Connelly's Journal

Wow got like nothing done today, had like no time in the gym.

Incline
95x5
115x5
125x5

OH Press
65x10
75x7

Power Cleans
95x3

Had to leave was gonna try 135x3 on cleans today to..first day we didn't do a form of squatting in like 3 weeks.

Goals by end of 2009:
Bench 205
Squat 255 ATG
Squat Clean 185

"There is no elevator to success, you must take the stairs."

Coach is giving us the day of tomorrow..i'm glad but kinda dissapointed. Anyways gonna be lifting at my house later today. Gonna probably try to power clean 135x3..not very good I know but i'm still basicly just starting. Also bench and squats.

Goals by end of 2009:
Bench 205
Squat 255 ATG
Squat Clean 185

"There is no elevator to success, you must take the stairs."

Hang Cleans
barx6
95x3
Power Cleans
135x3 PR

It was difficult, but tbh probably had another 5-10 lb. in me, this lift has so much to do with pushing yourself and confidence in yourself/your spotter imo. So without a spotter I decided to stop here. Next week looking for 145x3, I know this isn't a great number but its a pretty nice PR to rep 135, especially since I haven't been doing power cleans much at all until like a month ago.

Likely doing squats/bench tomorrow and possibly running really busy with other stuff atm though.

Goals by end of 2009:
Bench 205
Squat 255 ATG
Squat Clean 185

"There is no elevator to success, you must take the stairs."

Yesterday
Squats
barx10
135x6
185x5 <---PR
The 185 was parallel or a little lower, definitly good enough depth but not parallel. Pretty hard, but did it without a rack or a spotter so it couldn't have been but so hard.
Today
bench
barx8
95x6
135x3
195xmiss
...not much to say really need to work on exploding the bar up, if i am working out at my house again soon i'll probably do some band work.

Goals by end of 2009:
Bench 205
Squat 255 ATG
Squat Clean 185

"There is no elevator to success, you must take the stairs."

Haven't lifted at school last two days, coach has just had us doing alot of conditioning..the last month or so I haven't been listing all the conditioning stuff because some of it is hard to explain and would take a while..anyways will probably lift later today at the house probably not real heavy though just some assistance stuff.

Goals by end of 2009:
Bench 205
Squat 255 ATG
Squat Clean 185

"There is no elevator to success, you must take the stairs."

Wednesday:
Bench
barx10
95x6
135x5
160x4<---PR
Strict Curls
bar
65x8

Today did extra conditioning, not posting stuff we do at practice, it would take forever, but i'll post conditioning I do on my own.

Dynamic warmup
Sprint
1x40
2x80
Gasser(sideline-sideline-sideline-sideline-sideline, a total of 4 widths of the field)
300M
Gasser, but instead of 4 widths I did 6.

Goals by end of 2009:
Bench 205
Squat 255 ATG
Squat Clean 185

"There is no elevator to success, you must take the stairs."

Squats
barx8
135x6
165x5
Bench
barx8
135x4
165x3 <--PR tied a pr I set a while back, didn't know if I could get it now though.
190xmiss<---Didn't actually miss it, just bitched out about 3/4 down and pushed it up
190x1<--PR not an amazing lift, wouldn't have passed in the competition, normaly I am a guy that says if it isn't completely right then it doesn't count, but I felt like it was close enough to right that I would count it. Will work on this in the next couple weeks getting 190-195 with very strict form

The squats were very low atg controlled squats. Unlike the parallel-slightly below parallel squats I had been doing lately, I wanted to make sure I kept up the atg squats I have been doing the last 14 months because I still feel like overall atg squats are better than parallel. Although I also want to get used to alot of weight doing parallel squats, just because over the next few years scouts can look at my max squat, and I need it to be as high as possible.

Anyways as far as football goes, I feel like I have been doing well. Last couple days been trying to condition next to the varsity safety to try and get a little faster and more agile, although I feel in really good shape there is always room to improve. Feel very good about this season, although I probably won't get very much varsity PT. We have a conditioning test where we have to run 16 100's under a specific time for our positions, the coach said it was nothing to worry about if we had been to all the summer workouts, so I feel fine about it, especially because I am the fastest freshman/sophmore OLB, so they couldn't really cut us all haha. Anyways made this post pretty long, haven't been on here as much lately just been at football practice, and hanging out with alot of people.

Goals by end of 2009:
Bench 205
Squat 255 ATG
Squat Clean 185

"There is no elevator to success, you must take the stairs."

Yesterday:
Incline Bench
barx10
95x6
135x5<--PR don't really do this much, but nonetheless its a pr
BB Curls
barx12
65x8
Deadlifts
135x5
185x5<--not very heavy, haven't been doing deadlifts lately, still want to incorporate them since there one of the best mass builders, will start going heavier soon though hopefully.
Still trying to gain some strength during football season, but will likely not be seeing as good of gains. Will either do sprints or squat later today, its raining pretty bad though so probably squats.

Goals by end of 2009:
Bench 205
Squat 255 ATG
Squat Clean 185

"There is no elevator to success, you must take the stairs."

Not sure how much posting i'll be doing for a little while other than in my journal and the occasional post to help someone. It is really frustrating when you see many people that have no business giving advice telling others stuff and people thinking they know whats best for someone to "look juacked" yet they themselves are over 6' and weight under 200. This is just my opinion but if your around 6'2" and don't weight 215+ as a fully grown guy, you have no business telling others how to gain muscle. Anyways not really mad, just think it is a bit comical and sad all the people that think there big tough guys on the internet.

Not lifting today, football was pretty intense today, kinda mad that a guy ran right into in a walk through drill of kickoff/kickoff return, no big deal though, its football.

Goals by end of 2009:
Bench 205
Squat 255 ATG
Squat Clean 185

"There is no elevator to success, you must take the stairs."

Last night

Squats
barx10
135x6
195x4<--PR pretty good depth, 3 of the 4 are what i would call atg, the other one still was clearly below parallel.
Bench
barx8
95x6
135x4
170x2

Was about to deadlifts, but a couple people wanted to hangout.

The coaches wanted to let the field dry off from rain earlier, so they had us lift then go into a classroom that we use alot to go over plays, the plays are pretty complicated tbh. But this was the stuff we did in the weightroom:
Squats
barx10
135x8
Then I was supposed to do like 155x8 but I didn't really feel like squatting 10 hours after squatting, so I just kinda helped spot some guys and skipped the last set.
Power Cleans
95x5
115x5
95x5<--Stupid kid I was lifting with had to get bad form on the 115 set so I had to go down to 95 with him..was hoping to do 135x5..whatever wasn't expecting to lift at all today.

Pretty good day today at football, I think I am close to locking up a starting spot, there is a pretty beast sophmore on JV that will probably start at OLB, but I should have the other spot, there is an ok freshman there, but I am bigger stronger and faster than him, so I shouldn't have any problems.

Goals by end of 2009:
Bench 205
Squat 255 ATG
Squat Clean 185

"There is no elevator to success, you must take the stairs."

C,
   Wow!  I'm seeing lots of PRs in your journal.  Great job!  Good luck with locking down that starter position!  :)

Thanks man, yeah I have been doing fairly well lately, although I would like to be doing better. Football is conflicting alot with lifting, but its working out.

Goals by end of 2009:
Bench 205
Squat 255 ATG
Squat Clean 185

"There is no elevator to success, you must take the stairs."

Does football get in the way of keeping the grades up?

In middle school I did pretty well, all a's and b's mostly in 6th and 7th grade 8th grade I didn't do so great but still nothing lower than a c. But I haven't been to highschool a day in my life yet lol so i'm not sure

Goals by end of 2009:
Bench 205
Squat 255 ATG
Squat Clean 185

"There is no elevator to success, you must take the stairs."

Are you excited or scared for HS?  Probably excited since you're a football player.  It's different when you're a skinny nerd like me.

Haha, you look pretty built in your picture. I am really exited, because I already know alot of people there, and I already know alot of juniors and seniors from football and my pool and church. But of course I am a little nervous, just because I am going to a very large school, and it will be alot different. But overall I think it should be fun, but I am going to focus on grades alot, just because getting a scholarship (football or academic) would be awesome, just because when you think about it thats like $150,000 you save right there that could go to other stuff after college. But honestly, if everything works out, I am hoping for it to be a football scholarship. I have wanted to play D1 for my whole life. But have basicly set my sights directly on it a couple years ago. We'll just have to see though I am getting a little ahead of myself here.

Today the coach ran us like crazy. Then he was talking to us at the end of practice, and a major D1 recruit (signed with Wake Forest last sunday) takes off his shoulder pads and we have to go on the line again and run 8 more 40's..anyways i was just bringing this up, because after 5 hours of football practice and over 20 (I think it was 26 to be exact but not sure) 40 yard sprints, I thought I lifted pretty well

Bench
barx8
135x5
155x3
165x2x2<-- On the second set I got a 3rd rep, but I didn't go all the way down, so it doesn't count.

Squat
barx8
135x5
185x4<--Pretty good, although it is 10 lb. less than what I did a few days ago, I felt really good about it after all the running.

Goals by end of 2009:
Bench 205
Squat 255 ATG
Squat Clean 185

"There is no elevator to success, you must take the stairs."

C,
   Seems to me you're mature beyond your years!  Important to have fun, but a good head on your shoulders will take you far in life!  Good workin out!  :)

Thanks man.

Wow I hurt my finger pretty bad today at football. Should hopefully be fine in a couple days, luckily I get a day off (sunday) so I can recover some from getting hit on punt return by our varsity fullback haha. But overall football is going pretty good, gonna do some lighter lifting tomorrow, maybe heavy we'll see.

Goals by end of 2009:
Bench 205
Squat 255 ATG
Squat Clean 185

"There is no elevator to success, you must take the stairs."

Power Cleans
95x3
115x3
135x3<--Tied a PR could've probably gone heavier, but wanted to stop because finger was hurting.
Bench
barx8
95x5
135x5
155x1<--Stopped, finger was killing me.

Should've squatted since that would likely be something I could still do with a hurt finger, I will squat tomorrow I guess though. Probably won''t do the compititon this week, deadlifting 225 for a minute straight probably wouldn't be great for my finger. JV scrimmage friday, varsity scrimmage I might suit up for, but won't play (sucks I know).

Goals by end of 2009:
Bench 205
Squat 255 ATG
Squat Clean 185

"There is no elevator to success, you must take the stairs."

Ha, finger injuries suck dont they?
And good luck with your scrimmages!

Bench: 70 Squat 135 Deadlift: 1??s 
Supps: Creatine, Multi, Fish Oils 

Jones's Log

connelly


Haha, you look pretty built in your picture. I am really exited, because I already know alot of people there, and I already know alot of juniors and seniors from football and my pool and church. But of course I am a little nervous, just because I am going to a very large school, and it will be alot different. But overall I think it should be fun, but I am going to focus on grades alot, just because getting a scholarship (football or academic) would be awesome, just because when you think about it thats like $150,000 you save right there that could go to other stuff after college. But honestly, if everything works out, I am hoping for it to be a football scholarship. I have wanted to play D1 for my whole life. But have basicly set my sights directly on it a couple years ago. We'll just have to see though I am getting a little ahead of myself here.

Today the coach ran us like crazy. Then he was talking to us at the end of practice, and a major D1 recruit (signed with Wake Forest last sunday) takes off his shoulder pads and we have to go on the line again and run 8 more 40's..anyways i was just bringing this up, because after 5 hours of football practice and over 20 (I think it was 26 to be exact but not sure) 40 yard sprints, I thought I lifted pretty well

Bench
barx8
135x5
155x3
165x2x2<-- On the second set I got a 3rd rep, but I didn't go all the way down, so it doesn't count.

Squat
barx8
135x5
185x4<--Pretty good, although it is 10 lb. less than what I did a few days ago, I felt really good about it after all the running.

Can i get your autograph now?

Bench: 70 Squat 135 Deadlift: 1??s 
Supps: Creatine, Multi, Fish Oils 

Jones's Log

Haha, if you wanna come to NC to get it. But sadly it won't be worth anything..

Goals by end of 2009:
Bench 205
Squat 255 ATG
Squat Clean 185

"There is no elevator to success, you must take the stairs."

Nice, been winning quite a bit of money in poker lately. Got a JV scrimmage friday. Got a pretty nice sack today, but on kickoff I screwed up containing and got double teamed inside right infront of the coach, and went to far in the back field so I couldn't stop a sweep to my side today in a scrimmage..but felt pretty good today.

Goals by end of 2009:
Bench 205
Squat 255 ATG
Squat Clean 185

"There is no elevator to success, you must take the stairs."

Just a short lift for the compitition after a long scrimmage.

Deadlifts
135x6
205x3
225x11

Well I was at my normal spot (OLB) for the first 10 plays or so, then a sophmore Inside linebacker gets punched it the balls, so he starts trying to push the guy and stuff, so he gets kicked out of the rest of the scrimmage, and I am the backup JV inside linebacker, so I played that for the rest of the time. I like inside linebacker, but i feel a to small for it. Also there are 3 pretty frickin beast sophmores playing middle linebacker, so I likely couldn't start till senior year but at OLB I could probably start next year or junior year. Anyways, did pretty good especially saying as we were going against a county that is known for there football, and has a top 10 team in the state..we were pretty even, I would say our varsity overall beat there's but there JV probably had an edge on us, although no actual score was kept. I did pretty well I thought though.

Goals by end of 2009:
Bench 205
Squat 255 ATG
Squat Clean 185

"There is no elevator to success, you must take the stairs."

Yesterday
Paused Bench
barx8
95x5
135x5
165x2

All the sets except 165 were 2-3 second pause, 165 was probably 1.5 second pause. Today I just want to get a few sets of curls in because my arms are feeling pretty damn small haha, probably squatting tomorrow.

Goals by end of 2009:
Bench 205
Squat 255 ATG
Squat Clean 185

"There is no elevator to success, you must take the stairs."

Yesterday was the worst day of practice..ok
1. it was kinda thundering so no one really knew what we were wearing, so we went through about 30 minutes from changing from full pads to just helmet, and anywhere inbetween.
2. Had to walk across school to get to the defensive coordinators room to watch game film hoping the storm would blow over.
3. We went outside, and 5 minutes into practice it started storming again, so we had to go back inside, put our pads up and watch more film.
4. I noticed one of my shoulder pads straps came off, so I will have to figure out how to fix that.
5. We went back outside, and on punt team, a coach told us if the ball was inside the 10 and looked like it had any chance of going into the endzone to just down it. So on a punt it was around the 4-5 yard line, still rolling fairly fast, so I bent over to down it, and the coach yelled at me to let it roll..
6. The coach told me I would be starting at middle linebacker for now, which is fine, but a kid that will be injured for the first game will come back, and take my place (freshman that is supposed to be a junior..) so I am worried that the coach will just leave me at back MLB instead of putting me back at my spot starting OLB..
7. Apparently I had an attitude infront of the coach which said I didn't want to play middle linebacker, so he told me how on his defense I should be happy to get on the field at all, and to not worry about where it was. Which I mean I agree with, especially saying I am a rising freshman, but I didn't do anything so I don't know why he was yelling at me..
8. While scrimmaging (with my own team) at middle I said one of the calls wrong, which luckily my defensive coordinator was fine with since I was just starting out playing in the middle, but he had to explain stuff to me infront of the whole team..
9. We were putting pads up and kids started pushing, and i tripped, so I was already really pissed and turned around and started pushing them and cussing, so by then I was just ready to leave..which I did. If I don't get my startiing spot at OLB back, I will be very mad..whatever might squat today I am not sure.

Goals by end of 2009:
Bench 205
Squat 255 ATG
Squat Clean 185

"There is no elevator to success, you must take the stairs."

C,
   Cool post.  Football sounds like a blast, although a lot of work.  Makes me wish I would have played sports growing up.  Looks like a great life skills learning environment.  I think your coach likes you.  I really do.  Tough love is a beautiful thing.  He wants the best for you and the team.  I'm looking forward to seeing how the season goes!  Go get em!  When's the first game?  When does school start?  Here it's week before Labor Day.  :)

It starts august 25th for us.

Bench: 70 Squat 135 Deadlift: 1??s 
Supps: Creatine, Multi, Fish Oils 

Jones's Log

Well football started like june 15th, but our first game is tomorrow for jv and this friday for varsity. Yeah, he actually is a very cool and fair coach, but he does love to get on me about stuff. Tomorrows game should be fun though, because I know the other teams QB, hoping to get a hit on him.

I know I have read it somewhere in your journal, but what position are you playing, 13?

Yesterday we did 14 full field sprints after a long practice, which although hard, I was glad because the last couple days we hadn't been doing as much stuff to stay in shape, so I decided to just do a short set of 135 on squats because I thought it might be a good cool down after the sprints, it actually was pretty good. Didn't get to squat heavy after practice though, if today is a lighter practice I will squat today though.

Goals by end of 2009:
Bench 205
Squat 255 ATG
Squat Clean 185

"There is no elevator to success, you must take the stairs."

Lol split end (receiver) and corner/safety...we got a small team so I get moved around with different packages. And when I'm on the scout team defense I play a lot of OLB. And for my first day of doing OLB i got 2 sacks in about 15 plays. So coach was pretty impressed with that. But ever since my finger, I haven't gotten to play LB/hit.

Bench: 70 Squat 135 Deadlift: 1??s 
Supps: Creatine, Multi, Fish Oils 

Jones's Log