Dunk Competition for Nike Elites!

In my last blog post, I asked if anyone would like to enter a friendly competition with the hope it would give me some additional motivation in my pursuit of the 2 hand dunk! And, maybe it would provide some additional motivation to someone else too. Well, I'm happy to report that 4 people have challenged me so far:

Aaron Perry - he can dunk 1 hand similar to me. So, we're racing to the 2 hand dunk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qq3kllU7Vys

d - he can get a few inches over the rim. So, he's racing to the 1 hand dunk vs. me getting 2 hand dunk
http://dunkbot.blogspot.com

Mason Collier - can dunk 1 hand similar to me. So, we're racing to the 2 hand dunk
http://projectmason.blogspot.com/

Joe C. Thomas - can grab rim with both hands. So, he's racing to the 1 hand dunk vs me getting 2 hand dunk
http://joejoesbucketlist.blogspot.com/

Thanks, Aaron, d, Mason, and Joe! Good luck guys!

So, what's the wager? Whoever accomplishes their dunking goal first, gets a pair of Nike Elite's!

I'm looking forward to having 4 more pairs of Elite's very soon! :-)

Let the competition begin!

Jump Manual at 40 years old - Week 12 Results

So another 12 weeks of Jump Manual is complete! Crazy how fast time goes by. I sure wish I was posting a video with some awesome 2 hand dunks but still not quite there. But, as I've said before...I'm not giving up! And, I'm actually more confident than ever that I'm going to get there. Maybe I'm delusional but I don't think so.

I was thinking that one thing that really helped motivate me during my first 12 weeks of training is I had a few "haters" that were telling me I would never be able to dunk at age 39. It made me mad! But, it also drove me. And I worked harder because of it. Honestly, I kind of miss it. Strange but true.

So instead of asking for some haters to provide some additional motivation, I'm wondering if anyone out there reading this blog would like to have a wager of some kind? Like first person to do X (for me it would be dunk 2 hands and for you it could be dunk for the first time or whatever) gets something cool. Doesn't have to be expensive. Maybe its a pair of Nike Elite socks or whatever. I just love to compete and might be fun to have a little extra bet to go along with our training.

Any takers? Come on. It will be fun!

While your thinking about it, I will leave you with one of my favorite new dunk vids. Enjoy!

Jump Manual at 40 years old - Week 11 Results

Sorry folks! I'm very late posting my Week 11 Results. I guess I haven't been super anxious to update my blog as this past week was not super great from a training standpoint. I was on the road again (for the 3rd straight week) and that makes things really tough for me to get all my workouts in.

Probably the best thing that happened this past week is I had the coolest and most realistic dream I can remember in quite some time. I dreamed I got my 2 hand dunk! And it was so real and felt so good. I am a firm believer that you have to believe you can do something before you can do it. If you don't believe you can dunk, can pretty much guarantee that will be a self-fulfilling prophecy. You've got to believe it! Really believe it!

Along those lines, one thing I've been doing more is visualizing myself dunking two hands during the strength and explosion workout. I especially like to visualize that for calf raises and knee drives. It doesn't require much skill or thought to perform those exercises, so its easy to really picture dunking in my mind while trying to be as explosive as possible. Maybe it sounds a little corny, but I think it helps.

Well...that's about all for now....

Oh, be sure to check out these blogs created by some new friends of mine who are chasing their dunking dreams and start following their progress too! Knowing that a few other people have been inspired to go after their goals after reading my blog makes me feel really good and motivates me to keep working hard. So thanks to everyone out there who is reading this blog and especially to those who have posted comments, asked questions, started their own blog, or whatever. I really appreciate it!

DunkQuest2012
Quest to dunk by November

Jump Manual at 40 years old - Week 10 Results

Week 10 of my vertical jump training using the Jump Manual started out great. But, then I went out of town for 3 days to go camping and didn't workout at all! I was fully planning to do the off-day exercises on Wednesday & Friday and my core & upper body workout on Thursday (like I normally do each week) as these are workouts that can be done just about anywhere. But, I didn't do it.

On the bright side, the strength & explosion workout (squats, deadlifts, cleans, etc.) that I do each Saturday did go well. I was able to increase the weights on squats and knee drives. What seemed crazy though is the workout seemed so much harder than it did the week before. Probably because I hadn't done anything for the last 3 days!  Also, not getting much sleep or eating well on my camping trip didn't help. About 1/3 of the way through the workout, I seriously considered calling it a day. So glad I didn't! This week is also going to be tough as I'm out of town for 4 days. Got to do better.

This morning I decided to play basketball since I hadn't played in like 10 days and was really missing it. I felt a little sore from Saturday's workout but not too bad. I did some depth jumps in between games and was able to beat my previous best of 29.1" (shown in my Week 8 video) with 30.8". However, I was jumping off an 18" chair as compared to a 12" step in my last test. So that probably explains some of the increase as I should be able to jump higher off the chair than the step.

Here's the video from today:

Jump Manual at 40 years old - Week 9 Results

Week 9 of my vertical jump training went extremely well.  As I mentioned in last week's update, I decided to go back to doing the exact workouts outlined in the Jump Manual instead of the modifications I had made.

After only 1 week, I already know that was the right decision. How do I know? Well, since I track all my workouts, I know my lifts increased either in weight or number of reps on several exercises. That felt great!

Also, I decided to cut back on playing basketball from 3 times per week to 1 time per week. It felt so good to being playing on fresh legs!

So make sure you are getting enough rest. Recovery is HUGE!
I don't have a video to share this week but will make sure that happens on my next update. Thanks for reading!

Jump Manual at 40 years old - Week 8 Results

During the last seven weeks of my Jump Manual training, I have been able to "re-gain" most of the gains I made to my no-step vertical last year. However, I'm definitely not jumping as high off the run. I've been thinking a lot about this and believe this is due to overtraining or as Jacob likes to call it "under recovery".

These last seven weeks instead of doing 1 plyometric workout and 1 strength workout separated by several days as outlined in the Jump Manual, I decided to experiment with shorter workouts but more often. So, I was lifting legs 2 times per week and doing short plyometric workouts 3 times per week. But, I don't think this is the right approach for me. My body just needs more rest and recovery time.

So, I'm going back to the standard Jump Manual schedule of 1 plyometric workout and 1 leg workout per week separated by 3-4 days. I'm also going to only play basketball 1 time per week to allow myself even more time to rest as compared to what I was previously doing.

I'm confident this will get things back on track. In hindsight, I should have just stuck with the standard Jump Manual workout schedule. If it ain't broke, don't fix it!

Today, I did the standard plyometric workout and used the Just Jump system for the first time during a plyo workout. It was so awesome to have immediate feedback on how I was performing. I used it during depth jumps, medicine ball approaches, rim jumps, and weighted explosions. Now, I will be able to more accurately track my progress and push myself to the max during each workout. I also expect this to speed up my results.

I'm really motivated again and can't wait to see where I'm at during the next several weeks! 

Here's a clip of my best depth jump today which was only 29.1 inches. I was disappointed that I wasn't getting more like 33-34 inches but expect to be there very soon. Thanks for reading!

Jump Manual at 40 years old - Week 7 Results

I'm late posting my recap of Week 7! But, the week went fairly well other than I still haven't been able to dunk 2 hands which I was hoping to do by July 4th.

I did test my no-step vertical on Monday as I've been doing for the last several weeks. My best no-step jump was 30.3 inches which is a 1/2 inch less than my best jump from Week 6 when my best was 30.8 inches.

I've been feeling a bit run down and tired the last few weeks which isn't normal for me. I think this is due to not eating as healthy and not getting enough sleep. I'm recommitting myself to eating better and getting to bed earlier.

Although my no-step vertical is close to where I was at my peak last year, my running vert doesn't seem to be as high. I think this is do to fatigue and possibly overtraining. I looked back through my old training logs and blog posts (another reason why tracking your workouts and having a blog are so beneficial), and realized that when I was jumping my best, I had cut back to playing basketball to only once per week instead of 3 times per week like normal. My body probably needs more recovery!

So starting this week, I'm only going to play hoops 1 time per week for the next several weeks and see how that impacts my results. I'm also going to set a new date for me to dunk 2 hands. I'm heavily leaning towards this being my last phase of training for a while. It's just too easy to keep pushing that date back and while my motivation is still high it is not like it was when I wanted to dunk before I turned 40 last year. I was on a mission!

I wish there was a dunk contest for old guys that was happening this fall. Having a date like that would really motivate me. I'm pretty sure there is no such thing as it would likely be the worst dunk contest of all time! :-)

But, maybe I will put on my own dunk contest? If your over 35 and would want to participate, post a comment below. The winner gets a year supply of Viagra?!

Happy Training!