Adarq.org

Random track session (yesterday) -

Warmup

5x50m run-throughs (last few near 90%, speed was pretty good, no noticeable drop-off)

3x10 Dips // 3x6 chinups

Decided to go for a run instead of 3rd gym session last week, wanted to see how my body would hold up after some short near-max sprints. Feel pretty good today, knee is fine but pretty sore in left glute-ham. But overall, happy I can still run!

Will prob take some of this week off to rest weird glute-ham soreness before starting to do more strength next week.

Gym - final GPP phase:

Foam roll/activation exercises

RDL: 1x6@60kgs, 2x6@80kgs, 1x6@90kgs

SL TKEs: 3x15-20/leg@10kgs

Core: Roman chair leg raises//Ab pulldown//Incline oblique situps (can't remember all the sets but did enough)

Pullups: 3x10 (3 set  although they are way easier now I'm <80kgs)

Military press: 3x10 with random challenging weight

BW: 79.5kgs

Gym:

Long foam roll warmup/glute/VMO activation

Felt very fresh so decided to do a 1RM rather than 3RM squat.

Squat: Warmup, 60kgs, 90kgs, 110kgs, 130kgs, 140kgs, failed at 145kgs (half-squatted it).

Pullups: 6x6

BW: 78.7kgs (morning)

Well I've lost a bit of strength for sure but not a great deal. It's about where I thought I'd be after not regularly squatting for ~3-4 months. The aim in this block is to do 2x squat sessions a week (probably work up to 1x6 and maybe a 4x8) with ~3 days rest between, one day of RDL/calves+core and a separate 30 min core session. I'm not going to schedule them on a particular day during the week because I did that last time and it probably didn't help my recovery as sometimes I was squatting just to keep up with the schedule, rather than making sure I was 100% ready to go. Will eat more carbs now on workout days but won't pursue a large calorie surplus as I want to keep my weight around 80kgs and shoot for 160kg 1RM.

You'll probs have that 160kg squat within a month or 2 at most.

Haha thanks mate, hopefully. The only thing I'm worried about is my body holding up!

____________________

A few days ago I once again got the urge to sprint rather than lift. Went down to the track and did 80,100,120m with the intention of going back down 100,80m but I decided to take it easy rather than do too much too soon. Also did some light pogos and tuck jumps.

I've definitely lost a lot of endurance and my body was pretty sore the next day. Gotta get some better shoes as well, ran in my old spikes and my right heel was fairly sore the next day (old plantar fasciitis flaring up). Spot where hamstring and glute joins on left leg was pretty sore as well. Really worked on those two areas the next day using rubber ball and roller + contrast baths. 15min as hot as I can handle with Epsom salts, then 15mins ice cold, really gets the blood flowing. Feel a lot better today but decided not to squat today just because of this ham/glute spot. I'm a little worried it could be sciatic pain, never had that before so will monitor it closely. I may have been overstretching my hamstrings (I stretch them a lot) so will just rest it from stretching and see how it feels after squatting.

Core session:

This was a 30min group fitness class, never really done these but this was worthwhile. We basically just did continuous planking variations and situp variations for 20 mins with a few rest breaks. Quite tough, I was struggling to keep up! Glad though because core strength is something I can always work on and if I commit a 30min session a week + assistance work in the gym it should help a lot.

i messed up my hip flexors a while back with overenthusiastic stretching. be careful.

Yep for sure, I was in the mindset of "more is better" for flexibility work, but too much of anything will create problems. Will tone it down for a bit.

What's your training result so far? Can you dunk?

No I can't dunk yet. Here's a summary of my results/progress (probably should have this on the first page):

Started jumping beginning of 2011 (starting squatting/leg work Dec 2010): <30'' RVJ (never actually tested this initally, but wasn't close to touching 10' rim, could have been lower)

March 2011 (started logging here around then): ~32'' SLRVJ, 29'' SVJ

Sept 2011: ~34'' SLRVJ, 31'' SVJ

Jan 2012: About the same as Sept, getting better at the DSVJ though (~33'')

March 2012: SLRVJ 34-35'', DLRVJ 34'' (big improvement on this over last few months), SVJ 32''

July 2012: SLRVJ/DLRVJ: 37'', DSVJ: 35'', SVJ: 34''

September 2012: SLRVJ/DLRVJ: 37-37.5'', DSVJ: 36'', SVJ 35'' (current PRs)

Overall, gained about ~8-9'' on RVJ, prob 7-8'' on SVJ over 1.75 years, not bad.

Around this time I was jumping quite a lot and I was getting a bit of patellar tendonitis from that and all the squats (and not focusing enough on recovery). So I stopped for a bit and went back to building strength. Squatted heavy 3x/week and put about 15kgs or so on my full squat (can't remember exactly). But the downside to this was I gained a bit of weight (82kgs-->87kgs because I was trying to eat more to keep up with the squat routine) so didn't really gain much relative strength anyway.

Following this, I injured my left knee meniscus probably when playing basketball. Being heavier and probably not being fully recovered from squatting mostly likely contributed looking back on it. Luckily it wasn't that bad, I didn't need surgery or anything, just rested it for a month to be on the safe side, rehabbed it properly and it's seemingly OK now (knock on wood). I've gradually restarted over the last two months, not rushing back (very busy atm as it is with study).

Now I'm going to start squatting more frequently, and eventually get back to jump training with the aim this year of getting back to where I was late last year, then continuing to improve. I think that, to dunk, I was pretty close last year but I never actually was actively trying to dunk at that stage. I thought I would try to continue to build up inches to a consistent 38'', then move into active dunk attempts, but injuries occurred and I always take a very conservative approach in dealing with injuries. I don't mind taking a little longer to do it because I'm not being pressured by time, I've still got a few good years left hopefully, so long as I take care of my body!

man i'd forgotten just how much improvement you made in that first year or so. makes me think i've been doing everything wrong...

Quote from: UAcompression on March 05, 2013, 12:28:09 am

Were you somewhat fit/active prior to 2011?  Because to have an 29" SVJ at march 2011, is quite incredible, and i'm guessing that prior to 2011 you had some decent strength.

It's not that incredible I think. Athletically I've always been "above average", not elite but competitive, and also played ball a lot around 15-16y.o....I think you'd find most people in that category would have acceptable SVJs without much specific training for it.

Not incredible but not half bad either.  At Vert gym I was able to test some graduating high school kids; they were decent track athletes (the best were low 11 100m, ~38 300m hurdles), football players, but none were extensively weight trained.   What was surprising was how divided the jumping was by height.  None of the taller kids (6''2 + ) jumped higher than 26 inches, none of the kids over 6 feet went over 28, and a couple of the shorter guys got into the low 30's.   RVJ they all went much higher and the division on height was much less.   Anyhow, a fit athletic kid jumping 30 inches suggests pretty good potential.