Johnny's Training Log

LOL, no folks, I'm not talking about sleeping with the baseball still there, but if you can, more power to ya! My gf does not want to wake up with baseballs rolling about, other things are enough.

I just find that if I'm on the floor at the gym or even at home I don't have the patience to wait long enough as to be necessary to get the knot to release. I'm much more patient in bed and the baseball really does the job on those very specific knots...

I wanted to add that I don't know how you're going to get at that IT band specifically. At least not from a MFR point of view. I think that the IT band responds much more to long even stretching from knee to armpit. Hurdle stretch for instance.

ts00nami said:

.....I might try doing in bed though I'd like to be conscious of my muscles and relaxation rather than sleeping my way into it.

If the knot is hard to relieve once you put some weight on the baseball it should be fairly painful. I don't think you'd be able to sleep with that knot screaming at you.... The bed suggestion really is about time to devote to the MFR and then also using a good pressure device (baseball) that can target your problem knot. Your bed's mattress should do a good job of holding it in place to allow you to target the knot. I find that when I use the ball in bed I have much better control of where I'm directing the pressure.

11162009

shoulder mob and stab regim

2 rounds of:

15 second PL, roll back 5 FL rows

15 second FL muscle up, 5 PLPU

3 x 12 second IC

lots of MFR

notes:

was planning on DL monday, but I like the idea of listening to my body rather than following a schedule. I had some remnants of DOM from the intense negatives work the other day so I cut my volume and intensity.

I noticed my PL were pretty hard today, i thought this was the soreness affecting my ability, but it turns out my hips were uch more extended than normal, perhaps the DL had some effect? I'm not sure how this would be possible given such a short interval. I'm guessing the most likely case is my lower back was sore so it didn't curve, causing my PL to be more difficult. Whatever the case, it was a nice improvement.

IC were pretty strong today, zero elbow discomfort, I'll give it a month or two before I start working them on rings again.

MFR finally got that last IT band knot out. Used a larger ball. I'm theorizing that for more severe knots they must be gradually relaxed using a series of larger surfaces first and then more acute ones once a certain depth is attained. Perfect, means i can squat tm if i choose.

oh and @ JL

thanks for the tip, i actually tried that in bed last night while answering a few emails. The problem for me is not that the ball won't hold in place without the bed, but that I have wood flooring and it's easier for my whole body to relax when im comfy than on hard floor.

[=

11162009 (workout 2)

shoulder mobility:

15 circles in, out, front to back (Mt, IC, UP)

15 external rotation

15 lateral raises

complete 6 rounds:

3 second L > press handstand 30 second hold

2 back bend bridge walks

5 reach up reach pike, 15 second hold

45 second rest

complete 3 rounds:

5 shoulder extensions

1 minute MFR on back, 5 shoulder extensions while releasing

5 reach up reach pike, 15 second hold

Shoulder mobility:

15 circles in, out, front to back (Mt, IC, UP)

15 external rotation

15 lateral raises

1 minute MFR on deltoids

Squats:

1 x 5 @ 135

1 x 5 @ 225

1 x 3 @ 295

1 minute MFR on quads, IT and glutes

notes:

i'm loving mobility training! body feels great!

HS were locked and turned out for the most part, but a locked out turned out press still eludes me for the time being.

Did my FIRST COMPLETE BACK BEND!!! all the way to the floor did about 3 good ones and a few where I almost put a hole in the wall

pike stretch felt more fluid

squats, planned on doing heavy squats but I just got that knot out of my IT band and I decided to save it for later so i can enjoy my mobility in yoga later tonight. they did feel remarkably easier though maybe a third workout today???

anyways i'm going to play with some OAEL work till then

YKPu7jvY94Q (some of the footage was corrupted somehow but here's a good idea of the exercises i did today along with some ancient videos from the past)

11172009

warm up:

shoulder stability

10 pull ups dips, ball pushups

Maltese:

3 x 12 second ab strap

complete 2 rounds:

3 shoulder stand reverse muscle up to BL

3 OAFL rocks

medicine ball bicep massage

weighted BL Mt PL:

2 x 5 @ 25

1 x 5 @ 20

2 x 5 @ 15

medicine ball bicep massage between sets

1 x 10 reverse curls @ 25

1 x 10 concentration curls @ 30

medicine ball bicep massage

notes:

Malteses feeling very strong, will move away from supported toes and start working fully suspended variations.

other ring work felt pretty strong as well

i visually notice that when i do weighted ml bl pl work that circulation in my arms decreases, i base this off of the visual "pump" look and feel and that when i shake my arm i feel the trickle of blood flow return to the muscle. so i added in some ball massages to help maintain bloodflow.

I am inexplicably losing weight (back down to 174) and gaining size and strength with no notable change in diet, for now I'll attribute this to natural fluctuation unless it becomes a prevalent trend

ts00nami said:

I am inexplicably losing weight (back down to 174) and gaining size and strength with no notable change in diet, for now I'll attribute this to natural fluctuation unless it becomes a prevalent trend

DOPE

nice gymnastics vid, you were/are skilled! And as always insanely strong!

Maybe fat loss because of a more intesive training program? Normaly people with lees body fat look more musculuar in comparison with people with the same muscle mass but more body fat.

Great to see your progress on the road to maltese For some while I thought you stopped training. You weren't anywhere around on the forum for some time.

Kick ass man! Great work A wonderful display of strength and control!

thank you all for the kind words,

Gregor, not illusion of size, actual quantifiable measurable size. I did stop training for about a year or so and just started back up 2ish months ago. I'll put up a vid of my straight arm maltese work soon.

Great. Then it's less fat and more muscles

You are effectively de-trained, so you will see beginner-like results for your first few months training Enjoy them, they WILL slow down in a few more months!

sliz,

I understand, feel and know my body and my training better. I exceed and surpass my old strength in many ways. I am challenging and expanding myself with new exercises, new supplemental regimen, external and self knowledge; my progress will certainly NOT slow down in any sense, but will increase exponentially. Thus i respectfully and entirely disagree.

[=

color me impressed.. nice work... what are your goals that you are currently trying to reach?

I had the same thing to say as Dread

Dreds and Seiji

My main priorities are improving my cross and active flexibility throughout my shoulders and back.

I am learning a maltese (the exercise in this video is not meant to be a maltese however), one arm front lever along with a back bend ( did one for the first time this week!) and bridge kickover.

In addition I am also improving my control in hand balancing variations.

- Johnny

Sweet. I'd love to do an iron cross, but I need to focus on my current training

today was a calculated rest day, but for records and future correctional sake here's a few nutrition and miscellaneous notes:

last night went to go watch the meteor shower in a remote location. ended up taking a wrong turn on the way back home and didn't get back to bed until 5 am, also didn't eat too well or enough and had way too much caffeine. this kind of bled over into today, since i was so sleepy i didn't eat until but the quality of nutrition was a little better besides the first one, obviously:

11182009

a bit of redbull and some chocolate pretzels

sesame and nut crepe (trader joes, very delicious and pretty healthy)

Oatmeal with bananas and cinnamon

1 mango, 1/2 a pinapple

1 3 egg sandwich with ranch and pepper (weird combo?)

1 tilapia fish

1 mango

1 banana

Some pumpkin and squash and green veggies

a bit of rice

11192009

shoulder stability and scapular mobility

10 pull dip ballPU

3 rounds:

10 second iron cross (moved straps to wrists, moving these back to rings very soon)

10 reverse curls with bar

1 minute ball massage proximal to elbow and antecubital regions

2 rounds:

6 twisting straddle front levers

3 one arm yewkis

2 x 10 hip extensions bent

2 x 10 hip extensions straight

1 x 10 hip circles

ball massages on legs

notes:

wasn't feeling too lively today, sleeping patterns likely the culprit.

crosses feel amazing though

I hate pre planning workouts but ive noticed my tendency to gravitate toward high intensity low volume very frequently, and i feel i could benefit from alternating with lower intensity and high volume.

11202009

shoulder + scapula

10 pull dip ballpu

complete 4 rounds:

5 BgD (2 x 90lbs, 2 x 70 lbs)

2 tuck planche > handstand > straddle planche

1 minute stretch and massage

deadlift

5 @ 135

3 @ 225

2 @ 295

2 @ 345

2 @ 295

3 @ 225

5 @ 135

5 minutes stretch and massage.

nutrition:

fairly decent, but i should be eating more:

3 egg sandwich

3 egg omlette

1 protein shake

5 servings of bbq beef

3 servings of mango papaya pinapple watermelon shake

yogurt with mango strawberry and kiwi slices

notes:

Kept movements simple today.

Physically content, but mentally preoccupied; need to enter a better state of mind next time.

11212009

one hour rowing on right side only

notes:

Interesting to observe, participate and dissect the warm up, conditioning and practice of something so different than gymnastics. I found it very easy and I further appreciate how a well conditioned physique can adapt so quickly to a new stimulus.

Oddly enough, when i asked them about muscle imbalance from left to right side they weren't too concerned. The don't balance it with the same movement on the opposite side, but merely do some cross training like swimming. Personally I'm not sure I could be okay with that.

Pecs were slightly sore today from the dips.

11212009

did a lot of pre hab, stretching and ball massage/ MFR for a good 90 minutes

notes:

while i was there i weighed myself and true to the trend, my weight decreased again. I'm now at 170. This doesn't make sense. I'm stronger, lighter and larger than i was a month ago.

i thought it was gylcogen depletion from the rowing, but this is a steady trend. I'm not complaining however, I'd love to understand what my body is doing. My diet has changed a bit. I'm consciously and gradually phasing out non paleo foods. Perhaps this is a more plausible cause.

11222009

Ran an Urbanathalon.

Consited of a 5k and a few obstacles including: 10 four-foot hurdles, a metal cage to traverse in and out of, 16 flights of stairs, a 20 foot military crawl and an 8 foot vertical wall.

Pretty fun, time was around 28 minutes.

Although cardio is a good thing, it doesn't help your muscles get stronger or larger. It might be the cause of your decreasing weight since slow twitch fibers are smaller and lighter. They also don't grow, so don't expect much.

If you were sprinting, that's a different story.

I may be wrong though.

You've misunderstood my posts.

I run 5k's occasionally fun, not a part of my training, and I'm not training for size, especially lower body. Getting lighter while increasing absolute strength is a damn good thing, I'm just not certain what to attribute it to.