Adarq.org

so. progressive overload. i've been spinning my wheels on microcycles for too long. need to think better about mesocycles and macrocycles. this ain't power lifting, where you can pretty much follow a system someone else developed because 8 bajillion people are also trying to be better at squat/bench/dead.

my current DLRVJ PR, repeated on 3-4 widely-spaced occasions over the past 18 months or so, is about 36 inches. that is, i've gotten all but an inch of my palm up over the rim. to dunk, even off a lob, it's generally understood that you need to have your whole palm over. for me, that means 37 inches. so i need a one-inch improvement on my PR in order to dunk. i'll leave aside for a second the need to also have someone throwing me lobs because my hands are too small to hold onto the ball during a full arm swing.

on an average day, i can hit between 34 and 35 inches. bad days more like 33. good days are 35+.

jumping is a combination of strength, power, elasticity (or bounce or reactivity or springiness or whatever you want to call it -- i'm talking about tendons and ligaments and how well they store and release energy), and skill. here is my self-assessment of each of these abilities on a scale of 1-10, where 1 is a fat alcoholic smoker who's never worked out, 5 is an average, reasonably in-shape 28-year-old, and 10 is a world-record holder:

• strength: 7 (have squatted 2x bw, around 1.9x last time i tested after an extended period of de-emphasizing squats, still could be better)
• power: 6 (SVJ is comfortably 30-31 and PR is 32 -- pretty good but not great)
• elasticity: 5 (13.0 100m)
• skill: 7 (i think that at this point i've grooved a pretty efficient, consistent approach that would, with improvements in one or all of the other areas, lead to dunk-level jump height)

elasticity is my weakest point. i'm just not that "bouncy," i'm average in terms of sprint speed and my single-leg jumping lags way behind double-leg. it's also pretty hard to improve: you're stuck with ligaments and tendons you're born with. strength is the most natural component for me. with a bit of dedicated time and some culking i'm pretty sure i could total >1000. power is somewhere in the middle. i can't do oly lifts at my gym (no plates or platform) so i need to find another way to work on this in a progressive and measurable way. skill i've rated more highly than i should, maybe, because i really only care about dunking at all. i've found an approach that enables me to jump consistently and relatively smoothly from an LR approach. being able to dunk from the other side, or do any kind of tricks, or even approach from a different part of the court: not important.

one other thing that's not listed here is conditioning, which isn't needed for a single ME jump but which contributes to ability to train well. i'd rate my conditioning as a 6. probably a shade above average for a 28-year-old, but not good. with proper conditioning (and other factors like sleep, diet, and alcohol consumption under better management) i should be able to increase the share of average-to-good jumping days.

next post will consider what my goals should be and how i should try to get there.

you don't need to be that strong to throw a frisbee far. technique matters MUCH more. much more. lifting weights can't hurt but it's not gonna make nearly as big a difference as practicing throws. 

dunno if you know ultimate rob but he's got some good vids up about improving distance and technique. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL684D1A669065ACB0

for people who want to skip through, at least one of the dunks is at 3:19.

great job scoob those are looking solid!

bret contreras imagines that he can get valid readings about muscle activation from applying electrodes to people's butts more or less at random. that's not to say any individual thing he writes is wrong, but he's a hacky internet guru like so many others. take what he writes with a grain of salt.

that video is scary man. don't use a weight if you can't handle it safely. and yeah, the chair is too close.

does that not also load up your lower back?

last night did a 30-minute feldenkrais session. something about linking pelvis and neck. not the greatest. gonna keep trying 'em out though.

tonight:

WEIGHT: ???
SORENESS: none
ACHES/INJURIES: left hamstring a little, near my butt
MENTAL STATE: okay

- warm up

- MB OH throw 20 x 5,5,5

- bunch of crap, legs dead, missing layups all over the place, hamstring felt weird, decided it wasn't worth trying ME jumps. today was supposed to be conditioning and i got a little of that but weak.

- superset x 5
-- dips x 10
-- inverted row x 10

- stretch

another crappy workout. yay.

he's so close to what i think would be the coolest dunk ever: gracefully passing the ball through until you're hanging elbow-in-rim, but holding on to the ball all the way.