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Strength, Power, Reactivity, & Speed Discussion / Re: Weight Vested Plyo's

« on: August 13, 2015, 03:56:05 am »

Doing weighed vest plyos increases the GCT (ground contact time). What that means is the muscle load is increased and the "tendon contribution" decreases (in other words, the movement becomes more "muscled up" and less "springy" or "reactive"). Even more, there's a tendency to "break" more (at the hip, knee or ankle).

One "advantage" would be to see where you "break" but then it's a matter of understanding if the breaking is occuring due to lack of strength or too much dominance (for example, if breaking at the knee is a matter of lack of quad strength (knee collapses and goes forward) or too much quad strength relative to the posterior chain, so the quads are preferentially recruited when the load is heavier and therefore, for the quads to express their "strength", the CNS "wants" to move the knee forward to get quad range of motion). It's tricky to figure out what the case is (well, not really, look at your squat numbers to figure that out).

I used to do the other way around for my reactivity - donkey ankle bounces. I would support my chest on something (usually a trash can) and take away a lot of my upperbody weight. Then I would jump up and down while being UNLOADED. That would allow me to be VERY reactive since I'm weighing like half my bodyweight.

Looks funny but is efficient:

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zwu5U3gSCDU" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zwu5U3gSCDU</a>

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Progress Journals & Experimental Routines / Re: Age vs Vertical

« on: August 01, 2015, 08:30:43 pm »

I can, if my knees are straight. Once they start to approach a half-squat depth, getting the glutes to fired requires a tremendous amount of effort. Like, actively thinking about that happening like crazy. No wonder my half squat sucks.

On the other hand, the glute recruitment becomes better if I just push the hips back, like in a RDL. But once the knees bend (knees travel forward) as in a jump or half squat, the glutes are being turned off.

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Progress Journals & Experimental Routines / Re: Age vs Vertical

« on: August 01, 2015, 06:56:56 pm »

I can't. I have no glute control while with both legs planted etc. It's complicated.

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Progress Journals & Experimental Routines / Re: Age vs Vertical

« on: July 31, 2015, 04:44:10 pm »

It's really, really weird.

When I jump off two, for example for a jumpshot, I feel 100% quad. No glute no nothing. In fact, my two leg jump with a ball in hand looks and feels horrible, for a jumpshot. And when I land I feel like crashing. I basically just bend at the knees and jump, the hips don't do anything.

So how can I be quad dominant in a jump and yet suck at half squatting? Doesn't make any sense. Unless I have weak quads and even weaker posterior chain, so the CNS is like "well OK, let me choose a knee bend since the quads are a bit stronger".

But then shouldn't I be better at half squats, like high bar squats (although it's a serious flexiblity issue there that is limiting me) and suck at deadlifts?

Really weird.

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Progress Journals & Experimental Routines / Re: Age vs Vertical

« on: July 31, 2015, 06:58:31 am »

It's so weird looking how much you smoke me on the half squats and how much you struggle with the hang cleans while also being able to do a proper catch on the shoulders. Very interesting.

I guess you have better quads/better structure for quad "expression" whereas I have better PC. I don't know.

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Progress Journals & Experimental Routines / Re: Chris' training journal

« on: July 29, 2015, 04:03:09 pm »

Well I've done everything by the book. You tell me how the same ratio is maintained despite increases in bodyweight? Sounds like a genetic thing to me.

Remember, my "natural" VJ back when I was 15 was "wow I touched the net" level off one leg (12 inches) and I didn't know a two-leg jump was even possible. That's the genetics I was served up with.

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Progress Journals & Experimental Routines / Re: Chris' training journal

« on: July 29, 2015, 03:46:42 pm »

Are you kidding me?

How about telling me how much I waste my time having pretty much the same ratio of squat/BW in the last 7 years or so, going religiously to the gym and putting as much if not MORE effort than anybody else I know.

No matter what I did, the squat/BW ratio stayed the same all this time. And pretty much everything else. Increase in bodyweight? See SOME increases in strength, but overall the same ratio.

Genetics is genetics, and you can't go around it.

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Progress Journals & Experimental Routines / Re: Chris' training journal

« on: July 29, 2015, 06:21:17 am »

Dem glucocorticoid levels...

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Progress Journals & Experimental Routines / Re: Age vs Vertical

« on: July 29, 2015, 06:19:54 am »

I would probably have a ~100% collapse rate in my plants after that, or 12 inch jumps at the most.

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Progress Journals & Experimental Routines / Re: Chris' training journal

« on: July 28, 2015, 07:34:20 pm »

Well of course it is. But it's depressing to think that stuff is more into the realm of genetics than it is in the realm of actual training effects. To get a training effect would mean, IMO, to do a tremendous amount of volume of plyometric work, a stuff that athletic/high jump coaches here in Romania do abide by.

Same thing with becoming a reactive "dunker" - go the Jordan Kilganon or Kadour Ziani "non stop dunking/dunk or die" route. But only those whose genetics were "right" to begin with will be able to go that route without getting injured, because someone with faulty mechanics/"bad structure" for jumping will take in so much damage from high volume jumping (using those bad mechanics combined with a bad structure) that they will get injured before any positive training effects will become noticeable.

It's really depressing when you think about it.

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