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 - 41 years old - Week 9 Results

Week 9 training using the Jump Manual was a good week.

I got in all the workouts except for one and that was because I was unusually sore after my Tuesday workout which I changed up a bit this past week. I mentioned in my last post that I was going to start adding in some additional plyometrics and that's probably what the additional soreness was from. So I took Thursday off to recover. I hate missing days as it makes me feel lazy. But, sometimes you just have to rest.

I've continued to modify and tweak my workout during these last 9 weeks and I feel like what I'm doing now is perfect for me. Admittedly, I have a tendency to change things probably a little too much. But, I think this is the right combination of strength, plyo, core, upper body, etc. It pushes me hard, doesn't take too long, and is giving me results.

To be honest, I was feeling a little discouraged (my wife would say I was "very grumpy") last week as I was expecting to see some nice progress after having a week off but didn't see any gains. However, that all changed this morning! I was in the basketball gym at Gold's doing my depth jumps (I prefer to do them with the basketball rim so I have a target and can tell how well I'm jumping) and some guys came over and asked me to play 3 on 3. It drives me nuts when guys ask me to play hoops at Gold's because I have no willpower to say no! And, I need to workout!

So of course, I said okay and we started playing. We played a very low key game where no one played defense or tried very hard (at least I didn't). After the game, they said okay let's switch up the teams and play again. I grabbed the ball and drove in hard to the basket and threw down a pretty nice one hand dunk. I don't think they were expecting that. One of the guys said, "He's on my team!". That made me laugh and feel really good.

Once again, I jumped really well when I wasn't expecting it and didn't have my camera out to capture the moment. I had already done squats and depth jumps and was a little tired and had no intention of playing basketball today. I also had on my old Kobe's that have no traction and wasn't wearing my knee brace either. I'm not very comfortable jumping with all my effort unless I have that on. In spite of those things, I jumped really well today. The modified workout, taking creatine, stretching more, and eating better (I'm now down to 175 lbs) are making a difference.

I'm really excited again and feeling optimistic that reaching my goal of the two hand tomahawk dunk is possible. On the right day, when the adrenaline is pumping, I think I could do it. But, the planets and stars may have to align perfectly.

When is the next full moon?

Jump Manual 2013 - took another week off

This past week I took a break from my Jump Manual training. It was nice to have some time off and give my body and mind a break.

I'm now headed for the home stretch. My last 4 weeks of this phase of training! And I'm actually coming up on 2 years since I started using the Jump Manual back in April 2011! In fact, my 2 year anniversary is almost exactly one month from today (April 11). It would be so amazing to reach my goal of the two hand tomahawk before then.

So...I'm going to do everything I can this last month to make that dream come true. Here's the plan:

-- Start taking creatine again (started yesterday)
-- Stretch everyday
-- Adding back in some additional plyometrics
-- Shortened workouts that focus on explosiveness
-- Play basketball 1 time per week instead of 2 times per week. Got to spend the time training instead of playing hoops.
-- Eat super healthy. Get as lean as possible without losing strength during these next 4 weeks.
-- Get more sleep. I regularly go to bed at midnight or later and get up at 5:45 am. Not ideal.

And I'm also going to pray! :-)

Hope your training is going well. Wish me luck during these next 4 weeks.

Jump Manual - 41 years old - Week 8 Results

My week 8 training using the Jump Manual went alright. I skipped one of the workouts completely and then did only about half of another workout. Definitely started feeling some fatigue and burn out and so I'm definitely going to take this week off and rest up a bit.

My plan is to play hoops 2 times this week and just do the "off-day" jump manual exercises on those days. I'll do some pushups, pullups, and some core stuff and of course stretching and foam rolling. But, I'm going to take a break from lifting (squats, deadlifts, etc.) and plyometrics. Going to eat really strict this week and see if I can lean out just a bit more before I start taking creatine again on Monday. Seems like I gain an instant 5 lbs within a couple of days taking creatine so would like to get down to around 170 lbs so that when I'm on creatine I'm around 175 lbs.

I also sprained my right ankle last week (not horribly bad) but that's another reason to take some time off. I have been doing tons of ice and advil and most of the swelling is gone already. It's my first sprained ankle since I started doing jump manual workouts almost 2 years ago which is really good for me. In the past, I  sprained ankles pretty regularly.

I will upload a new video later this week with some better dunks than that lob from last week.

Thanks for reading!

Jump Manual - 41 years old - Week 7 results

I'm late posting an update on my progress from this past week from using the Jump Manual! My life has been crazy and just very little free time right now.

I've been off creatine for almost about a month now and have dropped a few pounds. I'm down to 176 lbs from 182 lbs but I have felt a decline in my strength in the last 2 weeks. My bench press has gone down and seems like my squat has too. I think it could be a combination of fatigue and not using creatine. I might take next week off to rest like I did 4 weeks ago. We'll see. But, I am going back on creatine. Whether its mental or not it gives me a big boost in strength that I notice whenever I'm taking it.

I have been trying more dunks lately by throwing lobs to myself. I have never been very good at these. I don't seem to jump as high as I'm not super confident the pass is going to be in the right place so I tend to hold back a bit. I usually jump higher on dribble dunks which is weird since without the full arm swing you actually shouldn't be able to jump quite as high off the dribble.

But, I've been watching my friend Steven Celi throw down some really nice dunks lately off lobs and it's made me want to try them more. Check out one of his latest vids:

This morning I did get one weak dunk off a lob and actually got it on video.

Enjoy!

Jump Manual 2013 - Week 6 Results

Week 6 of this phase of Jump Manual went pretty well over all.

I did miss my big Saturday workout which sort of bummed me out. We went camping on Friday night and then my son had a basketball game as soon as we got home on Saturday. I then did a 2 hour skill workout with him and the day just got away from me. I wasn't completely lazy though. I did some pushups, situps, and body squats as well as some foam rolling and stretching.

I was really looking forward to basketball this morning as we always have good games on holidays and play for a long time. But, my body actually wasn't feeling that great this morning. I felt sore which made no sense at all. I brought my jump mat to test my no-step vertical like I do each Monday. But, I turned it on and it died. Hopefully its just the batteries and not broken or something.

The good news is instead of doing my no-step vert tests in between games, I made some dunk attempts and got the best dunk I've gotten in a while. Felt so good! Jumping is so unpredictable. I really wasn't feeling that good today and yet I jumped probably higher off the run than I have in a while. My approach felt really strong and fast. I think the extra core work I've been doing this phase of training is helping a lot with my running vertical. Or maybe it was watching the slam dunk contest! Although it was kind of lame. With Gerald Green and James White, it should have been so much better!

Some other good news this week is I got a PR on military press. I really suck at this lift! I finally got 105 lbs for 5 reps. Hopefully I can continue to make improvements there. Strong shoulders are important for the arm swing and helping you jump higher.

Unfortunately, I wasn't filming my dunk attempts as I would love to seen the footage. Will make sure I do that next week. I will leave you with this video which blows my mind. I keep watching it over and over and trying to figure out how in the world this 5'6" high school kid can dunk so easy. He's even dunked a few times in games which is even more insane.

Have a great holiday!

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!