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?