Still Alive

Sorry about the lack of posts lately.  Things have not gone well the last 2 weeks.  I hurt a foot really bad a couple of Tuesdays ago.  Then when that got better I got really sick, it's been about a week with that. On top of that all I have two jobs, two kids and a wife in school full time.  It's been really hard to stay healthy and motivated. I've still been doing some squats, dead lifts and ham curls about twice a week, but almost no plyo.  I've seen no loss in jumping luckily, but haven't seen any games. I'm hoping to get back on track soon. I'll keep you updated as much as possible.

Even through all this my squat #'s and form are looking pretty good. Rising pretty rapidly. I plan on doing a max rep next week sometime, probably Friday (was going to do it last week, but got sick and had no spotters.) Based on previous exercises and looking at some charts I plan on trying for 315#. May not get it or it may be to easy, I have no idea.  I guess I'll find out soon.

End Week 7 and semi-off week.

I have realized by now that I am not going to reach my goal.  I knew the 8" was ambitious, but I was really hoping to loose a lot of weight while doing the program and thought that would really help my leaping because it has in the past. But as I went through the workout I decided I needed to focus on the jump training. So for now I'm going to have to rethink my overall goals. Because of a couple bad weeks I am behind 3 weeks or so on the program so I will add those think I might get a dunk off the bounce on the hoop that I play on at Gold's. So I think that is what I will be trying for. So my new goal is to get a dunk, probably off a bounce,  by October 18th which is two days after I finish the program. I think that is very doable.  If I can add 2-3 inches it shouldn't be a problem at all.

One thing I've noticed that seems to be a big issue with how high I get on my running jump is my approach.  I'm not sure exactly what it is yet, but something must be wrong with the way I am transferring my momentum. This really explains why my one-step vertical is exactly the same as my running. I really need to figure out how to work on that so any advice would be helpful. 

For the last 2 weeks my workout has been a little screwed up. I was able to finish week 7 fully, but was unable to do the measurement jumps on Wednesday, which would have been the start of week 8, because of the pain in my knees. I also decided to skip the Plyo that day. Then I missed the Strength and Explosion on Saturday because I went to a football game. Luckily I was able to make that up and do a light squat, ham curl,  calf raises and in-place lunges on Monday and my knees felt good.  I also got the off-days in and played basketball twice.

Yesterday I was able to do the jump measurements that would have been for week 8 had I done it, but since I skipped most of week 8 I am calling it week 7.5 measurements. I started the real week 8 yesterday. I decided to do things a little differently this time. Since it was a plyo day, I did all my stretching and warm-up and then did the 4 50yd Sprints before I did my test jumps.  I did this because I always jump better when I'm really warmed up and have played one game first. It seemed to have decent results.  My legs felt loose and they got less sore. Had my best jumps yet. Remember that these are off really sore legs, because I squated on Monday, and only decent knees this week. Hopefully next week is even better when I get that full recover.

End Week 6           End Week 7
Standing: 25.5"       Standing:26"
One Step: 28"        One Step: 29"
Running: 28.5"        Running: 29"

Overall improvement so far (7 weeks)
Standing:     +1"
One Step:   +2.5"
Running:      +2"

Thanks for reading.

-JWD

Hard Week

Sorry for the lack of updates everyone.  I have had a not so great week with my training and haven't had a chance to post about it.  On Wednesday night I was noticing a lot of pain in my knees and I couldn't do any of the plyo workout without excruciating pain (feels like jumpers knee starting). So I decided to not do the workout for that day.  I did one of the off-day exercises, but then on Saturday when I was supposed to do my Strength and Explosion workout I went to a college football game instead, plus my knees were pretty sore still so I was scared to do the heavy workout.  Today I did some squats (fairly light weight, but good range of motion and explosion), ham curls, weighted calf raises, some in places lunges and a few depth drop jumps and my knees feel pretty good.  I've been icing them most nights and trying to take it light on the activity so they would heal. I feel pretty good so I am going to do my plyos and measurements on Wednesday and kind of redo week 7. Playing basketball tomorrow also, so I will try to get some video of the bounce dunk attempts if I'm feeling good. Just wanted to keep people updated.  Thanks for following.

Good Jumping Day

A Couple of highlights for the last two days. As most of you would know if you already follow his blog at myjumpmanual.blogspot.com I ran into Candyman at Gold's Gym on Saturday while doing my Strength and Explosion workout. It was really cool to meet one of the guys from the jumping community in person.  I hope  sometime we will be able to get together again, but this time to play ball or show off some dunks :). I've got a little ways to go for that though, but that gives me even more motivation.

I went and played basketball at Gold's during lunch with the guys from work today and was having a great jumping day. I tried a few dunks of the bounce and I was getting so close. Everything was bouncing off the back rim or backboard though. Just can't quite get high enough to get over the rim. I feel like I am maybe 1"-2" away from getting one off the bounce. Got me real excited.  I may possibly be able to get one of the bounce in the next few weeks. I'm currently consistently grabbing this rim off a two step jump at just an inch above my palm.  And still about an inch away from touching when trying for 2 hands. We don't have a lot of time at lunch so it's hard to film, but I will try to get my bounce dunk attempts filmed soon as I can.

Anyway, I was just excited about the good day so I had to share.  Thanks for reading.