Adarq.org

WEIGHT: ???
SORENESS: none
ACHES/INJURIES: none
MENTAL STATE: tired

- slow jog x 1 mile

- warm up mobility stuff

- some DB cleans and presses, some neutral chins, some push ups, nothing notable

- stretch

'twas good to gejufla.

i've said it before and i'll say it again: tip dunking IS dunking for me. if i can put a basketball in off a lob or rebound or whatever, then in my mind it's mission accomplished and i can go about trying to run a sub-12s 100m or squatting 425 or whatever. while still trying to improve my dunking, of course. but once i can put a basketball in BAMN then i can move on from this blasted* obsession.

no workout or exercise of any kind today except walking up and down stairs. i was in meetings from 8:45 until 5:30, came back to the hotel, worked from 6 to 10:30, and now am going to bed. tomorrow also unlikely as i have a working dinner. fuck.

*by which i mean awesome, of course.

last night got a thorough stretch in before bed but no other exercise.

WEIGHT: ???
SORENESS: none
ACHES/INJURIES: none
MENTAL STATE: pretty good

- warm up

- SVJ x 3,3,3
really tight and rigid on the first few reps, loosened up my arms some and focused on using the swing and was much better for the last 4-5 reps.

- superset x 2
-- DB BSS 20s x 10
-- DB RDL 26s x 10

- superset x 2
-- DB OHP 16s x 10
-- neutral chin x 10

- ab wheel roll outs x 10,10

gonna stretch now. kind of a wimpy workout but better than nothing. gonna ask around about the national stadium tomorrow - whether it's open to the public on weekends or something - and if not i'm going to kill myself in the gym on saturday.

i'm planning to run a 100 on may 19 and/or june 9 and/or june 30. might try a 200, too, just to beat myself up. i get back to the states and normal training on april 14, which means the may 19 race would be just about a month off, and then ~six and nine weeks to the following two dates.

so, questions, for t0ddday primarily but also anyone else who wants to chime in:

1. is it worth trying to run a 100 race after a month of training, or if i can only do one of the three am i better off giving myself a bit more time to train?
2. what's my best approach, considering that jumping/dunking remains the overwhelming goal and i'm not going to give that up to run 4+ times a week? if i'm jumping indoors 2-3 times per week and the track is a mile away from the gym, should i bother trying to sprint after jumping? just stick to tempo and try to get in some semblance of shape? i'm happy to reduce time in the weight room but not time on the court.

i'm planning to run a 100 on may 19 and/or june 9 and/or june 30. might try a 200, too, just to beat myself up. i get back to the states and normal training on april 14, which means the may 19 race would be just about a month off, and then ~six and nine weeks to the following two dates.

so, questions, for t0ddday primarily but also anyone else who wants to chime in:

1. is it worth trying to run a 100 race after a month of training, or if i can only do one of the three am i better off giving myself a bit more time to train?

Totally worth it.  If your schedule allows do all three.   In your first meet (and often in your second and sometimes in your third) if you don't false start you will probably stand up out of the blocks, feel dizzy and a bit overwhelmed, forget all your training and cues and feel like the event was quite a blur. An awesome experience everyone should have.   You will feel like "If I would done A,B and C I would have run 1 second faster" which of course is not true but you will feel like that anyway.   Get that race out of the way. 

2. what's my best approach, considering that jumping/dunking remains the overwhelming goal and i'm not going to give that up to run 4+ times a week? if i'm jumping indoors 2-3 times per week and the track is a mile away from the gym, should i bother trying to sprint after jumping? just stick to tempo and try to get in some semblance of shape? i'm happy to reduce time in the weight room but not time on the court.

Well, how can you be sure that dunking will still be the overwhelming goal at the time?  From your journal progress it seems conceivable that you could achieve your tip/lob dunk in May?  If you are solo-dunking volleyballs already it seems you are just a great day and some well timed lob catching practice away from your goal....

Even if you don't achieve the dunk in May you are certainly close enough that weight training is hardly necessary for you to get to where you need to be.   For sure you don't want to sacrifice jumping but maybe you can be creative and jump outdoors.   I have some athletes doing some "creative" outdoor jumping ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCUDKR8IFa8 ).  That's hood vertical training and it certainly could be substituted for a day of jumps at the gym.

As far as jumping before or after sprinting it doesn't matter much but just avoid jumping after serious speed endurance.  If you recall that workout we did at Georgetown where you ran about 4-6 50m sprints with full recovery....  You should be fine to jump before or after a workout like that.   For sprinting just get to the track 3 days a week and get one SE day and the rest speed and you should be fine.  If you are not going to jump post-sprinting finishing with a timed 300m will help give you the confidence to not do horrible in the 200...

so like,

DAY 1
jumps
4-5 x 60m @95+%
300m @ 95+%

DAY 2
rest/weights (upper only)

DAY 3
jumps
4-5 x 60m @95+%

DAY 4
jumps submax/basketball
weights (lower and upper)

DAY 5
rest

DAY 6/7
4-5 x 250-150m @75-80%
300m @100%

that gives three days of jumping and three days of sprinting per week, with a couple of days of obviously de-emphasized weights, to focus on upper stuff just for funzies and lower stuff to focus on p-chain.

Looks pretty sensible.  Not sure if jumps are all indoor basketball jumps, but you might want to add some bounding outdoor as part of your track warmup.  If the indoor jumps are already substantial then you could just add some submax bounds to your warmup to include with your skips and drills. As far as the distances and effort... You don't really get to use percentages.  They don't have much meaning because you will get better so fast initially that it's better to just set reasonable goals for times or do 100%.  Your tempo day will be an SE day until you are fit enough to do tempo, but thats fine.  I'd make a few minor changes (mostly to avoid boredom but also to get you a bit race prepped - dunno if any of your training days will have blocks or a training partner but if you have a pair you would use them for day 3, if you don't them use a four point stance instead of blocks ):

DAY 1
jumps
4-5 x 60m @100+%
300m @ 100+%

DAY 2
rest/weights (upper only)

DAY 3
jumps
5x30 in blocks, walk back
3x50 in blocks - start on curve, jog out the last 50 meters to straight
2x110*
1x150*
1x200*
* timed if possible - full recovery between reps, about 7 min, 7 min, 10-15m

DAY 4
jumps submax/basketball
weights (lower and upper)

DAY 5
rest

DAY 6/7
1) 300m @ 100% ***If you are up to doing this twice a week do it first on this day or else it won't be a good test.

2) Some challenging lactate run
- could be 2x3x200 - 2 mins between the reps (200, 2min, 200, 2min, 200) & 10 mins between sets - start off trying to hit 30,30,30 & 30,30,28 and get better each week
- could be 3 x (300m, rest 45 seconds 100m)  - Timed based on your 300m trial - if you run 42 all out then aim for 45 seconds @ 300m and then run as fast a 100m as possible.

^If training alone the 2x3x200 is probably easiest for you to self time and push yourself at, but you could make some other fun lactate test up just keep it the same until you compete and you will get better each week.   

By the way Today, do you have any suggestion for a good bounding progression to LEARN bounding? I can only do them on the same leg, on my left leg. I can't do them alternating, I totally mess them up... after 1-2 jumps I'm completely out of rhythm. I assume LBSS would have the same issues.

Is there any bounding progression to actually learn how to do them, from easy stuff to more complicated until you end up doing good form alternating bounds?

C-skips are gonna be a bit of a mindfuck, i think.

secondary question: best alternative on days when it's pouring rain? we don't have the southern california luxury of nonstop nice weather.

The girl in the bounding video has pretty terrible form tbh.  It's a bunch of nonsensical drills... why sprinters need jumping jacks in beyond me.  Keep it simple... Strides, strides, strides till warm.  Sub max pogos, dynamic stretch (walking lunge, etc), then get your straight leg bounds, your stride cycle and your single and alternate bounds in. 

Obviously I have never had to deal with rain .   Seriously, it depends on what you mean by pouring rain... If it's thunder and lightning and you obviously can't train outdoors you can try and do tempo on a treadmill or ideally indoors at a track.  If it's just wet or rainy you can still train and it's a great day to do speed endurance actually... Just don't let yourself get too cold and you can still get on the track.  Remember track meets are rain or shine; no reason why you can't recover under the bleachers and then get out to the track to get some reps in. 

By the way Today, do you have any suggestion for a good bounding progression to LEARN bounding? I can only do them on the same leg, on my left leg. I can't do them alternating, I totally mess them up... after 1-2 jumps I'm completely out of rhythm. I assume LBSS would have the same issues.

Is there any bounding progression to actually learn how to do them, from easy stuff to more complicated until you end up doing good form alternating bounds?

Well I would suggest you learn them on the right leg first... you should be able to teach yourself if you already have left leg bounding down.  It depends on a few things such as what arm swing you use.   Single leg bounding should be about reinforcing a full stride cycle; foot hits butt with thigh parallel to ground (like it always does on all your skips).  Alternating leg bounding is about driving the forward leg down WHILE the back leg swings through....

I'm no alternate leg bounding expert; i'm not a gifted single leg jumper by any means but they are a drill you should be able to figure out:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0Rv4HycljE

That's about as bad as your form should be.  Consider that video progression 1.  Just let yourself cover 12 yards in 5 jumps when you are learning.  If that's too hard break it down even more.  Take a single step and jump off the left foot.  Drive your right knee high into the air and your left foot back to your butt and your arms load behind you.  Hold that pose.  Land on right foot and walk out of it.   Repeat over and over.  Then do it on other side.  Eventually you can land on right foot and as your trail leg comes through you repeat the motion on the other side and eventually start chaining them together.  Keep the jumps really high and slow for now and limit yourself to some short total distance (if you have really short legs it might even be less than 12 yards).  The driving of the knee up and back foot to your butt should happen together and when you pull down it should happen together.  That's the coordination you are building.  It's a "folding" "unfolding" sensation.