Two Hand Dunk Training - Day 1

Yesterday, I started what might be my final 12 weeks of extremely intense, laser focused, give everything I've got -- vertical jump training. If I'm going to dunk 2 hands, it's gotta happen in the next few months! FatherTime is chasing me faster than Usain Bolt! :)

To get a baseline, I tested my no-step vertical and was surprised how much it has gone down. I did 15 no-step jumps and my highest was only a 26.8. My PR from about 2 years ago was a 31.8. So that's a huge difference. To be fair, I don't think I was completely warmed up during those jumps which definitely makes a difference. I will test again on Friday and make sure I'm more warmed up and see how different the results are.

Regardless, I expect my no-step jump to increase rapidly as I build my strength back (no-step vertical is highly related to strength). I haven't done squats, deadlifts, etc. in several months so it makes sense that my no-step vert would be down. The good news is my running vert is still pretty good. It's down some from my peak from about 1 year ago but not a ton. As my no-step vert improves that will carry over to my running vert and hopefully I'm hitting new PR's and the elusive 2 hand dunk!

I do have video of my 15 jumps but am going to hold off posting to see how Friday goes. I kind of hate posting since it was so crappy. But, I will post something by end of the week.

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! :-)

Jump Manual - Week 8 Recap of "40 at 40"

For the second week in a row, I got in all my Jump Manual workouts! Yes! I really feel like I'm back on track. Had a tough start to the year but things are going really well now.

After losing weight consistently for the first 6 weeks of training this year, my body seems to want to stay at around 166 lbs. I had my bodyfat tested tonight at Gold's Gym with one of those electronic machines you hold in your hand (not sure how accurate it is) but it said I was 12.9% bodyfat which is a pretty significant improvement from the 18% I was back in January. Still can't believe I was that fat!

Crunching the numbers and comparing to my last test shows I have lost fat and gained muscle so that is very good news. I was concerned that I may be losing muscle from reduced training from my injuries but that doesn't appear to be the case. I will test my bodyfat again using the bodpod next month so I can get a true before and after comparison. I'd like to be 8% bodyfat or less.

This past week I had an awesome coaching session with Jacob (creator of Jump Manual). We reviewed videos of me performing several of the plyometric exercises from the Jump Manual. He provided tons of helpful tips and feedback and I learned some great stuff!

This is one of the reasons I've become a huge fan of the Jump Manual and of Jacob too. Having access to an expert like him has made a big difference for me. He is very willing to help his clients and his weekly coaching sessions are invaluable. Take advantage of them if you aren't already!

Click on the video at the top of this post or picture at the bottom to see the video of us reviewing my depth jumps. Post some comments if you found this helpful and would be interested in me sharing more videos like this. Thanks for reading and watching!

Depth Jumps - Coaching Session with Jacob Hiller