Raise

-Weighted upper Body (10 minutes or less)
Seated Rows
Bench Press
Weighted "T" dumbbell holds
Rotator Cuff work

later on when i get home i will do some isolation work; wrist rollers, and calf and shin raises
Goals:
True Bar Muscle Up (need rotator cuff work)
8.25 foot standing long jump (8 feet right now)
15 pull-ups (13 currently)
1 one arm push up

Completed:
One set of Pulls to the bottom of chest (straight vertical, not leaning back)

[Max G]

baseball practice today; kind of a waste of time, but we hit, and after i came home (to hit some more) i think i figured out a mechanics error in my swing-basically im now using a purely two handed swing; my right hand wasn't being as active automatically as it was in the past, so i believe i fixed that. Now i just have to convert that to the games and i'll be fine.

Wednesday:
-Baseball Practice
Hitting (1.5 hours)
-Conditioning
10 foul pole to foul pole runs

-Hitting (40 minutes)

Goals:
True Bar Muscle Up (need rotator cuff work)
8.25 foot standing long jump (8 feet right now)
15 pull-ups (13 currently)
1 one arm push up

Completed:
One set of Pulls to the bottom of chest (straight vertical, not leaning back)

[Max G]

i didn't have time to post thursday or friday, but i had a game thursday against the B team, (we kicked them around, but it was good bp ) hit a ball to the warning track-it was kind of a pop fly, but it almost went out, as well as a rip up the middle for an rbi single with my new swing. So i went 1-2 with an Rbi, and the coaches are really liking my swing and my progress. Unfortunately, i strained my wrist a tad on a slide into third, so i'll have to keep it straight for the majority of my exercises. Friday i didn't have practice, so i walked to sean's house, then we met up with some the usual people to go play missions at weber park. My feet really aren't as conditioned as i'd like, so i kept the high impact barefoot jumps to a minimum, but i'm making progress on getting back to where i was last missions season

***for those of you who read this, missions is a game my friend's older brother and his friends started playing 5 years ago (now myself and several others play too) at a park near their house. It is basically offense vs. defense tag; 2-3 defenders, and everyone else on offense tries to get to a specific point on the other side. The park/playground is perfectly designed for this game (a connection i think of is lisses with parkour), with (so far) around 25 different jumps, maneuvers, and techniques-it's the only playground we've seen like it. Anyway, because of the heightened athleticism and intellect of the participants (not being children after all) this game requires that you go under, over, and around quickly and precisely in coordination with your teammates; basically, loads of fun! 

back to the training

Thursday:
-Baseball game (2 hours)

Friday:
-Missions! (2-3 hours)
drilled precisions barefoot
lots of long jumps
lots of laches and climbing around

Saturday:
-4 rounds upper body
5 pull ups
7 knuckle push ups
7 close knuckle push ups
-3x5 deadlift form practice (115 lbs)
-4x5 dumbbell deadlift form practice (90 lbs)
-2x5 bench press (115 lbs)
-4x5 seated row (125 lbs)
-4x5 seated row (150 lbs)
-4x5 rotator cuff cable pull (17.5 lbs)
-4x15 calf raises (+25 lbs)
-4x15 shin raises
-3x5 small step lunges
-3x10 sec arm-raise-holds (15 lbs)

and core
-4x30 sec canoes (+5 lbs)
-4x20 sec oblique canoes
-3x10 sec weighted tuck sits (+5 lbs)
-4x45 sec back bridges


Goals:
True Bar Muscle Up (need rotator cuff work)
8.25 foot standing long jump (8 feet right now)
15 pull-ups (13 currently)
1 one arm push up

Completed:
One set of Pulls to the bottom of chest (straight vertical, not leaning back)

[Max G]

i feel pretty good today; only my core is a bit sore, while my upper body and legs feel fine. Im starting to use some fish oil in my diet; i tried some of my dad's, but it was fairly disgusting. I'm going to try to work my way up to 3 tablespoons a day to help my training. Wrist is still a little tender, though it's getting better-i want to go out and hit, but i can't risk hurting it with three games this week.

Sunday: Rest, stretching (4x10-15 minutes)


Goals:
True Bar Muscle Up (need rotator cuff work)
8.25 foot standing long jump (8 feet right now)
15 pull-ups (13 currently)
1 one arm push up

Completed:
One set of Pulls to the bottom of chest (straight vertical, not leaning back)