Squat and Deadlift Technique

I really want to increase my strength and improve my lifting technique as I know that will improve my vertical. So, I've been watching tons of squat and deadlift videos on YouTube. I've come across a young guy (20 years old) who is incredibly strong and whose technique is really impressive. He weighs about the same as me (170 lbs) but squats almost double what I do. Crazy!

I've traded some messages with him and seems like he really knows his stuff. Check out some of his vids!

Olympic Squat Technique

 Deadlift Technique

Dunk Competition for Nike Elites!

In my last blog post, I asked if anyone would like to enter a friendly competition with the hope it would give me some additional motivation in my pursuit of the 2 hand dunk! And, maybe it would provide some additional motivation to someone else too. Well, I'm happy to report that 4 people have challenged me so far:

Aaron Perry - he can dunk 1 hand similar to me. So, we're racing to the 2 hand dunk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qq3kllU7Vys

d - he can get a few inches over the rim. So, he's racing to the 1 hand dunk vs. me getting 2 hand dunk
http://dunkbot.blogspot.com

Mason Collier - can dunk 1 hand similar to me. So, we're racing to the 2 hand dunk
http://projectmason.blogspot.com/

Joe C. Thomas - can grab rim with both hands. So, he's racing to the 1 hand dunk vs me getting 2 hand dunk
http://joejoesbucketlist.blogspot.com/

Thanks, Aaron, d, Mason, and Joe! Good luck guys!

So, what's the wager? Whoever accomplishes their dunking goal first, gets a pair of Nike Elite's!

I'm looking forward to having 4 more pairs of Elite's very soon! :-)

Let the competition begin!

Jump Manual at 40 years old - Week 12 Results

So another 12 weeks of Jump Manual is complete! Crazy how fast time goes by. I sure wish I was posting a video with some awesome 2 hand dunks but still not quite there. But, as I've said before...I'm not giving up! And, I'm actually more confident than ever that I'm going to get there. Maybe I'm delusional but I don't think so.

I was thinking that one thing that really helped motivate me during my first 12 weeks of training is I had a few "haters" that were telling me I would never be able to dunk at age 39. It made me mad! But, it also drove me. And I worked harder because of it. Honestly, I kind of miss it. Strange but true.

So instead of asking for some haters to provide some additional motivation, I'm wondering if anyone out there reading this blog would like to have a wager of some kind? Like first person to do X (for me it would be dunk 2 hands and for you it could be dunk for the first time or whatever) gets something cool. Doesn't have to be expensive. Maybe its a pair of Nike Elite socks or whatever. I just love to compete and might be fun to have a little extra bet to go along with our training.

Any takers? Come on. It will be fun!

While your thinking about it, I will leave you with one of my favorite new dunk vids. Enjoy!

Jump Manual at 40 years old - Week 11 Results

Sorry folks! I'm very late posting my Week 11 Results. I guess I haven't been super anxious to update my blog as this past week was not super great from a training standpoint. I was on the road again (for the 3rd straight week) and that makes things really tough for me to get all my workouts in.

Probably the best thing that happened this past week is I had the coolest and most realistic dream I can remember in quite some time. I dreamed I got my 2 hand dunk! And it was so real and felt so good. I am a firm believer that you have to believe you can do something before you can do it. If you don't believe you can dunk, can pretty much guarantee that will be a self-fulfilling prophecy. You've got to believe it! Really believe it!

Along those lines, one thing I've been doing more is visualizing myself dunking two hands during the strength and explosion workout. I especially like to visualize that for calf raises and knee drives. It doesn't require much skill or thought to perform those exercises, so its easy to really picture dunking in my mind while trying to be as explosive as possible. Maybe it sounds a little corny, but I think it helps.

Well...that's about all for now....

Oh, be sure to check out these blogs created by some new friends of mine who are chasing their dunking dreams and start following their progress too! Knowing that a few other people have been inspired to go after their goals after reading my blog makes me feel really good and motivates me to keep working hard. So thanks to everyone out there who is reading this blog and especially to those who have posted comments, asked questions, started their own blog, or whatever. I really appreciate it!

DunkQuest2012
Quest to dunk by November