Just in case you didn’t see this in the comments section

Hugh said…

WARNING: CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Will,
You went on and on about how great your diet would be and what a great athletic specimen you’d be at a BW below 100kg but you lost interest and stopped after about a week and a half. I was actually pretty interested in the project and was disappointed to see you fall away from it. Unfortunately, it’s somewhat of a theme. I’ve heard you mention some great plans/projects you think up but they don’t get off the ground coz you lose interest due to a lack of day to day gratification. I’m sure you know this already and I doubt you mind my writing it but if there’s one thing holding you back from “greatness”, it’s this. Patience is a virtue…

Just been reading the comments.

Now you guys have made me feel bad for Hugh(I don’t really…but it makes me sound like a better person than I really am)because I am so much harsher than he is…and that is when I am trying to be nice.

I don’t actually think he’s that far off the mark…not necessarily for the reasons he stated but that really isn’t the issue…the issue is that I said I was going to do something and I didn’t…if I was one of my own athletes I would of kicked the crap out of myself…and all the lads…including Hugh know this.

I know it is a little off topic…but this is one of the reason that I think everyone needs a coach…or should I say does better with a coach…it is very difficult to coach yourself. I won’t go into a rant here and now…but if someone wants to argue with me or set me off feel free to disagree?

Anyway…enough about what a loser I am and back to more interesting topics…training.

When I told Chops that he’d have ‘cutz’ on his abs when he finished his preseason program I’m willing to bet he didn’t think this was what I meant.

Some of the lads have entered the ‘Fat Camp’ stage of their training.

Barnyard doing some circuit work…all he wanted to know was where ‘guns’ fitted in to this.

Basically it boils down to 5 sessions a week. 2 weights/conditioning sessions…2 strength orientated sessions and 1 pure conditioning training session.

Some guys do it for fatness and some for conditioning…I’ll let you guess which camp this lad fits into.

I got so excited this morning even I trained.

The 2 weights/conditioning sessions are essentially 2 15 minute blocks of circuit work with 3 bouts of high intensity intervals at the start, in between and at the end of the circuits.

…and no…before someone comments…that is not how you are allowed to do inverted rows in testing.

Fanj after his first 15min work block

The 2 strength sessions are a Squat & Pull Up day and Deadlift & Bench day.

The pure conditioning day will be just that…a tough 45 minutes of ‘work’ of my choosing and design.

I don’t even know where to start.

This week has been a nightmare technology wise. I’m sitting here with my laptop…which Damian thankfully tidied up…he thinks that it’s performance may have been hampered by the 3,000+ errors he found on it along with the 7000+ registry errors…I don’t know though…I still say that the problem was voodoo.

Anyway…so while the laptop is back up and running decently I’ll spend a bit of today catching up on the last weeks fun and games.

Fresh Meat
Firstly I want to welcome all the new recruits that started this week…the guys and the gals. I think after Wednesday’s testing and Friday’s training session the new guys may be spending the weekend wondering what they’ve got themselves into…don’t worry guys…it gets much much worse.

A new member of my family

As close as I’m planning on getting to having a baby.

I know you guys don’t care about this…but you just have to sit through it as the price you pay for reading the blog.

Testing
Every week I try to find some way to test/torture the guys for my own amusement…it is power, strength or endurance orientated. I tend to cycle the types of tests…mainly so they keep coming to the gym rather than laying at hope shaking and crying under their bed covers.

This week’s test was on the Concept II rower and has left some players in need of psychological counselling. Everyone who came through the door had to get on the rower and empty themselves…it was 6 efforts of 30 seconds endeavouring to cover maximum distance with each effort with 30 seconds of recovery between efforts….sounds easy enough?

I don’t think this guy thought it was easy?

What I look for here is the first time…I want to see a real expression of power…some have it and some don’t…if you don’t have it…you need to get it. Then I look at the forth time…to see the drop off and the total distance covered. I think a great score is around 200 on the first and over 1000m’s in total.

I won’t post all the times…but I’ll give you some of them.

Fanj and Damian set the standard…now I’ll get the excuses in for the boys before they start bitching and moaning…firstly…Fanj has red hair…enough said…and Damian is old and well past it…need I say more.

Fanj – 204, 181, fell out of the boat…he came off the rower…we considered giving him an adjusted time…I was happy with that…as the time chosen of 170 left him 2 metres short of my total, 166, 160, 163 for a total of 1040 metres.

Damian – 202, 187, 180, 176, 171, 175 for a 1091 metre total.

Just to give you an idea of the different type of athletes and their capabilities.

Power:
Chops – 197, 150, 151, 151, 152, 153 for 955 metre total.

Endurance:
David – 171, 168, 160, 159, 158, 155 for 972 metre total.

I don’t think these guys left much on the rower?

I’ll leave it to the guys and gals that did the testing to tell you what they thought of it. I’ve plenty to say about the testing but I’ll let you guys take a look at the results posted and see what you think yourselves.

Their a Concept II’s everywhere…have a go at it and let us know how you get on?

Random Questions and Comments
Adrienl said…
Hi will
I have been reading this blog for a few weeks now but just finished a review of it so i knew what was posted. Now the questioning will begin (i have quite literally a whole page full of questions, so you may want to set a daily limit or something)
Just so we know i am 18, live in Sydney and want your job, and yes i do train, myself and a cricket team in the summer.
So first question, why no straight bar deadlifts, as of this moment. What advantages does the trap bar dead have over the straight bar variations.

I think Hugh covered this question pretty well in the comments section but if you have any other questions fire away.

gmoney said…
aye bro, what kinda trainin do ya’ll use to get ya push-ups up real good like that? can ya post some video for me? i been tryin real hard to get em up but they’re stuck at 40 in 60 seconds and i just dont kno wat to do.

If you want to do improve your push ups we approach it in different ways…it is really dependent on an individuals strengths and weaknesses. To give you a practical example…ROK when she started only did push ups on her knees and when I got her to do a ‘proper’ push up she couldn’t do a single full chest to ground and a press to elbow lock out. What we did was work on her shoulder stability and control, improve her maximal strength, improve her upper body athletic balance and did a lot of push up variations…just about all of which were done sub maximally…I will email her and get her to tell you how she found her program…she’s 16 and a basketballer so has to overcome the disadvantage she has with regard to push up of her relatively long levers…she tested on Monday and banged out 52…she’s almost doubled her push up totals after each of her training cycles at each of her testing days. I’m not trying to be evasive when I say this but what we did is what coaching is all about…applying the appropriate methods, loads and variations at the right times in the right sequence. There isn’t actually a ‘best’ way to improve your push ups. If I was pressed I’d say improve your maximal strength, do a lot of shoulder stability, mobility and control work, do a heap of sub maximal push up variations to accrue some significant volume.

You can all stop discussing it now…it is true…I AM THE GREATEST COACH ON THE INTERNET.

I posted this the other night…and am again…just because it is so funny.

This is Chris NOT jumping 42 inches.

After making 36 inches easy…now only 2 days later through my years of coaching experience and excellence I managed to get Chris to ‘peak’…in just 2 days and he jumped 42 inches easy…twice in fact….a 6 inch improvement in 2 days…now where on the internet would you get coaching like that…a foot and a half improvement a week at this rate from here on in…unfortunately Chris is going to Canada and as we all know…nothing good has come out of Canada except maple syrup…especially no decent coaches…so I’m not expecting any improvement on his return.

Chris easily hitting 42 inches.

Not nearly as stunning but equally impressive…because as we all know…the internet is all about letting people know how excellent you are…you might remember this…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It had to hurt…yet it was sooooo funny.

Well tonight Fanj more than got back on the horse…he leapt onto it.

Fanj’s 46 inch box jump…something like a big red phenomenon.

Only a 4 inch improvement in a week…but that’s still means he’ll be jumping an extra 208 inches in a years time.

I love before and after type stuff

This before and after just happens to have been separated by one rest period of about 60 seconds between sets.

This is Fanj flying like a red super hero onto the 42 inch box…this is the before.

This was after…too far from the box on take off…hence all over the box on landing…there was a nice inner thigh injury too but I’m trying to keep this blog PG so I won’t inflict the view of Fanj’s torn up inner thigh.

I doubt a single athlete will make it a calender year unscathed.

Fanj got himself up…went looking for all the skin he lost…I found some of it right where he left it…as can be seen below.

If CSI comes in they might not know how many athletes I destroyed…but I bet they know who to look for.

Fanj and Rammer after they their mobility work followed by 8 sets box jumps. They then did a few warm up pull ups working up through their work sets with the weighted vest banging out there reps with an additional 40lbs at the end.

Here’s their full session tonight just out of interest.

Warm Up & Mobility Work
Box Jumps – 10 sets of 3 reps
Natural Glute Ham Raises – 3 sets of 12 reps
Roll Outs – 3 sets of 8 reps
Chins (Weighted) – 8 sets of 5 reps
DB Push Up & Row – 5 sets of 12 reps
Roll Outs – 3 sets of 8 reps
1A DB Hammer Curls – 3 sets of 8 reps
1B Lying Tricep Extensions – 3 sets of 8 reps

Johnny is getting stuck into his 2nd training cycle. Pulling 210kg for reps of 8…this was one of 5 sets. I need to get out this weekend and get some more chalk because the site of Johnny in straps is killing me.

Rack Pulls…8 reps at 210kgs…I can’t believe people thought he wasn’t doing enough back work?

Johnny’s straps upset me…but how can I guy who’s nickname is ‘Killer’ be doing weighted pull ups in gloves and socks…you’d have to be tough to get away with that.

Just as an aside…there was a lot of conjecture that my story about Sweden was just that…a story…for my Scandinavian blog readers…you’ll know the chemical that powers this blog comes via the General…and no one would stick this stuff in their face without a damned good reason.

Fanj giving us his 21inch guns salute!

Well I think unofficially the first person ‘found’ this blog today. I think one other person knows of it’s existence…but only because I told them…so they don’t count…so DK…be proud…you can always say you were there right from the beginning!

This won’t be as much fun until we get more interaction here because I really never know what to say until someone asks me a question and I have to give them my answer. The cool stuff that comes out of this blog will be from the Q&A element.