White Man CAN Jump!?
I hope through my rigorous training that I made Woody Harrelson proud! For my learning project, I researched how to increase my vertical jump. My goal was to increase my vertical roughly 10% within the 6 weeks I gave myself to do so and while I did hit that mark, I also decreased those gains…
Week 6: Lets Talk Science
I hate to say it folks…my old friend injury has come back to haunt me. While battling machinery at work that was roughly twice my weight, my back lost the battle. This week I was able to partake in a 3 hour Volleyball practice in which my movements were slower and certain jumping/swinging motions were…
Week 5: Deloading. Is rest…good?
June 3rd: In the same way that drained batteries need to recharge, so do our muscles. After rigorous activity, the muscles need adequate nutrients and rest in order to recover and comeback stronger. Lark.com (among many other sites) even says that rest could help break plateaus; a core struggle faced earlier in the program.…
Week 4: Single vs Double Leg Movements
This week I decided to see which was better, single or double leg movements in terms of increasing my vertical. What I found really shocked me but unfortunately, I wish I had knew some of this information ahead of time. According to this study in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, single leg plyometric…
Week 3: Injury Prevention
Since in order to break plateaus, you REALLY need to put in the effort, it is important to know injury prevention and proper technique. Months ago when I did my own bootleg training, I put way too much load on my patellar tendon way too fast so I ended up getting jumper’s knee. Luckily for…
Week 2: What Kind of Training is Best?
Strength, Power, and Plyometrics. These are the 3 main types of exercises that will be used during the program but what are the benefits to each? Simply put… the following types of exercises can generally be described (in the context of this program) as… Strength: Traditional weightlifting movements. Ex: Squats, Deadlifts, etc. (Strength-Speed) Power: Explosive…
Week 1: Setup and Challenges
Before even starting this journey I will have to recognize the challenges that may occur during the process. I work a near-full-time property maintenance job which can be fairly physically demanding (especially on the legs..you know…the main muscles used in jumping). I have already attempted a rough vertical program months ago in which I had…
Week 0: Moving On Up
Welcome to my journey to reach new heights (literally). In the next 6 weeks, I will be implementing a training plan in hopes of improving my vertical for Volleyball! Each week will focus on different elements of the training process as well as the general progress throughout the weeks! Every post will be accompanied by…