Making Real Men Fly, a second glimpse into voyeuristic exercising

This Monday I start my next phase of training. I will embark on a self created program of polymetric exercises, in hopes of (my dream) being able to touch the bball rim with my elbows. It sounds crazy, but if we shoot for the stars we'll hit the moon.

To actually hit the rim with my elbows, I would need a vertical jump of 45 inches. The highest vertical jump in the world is something like 50 inches. Being at 29 inches right now, I would have to gain 16 inches, somehow. I think these inches will be a bit harder to gain. I plan on using creatine and eating a lot of beans for protein.

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I've done a fair bit of research and formulated a polymetric program. It builds off of the previous one I did. Do not do this program without having done a previous strength building program. And of course, consult with your doctor before taking on any new forms of exercises.

Since I'm coming off the Sky's The Limit, some of these repetitions are fairly high. They may be adjusted to your current strength level.

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Stretches

[See polymetric program linked below]

Repeat stretches

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Excercise days: Monday, Wed. and Friday

I will post my weekly progress and encourage others to do the same or ask questions.






[Edited on 25-6-2004 by ktprktpr]

Originally posted by ktprktpr
I know it improves mental health too.

Would you care to comment on that?

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Week: 6/13

Vertical: 29"

These excercises really leave me breathless. But I feel like I can jump higher (although I can't, according to my vertical). The creatine hasn't kicked in yet but I like to think I feel it doing something. I drink about a gallon of water a day, which is easy because it's 100 degrees around here regularly.

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---Interim---

Ironically I thought Creatine wasn't doing anything. But just now I went out to practice. So i took some creatine before I played and after. When I first got there I immeadiately got thristy. And I noticed my lost vertical had been regained (I think it was from excericising). So the creatine migth be kicking in. I only just started taking a little bit before and after my excercises.

if you mess up and land wrong or dont stretch we;; enough youl # up your back big time. i did, i had a pinched nerve and my lower back and left leg felt like they were on fire. and i had to go to physical therpy. not fun believe you me

Addition to the above program:

Vertical Touch Jumps 3 x 20 (Tuesday and Thursday)

In between excercise days, on Tuesday and Thursday, I'll be doing vertical touch jumps. A long time ago I found jumping to a specific point to improve my vertical the most.

And yes, stretch out before you do anything as KrazyIvan said. I stretch my hamstrings, quads, calves and do a lot of ankle rotation (with my hands). Do each stretch for a minute or more.

If you want to really increase your vertical you should to plyometric training instead of polymetric training.

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Week: 6/20

Vertical: 25"

Yep, my vertical went down. One problem in measuring is that the rims at the court are all at different heights. I see where my finger ends up against the rim and add that number to 120" (10 foot rim) and subtract my reach (96"). The exercises I'm doing are taxing my legs, which is totally natural. That coupled with measuring on a different (higher) rim throws things off.

My game is getting interesting in certain ways. I played 21 with some guys and totally owned them; 4 people and I won 21 - 4 - 2 - 0. It was my rebounding and decent shooting. Recently I've always been winning at 21.

But afterwards I played a 3-3 game. My shooting was pretty bad. My friend told me it's been a while since I played because my ace hook shot was anything but ace. The guy I was covering was a little bit bigger than me but I had the jump over him (literally doing direct lay-ups over him). I got better as the game went on and I did way better defense than him. He was good, but if I made my hook shots I would've dominated him. W/o that we were about even.

Anyway, so I really need to practice at least twice a week. I've developed a "mental strategy" to shoot my hook shots the same way every time: just think "center" because when you arc the ball you want it to hit the center space in the rim. I also need to figure out a "trigger word" (a la Ilumanti ) to shoot jump shots consistently with my elbow straight, etc.

Overall, I've found being consistent in your motions for shooting to be the most challenging thing. It's harder than getting 4.0s in school or understanding math. Quite amazing really. The human body is so hard to control. Okay, enough philosophizing


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Week: 6/27

Vertical: 25" (could be 26" but I'm doing this entry late and I want to under estimate, not over estimate)

Things are about the same. My excercises are getting easier. Recently I pushed myself a lot more on the forward obstacle jumps. I think I can jump higher because I jump about the same, but I feel I don't put as much effort into it (because I'm lazy). The creatine doesn't particularly seem to be taking effect. I may be taking to little, so I'll bump it up slightly. I take it before and after my work outs too.

I cut my tongue open plalying cause my jaw and teeth got pushed into my tongue. I talkth like thisth now. But it's healing up real quick.
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additionally my shooting is really good, so screw those crazy illumanti trigger words. I just need to shoot several times a week (every other day or so).

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Week: 7/4

Vertical: 26"

I didn't complete my excercise set today because I was invited to play soccer with some random people. I totally sucked, but the difference in movement was good.

My left shin/inner calve muscle has been feeling sore when doing excercises, for the last three days. I'm getting shin split too. This must mean that I'm jumping higher or exerting more force.

I might actually be 27", but that's only true if i can run and grab the rim with the tips of my fingers.* I will attempt that and finish my excercises tmmrw.


*that's with both hands, at once. One hand is easy.
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[Edited on 9-7-2004 by ktprktpr]

7/10 - Well I can grab the rim with two hands, from a running start. I'm not sure what that means beside that I can jump a little higher.

Some older guy was telling me that to dunk you have to windmill it. If you leap straight forward, the ball kinda holds you down. If you whip the ball around the momentum actually helps you. You can also probably whip it straight up.

Sadly, I noticed I'm getting lazy with my play again. I play just enough so the games are always close, but I never fully output. This time I came from excercising so i was really tired (about two hours later I had some serious low blood pressure problems, from what I don't know). All this excercising kinda defeats the purpose of playing bball because I'm "used up" most of the time, but it's all good. NASA, here I come!

Instead of my rim touch jumps on Tuesday and Thurday I will do two handed rim grabs. I will try to do them within as short as a distance as possible (maybe even from under the rim).

[Edited on 10-7-2004 by ktprktpr]

er, i've realized i'm trying to do much, over all. I'm going to drop tuesday/thursday workouts.

**Bad News**:

I think my vertical leap program is interfering with my schooling. I received a quiz grade that was a bit lower than my expectations. I suspect the main culprit is sleep deprivation and lack of paying attention; I won't know until tmmrw. But the gauntlet has been thrown down.

At no point can I let exercising interfere with schooling so I'm dropping this program. I've seen some amazing gains so far and it's to bad. But taking out an hour to an hour and a half, every other day is to much.

I will, at least, practice shooting in stimulated game conditions. Probably for half an hour to an hour everyday. That might be better anyway because making a basket is what really counts, not how high you can jump.

Till next time ... K-man out.


[Edited on 14-7-2004 by ktprktpr]