Who's Coming to The Dunk Camp!?

In addition to some of the top pro dunkers and experts in the field of athletic performance, we also have athletes signed up for The Dunk Camp from Mexico, Hawaii, Canada, and all over the U.S.

So excited!

There are still a few spots available! For anyone who still reads my blog, I will give you a special discount! :) Just DM me on Instagram @thedunkcamp for details.

Let's gooooooooooo!!!!

Here's a progress video for one of our pro dunkers - CJ Champion. Insane!!! If you want to jump higher and dunk, come to the Dunk Camp!!!

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!

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!

Operation Tomahawk - Week 5 Recap

Just got back from traveling for a few days so I'm late in posting this week's recap. This past week was fairly successful in that I got in most of my workouts.

I have a funny story to share from this past week. One morning after we had been playing hoops for a while a few guys left and so we were down to just 10 players. Then another guy said he had to take off which would have left us with just 9. This guy had not been out to play with us since about last March which was before I started using the Jump Manual. So, I told him, "if I dunk, you have to stay another game." Since he thought there was very little chance of that happening, he said, "sure!" Well...you probably can guess what happened since I'm telling you this story. Yes, I threw down a pretty good dunk and he was man enough to follow through on his word. Everybody was laughing pretty hard and it was a really fun morning. He also asked me what I've been doing to work on my vertical which made me feel pretty good (he is actually a professional athlete). Even better, I got the whole thing on video and will upload soon!

Thanks for following along!

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 4 Recap

I've completed another week of Operation Tomahawk towards my quest to throw down a two-hand tomahawk dunk before January when I turn 40.

Similar to last week, I missed a couple of workouts. And so here comes the part where I make some rather lame excuses! I'm coaching my son's AAU basketball team which just started and my work has been crazy busy so my time is even more limited than it has been in previous weeks. I'm really looking forward to the holidays when things calm down for a bit so I can really focus on my training leading up to my 40th birthday.

The good news is I got probably my best dunk so far this past Friday. I tossed the ball off the glass, caught it with one hand and threw down a one hand dunk. Similar to the one I got at the end of this video, but instead of rattling around the rim a bit, this one was completely clean and even with a bit of authority. It was on the 9'10" rim but I still am really proud of that dunk. The bad news is that my camera wasn't on! Someday I will learn my lesson to not make any dunk attempts unless the camera is rolling.

I did play hoops yesterday but never got the camera out to film and didn't make any dunk attempts. I will be playing again on Friday and will definitely film no matter how good or bad I'm jumping that day.

This week is off to a lousy start. I didn't workout yesterday (just played basketball) and didn't work out today. I have a huge project due tomorrow and has completely consumed me. Speaking of that project, I've got to get back to it.

Tomorrow, I'm getting up early and getting a great workout in. I hope to post again on Friday and have a video to share.

Thanks!

Operation Tomahawk - Week 2 Recap

Week 2 of Operation Tomahawk -- my 12 week plan to throw down a nasty two hand tomahawk dunk before I turn 40, has come and gone.

I got in all my workouts and started off great with my diet. But, the last couple of days I gave into some cravings (burger, cheese fries, milkshake, etc.). Sunday is my "free" day to eat whatever I want. And let's just say that Sunday came a little early this week! Oops.

My workouts went really well though. I set some personal bests on squats and deadlifts which felt great. I know I'm getting stronger. And stronger means I'm going to be jumping higher!

This morning, I played hoops and brought my video camera. My legs felt great and was really jumping well and also playing well. I didn't film very much as I was having so much fun playing. The basket felt huge and shots were falling. One of those days where you just want to play forever.

I threw down one decent dunk off the dribble and had a really nice lob attempt and was excited to see how they looked on video. But, when I got home to watch the footage those particular clips didn't get recorded somehow. So unfortunately, I don't have a video to post today. Really bummed.

I'm trying to limit playing to one or two days per week to give my body more rest. But, I may play again on Wednesday so I can get some footage.

Thanks & stay tuned!

Oh...one more thing...I'm pretty sure I can grab the rim with 2 hands off just one step now. I did a couple one step jumps and realized that I was probably high enough to do it. Can't wait to get back to the gym and find out for sure.

Operation Tomahawk - Week 1 Recap

I had an AWESOME first week of "Operation Tomahawk" which is my 12 week plan to be able to do a two-hand tomahawk dunk before I turn 40 in January.

If you have been following my blog for a while, you know that I completed 12 weeks of  Jump Manual training back in July and reached my goal to be able to dunk. While that was pretty cool, it left me wanting more.

After taking a few weeks off, I restarted the Jump Manual in combination with Freak Jump Technique and got about 3 weeks into it and unfortunately lost my motivation and started missing most of my workouts and eating really bad. But, that is over. I'm totally focused again and will do what it takes to reach my goal to dunk like this (okay...that might be a stretch but I'll do my best!).

So this past week, I got in all my workouts. I ate pretty much perfectly. Stretched everyday except one I believe. I did play basketball twice instead of once. So hard for me to skip morning hoops! My intention is to only play once a week to help my body have a little more recovery time. It was a great first week and can already feel a difference. It reinforced to me how important your diet is and how much better you feel when you're eating right.

I'm thinking about filming some of my workouts to show some of the exercises I'm doing. If you think that would be beneficial, post some comments below. If I get quite a few people saying they are interested, I may take the time and effort to put something together. We'll see.

This morning I played hoops and didn't play that well but I had a pretty good dunk so I still came home in a good mood.

Thanks for watching and reading!

Operation Tomahawk - starts tomorrow

I didn't want to post my last video. Nothing but crappy dunks or missed dunks. Watching it was frustrating and frankly kind of pissed me off. But, some good has come out of it. I'm fired up and ready to go to work.

So tomorrow, I'm starting my second round of Jump Manual training over and calling it "Operation Tomahawk". I have just a little over 12 weeks until I turn 40 in January and want to be able to throw down a two-hand tomahawk dunk before that happens. I'm estimating that I need another 4 inches on my vertical to be able to do that.

4 inches in 12 weeks? Doesn't seem like that much. But, I know this will not be easy. What am I going to do to pull this off?

First, I'm going to change a few things for this round for training. I'm going to play basketball just once a week instead of three times per week. Getting my workouts in for the last several weeks has been hard and often I've opted to play basketball instead of doing my training. I also think having a little extra rest between workouts will help.

I'm going to post a video every week (most likely Fridays) for the next 12 weeks as this really helps my motivation. Knowing I'm going to post a video each week pushes me to train harder as I want to see progress. The mostly positive comments and "likes" I've gotten on my YouTube videos have also been very rewarding and help me to keep going.

I'm also going to hold off on Freak Jump Technique training for the first 6 weeks. It doesn't take that much extra time, but it has felt a little overwhelming trying to do both jump manual and freak jump technique. I just want to focus on jump manual for these first 6 weeks and then the last 6 weeks, I'm going to add back in Freak Jump Technique.

I'm also going to make sure I get in my stretching everyday. I hate stretching and so it's easy to make excuses or procrastinate. But, the little things like this make a difference. I'm going to need every inch I can get so can't neglect flexibility anymore.

Finally, I'm going to be super strict on my diet. I've been eating too much fast food and other junk lately. No more of that nonsense. Going to get super strong and ripped during these next 12 weeks. Would like to see my weight be 165-168 lbs (I'm currently 172 - 175 lbs depending on the day) and drop my bodyfat % down as well. Not sure what it is right now but would guess around 10%? Would like to be 6% or so.

So...Operation Tomahawk. You and me. See you tomorrow.

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!

Jump Manual (Round 2) + Freak Jump Technique - Week 1

After taking a couple weeks off for vacation and to rest and recover from my first 12 weeks of Jump Manual training, it's time to get back to work!

I've now completed my first week of "Round 2" of Jump Manual training which is a modified version of what I did the first 12 weeks. I'm also working hard on my technique using the Freak Jump Technique program.

And...I'm already seeing a difference in just the first week which is super motivating and exciting. I just feel more explosive and aggressive in my jumping. As I mentioned in my last post, I got a really good dunk this week (but no video to prove it). It was by far my best dunk since I started this adventure.

One of my dreams is to dunk in a game and so I've started practicing dunking off the dribble on the low rim (9'10") where I play hoops a few times each week. It wasn't that long ago that I couldn't dunk on this rim even with someone tossing the ball right above the rim (the easiest dunk) and now I can dunk pretty easy off the dribble. Feels really good.

Here's a short video from today's dunk practice on the low rim. Thanks for reading and watching.

My best dunk so far...

As I shared last week, I started my second round of Jump Manual training with some tweaks to my workouts in conjunction with Freak Jump Technique Program. I'm crazy EXCITED because I can already see and feel a difference.

Today, I got my best dunk by far since I started my training back in April. And what made it extra sweet was the guy who about 8 weeks ago told me I would NEVER dunk saw the whole thing. I took advantage of the opportunity to rub it in a bit. We both laughed and it was fun.

The bad news is my video camera was still in my bag and I'm regretting that big time. I've been working hard on my technique and anxious to see if I'm making as much progress as it feels like. I'll be back on the court on Wednesday and this time will make sure my camera is rolling.

Stay tuned for my next video coming later this week. Thanks for reading.

Round 2 of Jump Manual Training + Freak Jump Technique Reloaded

I recently finished 12 weeks of Jump Manual training and have been thinking a lot about what do next to continue improving my vertical. In a few months, I've gone from getting my fingers a little over the rim to being able to throw down a basic one hand dunk. Pretty cool...but I'm not satisfied. I want to dunk in a game and to dunk with AUTHORITY! This means I probably need to increase my vertical another 6 inches. That shouldn't be too hard...right? :-)

I have been talking to Jacob Hiller (creator of Jump Manual) and also attending his weekly coaching sessions. He asked me to provide him a video showing my squat form and jumping form. After reviewing the videos, he had some great insights and also gave me a modified workout which I'm really excited about!

In addition, I've had some people comment on my YouTube videos that if my jump technique was better that I would be dunking really easy. At first, I kind of dismissed these comments but enough people brought it up that it made me start to wonder. So I watched a ton of dunk videos as well as jump technique videos and I finally started to see some of the things I was doing wrong. Turns out my technique does need significant improvement which is actually GREAT news. Improving jump technique has got to be easier (hopefully) than doing more squats, deadlifts, plyo's, etc!

To improve my technique, I purchased Adam Linkenauger's Freak Jump Technique Reloaded program and started it yesterday. There is so much more to jumping than I ever imagined. I'm confident by combining technique training with the modified Jump Manual training, I will get those 6 additional inches.

So here goes another 12 weeks of torture! I mean fun! It is mostly fun, but some days training really sucks and I'd rather just stay in bed. The results are worth it though in the end for sure.

I hope you will continue to follow along during my next 12 weeks of training. Thanks for reading!

12 weeks of Jump Manual completed!!!

I'm very pleased to say I have successfully completed 12 weeks of Jump Manual training. I'm even more pleased about my results!

Today, I got my first dunks jumping off one foot since starting my training. It was totally unexpected because my left knee gives me problems sometimes. I don't think it will ever be the same after tearing my MCL about 18 months ago. But, today it felt great and just felt so easy to jump.

My 2 foot jump also felt really good until I had the ball in my hands. I wasn't able to get down any dunks jumping off 2 feet today. I have been focusing a lot on my technique for the last week and think it will help in the long run. But, today I felt kind of uncoordinated when trying to dunk off 2 feet. I've had several people comment on my youtube videos that if I improved my technique that I would be dunking really easy. So I'm definitely going to keep working on it.

Now that I've finished 12 weeks of Jump Manual workouts, I'm working with Jacob Hiller (creator of Jump Manual) to take my training to the next level. My new goal is to be able to dunk 2 hands with AUTHORITY. No more of these weak dunks!

Well, here is my latest video. Thanks for reading and watching!

Jump Manual Nutrition

I've had quite a few people asking me about nutrition, supplements, etc as part of my Jump Manual training so thought I'd share what I've been doing in this area.

About a year ago, I was introduced to "green smoothies" and have been hooked on them ever since. I have one nearly every morning for breakfast after my workout. The nutritional value of a green smoothie is off the charts and they make you feel so good. Typical ingredients I use are spinach, cale, protein powder, coconut oil, bananas, strawberries, blueberries, and ice. Most people hear "spinach" or "cale" and assume it must be disgusting. It doesn't look pretty (green/brownish), but it tastes great!

I used to take Muscle Milk and several of the other popular protein powders out there but many of them upset my stomach and I'm really trying to stay away from eating anything that has a list of ingredients a mile long. Many of the popular protein powders have a ton of sugar and all kinds of artificial crap that I don't think is good for your body. So I did quite a bit of searching and found 2 protein powders that I like a lot. One is by Sun Warrior which is an all natural protein made with rice. It doesn't taste very good if you just mix it with water or milk but in the green smoothie it's great. I love that this protein literally has 1 ingredient and none of that artificial garbage.

The other protein I just started using a few weeks ago is by Mercola. This one is a whey protein that is all natural and has a bunch of other unique benefits. It also tastes pretty good just mixed with water and ice which is nice for those times when you don't have 10 minutes to make a green smoothie.

Around 10:30 am, I usually have a snack like an apple, almonds, banana, etc. For lunch, I usually go to Subway or some place like that for a sandwich. I also eat a lot of peanut butter and jelly and peanut butter and honey sandwiches. What can I say...they are cheap and taste good to me!

I try to have another healthy snack before dinner (apple, banana, almonds, yogurt, etc.) but I find many days that I don't fit this in. For dinner, my wife often makes something from a cookbook we got several years ago when we did Body for Life called "Eating for Life". There are tons of good recipes in that book.

Also from Body for Life, I take one free day each week (usually Sunday) and eat whatever I want. I love junk food so this is my day to enjoy cookies, doughnuts, ice cream, and whatever else sounds good! The great thing about exercising and eating healthy is you then have freedom to eat some junk food every now and then without fear of gaining weight or causing other problems. It's just not realistic (at least for me) to completely eliminate all unhealthy food. A free day is a great way to maintain balance between eating good food without depriving yourself of things you really enjoy.

One new thing I've been experimenting with is having a protein shake right before bed. I've done this a handful of times and seem to have more energy and get a better workout the next morning. Not sure if it's coincidence or if this is in fact a good thing to do. Stay tuned on that.

I'm also using creatine and definitely can see and feel a difference when I'm taking it. Highly recommend using creatine as part of your training.

So, that's what I'm doing in terms of nutrition. But, what about you? What is working or not working for you?