New goal! 40 inch vert!

Just in case anyone still reads this blog...I thought I'd provide a quick update:

A little over a year ago (when I was much younger -- age 44), I was jumping the highest I've ever jumped in my life at any age. And as you probably know by now, I was able to compete in my first dunk contest. It was a lifelong dream and it came true. It was freaking awesome! If you don't know this story, watch the documentary!

However, since then I've had not been able to get back to that level. I've had some injuries which didn't help things but probably the biggest factor is a lack of motivation. Once I had achieved the dream of competing in the dunk contest, my motivation took a serious nose dive. I started skipping workouts instead of skipping dessert! :)

So...I needed a new goal and here it is!!! I want a 40 inch (running) vert! I estimate on my very best jumping days leading up to the dunk contest and on the day of the dunk contest that I was jumping around 37". So it will take getting back to my peak and then some to reach this new goal. Is it possible? Let's find out!!!

I'm making a new series of videos called "40 over 40" (40 inch vert over 40 years old) and invite you to follow along as I continue battling Father Time and the laws of gravity!

Here's the Intro Video


Thanks for your support! If you actually read this, please post a comment so I know whether or not to spend any more time on this blog thing. I feel like no one reads blogs anymore...

Peace,
Andy

Final week of training for this 12 week phase + couple of dunks

I’m finishing up my last week of this phase of training. Just one more workout and I get to take 2 weeks off! But, that doesn’t mean I will just be sitting around doing nothing. I plan to play hoops, do a few light exercises, and do some dunk sessions. I am really excited to see how I’m jumping once my legs are completely (or almost completely) fresh.

Here’s a couple of dunks I got this morning between pick-up games. Not my best jumps but not too shabby.



I’m actually most excited about how close I am to hanging on the rim off my no-step vert. I almost got that today. That will be a key milestone in my progress and expect that to happen in the next couple of weeks as well. 

Keep training guys! It’s worth it!

Road to 40 inch running vert - Week 11 Results

Last Monday, I was feeling really stiff and sore and had a horrible jumping day. My highest no-step vert that day was a 29.9 which is about 2 inches below my PR. So, on Tuesday I decided to take a rest day. I slept in and skipped the gym. On Tuesday night, I fell asleep checking email at 8:00 pm lying on my bed.

I got up at 6:00 am and headed over to play some hoops. My legs were still a little sore but definitely felt better. After a couple of games, I went for a couple of dunk attempts and was jumping higher than I have in years. I then got the best dunk I've gotten in months and it felt so good. I am almost positive I could have dunked 2 hands that day based on how high I was getting. 

So...my training is working and I'm making gains again. I just wish I got that dunk on video!

I'm hitting it really hard for the next 2 weeks and then I'll be taking 1-2 weeks off which is when I will likely be able to see the full results from my last few months of training. I know I've said this before but I am absolutely sure that I will dunk 2 hands very soon. In fact, I'm going to go ahead and say that it will happen during the next 3 weeks. Before the end of 2013 for sure.

Thanks to all those who are still following this blog and especially those who post comments and ask questions. Hope your having success reaching your goals!

Road to 40 inch running vert - Week 6 Results - new PR!

After some bad luck with injuries, I’m finally feeling good again!  In fact, today I got a new PR on my no-step jump!

Here’s the video with my new PR of 31.6 on my no-step jump:

It feels so good...to feel good! The sprain on my right ankle took so much longer to heal than I was expecting. The worst part was the timing! Two weeks ago, I went to Florida and was able to meet up with Steven Celi who has become one of my favorite YouTube dunkers. I was hoping to make a cool dunk video with him but we were both injured. It was still cool to meet him in person and learn more about his training and what has worked and not worked for him. He’s a big believer in jumping every day or almost every day. He does very little lower body strength training now and mostly focuses on jumping and plyometric work. It definitely has worked for him. He recently tested at 42” on his running vert which is fantastic.

I’m super excited again and look forward to getting another PR very soon. I'm feeling very confident about getting to 34” on my no-step and 40” on my running vert! Big dunks coming soon!

Thanks for reading and following along. I appreciate the support.

Road to 40 inch running vert - Week 4 Results

Today marks 2 weeks since I sprained my right ankle pretty bad. Even though it didn't keep me off the court or from working out for very long, it still is not 100% and I'm not jumping great right now. I'd say maybe 80%. I'm actually icing it right now as I type this!

The swelling has gone down a ton but is not completely gone. I can do most exercises other than depth jumps as those are just too painful still. 

I did test my no-step vert on Monday and my best jump was 29.1 which of course was disappointing. That's 2 inches from my PR. I know my ankle is mostly to blame but that doesn't make me feel any better! I just want to jump higher!

I also did the 4 jump test a few times and my best test was:

.24 (ground contact time)

2.87 (explosive leg power)

23.5 (avg vertical during the 4 jumps)

Those are fairly similar to my last test a couple of weeks ago after I had sprained my left ankle and down quite a bit from where I was 3 weeks ago. I know these numbers will rapidly go back up when I am healthy. 

The timing for these injuries is kind of unfortunate as I'm going to Florida next week and am going to meet up with my friend Steven Celi who I met through YouTube from doing the Jump Manual. I used to jump higher than this guy but he's passed me up by a ways! But, hopefully I will have a great week and can get some decent dunks. We're planning to do at least one dunk session and maybe two. He also recently sprained an ankle and may not be 100%. But, no matter what it will be fun and it's so cool that I've made some new friends from chasing my dunking dreams.

Check out one of his recent dunk mixes!

I admit it...I'm addicted to basketball

Last week, I sprained an ankle for the second week in a row. My right ankle was a cankle!

So, I started ice liking crazy, popping Advil, and whatever else I could to speed up recovery. And, to my surprise this bad boy is healing up pretty quickly! I sprained it last Wednesday and so I took Thursday and Friday off. But, I was able to workout on Saturday.

Because of my basketball addiction, I played on Monday and again today even though that probably wasn't the best idea. Good thing I've never been into drugs! Pretty sure I would be the worst addict ever.

Here's what it looks like now:

It's still not 100% but so glad it's getting better so quickly.

I will test again on Monday and see where I'm at. If I can stay healthy, I'm confident there are some nice gains in my near future.

Wednesdays are bad luck

Just a quick post...

For the second Wednesday in a row, I've sprained an ankle playing basketball.

A week ago it was just a mild sprain that took a couple of days and I was back on the court. Yesterday's is probably the worst sprain I've had in a few years. Here's a picture. I have a feeling this one is gonna take more than a couple of days to heal...$@$!*

Road to 40 inch running vert - Week 3 Results

Another good week of training despite spraining my left ankle playing hoops (luckily not a bad sprain). The "cool" part was I did it blocking a guy's shot. But, there was some contact in the air and got off-balance and landed wrong. It's still a bit swollen and I need to do a better job icing it.

Last week was also kind of crazy because my oldest son was trying out for 2 competitive basketball teams and I probably get more stressed out than he does. But, he did great and is so fun to see his hard work pay off!

My best no-step vert was down this week almost an inch. I got 29.5 compared to 30.4 last week. I attribute that to having a bad day, some soreness, and my sprained ankle.


No-step vert test results so far:

• Week 3 best no-step vert = 29.5 
• Week 2 best no-step jump = 30.4
• Week 1 best no-step jump = 30.1
• PR for no-step jump = 31.1 (April 2013)

I also did the 4 jump test again. My best of 3 attempts was:

.24 (ground contact time)
2.91 (explosive leg power)
23.4 (avg vertical for the 4 jumps)

Ground contact time (.24) is same as last week.
Explosive leg power (2.91) is down from last week's 2.99.
Average vertical for the 4 jumps (23.4) is down from last week's 25.6.

This kind of shows I just had no "bounce" this day which also helps explain my no-step vert being down. Just one of those days. Next week will be better!

Road to 40 inch running vert - Week 2 Results

Week 2 of this phase of training towards my goal of a 40 inch running vert went really well. Got in all my workouts again and I'm still doing my stretching/mobility work each day. Starting to become a fan of stretching as I'm noticing improvements in my range of motion and my recovery. It seems like it has been so long since my body felt good (not sore) and had fresh legs. But, that is changing and I like it.

Tested my no-step vert and had a small increase over last week. My best today was 30.4 compared to 30.1 last week. I should be able to beat my PR of 31.1 in the next week or so.

Here's the vid:

I also did the 4 jump test a couple of times on my jump mat today (no video) and my best results were:

.24 (avg ground contact time)

2.99 (explosive leg power)

25.6 (average vertical for the 4 jumps)

This is an interesting test as it measures your explosiveness and reaction time. I will be testing this each week and posting the results here as well. For comparison, I also tested this last week a couple of times and my best results were:

.26

2.74

25.4

So in addition to improving my no-step vertical, I made some progress this week on explosiveness and reaction time too which is good news.

I also started taking creatine a couple of days ago and expect to see my strength go up and also some weight gain. Hopefully though I can make progress on getting leaner at the same time which hasn't been near as easy as I have expected. 

Keep training people! Go get your dreams!

Road to 40 inch running vert - Week 1 Results and I hate the number 17!

I finished my first week of this phase of training. It was a good week. Got in all the workouts and did a lot of work on my mobility and saw some progress there which should help me. I hate stretching but am forcing myself to do it every day.

Each Monday, I'm going to test my no-step vert to track my progress. My best no-step jump for week 1 was a 30.1 which I'm fairly happy with. That is just one inch off of my PR of 31.1 so am expecting to be able to pass my PR soon.

Here's the video:


I also got my bodyfat tested again and I can't believe the results! If you recall from my last test, I was really bummed that my bodyfat was still so high (17.9%) and was going to do whatever it took to get really lean. To help with that, I started intermittent fasting. I was eating pretty clean and healthy (but not perfect). And, I started doing a little more cardio to help get rid of some excess fat. And, my bodyfat after 4 months of that went from 17.9% to an amazingly lean 17.7%!

$#@!%!!!

I was so disappointed. The worst news though is I actually lost 3 lbs of muscle. So, I definitely wasn't doing something right on my diet. Most likely I wasn't getting enough protein. I work out in the mornings and was drinking BCAA's before, during, and after the workouts to avoid muscle breakdown and then eating my first meal at noon. My weight was dropping and my waist had gone down by almost 2 inches. So I really felt like I was moving in the right direction. So although I did lose a little bit of fat, I lost muscle which is never a good thing and my overall bodyfat % barely went down.

So...I'm going back to eating 5-6 small meals a day and making sure to get protein immediately after every workout. I'm also going to start creatine again.

I will get my bodyfat tested again in 3 months and hopefully will see much better results. I'm thinking about getting a different test to see how the results compare. When I look in the mirror, I find it really hard to believe that my bodyfat is so high. I don't quite have a six pack but you can see my abs pretty well which is usually a pretty good indicator of how lean someone is. But, the bodpod is supposed to be the most accurate test out there and 3 times in a row the results have been almost identical.

Here's a picture of me getting into the bod pod.

I guess the good news is if I can finally get my bodyfat % down that should help me jump higher. So, not giving up!

Thanks for reading!

40 inch vert at 41 years old? Possible?

Sorry for another long hiatus from posting updates! The last 2 months have been really crazy and I'm so glad that it is now back to "normal". Time to get back on it!

It doesn't seem like I'm the only one though. I follow several other blogs of guys like me chasing their jumping dreams and seems they also have been on a bit of a vacation. Where is everybody? :-)

I started another phase of training that I'm super excited about it. I'll share more details over the coming weeks. 

I've still been doing Intermittent Fasting and it has become a habit now and I still really like it. I am getting my bodyfat tested next week and am expecting to see significant improvement from my last test where I was 17.9%. 

I will start testing my vertical each Monday starting next week and post a video showing my progress. I expect to be a little bit down from my PR a few months ago. But, that's okay. I can get it back quickly.

My new goals to reach before Thanksgiving (12 weeks of training) are:

35" no-step vert

40" running vert 

Wonder how many 40+ year old's are there who have had a 40 inch vert? I got to imagine it is a really small number! Hope to join that club!

How high do you need to jump to be in the NBA?

I just checked out last year's NBA Combine Athletic test results and was shocked!

These are the best players leaving college trying to make it to the next level and you would think there would be tons of guys with 40"+ verticals. Not even close!

Out of 52 NBA hopefuls, just one player had a 40" inch vert (Terrico White). The average max vertical jump among these athletes was just 32.94".

So maybe 2010 was a bad year? I pulled up the 2009 NBA Combine Athletic Results. There were 23 players including a now very famous dunker -- Blake Griffen. But, only 1 guy with a 40" inch vert. No, it wasn't Blake. It was Jonny Flynn from Syracuse. Blake's vertical was just 35.5".

What about 2008? There were 72 players in the combine with 6 players who had a 40" vert or higher including some big names like Derrick Rose (40") and OJ Mayo (41").

If I can increase my max vertical by just 4", I will be an "average" NBA prospect in terms of jumping ability based on 2010's results. That's kind of cool! Now if I was only a foot taller and had better skills. I might just have a chance...