Force training under varied conditions

Warm up lap, high knee rudiment hop
3x50m sprints
12 one-leg take off
eccentric calves
eccentric pistols (tried using bar, hold a plate works better b/c of mechanics, prolly wind up holding KBs)
quadriceps stretch

Warmups
3x40-50m sprints
too many one-leg take offs
eccentric calves (barely)
stretching quad

notes: one leg take off getting to be not that fun. trying not to get frustrated here but it just doesn't seem like I'm getting up very high (judging by subjective airtime). just gonna keep doing this see if it translates at all when i try to dunk it -- i owe it to myself to stay the course. i wish there was a way to gradually increase the intensity with these. i feel like my body normalizes to a stimulus even when I keep trying my hardest. i can make progress on the lifts because it's easy to add weight each time but I don't know how this is supposed to be done with jumping. i guess i could program exercises in succession that are more intense in nature. maybe that's the way to go. i wonder if i lack enough eccentric strength in my quadriceps. sometimes my knee will buckle like the muscle doesn't twitch like it's supposed to during the SSC, or i'll jump to horizontally instead of converting the horizontal speed vertically. wonder if I need to do some depth drops --> depth jumps in the near future. that is probably the best way to train that type of eccentric strength. or i could do negative squats with like 400-500lbs and just set it down on the pins. the eccentric pistols don't get the high threshold motor units. oh well. i think my weight's gone up 'a lot' recently that probably has something to do with it also... this is something i need to do a better job with. things have been a little hectic this summer but i should be doing a better job eating nutritiously and monitoring my weight.

Warmups
PC to 195 for triple
eccentric pistols in heels
eccentric calves 50lbs DB
quad stretching

notes: in order to keep things very simple and try to get the best transfer I'm just gonna train the PC (instead of other barbell exercises). don't think this felt too bad. on the other hand i never really get to train it so there's not much skill to erode. adding the heels i think makes the negative pistols a better exercise for my purpose.

Wound up doing an large number of one leg dunks with a not-so-great ball. Probably 30-40. Never felt like my performance was dropping off. This is the largest number of legit dunks I've ever done on this rim. The take offs were really consistant. My weight is back a little. I'm 180. I'd like to get down below 175 and maybe even 170. Like I said, I think this session was good and I'm feeling optimistic that when I video myself at the CRWC court I'll look a lot better. At the very least I'm figuring out how to put it up better. Only worry is that I may be damaging the joint -- I know I'm a hypochondriac but the lateral joint line in that knee is a little puffier than the other one. Sometimes i feel pressure there just laying around but sometimes exercise actually makes it better so I don't really know what goes on with it. It'll be good to get off concrete and back on to wood floors soon. I will do one more session before we go on our postponed colorado trip. I don't think I'll be doing any training there except for a lot of hiking.

edit: i think it might just be a good idea to shut things down for a while and not do any damage. i don't want to develop osteoarthritis in my knees at a young age and with the quad tendonitis that's still lingering (albeit in much better shape than before) in one knee and this pressure in my other knee i just feel like continuing to train in my characteristically compulsive fashion is not going to end well.

It feel like i have a lot of unfinished business here and to be quite honest it makes me very uncomfortable that I can't get up as high as I want. When I pulled 500 at the beginning of the month i felt so happy but mostly it was just a relief. and then when? 510? 525? these numbers seem so meaningless. The only thing else that would matter would be hitting 600 when I ever get close to that (which must be a looooong ways away) it would probably just be a relief again. I donno if I have the greatest outlook on training.

I am so fixated on all of this. I know that to most people (general public) this probably seems incredibly silly/misguided (because I am not a professional athlete/extremely talented) but what the fuck am I supposed to care about? I haven't figured out the meaning to life and neither has anyone else. The only things I honestly care about are getting stronger and and at some point raising a family the right way. I don't have ambitious career aspirations and unless something terrible happens it doesn't look like I'll need to make a lot of money to live comfortably (so I am very luck in this way). Besides that I'd just like to be happy from moment to moment. I generally don't like people although I feel like I have to put on a good show of it. I think people are pretty fucking weird when you get to know them. I don't think people are intrinsically evil but we're mostly just out for ourselves and we like to think we're so rational but there's this subtext to to all interactions like we're just a pack of dogs or something.

i feel the need to apologize for writing this as if i'm detracting from the whole of the club because i really believe the club has been great for my training and being a little familiar with you and your training has helped me see what is possible. at the same time i feel like fuck you if it this is a problem. it puts me in an awkward position. but writing this seems to help me although i don't know why i need to have an audience. i don't know why i am so much more sensitive than most people.

im incredibly upset that i may be falling apart/not getting stronger. it bothers me more than anything else besides losing people close to me. it matters more than money, material possessions, doing any kind of arduous task. fuck. this is a very privileged perspective and i feel ashamed to hold it but sometimes i feel like i wasn't meant for a modern/civilized world. my temperament is suited for a might-makes-right society. like when the neighboring tribe comes to plunder your village and rape the women so you gotta get pay-back and do the same thing to them. clearly this is horrible and only someone with a comfortable life could have the luxury of that fantasy but it resonates with me for some reason -- like when my aunt died recently i felt very restless like i needed to exert myself physically against some enemy -- but it was no one's fault. i would have joined the army a long time ago but i hate authority/dumbasses

it's pretty fucking crazy that doing a stupid workout and feeling some minor joint pain evokes all of this bullshit... i'm a headcase. and i'm the first to admit it.

some pull-ups, dips
easy, short sprints
eccentric pistols
quad stretch
eccentric calves
calf stretch

notes: knee feels fine lol. . . just getting some blood flow. did some upperbody for no reason. my (uninjured) glute (but still) got a pump on the heel drops lol. glutes so activated.

My videos got screwed up so I just uploaded one. Cut the session short cause I think I did what I wanted to do and it wasn't feeling like a great day. I was feeling pretty hungry so I ate breakfast and all of the sudden I decided I'd go out and do this session. The approaches didn't feel that great and my take off wasn't a PR performance or anything but I think I'm doing a better job of holding onto the ball. On the session before this I was holding onto the ball with two hands a little longer and for some reason (probably the speed of everything) I find it almost impossible to cue certain things when I'm trying 100% to jump. I think it still might help me to do that because I'm still coming down a little as I put it up there even though I manage to hold onto it a bit better. So, basically I think I'm just saying that I can keep doing better on pretty much every aspect. This rim is 1.5" below regulation for the record. Also I measured my height and I'm only 6'1"!! I thought I was 6'2" or (just under that) for the longest time. Hopefully my discs aren't losing height or anything. . . yikes!!

I did a total of 8 attempts after warming up (lost my grip on one and I was having enough trouble putting the video together so it's not shown). I'm glad I cut yesterday's session short so I could get in another short session today. The last one looks the best I think:

Time for some dubious mathematics just fur fun:

-OK so I'm 6'2" in the basketball shoes I'm wearing
-My head is 1.5" lower than my true height when I reach up with one arm and cock my head back and to the side
-This rim is 1.5" below a 10' regulation rim
-This backboard is 10" lower than this rim
-I'm going to make the assumption that my head is directly under the front of the rim at my highest point because I dunk on the side of the rim.
-In the 2D representation of the 3D space the distance between my head and the bottom of the rim at my highest point  is a little greater than the distance from the front of the rim to the back of the rim. My best guess is 1" from painstakingly looking at stills. This means I'm 1" above this backboard at my highest (just a guess)

This is how my brain does the arithmetic:
10' - 6'2" = 46". This would be my VJ if I could hit my head on a 10' rim.
46 + (negative term) + (positive term) = Actual VJ
46 + -(10 + 1.5) + (1.5 + 1) = 37"

I have no idea how accurate this really is (and I'd guess I'm giving myself too much credit) but I can't stop myself from wondering. My goal to get up to 40" which is equivalent to hitting my head on a regulation backboard of a regulation hoop. A no-cheat 40" off one leg with a short approach would put me in good company with D1 high jumpers. I am pretty sure the backboards at the CRWC are the right height so if I ever hit 40" I will definitely 'feel it' which will take the guess-work out. I'm definitely keeping in mind that a 40" no-cheat VJ is equivalent to a 42+" jump-mat VJ or cheat-vertec VJ

Also just fur fun I went to the draftexpress measurement database from the NBA Combine to see how many people my height (somewhere in the 6'1" range) have a standing reach like mine (in the 7'10" range or below) and out of the 50-10 names I must have scrolled past I only counted TWO. It's incredible how long most of those guys' arms are!!!!

Not that I'm mad I didn't make it big playing basketball or anything but It's something that actually pisses me off how guys like Tony Parker aren't considered great leapers and guys like John Wall are supposed to be extremely elite jumpers but really they probably have very similar leaping ability. The difference is that Tony has normal proportions and John Wall has ludicrously long limbs. (And it's not just arms length, but hand size too a la Rajon Rondo's dinner plate hands/NFL quarterbacks) I just watched a good TED Talk where David Epstein touches on this stuff a little. OK I am a little jealous that some people just have freakishly long arms. When someone dunks it and their head doesn't even clear net I'm completely unimpressed.

Just had an extremely inconsistent session (back at the CRWC now)

Also just got back from vacation a little fatter.

Things feeling very weird. Might have something to do with travel/weight gain/lotsa herb in colorado

Two of them were pretty good tho.

About half of them Were completely off the mark like either the muscles wouldn't twitch or I aborted before the take off step.

Right now I'm watching a guy dunk over his friends back. friend is doubled over and the dunker is pushing off friends back with his other hand in order to get up high enough. Athletic guy but still. . .

Quad tendon isn't much different I've been really bad with the rehab.

Did the eccentrics today tho.

Feeling optimistic despite today.

Did another session this morning. Energy levels were much better than last night (I think I was a little hypoglycemic too). Tried playing around with how I take the last three steps. I made a huge breakthrough. Previously I have been over-emphasizing my third-out step and my penultimate was slower and more tentative. As the session was coming to a close I figured out that it works much better to keep the third-out step more gentle and take the last two steps really fast -- feels a little more like sprinting. Only got like 4-5 dunk attempts with this new technique today so I'm hopeful that tomorrow I have a big PR.

It's really weird to me how some strength skills seem to erode very quickly and others don't seem to depend on a lot of recent, specific practice. For instance, I hadn't deadlifted in months and then after just 4 sessions I PRed my DL at 500lbs. I think squatting is different. You might have to squat at least 2-3 times a week to keep the groove greased. With the jumping I get the sensation that there are benefits to doing it a little everyday or maybe the rust builds up. Donno. Just jotting down ideas.

Had good technical session. Getting more of a feel for this new style. I used a regular CRWC ball instead of the newish ball that sticks to my hands really well. I had a lot of trouble holding on to it. At the end I made an effort to hold onto it with both hands before I switch to one (like I tried the other week) and I think I'll need to keep doing this or by the time I get it up there I'm already coming down several inches and I still won't have much control. I've been really sore. I think a PR is coming in a couple days (with video?) as long as three things align: no fatigue, getting a good feel for the technique of the 3rd out and penultimate step, and taking it up with two hands instead of instantly switching as I take off (I should probably have been doing this all long and not just so I can reach higher but once in a while someone will poke the ball out as I'm going up cause I don't have a great grip on it) I think my jump shot has spontaneously improved.

edit: i donno how muscle soreness works. sometime it's DOMS, sometimes it's instant onset. i always hear (read) that it's not a useful marker for anything except newness to an exercise but there's gotta be something more to it than that. anyway my adductors are incredibly sore -- like even changing my foot from accelerator to break is a bitch. quad is sore on my non-dominant leg really high up (this is changing. . . when I was less developed I'd only get quad soreness near the insertion/teardrop) glute on my take off leg is sore (which psychologically is always a good thing cause it was the muscle where the efferent nerves didn't conduct signals after my back injury) lower abs and upper erectors sore too. tomorrow it'll prolly be my calves with any luck

Did some dunks but I really don't remember how well it went lol making progress for sure though and I'm figuring out how to take the steps. Totally forgot to go up with two hands damn it IDK why this is so hard for me!

Wound up playing full court holy shit I haven't done that in a while. I felt really really slow on defense. I think I got a little better by the end of the game but holy shit that was weird. I was always a good perimeter defender that was like the only thing I could do. Got blown by several times yikes! Before the game though I started standing at the elbow and did some dunks just going L-R and I was getting up just as high and it was almost a reverse dunk. I am so fucking inelastic! I need to do some depth jumps maybe but no time soon.

Mostly I'm just struck at how slow I felt moving backwards around the court I'll play a little ball I think.

Started power cleaning... Finally time to get started with a progression here. I think my best was 245 this winter but I never do it for more than several weeks. Gunning for 250 and I'm interested to see how far I can progress with three triples

PC 185x3x3
Super set VJ smacking the big metal pipe on the ceiling and take off jerks
Eccentrics

Woke up slightly hungover --> drank some water and dashed out to the gym --> stepped outta my car and realized I was trembling slightly --> hypoglycemic --> buy a preworkout coke from the gas station across the street --> had a lot of fun playing half court 4's --> coke starting to wear off --> dunk attempts meh with slippery as fuck ball but getting better at remembering to go up with two hands (and I think I actually might jump higher because I can use a more powerful arm swing). i am so fucking inelastic or idk what the problem is... today starting at the elbow I get up pretty much just as high as behind the 3. just keep practicing. wasn't a great day but i still think i'm improving. i've been making a concerted effort to eat really healthy since i got back from camping and besides drinking too much last night and not eating anything this morning I have done a good job. gotta lose 10lbs.

edit: trying to decide if it was a mistake that i trained. i feel awful i think i am more hungover than i realized. no idea why alcohol is legal and marijuana is illegal besides cultural conditions. boggles.my.mind.

Went back videoed a short session of these short approach attempts. They all look the same if I manage to hold onto the ball lol -- here's a representative one:



Unfortunately these aren't break-away rims so they make no thunderous noise

Tried to shoot some jump shots couldn't hit anything

Pretty burnt out.

Met Zach at CRWC and went through the motions 190 on PCs which felt really inconsistent

Getting some rest this weekend

Got back from Twin Cities, took a nap, and went to the CRWC half-asleep. Took forever to warm up. I didn't jump very high at all... I think I only dunked it a couples times and I didn't like any of them. I got up sorta high once but the ball slipped out of my hands. Mashette came near the end and told me to shut it down. I need someone to tell me when to quit.....

I woke up from my nap after a very vivid deadlifting dream:

Went back to Magni and the place was a lot different. It was just a building in the middle of some rural area and they had also expanded to another building 100 feet behind the main one. There were a lot of people in the main building so I went into the secondary one and started warming up adding plates. 405 flew up felt awesome i could feel my muscles better thna ever before. Added a 45 to one side but I was short a 45 on the other so I put the sled on the bar (LOL???) Then I figured I'd put 5's on too so there was 505 on the bar (for a 5lbs PR). I got really psyched up but when I went to yell I couldn't muster much energy. Picked it up and around my knees I hit a brick wall. Glutes wouldn't come through for me. When I dropped the bar I realized the floor slanted downward. Shame. Humiliation. Woke up.

Anyway I'm shooting to weight 170lbs in mid-september. Dieting isn't so bad I'm just impatient. I wish I had more time before this Nov meet (cause I want to make more progress jumping) but since it's my first meet I don't do anything special or worry about my weight.

I may just go to the track with a basketball and pretend to dunk just work on the different parts of that skill without worrying about the actual rim. Come back and see what difference it makes on a real hoop when I'm weighing less. Take away the emotional response for a little while.