Defensive End for 2007 Football Season

Thursday February 22, 2007

I'm glad that I really like my trainer. He knows alot about Core Work and Balance, which is what he is having me work on now. Since I just started with him; I am doing all basic stuff and getting my form down correctly. Here is what I did today.

Warm-up
5 Minute Cardio, 2.5 MPH

And then we did alot of balance work. Alot of it was stretching and contracting my abs and keeping my back straight. Mostly posture.

Later he showed me how to do Romainian dead lifts, some type of back exercises, 2 exercises on calves, and my chest, and sitting military press, body lunges., of course, with a very light weight so I can get the form down.

Most of the weigh lifting was High Reps (15-20). With like 2 sets. Again; this is all basics. And at the end there was cool-down session with stretching; especially my calves, I worked them pretty hard today.

Doesn't seem like the workouts I had before; its WAY different but I trust this guy alot. He working alot to fix my balance, strengthen my core, my form; and Overall I should have a new level of strength when I get all this second nature. He seems to know what he is talking about so I trust him alot.
 
From the way you describe his approach, it sounds like you've found yourself a quality trainer. I hope you realize how rare that is. Happy training. ^_^
 
[Focus] said:
From the way you describe his approach, it sounds like you've found yourself a quality trainer. I hope you realize how rare that is. Happy training. ^_^
Click to expand...

I realize that, and I'm thankful I found a good trainer. Right now he is having me on a periodization program. I like his program, but I wish he used a more concurrent method. His is like this:
1.) Basic Form; Endurance
2.) Hypertrophy
3.) Strength
4.) Power
5.) Peak

and then repeat. However, why not just do all those steps at once? Like the WSFSB Workout? Its okay though; it should work and I can always add a few exercises to get what I need anyway.

Bulking has been terrible. After about a month, I haven't gained one pound. I actually lost 0.3. Getting enough food, clean food that is, is very difficult. I'm going to have to try harder. I think I will enter LV's Contest for some motivation. I plan to bulk up about 1 pound a week (or 5 pounds a month). I will adjust my calories tommorow, cut out all junk food, and get this going again.

Also note I haven't weight lifted for a week now. I pulled my back and I'm having trouble healing it. :(
 
Fresh Start

I decided to stop bulking. The reason being is I want to maintain my weight. I decided to try another position next year because I'm simply to small to be playing Defensive Line. I also wan't to improve my speed since I am really lacking in that department and adding weight isn't going to make me faster. But I decided NOT TO cut either. I'm at the perfect weight for numerous positions next year that I would like. I'm 5'11 and 172 Pounds right now.

My speed is really lacking. Running a 5.3-5.5 40 yard time and a 4.9-5.1 20 yard shuttle isn't going to get you looked upon by recruits. So my goal now is to just work on my speed until the season. I'm still growing; so naturally I should be able to put on weight in the future anyway. It doesn't matter how strong or big you are; if you are slow you cannot do anything.

While maintaining my weight, I'm hoping that I can drop my body fat down to 15-16% and add a little muscle at the same time. I'll just make sure I'm eating no junk food; getting the correct nutrition. Without all this bulking;cutting in my mind, I can really focus on what is important.

I weight lifted Yesterday and will start my new routine next week.

Day 1- Speed Work; Running, Agilities, some plyos; anything in this category
Day 2- Weight Lifting
Day 3- Rest
And then repeat.

I have everything going now. I'm making great progress.
 
Sunday, March 18, 2007

I did my running workout today. It was a killer especially at the end.

Stretching (dyanmic)
20 yard Shuttles- 3x each side
Form Running
a. Butt Kickers
b. Back Pedal
c. B's
d. shuffle left
e. shuffle right
f. A's
g. skips
h. twist runs
20 yard sprints x4
40 yard sprints x4
Squat Jumps 3x10 (all the way down and fast; plyometric exercise)
80 yard sprints x2 No Rest Between
Stretching (static)

Pre-during Nutrition- Whey protein shake W/Water
After Nutrition- Whey protein shake/w Milk. Some Chicken and Yogurt.
 
Its been about 2 weeks and I have dropped from 172 to 171.2. My diet wasn't that good so I guess I should be happy that I even lost anything. Today I met my calories; but not the healthy kind..

Tommorow should be alot better. Had too much fun this weekend. Thursday/Friday/Saturday was 24/7 Partying in a Hotel in Hagerstown, Maryland. It was a competition from school; I was having a great time. Though the diet was terrible had Mcdonalds twice..
 
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Ugh, its been good the last couple of days but for some reason I binged today. Not even going to say what I ate...God, why does this happen all the time? Can never get a nutrition plan going.
 
I'm going to stop cutting and do a short term bulk while my trainer has me in a hypertrophy phase. The heck with cutting anyway; my coach told me he is keeping me at Defensive End anyway. So now I have a new routine:

Sunday: Rest
Monday: Lower Body
Tuesday: Sprint Work
Wednesday: Upperbody
Thursday: Rest
Friday: Lowerbody
Saturday: Rest

And then the next week is 2 upperbody days and one lowerbody days with the running or something like that. Its a upper/lower split. The diet is okay today; I definetely have my calories half clean though.
 
Training is going great; haven't missed a workout and I started doing cardio. Diet...not bad but could be better. Going to get that in check tommorow.
 
Monday, April 9th 2007

I worked my ass off today. I couldn't go to the gym because my Mothers car broke down and my father works. It was my leg day, so I replaced it with very hard running. I did 2 sets of 10 with 25 yards, 1 minute break between each run and 10 minute break after the first set (workout from TC...every week I add 5 more yards till 50 and then test my 40 yard dash).

After this, my friend; who is trying out for Quarterback next year had me do 71 routes with little break in between. I did alot of long post routes and such. My legs were so worked that at the end when I was walking home I kept getting Charley Horses and leg cramps in my calves and quads. My calves are very sore right now...I wouldn't really call it overtraining though I should be fine tommorow with good rest.

Also forgot to mention..My diet today PERFECTION. No junk food. I avoided it completely no chips no ice creame.

Tommorow I will do an hour jog to work on my endurance. I feel this will help me because I get tired quickly and I am dominated by slow-twitch muscle fibers (took a test). So high-rep, light weight stuff, is the way I can benefit most if I train that way. This explains why I never have sucess with 5x5 programs; but I have been doing great with my trainers 3x10 and 2x15.

Everything is going great, I haven't been this motivated in a long time.
 
Wednesday, April 11, 2007

Tuesday was a rest day...I only managed to get 2 hours of sleep. I wen't to sleep right after school. Don't know why I couldn't sleep.

But good news is that all that running I was doing was like a long session of HIIT if you think of it. After the hard sprint I ran I usually jogged back to the beginning and did another hard sprint. Though I did this a little too long and my calves or even sore today.

I have my upperbody today; and may even do Sprints again if my calves are up to it by 3:00 pm...
 
This week is going good so far. Bulking is going alright; took a while to find out what amount of calories I needed. One calculator said I needed 2800 so I did that last week and actually lost almost 2 pounds. Maybe it was water; I don't know. But this week I'm eating 3350 calories and seeing how that goes. My progress I going great; I haven't had any plateus or anything.

I'm probably going to get my 40 yard time checked some time this week. I have been working really hard so I think I can finnally get a 5.1 time.

Today I am doing a full-body routine because I missed my upperbody and lowerbody session last week because of driving and such.

I have everything planned out now in a notebook; a training journal and a food journal so if something is working I can at least make adjustments. I also have the progression to. This is what I am doing today: (the squat weight is low because I want to get a "run" on being able to add 10 pounds a week".
The progression is simple; next week I add either more sets, reps, or weight. So the total volume should increase every week.
Squats: 1x10 50 Pounds, 3x10 105 Pounds, Total Volume=3650
Bench Press: 1x10 50 Pounds, 3x10 100 Pounds, Total Volume= 3500
Inverted Rows: 1x10 30 Pounds, 3x10 70 Pounds, Total Volume= 2400
Shrugs: 1x10 15 pounds/e, 3x10=30 Pounds E/, Total Volume= 1050
Bicep Curls: 1x10 20 Pounds, 3x10 40 Pounds, Total Volume= 1400
Tricep pushdown: 1x10 40 pounds, 3x10 80 Pounds, Total Volume= 2800
RDL's: 1x10 45 Pounds, 3x10 70 Pounds, Total Volume= 2550
Calve Raises: 1x10 80 Pounds, 3x10 165 Pounds, Total Volume= 165 Pounds
Seated Calve Raises: 1x10 35 Pounds, 3x10 70 Pounds, Total Volume= 2450
Tibia Exercise: 1x10 50 Pounds, 3x10 100 Pounds, Total Volume= 3500

Nutrition Goal: 3350 Calories
4cupsmilk: 360 Calories
2 Peanut butter Sandwich on wheat bread: 540 Calories
Yogurt: 110 Calories
2cupscheerios: 200 Calories
 
The food journal and weight training journal I keep at home was a great idea. I have every calorie checked and my workouts so I can keep track of my progression.

Sometimes it seems like your environment...family... can just mess things up. Today I was reluctant to get enough calories. It was 5:00 pm and I only had 1500 calories in and I needed 3350. Luckily my father came in with popeyes. But my father had to work late and my mother works so I couldn't go to the gym today to do my upperbody :( . I'll do it tommorow though....
 
Saturday- May 5, 2007

Gotta start getting back into this journal. I can't weight lift all next week because I have a football camp to attend to. I stopped using westsides program in conjunction with running because it was too much. My triceps have been sore since Monday...all I did was 2 sets of skull crushers, and 2 sets of pulldowns.

I looked into basic programs and programs that has slow linear progression. I found Rippetoes Starting Strength program which has many good things said about it and it was made for Football players. So on May 14th I'm gonna look into that.
 
Progress on Mark Rippetoes Program

I have had outstanding progress with Mark Rippetoes program thus far and its only been 4 workouts. Heres how it goes. You alternate Workouts A and B and do them 3 times on non-consecutive days each week.

**I always warm up with dynamic stretching and 5 minute cardio and cool down with static stretching and 5 minute cardio. Post-workout nutrition- Whey Protein shake.

Workout A
Bench Press 3x5
Squat 3x5
Deadlift 1x5

Workout B
Squat 3x5
Military Press 3x5
Powerclean 3x5

** I always do 2 warm up sets of 5 reps before each exercise. I generally use half the weight in the 3 working set.


The progression is like this. Every Squat workout I add 5 pounds. Every Time I deadlift I add 10 pounds and every other exercises gets added up 5 pounds. So I should be adding 60 pounds to my squat each week. (sounds crazy at first but after a month the progression should slow to where I can only add only every 2 workouts and once every week for the other exercises. I do squats ATG by the way.

SAT. May 12th
Bench 3x5 with 120
Squat 3x5 with 135
Deadlift 1x5 with 170

MON. May 14th
Squat 3x5 with 140
Press 3x5 with 80
Powercleans 3x5 with 95

THU. May 17th
Bench 3x5 with 125
Squat 3x5 with 145
Deadlift 3x5 with 180

SAT. May 19th
Squat 3x5 with 150
Press 3x5 with 85
Powercleans 3x5 with 100

After 4 workouts....
Bench Press + 5
Squat + 15
Deadlift + 10
Press + 5
Cleans + 5
 
TUE. May 22 WORKOUT A
Squat 3x5 with 155
Bench 3x5 with 130
Deadlift 1x5 with 190

THU. May 24 WORKOUT B
Squat 3x5 with 160
Press 3x5 with 90
Clean 3x5 with 105

SAT. May 26 WORKOUT A
Squat 3x5 with 160
Bench 3x5 with 135
Deadlift 1x5 with 200

1.) I'm overall happy with the way the program is going. After today I KNOW it is working because before football camp I couldn't do 3x5 with 135 pounds on the bench press and today I did it and the last set was like no problem.
2.) My Squat just keeps climbing. My MAX ATG squat is 170 last time I checked but today according to calculators my max is now at least 180. O Stupid mistake by the way I wrote down in my log book 160 again on the squat so I accidentely used the same weight twice. (suppose to do 165 today)
3.) Never military pressed more in my life. This week was the most I have ever done. I strained my upper back just a little bit because I jerked on the last rep so I gotta remind myself not to do that again.

So far this program is working great! Its been 2 weeks and I feel alot stronger.
 
I decided to stop mixing bodybuilding with football. They don't go hand-in-hand and I have to pick one or the other. So I choose football. I'm going to add a ton of size and improve on all my lifts for the football season. My school combine motivated me alot. I squatted 135, 23 times. Now I want to squat 185, 23 times at the next combine in 2 months. My goals

Bench- 200
Squat- 185, 23 times or max 250
40yardtime- 5.0
20yardshuttle- 4.6
Vertical- 28"
halfmile- 3:00
 
June 9, 2007

Squats
135x10
155x8
175x4 (meant for 6, then a set of 4, then set of 2 but I guess then 20 pound jumps wasn't very smart...)

Straight Leg Deadlift
45x10
65x10
95x10
95x10
95x10

Dumbbell Bench Press
35x10
40x8
45x6
50x4
55x2

Upright Rows
40x10
60x10
60x10
60x10

Seated Military Press
45x10
55x10
55x10

Core Workout- Circuit 1
Planks, side planks, Crunches, Side crunches, back extensions,
Circuit 2- Hanging leg raises, crunches

Calves
Seated Calve Raises
Calve Raises
Tibia Push

Forearm
2x10 with 95, Forearm curl (put weight behind back and twist wrist palms facing out)
Wrist curls- 3 sets with 5 pounds

Post-workout-nutrition
Whey protein shake in water
Yogurt
 
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Tuesday June 12, 07

Workout B

Deadlift
95x10
160x5
160x5
160x5
Note* Need to keep back straight, probably will lower weight :( but should help in the long run.

Ham Pull- Hams still sore from last workout so I skipped to avoid overtraining

Bench Press
100x10
110x8
120x6
130x4
140x2
Note* Wow felt strong. Could of done 140 like 10 times. Switching to dumbbells 2 days ago I think helped break my plateau.

Inverted Rows
70x8
70x8
70x8

Dips
3x10 with 90 pounds of help
Note* Gonna lower resistence for everytime I do dips so I can eventually do bodyweight.

Chinups
4xMAx
Set 1- 2
Set 2- 2
Set 3- 1
Set 4- 1
Next time I do chinups will beat my record on each set.

Other work- Seated Calve Raises, Calve Raises, Tibia Push, Core Workout*, Forearm Push, Wrist curls

Post-workout- whey protein shake, yogurt.

Next workout- Workout A will tweak a little.
 
Workout today was hard. I wen't the entire day without any food. There is no food at all in my house. Past couple of days I have been living on whey protein and pancakes. But thank god we are getting grocieries tommorow. This is why its so difficult to bulk up in my house. Theres no food. So I applied for a job today. Then I can get some money and invest in some peanuts and milk.

So todays no-energized workout:

Dumbbell Bench Press
40x10
40x5 (sore from last workout so I stopped here)

Upright Rows
3x10=60 (last set failed on the 3rd rep, so I finished other reps with lower weight)

Squats
2x5=160
1x5=160 (Decided to start getting wider stance)

Seated military press
1x10=55 (only did one set...)

PowerCleans
3x5=95 Pounds (fixed up technique and my form is really good now. Only thing I am proud of today).

So Overall workout sucked. I probably should have skipped it and did it tommorow but thats fine because I can rest for the next 2 days.
 
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