Elitetrack: Sport Training & Conditioning

Alright, I’ve never done this before but i am going to log my physical and mental training for this coming season. I’ll include my training but also my emotions, moods, results, ups and downs…pretty much everything…I also think video updates will be included as and when i have them available…

For those who don’t know i am a long jumper with a best of 7.54m. I’ve been jumping in a so called training program for around 4 years now, and long jumping for 5 years total.

The reason i chose the name of this log, is simply because when you foul 85% of your jumps and 60% of those are much bigger than your PR, your making it hard for yourself to reach your potenial.

Ok, so here goes…enjoy!

Last week was a testing week for me. It went pretty well really. I had taken off the previous 5 weeks and did pretty much nothing over that time so these results were suprising to me…

in a nutshell i did,

Clean - 255lbs
Squat - 310lbs
standing long jump - 3.20m
standing triple jump - 9.40m
4 bounds and a jump - 16.70m
standing LLRR - 16.20m
vertical - 30 inches

So, i had to some good numbers going into the season. Compared to last season, according to these reults, i am about 4-5 weeks ahead of where i was at this time. Good stuff

So first day training was a few days ago on sunday…The workout was,

5x15m sprints
3x15m of different variation bounding (LRLR, LLR, RRL, LLL, RRR)
3x30m alternate bounds
3x30m hops

*these we all done on grass from a standing start at around 80%*

Later in the day i hit the weight room,

6x5 snatch grip deadlifts
4x6 + 4x8 db military press, bent over row (superset)

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Today was good. It was great to get back jumping again and i felt very springy to be honest. I love training!

Mon Sept 1st

Very light day today, just a long warm up, stretch and a bunch of general strength work. Lots of abbs, and a variety of squat walks…basically walking forwards, backwards, side ways etc in a squat position for 10m.
I also did some light single leg ankle hops over 20m.

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Weather is hot is Cali! still not used to it. Hip flexors are SOOOOOORE…my word…lots of ice…

Tomorrow is a rest day however so i should recover…

Since one of the requests mentioned HERE was to include some more of my training concepts I thought I’d point out that crazyhops is a member of my HPC Elite club. This was actually his idea to put it up but unlike the other training journals (which I try to stay away from out of fairness to my clients) I’ll pop in on this one to answer any questions that may come up about the training. Also, we may do a technical analysis log over the course of the year that I’ll publish on the main page. This should be interesting because crazyhops is extremely dedicated to his training and has the talent to jump significantly further than his current PR.

So Mike, just to clarify, you’re writing all of his workouts?

yes he does…however, i bring something a little different than his other athletes, being that i’m from europe and am used to the European system in a way. Last year was the first season Mike and I worked together and it worked well. Fouls were really the only thing that messed up the season…

This season, i have had more imput into the training however which makes our relationship work even better. For example there were a few aspects of training from the European system which i felt worked very well for me, which i wanted to incorporate into our program. But basically yes, he writes the workouts…

wednesday Sept 3rd.

Back at today and the first of 2 training sessions today went really well. It was all weight room stuff.

6x4 Clean pulls (80%)
3x5 DEEP squats
3x5 3 step squats (down deep, up halfway, down deep, up quarter way, down deep, up = one rep)

5x4 DB bench
2x8+8 single leg eccentric calfs

Felt really good, 3 step squats were very tough though, im sure hip flexor pain will be back tomorrow! Lower back also felt a bit sore during training. Body seems to be changing kind of fast after my 5 week lay off. I got my muscles back ! lol…

Ill be back later with training no.2, k im back…

So this session should have been done way later and it was just way too hot and i had students to contend. Made it pretty interesting though…
the workout was,

8x20m hill sprints
3x 4 different shot throws for explosiveness

I found a decent hill which happened to be a walk way for students on campus…oh well, that didnt faze me lol…i kind of ran in between some people and waited for other to move. Felt good though.First time ive ever done hill sprints as i usually do sled instead. I like it better i think, felt pretty quick. Focussed on long powerful strides…

tired now, just want to sleep.

beau_zo_brehm - 03 September 2008 03:02 PM

So Mike, just to clarify, you’re writing all of his workouts?

Yep. As he said said I write the workouts but I take in a lot of feedback and adjust accordingly. Even though his training age is quite young he has a good feel for what’s working and what’s not. Also, he’s in-tune with how he feels which makes adjustments relatively easy.

Feel free to ask questions and I’ll try to answer here. There’s a rhyme and a reason for everything I put in there.

Oh boy, had to wake up early today to teach a class and wow did my butt hurt. Those 3 step squats really killed it. After class i ice bathed, went on the roller for a while and did lots of stretching.

I’m heading to the track later for training today, today i’m waiting until it gets cooler. Jump stuff today, so i’m looking forward to it.

Ok, so today training was fun, went well and i enjoyed it. Got to do some take off type stuff which i always love to do…The workout was;

Long warm up and stretch
various sprint drills over 40m + 10m acceleration
3x30m skips for height
3x30m skips for distance
3x30m 1 step continuous LJ take offs (over hurdles, holding knee drive parellel for height and penetration.

2x endurance circuit (exercise, exercise, run and repeat, 30 secs each exercise x2 then run for 30 secs) (exercises include, push up, v ups, mountain climbers, bicycles etc)
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I won’t talk about the endurance circuits as i nearly died doing it. Really hard, second time around. Not good at those!
But the jump stuff was great, felt really good taking off again and the height was pleasing.

Random thought, my vertical dropped about 6-7 inches over the 5 week lay off, but my standing long jump was almost exactly the same as my best…any thoughts?

crazyhops - 04 September 2008 01:39 PM

Random thought, my vertical dropped about 6-7 inches over the 5 week lay off, but my standing long jump was almost exactly the same as my best…any thoughts?

I’ve noticed vertical jump tends to match up with squat numbers (which also went down over the layoff) more so than all other activities. You’d think one jump couldn’t go down with the other staying the same but I’ve seen it before and it’s almost always matched with squat strength dropoffs.

so with that being said…the squat is more important for developing vertical than the clean?

4 bounds and a jump – 16.70m… is that form a standing start?

crazyhops - 05 September 2008 11:01 AM

so with that being said…the squat is more important for developing vertical than the clean?

I would say so, although clean is terrific for getting the firing sequence right in bounding (as in 5-steps from a standing or with some kind of speed).

4 bounds and jump, yes from a standing start. Left foot forward, small rock back and straight into first bound.

So today is a big day training, 2 sessions, speed and then weights. I’ve just finished the first workout,which was;

Warm up
hurdle drills - variety

10x15m med ball sprints w/ 2x static vertical jumps onto 28inch box in between each sprint.

Was good overall, i was trying to really focus on long powerful strides instead of fast turnover. I do find getting my first stride after ive thrown the med ball too be fast, quite hard…but after the first stride, im rolling…felt fast and explosive. Jumps were easy.
Left knee really bothering me…been hurting a bit all week…ice ice ice…

Later on weights, ok so weights were,

30 (thirty) x1 clean @65$ w/ 25 secs in between each rep
6x5 lunges
superset - 4x6 incline press + 4x8 pull ups

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So, the first week of the season complete and i have some reflections. As i was wlaking home tonight i started to think just how hard this sport is. I was pretty exhausted really. This track dream that i have is very hard work. Most of the week i found myself not thinking at all during training and then when i would get home id think, jeez im tired. Im thinking it is the weather that is really affecting me. But also, i have to walk 1 mile too and from the training facility sometimes twice a day.

Is this a big negative? im used to taking buses ect…no such luck here…

other than that…i think im way ahead of where i was last year…so am excited for january!