My third group dunk session!

I had my third group dunk session with my new friends and amazing dunkers -- Clint and Dallon! These guys killed this session!

There actually was a sign up in the gym we were at that said "No dunking"! which we all thought was hilarious. I would wager the person who made that rule can't dunk! ha ha! But, nobody came in and told us to stop and we were there dunking for at least 3 hours (or I should say Clint and Dallon were dunking for 3 hours and I was there! :)

Unfortunately, I must have taken the rule -- "no dunking " a little to serious as I only landed 2 weak dunks during this entire session. I had a really hard time getting warmed up fully. My left knee has also really been bothering me the last 3-4 weeks and that also kept me from jumping at 100%. Hopefully its just tendonitis or a strain and nothing more serious. Oh well - I still had a blast.


Age is a just a number! Go get your dreams!


Follow me on Instagram @overthehilldunker

Jump Manual - 41 years old - Week 10 Results

Week 10 of Jump Manual training was kind of mediocre.

So, here's where I make excuses....

My brother and his wife and kids came to town (which was awesome) to ski and hang out. As a result, my wife made a plethora (jefe...do you know what a plethora is?) of yummy food which I ate way too much of. There was also extra junk food around the house since we had guests and my will power just sucks. The day they arrived my weight was the lowest it had been in a while (175 lbs) and when they left it was back up to 178 lbs. I also missed a workout and didn't stretch very much. Dang!

On the positive side, my brother's wife is an athletic trainer and so we talked at length about vertical jump training, strength training, etc. She really knows her stuff and gave me some great advice. She is a big believer in doing exercises that as closely mirror the athletic movement as possible. So for example, she said I should be doing more 1 leg exercises as you do a lot of jumping off 1 leg in basketball. She also suggested doing squats, lunges, etc with your feet in the same placement as when you jump (which would actually be somewhat of a staggered stance at least for me when I jump off 2 feet). So I will be trying to incorporate some of her suggestions and am curious to see how they impact my results.

No video this week. Sorry about that. Will make sure I get one next week.

Only 2 weeks left!!!

Jump Manual 2013 - Week 5 Results

Week 5 for this phase of training using the Jump Manual went extremely well!

I'm really glad I took the previous week off to rest. I admit it was hard to resist the temptation to work out and I was worried about losing some of my gains or slowing down progress. And, there's always a chance when you take time off that 1 week turns into 2 weeks and so on. But, I came back super motivated and was able to push hard with my body feeling fresh again.

I got in all my workouts and stretched every day. Also, my flexibility is finally starting to improve again and believe it is due to changing how long I hold each stretch. Previously, I would hold a position for 10 seconds and repeat 3 times. This past week, I began holding each stretch for 30 seconds and doing just 1 set. Holding each stretch for 30 seconds has allowed me to push just a little further and as a result my range of motion has improved. I still can't quite get my palms to the floor with straight legs but I'm getting much closer.

Yesterday, I tested my no-step vertical again. My legs were feeling great. I was absolutely convinced I would finally break 31". But, I didn't quite get it. I got 30.8" two times which matches my highest no-step jump on the mat from about 6 months ago. So next week has to be the week I finally break 31"! This is the reason tracking is so important as I'm so motivated to do everything I can this week to make sure I get a PR next week. Eating right. Stretching. Really getting after it on my workouts. If I wasn't tracking, there would not be anywhere near the same level of motivation.

Here's the video showing one of my 30.8" jumps.

I'm planning to start making dunk videos again. Maybe later this week. Stay tuned!

Jump Manual 2013 - Week 3 Results

Week 3 of this phase of my vertical jump training using the Jump Manual went pretty well. But, not as well as last week.

Each Monday I test my no-step vertical by performing 2 sets of 6 no-step jumps. Today, my best was 30.5" which is .1 less than my best no-step jump last week. Out of the 12 jumps, 7 were over 29 inches (compared to 9 out of 12 last week). And, I had 3 jumps over 30" compared to 4 jumps last week. So my results were very similar to last week -- but down just a bit.

Of course I was hoping to break 31" which should be a new PR. So, I'm just going to have to really get after it and make sure I do that next week!

In trying to understand why I didn't have any gains this week, there are several possible explanations. First, I missed part of one of my workouts (core exercises) and I was too lazy to stretch 3 of the 7 days. Rest may have been a factor due to playing a little more basketball than I usually do and not getting as much sleep. Our 5 year old son was down with the flu this whole week and if you are a parent then you know what that does for getting sleep.

But, the reality is gains take time...so I have to be patient. If I stay consistent, I know this is going to pay off!

Here's my video from today showing my best jump of 30.5". Thanks for reading & watching!

PR's on lifts coming soon!

I'm continuing to really focus on strength and making some good progress. This morning I benched 195 lbs for 5 reps. I plan to beat my PR (225 lbs for 3 reps) by end of January.

For squats, I did 240 lbs for 5 reps this morning and should beat my PR (275 lbs) also by end of January. In addition, I'm now squatting to a little below parallel and certainly didn't get to parallel on what I've been calling my squat PR. Here's the video that proves it:



Of course, the real key is to translate this additional strength into jumping higher. I'm going to start adding plyometric and jumping technique back into my training soon and am confident this will allow me to utilize this additional strength and as a result pick up some inches.

Happy Holidays! May all your jumping dreams come true!

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! :-)

My best dunks from 2011

I had a pretty good week of training last week. But, more details on that later.

I have been thinking about making a dunk mix for a while and tonight I went ahead and put together a short video with my best dunks from last year. I even added music! :-)  I know it's not that impressive compared to the incredible dunk videos out there on YouTube, but it was fun and motivating for me to put it together.

Hope you enjoy!

Jump Manual at 40 years old - Week 3 Results

Week 3 of this round of vertical jump training using the Jump Manual went great! I did 5 of the 6 workouts and also played basketball 3 times.

I'm testing my vertical each Monday using the Just Jump system so I can accurately track my progress. My goal today was to get 29" and I'm very pleased to say that I got 29.9" which is 1.8" improvement from last week where my best no-step jump was 28.1". If only I could go up 1.8" every week now that would be amazing!

About 6 months ago when I was jumping my best, I'm pretty sure my no-step vertical was around 31" so I'm getting close to being back at my peak. Here's the video from today's no-step vert test. I somehow messed up the recording of my 29.9" jump but have my second best jump at 29.5" on video. Check it out!

Jump Manual at 40 years old - Week 1 Results

As I mentioned in my post last week, I started another round of 12 weeks of vertical jump training using the Jump Manual.

Week 1 went fairly well. I got in most of the workouts and also played basketball 3 times. Yesterday, I tested my no-step vertical on the Just Jump System. I got out my camera to film only to find out the batteries were dead! Oops! So I don't have a video to show you this week, but will make sure I do next week.

My best jump (which I got multiple times) was 27.6 inches. I was a little disappointed because I'm sure my no-step vertical last Fall was around 30 inches. I expect to make up that difference within the next couple of weeks and then hope to keep adding onto it. If I can get my no-step vertical to at least 33 inches, my running vertical should be 39-40 inches which would be incredible and absolutely high enough to be throwing down a sweet two-hand tomahawk.

It's possible! Here's my friend Steven who I used to jump higher than but the punk has passed me up! He's now throwing down some very nice two hand dunks. Hopefully, this is where I'll be by July!

How important is rest and recovery?

Before I start my next round of Jump Manual training, I decided it would probably do my body good to take some time off. So that's exactly what I did this past week!

I didn't do any workouts. I didn't stretch. I didn't eat good. In fact, I ate horribly. I did play basketball three times so I wasn't completely inactive. But, compared to what I typically do during a normal week of training -- this week was equivalent to me sitting on the couch and eating bon bons.

Yesterday, the "party" continued with loads of junk food and staying up until almost 2:00 am. Right before going to bed, I ate two chocolate chip cookies. Go big or go home! I then slept for about 4 hours and got up at 6:00 am to play hoops. Yes, I'm a basketball addict.

But to my surprise, my legs felt really good today. I was jumping higher than I have in a while and I threw down the best dunk I've had in a really long time. And, it felt so GOOD!!! I didn't even take my video camera this morning as this was completely unexpected.

So the lesson here is...don't forget to take a break once in a while! Despite doing so many things wrong this week (bad diet, not enough sleep, and no stretching), giving my body some rest still resulted in jumping higher than I have in quite some time.

Here is a great article on the importance of recovery and avoiding overtraining that you might be interested in. Check it out!

Tomorrow, we leave for Disneyland so I'm sticking with this new workout program of not working out! Here's to hoping another week of junk food and avoiding exercise will result in jumping even higher next week! I'll let you know on Monday!

Jump Manual - Week 12 Recap of "40 at 40"

I have finished another 12 weeks of Jump Manual training. Time has gone by so quickly. In fact, today (April 11) marks one year since I started my training and began chasing the dream to dunk at age 39.

I set some big goals to reach by today. And, unfortunately I didn't reach them. My gains have slowed down and I have not made much progress in a while. The easy thing to do at this point would be to give up on my goal to dunk two hands. But, there is no way I'm going to do that! I'm just going to make some adjustments to my training, set some new goals, and get back to work.

One thing I should start doing again is making videos. Those seemed to provide some extra motivation and it was fun to see all the comments from people even from the "haters" out there.

So...I hope you will continue to follow along as I continue to chase my dunking dreams. Post some comments and let me know how things are going with your training. What is working for you? What isn't working?

City League Basketball

Just got home from one of my city league basketball games and need to vent a little...

The team we played had a few decent shooters and they hit several 3's early on and went up by 15 points. We switched to man to man and started moving the ball better and made a nice come back capped off by one of our guys hitting a half court shot at the buzzer before half time to bring us within 6 points.

I'm not one to complain too much about officiating but these guys were straight up horrible. Just a couple examples. I drive the lane on a fast break and get fouled by 2 guys pretty hard. One of those guys grabs the ball and chucks it at me -- I assume out of frustration since this would have been the third consecutive play I scored on him. One of my teammates points this out to the ref and he gives him (my teammate -- not the guy who threw the ball) a Technical! Unbelievable!

There were several other horrible missed calls and calls that should not have been made. But, the worst --- absolute worst ref mistake I think I have ever witnessed in a game came right at the end. We had come back and actually taken the lead with a few minutes left to play. We're up by 2 points with about 10 seconds or so and the other team hits a 3 pointer and goes up by 1. There is now around 5 seconds left in the game and the ball is thrown in quickly to me. I had been pretty hot throughout the game and so 2 guys come at me at half court where I split and go right by them. Just as I do this, a ref blows the whistle. I'm baffled as I wasn't fouled or anything and there was nothing to call. He comes over and I ask, "what is the call?" He says it was an inadvertent whistle!!!! An inadvertent whistle on the last play of the game after I have split 2 defenders and now have a 5 on 3 fast break situation where I'm likely to score, get fouled, or set-up a teammate to score??? Are you kidding me?

This ref then wants us to bring the ball in at half-court and now there is just 3 seconds left in the game. We of course are protesting. The refs talk it over and decide we can take the ball out again under the other team's basket with the original 5 seconds left. But, now they have a chance to set-up their defense and it is a completely different situation.

Well...of course I'm ranting because we ended up losing the game. But, in all the years I've played and watched basketball, I can't think of another time when a ref's mistake has impacted the outcome of a game so dramatically. Maybe we wouldn't have scored on that final play but drives me nuts to not had the chance!

But...you know what...I still love this game!

BTW, just because nearly every NBA basketball player has tons of tattoos doesn't mean getting them will make you a player. Tons of these guys were all tatted out and they had no game. Sad and funny.

On a positive note, one of the guys on my team who I played with for the first time last week, asked me tonight how old I was. When I told him I was 40, he said, "I don't believe you!" That made me feel good. But, I would have felt better if we had won. I hate losing.

Okay...time for bed. I got jump training to do tomorrow!

"40 at 40" starts tomorrow!

After taking a week off, I'm ready to start my next round of vertical jump training! This next phase I'm calling "40 at 40" because I'm going for a 40+ inch vertical at 40 years old! This round of training begins tomorrow, Monday, January 16, and will run for 12 weeks ending Saturday, April 7th.

I will be uploading videos and posting to my blog regularly during the next 12 weeks and hope you will follow along!

Here are some of the changes I'm making to my training:

• Adding bands to my squats. Jacob (creator of Jump Manual) suggested I start using these because it adds resistance to the lift particularly as you are coming up where you really want to be explosive. Here's a video Jacob posted recently on using bands and another video on setting up bands. I got the orange bands from elitefts.
• Writing down the weights, reps, sets, etc. on all my workouts. I was doing this for the strength workout (squats, deadlifts, etc.) but not plyometrics, the off-day exercises, core & upper body, etc.
• Doing strength training for my lower body twice per week instead of once per week. I see this making a HUGE difference for me.
• Testing, measuring, and tracking my vertical every single day. See my last post for more details on how I'm doing this.
• Getting my bodyfat tested a week from tomorrow (January 23rd). I haven't had this tested in years and really curious where I'm at. I will test it again in six weeks and again at the end of twelve weeks. I want to see my bodyfat percentage no higher than 8%
• Going to be super strict on my diet and write down everything I eat. I will be having green smoothies every morning after my workout and then healthy meals throughout the day. Before bed each night, I'm going to eat cottage cheese and a banana (or other healthy snack with casein protein) to ensure my body has sufficient protein during the night to repair broken down muscles. On Sunday, I will take a "free" day and eat whatever I want. Looking forward to my Sunday morning doughnuts! Maple bars are the best.

There are some other changes but those are the big ones. One thing I've noticed during the last several months is some days I can jump at least 4 inches higher than other days but can't really explain why. By being much more diligent on recording my lifts, my vertical, etc. I should be able to determine what things are allowing me to jump higher and then modify my workouts accordingly. I also believe testing my vertical on a daily basis is going to really push me to improve every single day. And, that's what it takes!

Here are my goals to reach by April 7, 2012:

• 34" standing vertical
• 38" one-step vertical
• 41" running vertical

If you are working on your vertical jump, I strongly encourage you to set some very specific goals and create a detailed plan on how you will achieve those goals.

Thanks for reading!

Want to jump higher? Do this...

There are two things I'm doing as part of my vertical jump training that I think have made a HUGE difference in my results so far. When I tell you what they are, you might be surprised. As they have nothing to do with plyometrics, weights, or nutrition!

The two things I'm talking about are my blog and my YouTube videos. How much difference have they made? It's impossible to say for sure but I don't think you can overestimate their impact. The reason I say this is when it comes to achieving a goal, it comes down to desire. How bad do you really want it? How hard are you willing to work to get it? Most people are just talk. They want to dunk but they workout a couple of times and give up. If you don't put in the work, you don't get the results. It's that simple.

So without this blog and my YouTube videos, I don't think I would have come this far. I think the motivation would have run out a while ago. I also don't think I would have come this far without the encouragement, compliments, and even new friends I've made as a result of pursuing this dream. I've had a few "haters" of course and although they can be annoying they have motivated me too.

I can think of several times when I wanted to skip a workout or not do another set or sleep in. And I would think about this blog and wanting to show some progress in my next video and it would give me that extra motivation I needed in that moment to keep going. And, that's what it takes.

So if you are reading this and want to dunk or achieve some other goal, my challenge to you is to tell the world and hold yourself accountable. Make videos and create a blog. You will have fun and it will help keep you motivated.

Thanks to everyone who is reading this and especially to those who have posted words of encouragement here or on my YouTube videos. I really appreciate the support.

Good luck!

One More Game!

Here is the video I promised to post that shows how I dunked to get one of the guys I play hoops with to stay one more game.

There are so many benefits to being able to dunk! :-)

Operation Tomahawk - Another week off!

Well...last week didn't go super well with my training. I went out of town for a couple of days and was not disciplined enough to workout on the road or when I got back home.

And...not looking so good this week with my training either. I'm playing a ton of basketball (5 times this week) which is super fun but not the best way to make progress on my vertical. So, I will definitely get going again on Monday.

I was finally able to put a short video together of some of my dunks over the last few weeks. Nothing super amazing but some decent stuff. I still have a long ways to go to get the two hand tomahawk dunk and just about 6 weeks left to reach my goal.

Gonna get back on it! Thanks for reading and watching!

Operation Tomahawk - Took the week off

After a lousy start to my training this past week, I decided to go ahead and take the entire week off. I'll admit it was nice to have a little break.

Things are going much better this week. Had a great workout yesterday and had a couple of decent dunks in morning basketball. I've been watching tons of dunk videos on YouTube and that has gotten me really motivated. It's amazing how easy some of these guys make it look.

I've got to get a lot stronger! City league basketball is also starting up in about a month and am really hoping to be able to dunk in a game -- something I've been dreaming of since I was a little kid.

I ordered some new creatine and excited to get started with that. Also, going to get strict on my diet again. Way too much candy and junk food lately and time to get really disciplined with my eating. Clock is ticking. My birthday is now just under 2 months away and I still have a quite a ways to go to reach my goal.

Another area I've got to do much better on is stretching. Gotten lazy with that and I know it makes a difference. 

Thanks for following along. I will get a new video uploaded soon.

Operation Tomahawk - Week 3 Recap

Week 3 of Operation Tomahawk is complete!

It wasn't the best week of training. I skipped one of my workouts and only got about 1/2 of another workout done. I also didn't stretch everyday. Sometimes things don't go perfectly. It often seems like there is just not enough hours in the day to do everything I want to do. But, you just do the best you can and keep going.

I did play basketball yesterday and filmed a little in between games but I wasn't jumping that well. My back has been bothering me a little bit and just one of those days where you just don't jump as high and can't quite explain why. Sometimes it just happens that way.

So, I don't have a new video that I feel is worth posting this week. Instead, I'd like to share a video I sent to Jacob Hiller (creator of Jump Manual) that he posted on his YouTube account that compares my before and after results using the Jump Manual. In less than a week it already has over 1,000 views and some nice comments which is pretty cool!

 I will definitely post a new video next week! Thanks for reading and watching!

Motivation...where have you gone?

I really thought I was back in the groove with my jump manual training, but I'm not there yet. The last few weeks have been tough.

My 40th birthday is now almost exactly 3 months away and will be here before I know it. I think I may actually start over again on Monday and do the full 12 weeks again leading right up to my birthday. I think it might help me stay on track.

Can't decide what to do about the Freak Jump Technique program. I do like it and think it helps but I feel like maybe trying to do both at the same time is just a little too much for me and all I have going on. The older I get, the more I realize that there isn't enough time to do all the things I want to do and so you have to prioritize.

Here is my latest video. I almost didn't post it as I am pretty disappointed with what I have to show for the last couple of weeks. Missed workouts = missed dunks. Not good.

Thanks for reading and watching.

Back in the groove!

After a couple of weeks of excuses, procrastination, and a serious lack of motivation -- I'm very pleased with how things have gone this week with my Jump Manual and Freak Jump Technique workouts. I'm back to pushing myself and making sure I get the workouts done even when I don't feel like it.

I can feel myself turning a corner and excited and confident that I will reach my goal to throw down a two-hand tomahawk dunk before I turn 40 in January.

As usual, I played hoops 3 times this week and between games I got some video of my dunk practice on a 9'10" rim. I got pretty close on a two-hand dunk and I was finally able to get a toss off the backboard (one hand) dunk to go down. I've been trying that one for a while now and was pretty excited about it as you will see in this week's video.

Thanks for reading and watching!