The Final Push!

Sorry for the delay in posting! I have been dealing with some minor injuries (right ankle, left hamstring, and bruised/broken rib) and that has limited my training. I decided to take the last several weeks off from training to try and let my body recover. I am feeling better.

My life seems to just get more and more busy and I'm not getting any younger. And, the amount of time that I can dedicate to training is not what it used to be. I'll never stop working out or playing basketball. But, I have to prioritize my time and in the near future I'm going to use the extra time I have to work with my 14 year old son. He's becoming a basketball addict just like his father and I want to help him as much as possible.

So....here's my plan. Starting tomorrow, I'm going to give it everything I have for the next 12 weeks and see if I can finally get that 2 hand dunk. After that, I may modify this blog to be about training with him. Not sure yet but I can't chase these dunking dreams of mine forever!

The timing should be perfect as I can finish this "Final Push" of 12 weeks right about the time school gets out and then my son and I can train together. Part of my motivation to train has to learn what works and what doesn't so I can help him. If nothing else, I will definitely be able to help him become a much better athlete than I ever was.

One thing I am committing to do differently for these next 12 weeks is to be crazy strict on my eating. I'm really going to focus on eating more whole and natural foods. Will be limiting dairy and gluten and focusing on protein, fruits, and vegetables.

Thanks for reading and there should be weekly updates for the next 3 months. Please follow along as I go for this one more time!

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 10 Results

Quick update...yesterday I tested my no-step vertical again and was fully expecting to have another PR. But, didn't happen. I got 31.6" a few times (31.8") is my current PR that I got last week.

But, I also did the 4 jump test which I hadn't done in several weeks. I saw a huge improvement with this test. My previous best was:


.24 (avg ground contact time)
2.99 (explosive leg power)
25.6 (average vertical for the 4 jumps)

Yesterday, my best results were:

.21 (avg ground contact time)

3.54 (explosive leg power)

27.2 (average vertical for the 4 jumps)

So, I'm very happy with the progress there. 

I ended up not doing a dunk session on Saturday last week but am planning to do that this week. Hopefully, I can get some good stuff.

Thanks for reading!

Road to 40 inch running vert - Week 9 Results - another PR!

Sorry it has been a while since my last post. I have still been training hard despite my schedule being crazier than ever. I've had to get up at 4:45 am in order to get my workouts in during these last few weeks. But, I'm determined to reach my goals and will give up sleep if I have to!

And it is paying off! 3 weeks ago I got a new PR on my no-step vert and today I got another PR (31.8" on my no-step vert).

Here's the video:



Today's jump was only a PR by .2 inches but progress is progress! And I fully expect to get a new PR next week. I'm feeling so good again after all those injuries.

I'm hoping to make a new dunk video on Saturday. With my no-step vert higher than it probably has ever been (even when I was a "young" lad), I should be able to get some decent dunks. I haven't tried dunking much lately as I've been much more focused on training and playing basketball.

Stay tuned! Big things are coming!

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.

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.

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!