Whoa! It's been a month since my last post. I think that is my longest hiatus since I started jumpmanual training just over 2 years ago. It was nice to have a break but it's time to get back on this!
Last Thursday, I got my body fat tested again using a bod pod which is supposed to be the most accurate test out there. If you have been following this blog for a while, you may recall I also did this in January 2012 and was shocked to find out I was 18% body fat (was expecting to be around 12%). Well, nearly 18 months has passed since my last bodyfat test on the bodpod. And I thought for sure with all my training that surely I would be down in the 12% range this time. Nope! I was able to drop a HUGE .1% in bodyfat. My test came in at a disappointing 17.9%.
So, it is painfully clear that I've got to drop some bodyfat. I currently weigh 173 lbs and 31 of those lbs are fat! That is just way too much! My best jumping days were when I was 29 years old and was in probably the best shape of my life. I weighed 169 lbs and was just 7% bodyfat which means I had only 12 lbs of fat. Today, the scale says I weigh only 4 lbs more than I did 12 years ago but I'm carrying 19 more lbs of fat. It also means I have 15 lbs less muscle. That is a pretty substantial difference in the wrong direction.
So the bad news is I am too fat! At least in terms of maximizing my vertical jump. Of course, I'm not saying I'm obese or anything like that. But, I'm too fat to be an elite jumper. And I want to be an elite jumper!
The good news is I am jumping really well right now. I actually had of my best dunks and best misses ever last week. And, if I lose 20 lbs of fat that should surely help me jump a few inches higher which would be two hand tomahawks all day long.
Today, I started another 12 weeks of training. I have made some changes to my workout and diet that I will tell you guys more about in a future post as this one is already quite long and unlikely many people are still reading this. :-)
Have a great summer! Keep workin hard!
And...if you haven't had your bodyfat tested recently, get it done. Maybe you are like me and need to drop some lbs.
Recent Videos
Monday, May 13, 2013
Saturday, April 13, 2013
Jump Manual - 41 years old - 12 week results
I have completed another 12 weeks of Jump Manual training!
I was really hoping to have a video of me dunking 2 hands this week but I'm not quite there. But, I am getting closer. I am back to where I was in the Fall of 2011 and might even be jumping a little higher. What's even more encouraging to me is I have seen some gains in the last 2 weeks as I've started focusing more on single leg work and being explosive with lighter weights rather than always lifting super heavy.
I actually think if I rest for a few days (like I was supposed to do this week) that I can get a two hand dunk off a lob or maybe even the dribble. I intended to take it easy this week so that on Thursday I would be fully rested but instead I played basketball six times this week and also worked out 4 times.
Tomorrow, I go out of town until Thursday and so it will be much easier for me to take a bit of a break. The trick will be eating right and stretching. If I do that, I fully expect to get a two hand dunk on Thu or Fri of next week.
Regardless, some really good things happened during this phase of training.
1. Bench pressed 225 lbs for the second time in my life. Started having issues with my right shoulder so I stopped benching. Not sure if I will go back to it or not.
2. Got a new PR for my no-step vertical jump of 31.1 (see video below). My previous best was 30.8. I am going to test again on Thu or Fri of next week and fully expect to get 32" or better after having some actual rest/recovery.
3. Feel like I've figured out some better ways to train. I've become a big believer in single leg exercises and has me feeling really confident in my training.
Below are a couple of videos from this week. Stay tuned for a blog post and hopefully awesome dunk video next week! Also, I will give an update on what I'm doing for my next phase of training...no, I'm not stopping! :-)
I was really hoping to have a video of me dunking 2 hands this week but I'm not quite there. But, I am getting closer. I am back to where I was in the Fall of 2011 and might even be jumping a little higher. What's even more encouraging to me is I have seen some gains in the last 2 weeks as I've started focusing more on single leg work and being explosive with lighter weights rather than always lifting super heavy.
I actually think if I rest for a few days (like I was supposed to do this week) that I can get a two hand dunk off a lob or maybe even the dribble. I intended to take it easy this week so that on Thursday I would be fully rested but instead I played basketball six times this week and also worked out 4 times.
Tomorrow, I go out of town until Thursday and so it will be much easier for me to take a bit of a break. The trick will be eating right and stretching. If I do that, I fully expect to get a two hand dunk on Thu or Fri of next week.
Regardless, some really good things happened during this phase of training.
1. Bench pressed 225 lbs for the second time in my life. Started having issues with my right shoulder so I stopped benching. Not sure if I will go back to it or not.
2. Got a new PR for my no-step vertical jump of 31.1 (see video below). My previous best was 30.8. I am going to test again on Thu or Fri of next week and fully expect to get 32" or better after having some actual rest/recovery.
3. Feel like I've figured out some better ways to train. I've become a big believer in single leg exercises and has me feeling really confident in my training.
Below are a couple of videos from this week. Stay tuned for a blog post and hopefully awesome dunk video next week! Also, I will give an update on what I'm doing for my next phase of training...no, I'm not stopping! :-)
Tuesday, April 2, 2013
Jump Manual - 41 years old - Week 11 Results
Week 11 of my Jump Manual training went better than last week.
I took my sister-in-law's advice to incorporate some additional 1 leg exercises into my workouts such as lunges (stopped doing these a while ago), bulgarian squats (new exercise for me), single leg glute bridges (have done these off and on), and reverse hyperextensions (new exercise for me). It felt really good.
I have already been doing pistol squats (1 leg squats) fairly regularly and will continue doing them. I think pistol squats might be the single best exercise out there for improving your vertical as well as preventing injuries. When I finish this round of training, I am considering going to an extremely simple routine that would heavily focus on pistol squats and other mostly bodyweight exercises and plyometrics. In about 2 weeks, I will start training with my 13 year old son everyday and so time for my own personal training will be very limited. I'm actually excited about it because I think I can still make some really nice gains while actually training less. More details on that later. My son and I will also be making videos to track his progress and so that will also be fun.
Speaking of my son's training, he's at a camp this week with Micah Lancaster, who is one of the top basketball trainers out there. So wish I had access to this caliber of training growing up. Things have changed so much. When I was growing up, many coaches and trainers discouraged basketball players from lifting weights. "It will mess up your shot!" This partly explains why I weighed in at a hefty 140 lbs as a 5'11" senior.
If you don't strength train now, you simply won't be able to compete in today's game. The level of strength and athleticism is just unreal. A few weeks ago, my son played in a basketball tournament that featured some of the best 6th, 7th, and 8th grade basketball teams in the country. I'm not kidding when I tell you there were 7th grade teams that looked like high school varsity teams in skill, strength, size, athletic ability, and talent. They even had a dunk contest. Absolutely blew my mind. Doubt I could even touch the net when I was in 7th grade! Last year's dunk contest at this same tourney might have been even better.
Going to finish this last week really strong! Eating right, stretching, and getting after it for all my workouts. I'm planning to get a dunk video posted this week and then a video next week hopefully featuring a two hand dunk!
Happy "Spring"!
I took my sister-in-law's advice to incorporate some additional 1 leg exercises into my workouts such as lunges (stopped doing these a while ago), bulgarian squats (new exercise for me), single leg glute bridges (have done these off and on), and reverse hyperextensions (new exercise for me). It felt really good.
I have already been doing pistol squats (1 leg squats) fairly regularly and will continue doing them. I think pistol squats might be the single best exercise out there for improving your vertical as well as preventing injuries. When I finish this round of training, I am considering going to an extremely simple routine that would heavily focus on pistol squats and other mostly bodyweight exercises and plyometrics. In about 2 weeks, I will start training with my 13 year old son everyday and so time for my own personal training will be very limited. I'm actually excited about it because I think I can still make some really nice gains while actually training less. More details on that later. My son and I will also be making videos to track his progress and so that will also be fun.
Speaking of my son's training, he's at a camp this week with Micah Lancaster, who is one of the top basketball trainers out there. So wish I had access to this caliber of training growing up. Things have changed so much. When I was growing up, many coaches and trainers discouraged basketball players from lifting weights. "It will mess up your shot!" This partly explains why I weighed in at a hefty 140 lbs as a 5'11" senior.
If you don't strength train now, you simply won't be able to compete in today's game. The level of strength and athleticism is just unreal. A few weeks ago, my son played in a basketball tournament that featured some of the best 6th, 7th, and 8th grade basketball teams in the country. I'm not kidding when I tell you there were 7th grade teams that looked like high school varsity teams in skill, strength, size, athletic ability, and talent. They even had a dunk contest. Absolutely blew my mind. Doubt I could even touch the net when I was in 7th grade! Last year's dunk contest at this same tourney might have been even better.
Going to finish this last week really strong! Eating right, stretching, and getting after it for all my workouts. I'm planning to get a dunk video posted this week and then a video next week hopefully featuring a two hand dunk!
Happy "Spring"!
Wednesday, March 27, 2013
Jump Manual - 41 years old - Week 10 Results
Week 10 of Jump Manual training was kind of mediocre.
So, here's where I make excuses....
My brother and his wife and kids came to town (which was awesome) to ski and hang out. As a result, my wife made a plethora (jefe...do you know what a plethora is?) of yummy food which I ate way too much of. There was also extra junk food around the house since we had guests and my will power just sucks. The day they arrived my weight was the lowest it had been in a while (175 lbs) and when they left it was back up to 178 lbs. I also missed a workout and didn't stretch very much. Dang!
On the positive side, my brother's wife is an athletic trainer and so we talked at length about vertical jump training, strength training, etc. She really knows her stuff and gave me some great advice. She is a big believer in doing exercises that as closely mirror the athletic movement as possible. So for example, she said I should be doing more 1 leg exercises as you do a lot of jumping off 1 leg in basketball. She also suggested doing squats, lunges, etc with your feet in the same placement as when you jump (which would actually be somewhat of a staggered stance at least for me when I jump off 2 feet). So I will be trying to incorporate some of her suggestions and am curious to see how they impact my results.
No video this week. Sorry about that. Will make sure I get one next week.
Only 2 weeks left!!!
So, here's where I make excuses....
My brother and his wife and kids came to town (which was awesome) to ski and hang out. As a result, my wife made a plethora (jefe...do you know what a plethora is?) of yummy food which I ate way too much of. There was also extra junk food around the house since we had guests and my will power just sucks. The day they arrived my weight was the lowest it had been in a while (175 lbs) and when they left it was back up to 178 lbs. I also missed a workout and didn't stretch very much. Dang!
On the positive side, my brother's wife is an athletic trainer and so we talked at length about vertical jump training, strength training, etc. She really knows her stuff and gave me some great advice. She is a big believer in doing exercises that as closely mirror the athletic movement as possible. So for example, she said I should be doing more 1 leg exercises as you do a lot of jumping off 1 leg in basketball. She also suggested doing squats, lunges, etc with your feet in the same placement as when you jump (which would actually be somewhat of a staggered stance at least for me when I jump off 2 feet). So I will be trying to incorporate some of her suggestions and am curious to see how they impact my results.
No video this week. Sorry about that. Will make sure I get one next week.
Only 2 weeks left!!!
Tuesday, March 19, 2013
Jump Manual - 41 years old - Week 9 Results
Week 9 training using the Jump Manual was a good week.
I got in all the workouts except for one and that was because I was unusually sore after my Tuesday workout which I changed up a bit this past week. I mentioned in my last post that I was going to start adding in some additional plyometrics and that's probably what the additional soreness was from. So I took Thursday off to recover. I hate missing days as it makes me feel lazy. But, sometimes you just have to rest.
I've continued to modify and tweak my workout during these last 9 weeks and I feel like what I'm doing now is perfect for me. Admittedly, I have a tendency to change things probably a little too much. But, I think this is the right combination of strength, plyo, core, upper body, etc. It pushes me hard, doesn't take too long, and is giving me results.
To be honest, I was feeling a little discouraged (my wife would say I was "very grumpy") last week as I was expecting to see some nice progress after having a week off but didn't see any gains. However, that all changed this morning! I was in the basketball gym at Gold's doing my depth jumps (I prefer to do them with the basketball rim so I have a target and can tell how well I'm jumping) and some guys came over and asked me to play 3 on 3. It drives me nuts when guys ask me to play hoops at Gold's because I have no willpower to say no! And, I need to workout!
So of course, I said okay and we started playing. We played a very low key game where no one played defense or tried very hard (at least I didn't). After the game, they said okay let's switch up the teams and play again. I grabbed the ball and drove in hard to the basket and threw down a pretty nice one hand dunk. I don't think they were expecting that. One of the guys said, "He's on my team!". That made me laugh and feel really good.
Once again, I jumped really well when I wasn't expecting it and didn't have my camera out to capture the moment. I had already done squats and depth jumps and was a little tired and had no intention of playing basketball today. I also had on my old Kobe's that have no traction and wasn't wearing my knee brace either. I'm not very comfortable jumping with all my effort unless I have that on. In spite of those things, I jumped really well today. The modified workout, taking creatine, stretching more, and eating better (I'm now down to 175 lbs) are making a difference.
I'm really excited again and feeling optimistic that reaching my goal of the two hand tomahawk dunk is possible. On the right day, when the adrenaline is pumping, I think I could do it. But, the planets and stars may have to align perfectly.
When is the next full moon?
I got in all the workouts except for one and that was because I was unusually sore after my Tuesday workout which I changed up a bit this past week. I mentioned in my last post that I was going to start adding in some additional plyometrics and that's probably what the additional soreness was from. So I took Thursday off to recover. I hate missing days as it makes me feel lazy. But, sometimes you just have to rest.
I've continued to modify and tweak my workout during these last 9 weeks and I feel like what I'm doing now is perfect for me. Admittedly, I have a tendency to change things probably a little too much. But, I think this is the right combination of strength, plyo, core, upper body, etc. It pushes me hard, doesn't take too long, and is giving me results.
To be honest, I was feeling a little discouraged (my wife would say I was "very grumpy") last week as I was expecting to see some nice progress after having a week off but didn't see any gains. However, that all changed this morning! I was in the basketball gym at Gold's doing my depth jumps (I prefer to do them with the basketball rim so I have a target and can tell how well I'm jumping) and some guys came over and asked me to play 3 on 3. It drives me nuts when guys ask me to play hoops at Gold's because I have no willpower to say no! And, I need to workout!
So of course, I said okay and we started playing. We played a very low key game where no one played defense or tried very hard (at least I didn't). After the game, they said okay let's switch up the teams and play again. I grabbed the ball and drove in hard to the basket and threw down a pretty nice one hand dunk. I don't think they were expecting that. One of the guys said, "He's on my team!". That made me laugh and feel really good.
Once again, I jumped really well when I wasn't expecting it and didn't have my camera out to capture the moment. I had already done squats and depth jumps and was a little tired and had no intention of playing basketball today. I also had on my old Kobe's that have no traction and wasn't wearing my knee brace either. I'm not very comfortable jumping with all my effort unless I have that on. In spite of those things, I jumped really well today. The modified workout, taking creatine, stretching more, and eating better (I'm now down to 175 lbs) are making a difference.
I'm really excited again and feeling optimistic that reaching my goal of the two hand tomahawk dunk is possible. On the right day, when the adrenaline is pumping, I think I could do it. But, the planets and stars may have to align perfectly.
When is the next full moon?
Tuesday, March 12, 2013
Jump Manual 2013 - took another week off
This past week I took a break from my Jump Manual training. It was nice to have some time off and give my body and mind a break.
I'm now headed for the home stretch. My last 4 weeks of this phase of training! And I'm actually coming up on 2 years since I started using the Jump Manual back in April 2011! In fact, my 2 year anniversary is almost exactly one month from today (April 11). It would be so amazing to reach my goal of the two hand tomahawk before then.
So...I'm going to do everything I can this last month to make that dream come true. Here's the plan:
-- Start taking creatine again (started yesterday)
-- Stretch everyday
-- Adding back in some additional plyometrics
-- Shortened workouts that focus on explosiveness
-- Play basketball 1 time per week instead of 2 times per week. Got to spend the time training instead of playing hoops.
-- Eat super healthy. Get as lean as possible without losing strength during these next 4 weeks.
-- Get more sleep. I regularly go to bed at midnight or later and get up at 5:45 am. Not ideal.
And I'm also going to pray! :-)
Hope your training is going well. Wish me luck during these next 4 weeks.
I'm now headed for the home stretch. My last 4 weeks of this phase of training! And I'm actually coming up on 2 years since I started using the Jump Manual back in April 2011! In fact, my 2 year anniversary is almost exactly one month from today (April 11). It would be so amazing to reach my goal of the two hand tomahawk before then.
So...I'm going to do everything I can this last month to make that dream come true. Here's the plan:
-- Start taking creatine again (started yesterday)
-- Stretch everyday
-- Adding back in some additional plyometrics
-- Shortened workouts that focus on explosiveness
-- Play basketball 1 time per week instead of 2 times per week. Got to spend the time training instead of playing hoops.
-- Eat super healthy. Get as lean as possible without losing strength during these next 4 weeks.
-- Get more sleep. I regularly go to bed at midnight or later and get up at 5:45 am. Not ideal.
And I'm also going to pray! :-)
Hope your training is going well. Wish me luck during these next 4 weeks.
Tuesday, March 5, 2013
Jump Manual - 41 years old - Week 8 Results
My week 8 training using the Jump Manual went alright. I skipped one of the workouts completely and then did only about half of another workout. Definitely started feeling some fatigue and burn out and so I'm definitely going to take this week off and rest up a bit.
My plan is to play hoops 2 times this week and just do the "off-day" jump manual exercises on those days. I'll do some pushups, pullups, and some core stuff and of course stretching and foam rolling. But, I'm going to take a break from lifting (squats, deadlifts, etc.) and plyometrics. Going to eat really strict this week and see if I can lean out just a bit more before I start taking creatine again on Monday. Seems like I gain an instant 5 lbs within a couple of days taking creatine so would like to get down to around 170 lbs so that when I'm on creatine I'm around 175 lbs.
I also sprained my right ankle last week (not horribly bad) but that's another reason to take some time off. I have been doing tons of ice and advil and most of the swelling is gone already. It's my first sprained ankle since I started doing jump manual workouts almost 2 years ago which is really good for me. In the past, I sprained ankles pretty regularly.
I will upload a new video later this week with some better dunks than that lob from last week.
Thanks for reading!
My plan is to play hoops 2 times this week and just do the "off-day" jump manual exercises on those days. I'll do some pushups, pullups, and some core stuff and of course stretching and foam rolling. But, I'm going to take a break from lifting (squats, deadlifts, etc.) and plyometrics. Going to eat really strict this week and see if I can lean out just a bit more before I start taking creatine again on Monday. Seems like I gain an instant 5 lbs within a couple of days taking creatine so would like to get down to around 170 lbs so that when I'm on creatine I'm around 175 lbs.
I also sprained my right ankle last week (not horribly bad) but that's another reason to take some time off. I have been doing tons of ice and advil and most of the swelling is gone already. It's my first sprained ankle since I started doing jump manual workouts almost 2 years ago which is really good for me. In the past, I sprained ankles pretty regularly.
I will upload a new video later this week with some better dunks than that lob from last week.
Thanks for reading!
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