Week 25.1

Started another round of weightlifting on Monday, after a 2 week hiatus. Now my inner thighs feel like they've ripped apart. Yeah, it's a good feeling.

So, my jumping has gone nowhere. My one legged jump has decreased back to square one, and my leaping leg feels fatigued.

Meanwhile, my 2-footed leaping has increased 4 inches.

What's this all mean? Well, 1), i'm going to keep pursuing my quest.

2) I'm gonna jog more. I was getting input not to jog too much, or "overtrain". But the fact is, I had cut down on jogging, and was getting out of shape, and was feeling less flexible. So now I will jog more, and possibly even play some ball, but that's just a big invitation to injury.

Week 24.1

Hmmmm.

Well, this last week i took a break from plyo/weights and just jogged. Sunday was supposed to be my big day of jumping gains. It probably would have helped if the day before, I didn't spend 10 hours sanding/staining my deck -- which consisted of squatting over all day, with tons of kneeling and manual labor.

When i tried jumping off one leg, I stayed kaput at the same 25" I've been at for 3 months. And my legs definitely felt exhausted - no doubt from the previous day. Quite frustrating and equally embarrassing, both in planning and lack of production. I'm at a loss, but I'll still keep working out, because that's still healthy.

VERY INTERESTING NOTE: I also jumped from 2 feet, and also got 25". That's a 3-4" gain from whenever I last checked! Clearly, my gains in squats are a big factor. Whereas, my non-gains in explosiveness aren't helping my one legged jumps. Many people have written in to say trying 2 legged jumping. I did this in high school, when I couldn't quite dunk, which is why I've tried the 1 legged approach. At this point,

it behooves me to train a little in both.

Tomorrow, I restart the novice plyo/weights from Vertical Jump Bible. Stupid bible.

Week 23.1

Mickey and I took it to an elementary school, and practiced mechanics on a 9 foot rim. I had been skeptical of this approach, but it went really well. It definitely helped me work on mechanics, and it also was FUN. It was good just to be out there dunking, and it was a good inspiration -- seeing how I've had disappointing outings of late.

Music by The Pointer Sisters (finally, I know...this had to happen sooner or later).

Older videos:
Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Week 5
Week 6
Week 7
Week 10
Week 12
Week 13
Week 17
Week 22

Week 22.1

Here's the latest video. Wish I could say it was awesome with great progress. Alas, i forge on undeterred.

Music by Peaches

Older videos:
Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Week 5
Week 6
Week 7
Week 10
Week 12
Week 13
Week 17

Week 21.2

Sunday will be my first jumptest day in well over a month. I didn't run Friday or Saturday as planned, because my right knee has been hurting, under the kneecap. Two culprits, besides the obvious strain from squats and deadlifts, are 1)my desk at work was incredibly awkward, and 2) Muscle Milk.

Yes, I drank muscle milk for the first time, and my knees hurt hours later. Another guy at work reported the same issue. This is still purely anecdotal, but I'm just saying, I won't be drinking Muscle Milk anytime soon.

So i feel a little out of shape, hopefully not too much heavier. But my knee is feeling better, so better safe than sorry, I hope.

Hope my test goes well!

Week 21.1

Great news! I have tried to touch the rim in my driveway before, from a standing position. I was always an inch or two too short. I don't think it's regulation, but that's immaterial to this story.

Yesterday (sunday), as i was preparing for my jog, i stood under the rim. And jumped. And I got 2 inches above the rim! This is huge. Especially b/c I haven't tried touching a rim in over a month. I've just been doing my plyos and weightlifting.

Weights are going well too. I squatted 195lbs the RIGHT way today! But for the first time, my knees hurt, so I don't know whatsup.

Anyways, I'll shoot a video test this Sunday, and post online next week.

Week 19.1

Fear not, my friends! I am still doing the training.

Great news today! I did 4 sets of deadlift, but the final set I went up to 245 pounds! Not too shabby. And for squats, while i've reduced the load so I can go all the way down, I've moved from 165 to 175 pounds....

I've also had some gruelling and odd work hours, but I've been able to get in weights 2x a week. I'm starting my final phase of the Vertical Jump Bible novice weights/plyos, but I think I am just going to repeat the regiment until I get close to 1.5x my bodyweights in the squats.

I haven't tried to touch the rim in weeks.

Obviously, my posts have slowed down, again because there's not much to say. So I've made an executive decision to mark my posts by week, instead of day. Huzzah!