road to pro..

[Bruteman]

Your throwing is getting better. Seems like you still have a tendancy to spin your whole body together. I always thought of it like a race between my lower body and upper body, and the lower body should win by a lot. Like a batter in baseball when they go to swing. Their hips are almost facing the outfield and the bat and hands are still back behind their head. Gives them that speed and power from the whipping action. I don't really know how to tell you to work on that though. For me, I would just always be repeating "quick feet" in my head. And always focused on doing my footwork as quickly as possible, and the upper body and whatever implement I was holding was getting pulled along for the ride.

lol, keep in mind my knowledge in throwing is limited. I threw shot/discus for 4 seasons(7th-10th grade), and threw hammer and discus for one season in college. And I wasn't any good, I just enjoyed it.

[JSully]

thanks for the tips. In regards to the weights, you can't drag it the way you can with a discuss, it's just too heavy. You've got to keep the weight by your hip. On the stones, you're certainly right, my separation is terrible. I need to increase flexibility to allow better hip/torso separation so I can get that whip you're referring to. I started donig a lot of torso stretches recently, hopefully it won't take long to see soem results.

10/7/11 - off
throws

53# wob

• 15' x 10/11
• 15'6" x 3/4
• 16' x4/6

Scheduled "off" day for me, however, came home from lunch and discovered my Mrs had gone out to a local farm with one of her friends and the kiddos. So I decided to throw a little wob. I wanted to go 10/10 @ 15' but hit the bar on the way up on the 10th rep. All reps felt pretty solid so I went up and 15'6" was suprisingly easy and I went up again. Of the ones that cleared they were a good 3-4" over, the ones that didn't clear is because the weight either came down in front or hit the bar on the way up.

stretch/foam roll in the evening

macros = 99f / 192c / 282p = 2821 cals IF style

BCAA + beta alanine preWO, postWO meal = 32/132/114/1272cals @ approx 2p

[JSully]

lets start with a food pic:
F lucky charms

*****

10/9/11 - throws

throws

23.5# braemar

• x6-8 step over drills, best of 36'
• x4-6 full, best of 37'6"

16# open x8-10 south african, best of 46'
56# wfd

• x6-8 one turns, best of 36'
• x6-8 two turns, best of 37+

22# hammer x3-5, best of 96+
16# hammer x8-10, best of 117+

nice session.. wasn't feeling the braemar as well as last week, focused on keeping a straight right arm and really opening up wide before punching the stone.. felt good, need more reps. for open, focused on getting a strong wrap and holding my left back as long as possible.. again, need more reps.

wfd felt good, though was already getting tired from the stones, especially since it was about 1030a and I was only running on about 13g BCAA at the time. dropped a few out there nicely, focused on fast feet and getting into position for a strong pull. switched to full throws and was satisfied with the #s.. held onto the weight a bit long on three of the throws that still went 37+, they would have been big tosses.. need to continue working on positions and speed so that I can get a good strong pull, also need to sink more.

hammers felt pretty good, but slow.. couldn't get good speed on any of them and the on that i really had moving came out of my hands right before I was about to pull. That would have been 120+, I tried to recover but was only able to get 117 a couple times. Need to work on speeding my winds up and catching the ball farther behind me.

macros = ?

BCAA + beta alanine preWO, postWO meal = 2600 cals

*****

10/11/11 - throws + speed & a little heavy

throws
16# hammer x14-16

focused on reaching back farther to catch the hammer.. none of the throws had any juice on them, just trying to hit positions. last throw i tweaked my abs just a tiny bit so I shut it down.. going to take some vitamin-I and stretch a bit to help it heal up, should be good to go for some light & easy hammer work this weekend.

speed training w/PF (fastest time listed)
sumo deadlift

1. 225x3 @ 3.33
2. 225x3 @ 3.21
3. 225x3 @ 3.33
4. 225x3 @ 3.58
5. 225x3 @ 3.46
6. 275x3 @ 3.09
7. 275x3 @ 3.21
8. 275x3 @ 3.33
9. 275x3 @ 3.33
10. 275x3 @ 3.33

conventional pulls- 405x4, 515x3, 605x1

incline bench + choked mini bands

1. 135x3 @ 3.58
2. 135x3 @ 3.95
3. 135x3 @ 3.95
4. 145x3 @ 3.83
5. 145x3 @ 3.71
6. 145x3 @ 3.83
7. 155x3 @ 3.71
8. 155x3 @ 3.58
9. 155x3 @ 3.46
10. 155x3 @ 3.58

incline bench- 225x5, 275x3, 315x1

good session. worked up to some semi-heavy stuff as I plan on maxing in a couple weeks so that I have a starting point for my off season cycle to compare against my lifts at the end of the cycle. both the 605 and the 315 felt ridiculously light.. very pleased. session took about an hour as I was dilly dallying around with the heavier stuff. looking forward to moving some big weight in the next couple weeks, then hitting the strength speed phase with additional accomodating resistance and semi-quick #s.

macros = 65f / 467c / 269p = 3515cals IF style

BCAA + beta alaine preWO, postWO meal = 11/209/104/1307cals @ approx 2p

[JSully]

Video

[Coke]

Still beastin' after all these years, lol - good job.

[JSully]

thanks coke

10/12/11 - throws
throws

16# stone

• x10-12 step over drills, best of 42'
• x10-12 full standing, best of 43'
• x10-12 south african, best of 48'

Threw uphill @ work. Starting to feel when my hips get activated. Getting a bit lower so I can get a longer pull, also staggering my feet a bit more. Focusing on keeping a straight left arm and swinging wide. South african throws were all feeling just ok, but nothing big. Tyipcally I sink prior to beginning of the spin and try to explode up but it seems that I'm losing power by doing this. On my very last throw I decided to sink as I was in the process of spinning on my right foot. Amazingly, I was able to pivot much easier and transfer the power better, resulting in a 48' throw, uphill.. Very pleased with this, shut it down there. Will play with this again on sunday.

macros = 65f / 3398c / 289p = 3271cals IF style

BCAA + beta alanine preWO, postWO meal = 11/209/104/1307cals @ approx 3p

[JSully]

10/13/11 - throws
throws

53# wob x4/24 @ 16'

terrible. Stayed home with the little guy becaus the mrs was sick so we went out int he side yard to work some wob. I should have started at 15 and worked my way up. After the 6th miss in a row I got frustrated. Pulls were early, releases were early, explosion was off. Every rep was hitting the bar either on the way up or on the way down or just way out in front of it. At least I got some reps in, from a muscular standpoint.


macros = ?

******

10/14/11 - squat, ohp & back
training

speed squats w/PF (fastest time listed)
+ choked monster mini bands

1. 225x3 @ 3.46
2. 225x3 @ 3.46
3. 225x3 @ 3.58
4. 225x3 @ 3.46
5. 225x3 @ 3.33
6. 275x3 @ 3.58
7. 275x3 @ 3.58
8. 275x3 @ 3.71
9. 275x3 @ 3.46
10. 275x3 @ 3.58

squats (no bands, bar weight only)- 315x3 @ 2.96, 405x1 @ 2.22, 455x1 @ 1.85, 505x1 @ 0.61
strict OHP- 135x12, 185x3, 206x1, 225x1, 275xF, 255x1
GMs- 225x8x3
*superset w/ pullthroughs- green band x8, x10x2
pullups- BWx5x6
db rows- 120x10x3

aside from the heavy squats, it was a great training session. 505 felt WAY heavier than it should have, a product of prior speed work, exhaustion or just plain weakness? I fail to give excuses so I'll just say plain weakness. I need to work this up. I want 600+ before the start of next season.

macros = ?

BCAA + beta alaine preWO, postWO meal = 7/107/94/858cals @ approx 3p

*****

10/16/11 - throws
throws

16# stone

• x6-8 step over drills, best of 41'
• x4-6 full, best of 42'
• x2 south african, best of 41: tweaked right groin

56# wfd x4-6 one turn, best of 36'
30# wfd

• x4-6 one turn, unk distance
• x2-4 two turn, unk distance

16# hammer x2, best of 106 w/o blades

sprints- 100'x8

took it way easy on wfd after the groin pull.. I think the issue is my right isn't pivoting enough and my knee isn't coming in before I push. This may be a product of the large jav spikes in my shoes. I'm going to replace with smaller spikes and see how that feels. Was also very sick on saturday the 15th, I think I caught the stomach bug that my wife had thursday, was throwing up all moring, queesy all day.. need to rest up.

macros = ?

*****

10/17/11 - deads & bench
training

bench- up to 385x1, fail @ 405
speed bench w/PF (fastest time listed)
+ doubled mini bands

1. 135x3 @ 2.57
2. 135x3 @ 3.33
3. 135x3 @ 3.21
4. 135x3 @ 3.21
5. 135x3 @ 3.33
6. 135x3 @ 3.33
7. 135x3 @ 3.46
8. 135x3 @ 3.46
9. 135x3 @ 3.33
10. 135x3 @ 3.58

speed deads w/PF (fastest time listed)
+ doubled monster mini bands

1. 225x3 @ 3.95
2. 275x3 @ 3.71
3. 275x3 @ 3.46
4. 275x3 @ 3.71
5. 275x3 @ 3.58
6. 315x3 @ 3.21
7. 315x3 @ 3.33
8. 315x3 @ 3.46

+ lying leg raises, ab wheel against choked mini band & cable twists

pissed about missing 405.. 385 felt easy, I must be losing leg drive, tightness or something.. I don't bench heavy nearly as often as I should so that could be a reason, whatevs. Speed felt alright on everything, pretty tired, was supposed to do heavy sumo pulls and some assistance work but I wasn't feeling. Yesterday's sprints have my legs on fire today.


macros = 26f / 162c / 252p = 1884 cals

BCAA + beta alaine preWO, postWO meal = 9/123/98/970cals @ approx 3p

dropping cals down for about 2 weeks, going to try to get some fat loss going before the tucson games. I'll have a cheat meal sunday the 23rd, then about maintenance cals on the 24th since I'll be going for a ME deadlift, then back down to 1800 for the rest of the week.

food pic here: 10/17/11 dinner = tilapia & cottage cheese

*****

10/18/11 - throws
throws

30# wfd

• x12-14 one turns, best of 63'
• x6-8 two turns, best of 68'

sprints- 40yrds x10, timed 2 of them, 5.8sec and 5.7sec

thew uphill @ work during my lunch break. focused on getting real low for the finish and really driving up and out. worked on footwork and separation, then slowly increased effort. Still feeling beat up from sundays sprints + mondays DL workout, low cals are hitting me today too. Got to stay focused. Sprints were slow but meh, whatevs. I'll be working on increasing this speed over the next couple months. I'd really like to get my 40 in the sub 5s.


macros = 26f / 159c / 250p = 1870 cals

BCAA + beta alaine preWO, postWO meal = 9/123/98/970cals @ approx 3p

[JSully]

I just realized I've been spelling beta alanine wrong in almost every post, haha..

[JSully]

food pic from 10/18 here: 10/18/11 dinner - chicken w/ broccoli & cheese + ff cottage cheese

[mrelwooddowd]

Yuck to caloric deficit. Forever.

I remember you macro totaling spreadsheet I used. You ate so much wal mart fat free cheese...

*vomit*

[thecityalive]

Thanks for the suggestion! Everybody's continued support is bringing me closer to the next level. Wrists wraps and knee sleeves next.

[Coke]

Damn dude, quite ambitious these days!!

[JSully]

pat- deficit def blows, but I need to be lean so I'll suck it up, only another week then I bump to maintenance for a couple weeks..

city- no prob bro

coke- eyes on the prize, eyes on the prize

10/19/11 - front squats, box jumps & back
training

front squats- up to 365x1, fail @ 405

speed front squats w/PF (fastest time listed)
+ choked monster mini bands

1. 185x3 @ 4.08
2. 185x3 @ 3.83
3. 225x3 @ 3.51
4. 225x3 @ 3.33
5. 225x3 @ 3.46
6. 275x3 @ 3.46
7. 275x3 @ 3.46
8. 275x3 @ 3.58

pullups- BWx5x8
bb rows- 225x10x4
seated box jumps to 30" box, from 18" box x6x3

500m row, time was 1:39

exhausted early. I knew it was going to be a tough session when even my warmups with 95lbs for front squats felt like 225. I racked 405 and walked it out, as I sunk down into the hole I thought about pushing. I probably could have grinded it out, but I was crushed. Tired, hungry, etc.. so I just dropped it from there and moved onto my speed stuff. Box jumps were easy. I like doing them from a seated position, I feel like I'm working harder. Next time I'll bump it up to 36" and start holding weight. The row was brutal, but fun. I would've be 1:20ish but I stopped twice for 5-10 seconds each time.

macros = 35f / 160c / 244p = 1927cals

BCAA + beta alaine preWO, postWO meal = 9/123/98/970cals @ approx

*****

10/20/11 - throws
throws

16# stone

• x6 step over drills, best of 38'
• x6-8 full standing, best of 41'
• x25-30 south african, best of 46'

53# wob 3/15 @ 15'

great stones session.. really learning how to get separated and push the hips through first. Need to work on keeping my upper body back a tidbit longer as I'm opening up too early. Excited to throw stones again. WOB was crappy, everything out front or hitting the bar on the way down. Finally figured it out I wasn't finishing my pull and no issues at all. Going to hit some quality reps next week.

macros = 29f / 155c / 247p = 1905 cals

BCAA + beta alanine preWO, postWO meal = 11/123/99/1005cals @ approx 3p

[JSully]

10/21/11 & 22 - calories
no training, just a calorie log.

10/21 = 43f / 115c / 247p = 1866 cals IF style
am weight = 275.6lbs

10/22 = 33f / 150c / 252p = 1908 cals IF style

increasing cals on the 23rd & 24th for my heavy DL sesh, then back down the rest of the week. Back to maintenance over the weekend until after thanksgiving.

*****

10/23/11 - throws
throws

16# stone

• x5 step over drills, best of 43'
• x5 full standing, best of 46'
• x10-12 south african, best of 47.5'

56# wfd

• x3-5 one turns, best of 36'
• x4 two turns, best of terrible

28# wfd x4-6, best of 72'

sweet stones session, really starting to click

absolutely terrible weights session. I'm pulling way too early and the weight is blowing out the right side. I was exhausted by the time I got to LWFD so my #s were terrible, pulls were late, leg drive was nil. Just an awful day for weights. Shut it down and decided to start eating in prepration for a big pull monday.

macros = 281f / 725c / 281p = 6488 cals

BCAA + beta alanine preWO, postWO meal = 174/581/164/4466 cals @ approx noon-1p

*****

10/24/11 - deads & posterior
training

conventional deadlifts up to 655x1 [20# PR]
RDL- 335x8, 385x6, 425x6
band pull throughs- green band x10x3

blegh.. I should be happy with a PR but I'm not. 605 didn't feel 1/2 as easy as it did last week and I'm thinking it could be that I wasn't "recovered" from the ultra low calories all last week. When I pulled 605 I knew 7 was probably going to be a no-go. I loaded up 655 and it was a grinder, complete with bloody nose and full body cramps afterwards, lol. Give me a few more months and 7 will go down.

macros = ??

[thecityalive]

OH SNAP PR!

[JSully]

Video

[Coke]

Doing great Jake, look forward to upcoming comps.

[thecityalive]

Dang, that one took awhile!

[Brian C]

Really nice pull PR Jake, congrats!

[JSully]

thanks fellas, that was a grinder fsho. I thought about bailing but I smashed that thought within nanoseconds.

10/25/11 - throws
throws

53# wfd

• x10 one turns
• x15-20 two turns

blegh, terrible weight session. something just isn't clicking. need to watch video and break down my technique.

macros = ?

*****

10/26/11 - squat + back
training

back squats- 135x5, 185x5, 225x5... etc up to 405x5, 455x1
pullups- BWx5x8sets
ring rows- BWx10x3sets
heavy band glute thrusts- x10, x15x2sets
40" box jumps, BWx5x3sets

1000m row in 4:28

not happy with the squat. my core was still smashed from deads on monday, i forgot my belt, i gave blood tuesday, etc and the excuses go on. Fact of the matter was 455 felt heavy as shit. I did a single and just didn't feel like putting forth the effort for any more. I probably could have ground out another 2-3 but just didn't want it. The rest of the workout was decent, cardio at the end felt pretty good, not a fast pace but it still felt good.

re: diet, going to change things around. Still going to go IF style, however, I need some food before my workouts. I'm just dragging ass all the time. I've decided I'm going to eat "breakfast" at noon, train at 1-115ish then eat my postWO meal at 230-3ish.. I'll start this tomorrow. Also increased calories back up to 2500-2800ish for now. 1800 was just too low.

macros = ~3000

*****

10/27/11 - throws
throws

16# stone

• x5 step over drills, best of 38'
• x5 full standing, best of 40'
• x8 south african, best of 43'

53# wfd

• x5 one turns, best of 34'
• x10 two turns, best of 34'

30# wfd x4-6, unk distance

again, stones felt great and weights did not. really tried to evaluate what is going on with my weights and discovered a few things: 1) I don't drive in a straight line. I drive diagonally left toward the front of the trig. This is due to over pivoting my right foot and turning into the turn too much with my torso. Need to fix this. 2) I'm pulling late because i'm waiting for my foot to pivot enough before driving. What does this mean? It means that for the last 2 months the one turn drills I've been doing have drilled incorrect footwork. This sucks. 3) I'm scooping the weight. The reason for this is when my footwork is correct, the timing of my drive from 1 to 2 is off and the weight is too close to my body. Time to fix all of this, hopefully I can get it semi-fixed before tucson. Lots of one turn drills to get the new footwork in my head. Then it's just going to be like Luke Crowley said, cast = rolling start into a huge one turn. Time to get rolling and some big WFD #s.

Had a nice little discussion with MVincent about this as well and learned a couple things. The same block on the stones should be felt on the weights, ie: getting up on my left and pushing back to accellerate my hips forward. Also, "pushing" the weight out, not pulling it. This is a product of getting up on that left rather than staying on my right and pulling the weight around me. Time to do work.

Oh, I also ate a decent meal before training (at noon) and I had a decent amount more of energy. Combined with the BCAAs during workout, I felt pretty good.


daily macros = 61f / 345c / 242p = 2927 cals IF style

[JSully]

10/30/11 - throws
throws

23.5# stone

• x8 step over drills, best of 35'
• x5 full standing, best of 35'

16# stone x15 south african, best of 44'

53# wfd

• x10-12 one turn, best of 35'
• x8-10 two turn, best of 36'

30# wfd x10-12, best of 68'

not a terrible session, but not great either. From the very beginning I could feel the effects of the prior day's poor nutrition. Whenever I don't watch calories I end up eating significantly less protein. For some reason, my calories were severly restricted on saturday as well, this definitely carried over. Everything felt heavier, despite having 2 days rest. I'm kicking myself in the ass for not paying attention to my calories better on saturday, oh well, moving on. Technique felt dialed in on both the stones. Was getting up onto my lef and a good block on the braemar tosses. For the south african I was getting a good wrap and a tight coil. Was opening up early on a lot of them, still many more drills to do.

The focus of the day was weights. Originally I set out to do everything except caber. WFD took over because this is where I need the most work right now. After lots of line drills and lots of one turns, I finally had a good straight drive again. The next big thing to work on was the finish. I seem to be pulling the weight around me and leaning back to counter balance it, but this isn't right. I was getting really frustratet with the heavy weight and moved to the light weight at this point. After about 7-8 tosses I was getting up on my left so much that it was pushing my right hip all the way through and I was stepping over. Bingo. Worked this for another 4-5 throws and despite little drive from 1 to 2 was still getting some decent throws. Decided to go back to heavy and dropped another 3-4 in the 35-36' range.. after about 2.5 hours of training, I was pleased with this.

Didn't even track calories the rest of the day, just ate like a pig. 1 gallon of milk, a pound or so of pot roast with carrots and potatoes. Some pepperoni and cheese sandwiches. It was good and I feel energized today. This is the week leading up to the Tucson games, typically I would take it easy but I need to get more reps in with the weights, plus I need to get at least one session in with the hammers, wob and sheaf. I don't compete until sunday so here is the plan:

monday = weights + hammer @ lunch, wob + sheaf after work
tuesday = weights + stones @ lunch, speed work with weights & PF after work
wednesday = weights + hammer + sheaf

deload the rest of the week, ice bath wednesday and friday night. stretch/foam roll every night, 3500-4000 calories/day. 20g BCAA/day starting wednesday to assist with recovery, large omelette pre-comp + some caffeine since I've got to get up at 430a to make the drive sunday morning.

food pic#1 here: 10/29/11 snack = halloween spider bread bowl
food pic#2 here: 10/30/11 dinner = pot roast

[Coke]

Damn, truly good eating at your place, lol.

Stepping to it all impressively.

[thecityalive]

I don't think I'd be able to eat at your place, Sully. Lookin at some of these highlander game workouts are confusing me.

[JSully]

thanks coke, t-minus 6 days and counting until the last competition of the year, got some more work to do, then it's time to ramp up the weights and calories..

I don't think I'd be able to eat at your place, Sully. Lookin at some of these highlander game workouts are confusing me.

understandable. a video to help you out:

Video

step over drills = the first thing you see, throwing stone from the standing position and allowing my right hip to follow through and step over the trig (toe board)

full standing = full standing throws, same as step over, except I'm not allowing my foot to go past the trig. equivalent to the "power position" in shot put

south african = 3rd type of throws you see. similar to the shotput spin, but taking half of it out of the equation. I would like to learn the full spin this off season but for now, this is teaching me how to wrap my body around itself (think of like a spring coil) then explode with the hips first, slingshotting my upper body around into the release

one turn drills = 4th type of throw in the vid. starting with my back foot at the back of the throwing area and my left side toward the throwing area, then turning once, landing, and exploding up over the trig

full throws = 5th type seen, start facing the trig in the back of the throwing area. the first turn gets you in position for the drive and from there you finish the one turn drill. there's also some light weight for distance throws in there too, same thing, 2 spin.

there are also some hammer throws in there, just like olympic hammer, except the feet have to stay planted. quite a few of the track & field events evolved from the scottish highland games.

just for comparison's sake:

professional HG athlete vs my throws (I'm ranked 10th in the country in the amateurs)

braemar stone (23.5# stone, thrown from the standing position) = avg 40-45, my PR is 38.5'
open stone (16# stone, either with a full spin, glide or south african) = 55-60, my PR is 49'
heavy weight for distance (56# weight) = 43-47, my PR is 40'
light weight for distance (28# weight) = 83-88, my PR is 79'10
heavy hammer (22# weight) = 115-120, my PR is 99'10
light hammer (16# weight) = 135-145, my PR is 125'
Weight over bar = 17-18', my pr is 16'
sheaf = 32-36, my PR is 26'
caber = too hard to keep track, all of them are different

weight over bar is simply described as what it's called, it's a 56# weight that you throw with one hand, up over a bar above you, highest throw wins
sheaf is a 20# burlap sack that you stab with a pitchfork. the goal is to throw the sheaf bag up over the bar behind you.

hope that clarify's bud

[thecityalive]

I'm assuming you've thrown shot or hammer before in track?