Month 2, Week 3

Time is flying at the moment as we're already headed into the main week of Month 2!!

I detailed days 1 and 3 of the program last week but forgot to take any footage on day 2 so I took some this week so here's what we do on a Thursday evening which is the upper body repetition method session.

After our foam rolling, joint mobilisation and muscle activation exercises we go into some muscle stiffness and quickness exercises with one of them being speed skaters:

We followed that up with some max effort and repetition chin up work then it was onto some bench press supplementary work courtesy of Dave Tate at Elite Lifts with tricep death:

To finish with we did a tri set of DB Chest Supported Rows, 2 DB Shoulder Press and Side Step to Pallof Press Isometric:

As mentioned above week 3 of each month is where the magic happens so I'll be sure to update you on each person's 3 rep max numbers for our max effort exercises of month 2, being sumo deadlifts, 3 board bench presses and weighted chin ups.

Month 2, Week 1

The week just finished saw us starting the 2nd month of the Aussie Rules Training Off Season Training Program.

I did some small alterations to the original plan as each session seemed to be going for 2 hours which isn't a problem, but I need to get home a decent time of a night with my alarm going off at 5am every morning.

So now the weekly schedule looks like this:

Day 1 Full Body - Max Effort Lower and Max Effort Bench Press Day

Day 2 Upper Body - Max Effort Chin Up and Upper Body Repetition Day

Day 3 Lower Body - Lower Body Repetition Day

Tuesday still went for 2 hours but days 2 and 3 were a lot shorter so it still works out well.

So Monday we started off with some quickness / stiffness exercises with Low Barrier On/Off Jumps, Low Barrier Lateral On/Off Jumps:

Low Squat Sprints:

Then we went outside for some 20 and 40 meter sprints:

And some Jump Squat to Overhead Medicine Throws:

Moving inside we moved to some Sumo Deadlifts paired with some Double Standing Long Jumps:

We also did some 3 Board Bench Presses, Dumbbell Reverse Lunges, Supine Single Leg Bridges and Swissball Circles.

I forgot the video camera on Thursday so I'll go into that day next week but I remembred Friday which was lower body day so again we started with some quickness / stiffness exercises such as diagonal and square jumps:

For plyometrics we did a Double Bound:

We followed that up with a Heavy Arse Sled Push paired with 10m sprints and then finished up with some Glute Ham Raises which we did last month and Side to Prone Holds:

I'll definitely video everything else next week so look out for more action.

1 Month Down, 4 To Go - Week 4 Recap

So we just finished week 4 tonight (I'm going away tomorrow so we wrapped it up tonight instead of Friday) and we had an up and down week.

Lachy couldn't handle the grog and got sick from a big Derby Day here in Melbourne and Nick couldn't gather the courage to swear loudly at his boss when he told he was staying back late Monday night so it was Bluey and I for Monday / Tuesday and then we all made it for the Thursday.

So for the last week we have a deload week where we drop the weight and volume for the max effort lifts and decrease the volume while maintaining intensity for the assistance exercises.

Bluey only start a couple of weeks ago and hadn't down a lower body session yet so he did a regular week with no deloading and I went silly and maxed out on the Trap Bar Deadlifts. The highlights this week were:

• Bluey blew the Stand Long Jump record out of the water with his first jump, making a 260cm effort!!
• Bluey also set a 3 rep max of 95kgs with a few reps left in the tank on his very first go at them
• I blew up 150kgs on the Trap Bar Deadlifts which was a great effort from my hands/grip. My hands are not only tiny, tiny, tiny but there is also no ligaments, tendons and nerves in the right hand so my grip holding up (which doesn't for 150kg traditional deadlifts) is a big win for me.
• I also tried some chains work for my dynamic effort bench press as suggested in this article:

We also managed to load the prowler up with even more weight then last, although my carpet doesn't like as you can see here:

I'll make some small changes to my original program for month 2 and we'll hit it hard starting next Tuesday.

Some Comparisons

So for shits and giggles, here's some comparison's to some of the stuff I acheived in the first month of the Aussie Rules Training Off Season Program and some other blokes from the world of youtube.

My 220kg Heavy Arse Sled Drag

This blokes 540kg Heavy Arse Sled Drag

My 150kg Trap Bar Deadlift (here's my 135kg x 1, didn't record the 150kg set)

And this bloke's 315kg Trap Bar Deadlift

My 255cm Standing Long Jump

And this bloke's 334cm Standing Long Jump

My 68cm Single Leg Box Jump

And this bloke's 132cm Single Leg Box Jump

Probably not even half way to some of these blokes and at age 33, a small business owner, a wife with Gillian Barre Syndrome and 10 month old at home, I probably won't get much closer to these guys but I'll still give it my all because I only need to be better then the bloke I'm playing on, not any of these blokes.

So what goals are you working towards?

A HHHUUUGGGEEE Week 3!!

What a mammoth week, I'm knackered. Here's what went on at the athlete factory.

For the Aussie Rules Training Off Season Program each month waves like this:

Week 1 - a moderate intensity (weight used), moderate volume (sets x reps per exercise) week where we learn the exercises that we'll use for the month. We also work up to a 5 rep max for our max effort lifts.

Week 2 - the intensity increases for each exercise while volume stays the same while working up to a 3 rep max for our max effort lifts.

Week 3 - volume increases for each exercise while again working up to a 3 rep max with the aim to beat the total from week 2.

Week 4 - uses a delaod week with lower intensity and lower volume for almost everything while we recover from the fatigue built up in weeks 1 to 3.

Basically week 3 is the "peak" week of every month and we just finished the 3rd and final day of that week tonight.

Tuesday's Highlights:

• I managed a personal best of 68cms on the single leg box jump

• Nick beating last week's chin up 3 rep max of +17.5kgs with a +20kg effort
• I managed a + 35kgs chin up 3 rep max recorded sideways

• We also did some step ups and hip thrusts:

Thursday Highlights:

• Nick and Lachy both reaching 52.5kgs for a 3 rep max on the bench press
• Bluey reaching 60kgs on a 3 rep max on the bench press
• I managed 92.5kgs for a bench press 3 rep max

Friday Highlights:

• Lachy busting out a 95kg 3 rep max on the trap bar deadlift

• Nick making out a 100kg 3 rep max on the trap bar deadlift

• I managed 135kgs for my 3 rep max for the trap bar deadlift

• Lachy posting a pb for the standing long jump with a 256cm effort
• Nick and Lachy also posted pb's for the 10m sprints with times of 1.75secs and 1.85secs respectively
• We also managed to pile 190kgs on the prowler for a monster heavy ass sled drag:

A great week 3 with plenty of quality baseline numbers set that we look to improve upon a great deal by the start of the 2012 season.

Remember we also have an online version of the Aussie Rules Training Off Season Program so email me at lange_troy@hotmail.com to get your hands on that and join us!!

Week 2 Recap

Just finished up week 2 of the Aussie Rules Training Off Season Training Program.

This week used a weight increase progression for every exercise which made things a little tough but week 3 is where it all happens and is the hardest week where we'l max out on the max effort lifts and increase the volume of the assistance exercises before deloading a little for week 4.

Some of the highlights included;

• Jack reaching a +22.5kgs on the chin up 3 rep max
• Nick reaching a +17.5kgs on the chin up 3 rep max
• Tim on his first night making a 55kg 5 rep max on the bench press
• Lachy making a 47.5kgs 5 rep max on the bench press
• Nick building on last week's trap bar deadlift by 10kgs finishing at 90kgs for a 3 rep max
• Lachy completing a 70kg 5 rep max for the trap bar deadlift, his first ever deadlifting effort in his life

Here's some of the action from this week:

We also have Chris from NSW and Kevin from Ireland doing the in line version of the program. Kevin is actually a Gaelic footballer over there so I'll be keeping you updated on their progress through the off season as well and hopefully they can provide some video too.

I was a little tired for Friday / lower body day after a broken sleep courtesy of a 9 month old and not getting the chance to have a decent pre training meal so I'm really looking forward to tearing the trap bar a new one next Friday.

What are you doing for your off season training?

Week 1 Down!!

Week 1 of the 5 month Aussie Rules Off Season Football Program has been completed.

Lauchy, Nick, Jack and myself have set some pretty good baseline numbers and once they're improved upon, how can't we be better players next year??

Geoff Zach, we're still waiting for you so hopefully you can make it Tuesday.

I go into detail for yesterdays lower body workout which I call the "magic workout."

If you were going to train only 1 day, then this would have to be it.

As normal we started with some myofascial release work with various mobilisation and activation drills.

Next up was some stiffness training with a little bit of this:

and this:

With the nervous system ramped up we move to some plyometrics with some of this action:

Next it was time to hit the iron with some Trap Bar Deadlifts:

After breaking world records on that exercise we moved to some prowler dragging paired with some 10m sprints...here's a 1.8sec hand held timed set from Jack without any technique tips at all...he's an explosive cat as you would have seen from the standing long jump video above:

To finish with we did some extremely humbling glute ham raises paired with some core work:

Nick and Jack had never done these before so I bet their hamstrings are feeling it today. I ate like a beast last night ad have pulled up pretty good.

If you have any questions on how, why and what we're doing in the program then shoot through a comment or question.