Sunday, September 30, 2012

Tomahawk before Thanksgiving - Week 5

Week 5 of this phase of training using the Jump Manual went great! One of my best weeks of training for sure.

Last week I made some changes to my workout by splitting the 2 plyo workouts into 2 shorter workouts and I really like it. I actually think these shorter workouts will allow me to focus more on quality and explosiveness which is what you want. I do think the standard Jump Manual workout is ideal for the first time you go through the program to build a strong foundation. But, after the first 12 weeks, I would recommend shortening some of the workouts. 

I've decided to make one more minor change. I've noticed that Mondays are consistently my best jumping days. I believe this is because on Saturday, I hit it really hard with the strength and explosion workout (squats, deadlifts, etc.) and on Sunday I just rest and do some stretching. Because of this I'm going to move my first plyo day to Monday from Tuesday as I do think the order in which you train can impact your results. Hitting plyo's on the day I jump the highest is ideal.

So here's my schedule that I plan to stick with until Thanksgiving:

Monday: Plyo's
Tuesday: Core & Upper Body
Wednesday: Rest or Swim or play hoops
Thursday: Plyo's
Friday: Core & Upper
Saturday: Strength & Explosion workout

Thanks for reading and hope your training is going well!


Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Tomahawk before Thanksgiving - Week 4

Week 4 of "Tomahawk before Thanksgiving" went better than last week. Instead of being super lazy, I was only somewhat lazy! I missed two of the six Jump Manual workouts.

I've decided to make a few modifications to my workout for the next 8 weeks to see if it makes a difference. Here's my new schedule:

Monday: Core & Upper Body
Tuesday: Plyos (A little shorter than the standard Jump Manual plyo workout)
Wednesday: Rest (might swim or play hoops)
Thursday: Plyos (A little shorter than the standard Jump Manual plyo workout)
Friday: Core & Upper Body
Saturday: Strength & Explosion Workout

I'm also tweaking the core & upper body workout a bit. I've been taking it to easy and time to step it up. Going to add bench press and military press and really go crazy with my core. Going to get my bodyweight down to 165-168 from 173 lbs where I'm currently at.

So, stay tuned. I'll let you know if these changes make a difference!

I'll leave you with this video I saw today of a guy who is shorter than my 5'6" wife and can throw down serious dunks. Absolutely unreal! Almost seems like the laws of gravity don't apply to this guy. Enjoy!





Sunday, September 16, 2012

Tomahawk before Thanksgiving - Weeks 2 and 3

I just realized I forgot to post a recap of last week's training. I don't even remember why so will not try to come up with a good excuse!

Since I write down all my workouts, I'm reviewing my tracking sheets to refresh my memory on how things went. According to my notes, I got in 4 of the 6 workouts. I missed one of the core & upper workouts and one of the off-day exercise workouts. Played hoops 3 times. Not a great week but not horrible.

But, this past week was way worse. I had full intentions of working out but I'm ashamed to admit that I didn't do a single workout (other than playing basketball 2 times). It was a crazy week for me as my 12 year old son had 2 tryouts for competitive basketball teams and we also did some extra workouts to help him prepare. He's made a ton of progress and it's really fun to see him improve. Yesterday, we went camping and boating so I missed my favorite Jump Manual workout -- the strength & explosion day which is squats, deadlifts, cleans, etc.

With basically a week off, I'm expecting this week to go really well. My body should be pretty fresh so I should be jumping well and be able to hit the workouts hard.

Yesterday, Joe C. Thomas who is one of the 4 guys I'm competing against for Nike Elite's posted a video showing his progress on getting down his first dunk. He's REALLY close so I've got to get going or he's going to win this friendly competition!

Check it out! He was definitely high enough on the first backboard toss!


Good job Joe! But, I'm coming after you! :-)


Sunday, September 2, 2012

Tomahawk before Thanksgiving - Week 1 Recap

After taking a week off to let my body rest, I hit my vert training hard this past week. I got in all my workouts and it felt awesome! In addition, I ate really well and stretched every day. Those are two areas that I haven't done very well in for the last several months. And, they are just too important to be neglected.

I looked back at my bodyfat results from the test I did back in January. To my surprise and horror, I was 18% bodyfat with 31 lbs of fat. I got my bodyfat percentage down to approximately 13% in March but over the last few months I'm probably back up to around 18%. If I'm going to get the two hand tomahawk dunk and win the Nike Elite dunk competition, I've got to get my bodyfat down probably to under 10%. So, I've recommitted myself to being super strict on my diet. I know it will help me jump higher.

Another highlight this week is yesterday I met JWdunk (Jeff) at Gold's Gym. I was doing my final exercise of the strength and explosion workout and saw a guy who looked like he was doing the Jump Manual workout and who looked somewhat familiar. I went and introduced myself and sure enough it was him. It is fun to be part of this community of aspiring dunkers and gravity defiers (is that word?)!

So, I'm off to a great start of another 12 weeks of Jump Manual training which will have me finishing right around Thanksgiving (or until I get the tomahawk). I'm calling this phase of training, "Tomahawk before Thanksgiving"!

After that, basketball season will be about to start and I think I'll just play hoops and enjoy the season. Or, I may actually start Crossfit. Either way, I think it will be time to take a break for a while. But, we'll see. When, I get the tomahawk, I will probably want to windmill! So this may never stop! But, I have several friends who are totally addicted to Crossfit and my 12 year old son has also started and is loving it.

Happy Labor Day! Tomorrow is going to be awesome. Will be playing hoops for like 3 hours!