Adarq.org

Training: I had a busy life week/10-day period and didn't train much. The Melbourne weather is still very schizophrenic and hasn't eased into consistent clear days yet, so I haven't been jumping outside. I decided to go back to volume on my squats as, before my forced rest week, the 5x5@120kgs had stalled a bit, and I wasn't very happy with the rep speed, very grindy. For the next few weeks I'm gonna do 3x10, full ATG paused reps (I'll put up a video next time). Starting at 80kgs and working up to 100kgs before trying heavier/less reps again. I'm going to take my time here.

More notes on core exercises: I'm increasingly being persuaded by my very athletic, knowledgeable friend that the ability to produce a lot of concentric abdominal force is less important than the anti-rotational function of the abs/obliques, especially for injury purposes. I think you can get trapped a bit with weighted/high-rep crunch movements, feeling very 'strong' and producing a lot of 'force' that really goes nowhere and isn't worth spending excessive time on, compared to strengthening anti-rotation. Ideally for me, the core portion of the workout should be developing endurance and strength in exercises like: dead bugs for time, woodchoppers (lateral and high-to-low, each side) and one-arm suitcase carry as opposed to smashing out a million crunches or ab pulldown-ing 100kgs etc. Of course, direct abdominal work e.g. hanging leg raises are still required, it's just the balance needs to be in favour of the anti-rotational stuff that also brings in the glutes and shoulders. The reasons for which are: better stability in movements like running, jumping, squatting etc.

Vertec notes: The trouble I had with the PVC pipe is that, because my backyard gets windy, the top part was not very stable, especially as I want to use metal slats and nuts/washers that add a bit of weight to the top. So I'm gonna use those on a wooden frame like my old one, which I'll make when I go home next and I have access to tools. In the meantime I made a homeless man's vertec using zip ties around the PVC pipe at each inch, just for training, not testing as such. So in the end I should have a nice solid wooden vertec for testing, and a crappy one just to jump at.

Edit: 3rd set of 3x10@85kgs, fairly easy with a relatively light weight, focus is to maintain this form getting up to 100kgs.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4yHcnmgIbA" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4yHcnmgIbA</a>

acole & LBSS i chose this specific video between the many existing, exactly because it shows it is NOT fast forward. The first takes are missing frames indeed that's obvious.
But go to 0:24 and re-watch/time it. Shit is real...

Ha, like LBSS I didn't really watch past the editing bit. He is pretty fast!

It makes me think of the differences in 'sprinting' across sports that aren't T&F. We had some football (soccer) players come and train in my sprint group and they consistently pop up very early out of the start - I guess because during a game, an accelerating player has to stay upright and ready to intercept or kick the ball, which changes the mechanics.

Man, if true then that's a hell of a 10k time. You sure that's not on a bike though haha. The only suspicious thing for me is the HR? Avg of 124 at that pace over 10k?

That's the first thing I noticed too. Surely it's too low? That or the crappy treadmill heart rate monitor isn't reliable.

LOL at leaving the game clock in. He's so fast he literally accelerated time itself!

Quote from: acole14 on October 20, 2017, 07:46:34 am

Swimming is a great idea for you. I wish I could swim regularly. Always felt better when I had pool recovery sessions.

Quote from: scoobychau on October 19, 2017, 01:52:28 am

Update. Both of my knee is very sore the next day.
Looking at the video, i wonder if i jump too many times.
Especially when I was under the basket without access to the rim during 3on3. 80min jump session.  I counted over 40 jumps. Each with at least 1min rest.

I've always been astounded that you jump so much on hard concrete and don't have worse knees. Any chance of using indoor court/synthetic track/grass for jumping now and again? Regardless, 40 jumps isn't excessively high volume, but surely they can't all be max effort jumps, simply because you'll get tired after 6-10 true max effort jumps. So if the aim is high quality maximal height jumps, you probably need to do less.

For me personally, i'm not astounded by it. I think if you're fairly lean, in good shape, and have a history of jumping on concrete; it shouldn't wreck you.

As for scoob's knees being sore afterwards, the amount of work he's putting in lately & his increasing the intensity of DJ's/drops is more likely to blame, I imagine.

Well, I only mentioned it because he said he had sore knees and wanted to at least throw it out there as a factor. But yeah, the bolded part is probably more relevant.

Also scoob, read this point:

I'll give one more example .. I was going to comment on this a few days ago but didn't, scoob gets lots of advice, and he absorbs all of it, then is often guilty of mixing it all together and it just becomes unmanageable. But anyway, on his depth jumps, you can see it looks like he's constantly shooting his feet into the ground upon landing, rather than simply landing. To me, this is another "mechanical override", that he's thinking about. It seems advantageous to lock the ankle upon falling, ie, dorsiflex on the way down, but, once that's done, the next step is simply landing soft while getting off the ground as fast as possible AND jumping as high as possible. When you shoot your feet into the ground, it kills the ability to land softly, imho. It could also be more stressful on the body itself, it's more of a punch than a push. If I want to do a rebounding plyometric pushup from low blocks, do I smash my hands into the ground, or do I land softly and immediately push as hard as possible? The latter.. same thing with a DJ. You don't smash your contact points into the ground .. you brace for a soft landing and then you explode .. This may look deceiving to the natural eye, so some people may perceive one is smashing the ground, but that's not at all what is happening. When I watch videos of people smashing their feet into the ground during drops etc, it actually bugs me. It's like they are trying to crush a venomous snake. IMHO, it alters motor patterns for the worse.

I noticed in your most recent video, you're bending at the knee mid-drop and almost anticipating the impact rather than reacting to it. It's minimising the SSC IMO. I know it probably 'feels' like you should project as much force into the ground and rebound, but it's not really the aim of the exercise as adarq says.

Also, on the kneeling exercises (~1:42 onward in the above vid), is that how you're supposed to do them? I don't do them, but I thought you have to initially jump straight out of the kneeling position, land and then jump up again. It's subtle, but it looks like you're rocking back onto your toes, jumping forward and then doing the rebound jump, if that makes sense. To me it looks odd, but maybe that's what your coach wants.

Swimming is a great idea for you. I wish I could swim regularly. Always felt better when I had pool recovery sessions.

Update. Both of my knee is very sore the next day.
Looking at the video, i wonder if i jump too many times.
Especially when I was under the basket without access to the rim during 3on3. 80min jump session.  I counted over 40 jumps. Each with at least 1min rest.

I've always been astounded that you jump so much on hard concrete and don't have worse knees. Any chance of using indoor court/synthetic track/grass for jumping now and again? Regardless, 40 jumps isn't excessively high volume, but surely they can't all be max effort jumps, simply because you'll get tired after 6-10 true max effort jumps. So if the aim is high quality maximal height jumps, you probably need to do less.

Sorry to ask, but are you sure they're 35kg DBs and not 35lb (15kg) DBs? Because that is absolutely staggering that you can do >1xBW for seven reps....I'm full squatting 120kgs 5x5 and could not do more than 20-25kg for seven reps/leg on BSS. I do them much wider than you too. You're also handling them like toys. If they're definitely 35kg DBs, bravo, I'm impressed.

Quote from: acole14 on October 17, 2017, 06:15:17 am

I totally agree on bball shoes. I realised after wearing lighter, less bulky shoes that bball shoes (even super low cut) are just too heavy/awkward. I run in the Nike XC waffle racers (best running shoes) and I've found the Nike Metcon 3 are a great in-between option, they're essentially running shoes with more structure in the heel for squatting. Great for jumping. lifting and running. Unfortunately it means indirectly supporting crossfit *shudder*...but they really are the best training shoes I've had. Great for basketball too.

nike metcon 3 look like my dream shoe on paper. i would have to try them out but i saw the weight is slightly heavier than my kobes at 11 ounces vs 9. that might be a deal breaker on the ewight front but i do love the idea of one shoe for running, jumping and maybe lifting as well

Yes they're definitely heavier than my other main shoe (Nike XC Zoom Rival) at ~6oz. YMMV but I like them a lot. A bit pricey at $150-$180, but...most bball shoes are around that here.