Week 24 Day 5

Active Rest Day

Week 24 Day 4

Basketball Workout:

1. 2x 5 on 5 pick up

2. 300 shots

3. Conditioning:
6x Defensive slide/ back pedal agility drill
3x 1,2,3 speed layups

4. Hard moves off the dribble intermittently

Week 24 Day 3

Basketball Workout:

1. 300 Shots

2. Conditioning 3x Championship Sprints

3. Hard Moves off the dribble

4. 1,2,3 speed layups

Week 24 Day 2

Basketball Workout:

1. 300 Shots

2. Conditioning- 3x UNLV Sprints

3. Hard moves off the dribble intermittently

4. 3x 1 minute planks (front, left, right)+ 45 Second Hollow Hold

Enjoy The Process

I’ve got a confession to make. I have been getting a little frustrated with my inability to make vast improvements in my leaping ability in my recent training. I have made a concerted effort to remain as optimistic as I possibly can, but I have certainly experienced a great deal of frustration as well over the course of the last 23 weeks. I have made steady and discernible strides toward my ultimate goal of dunking a basketball over the course of the last 4 weeks, but I haven’t made any huge improvements.

I am looking for one of those sudden and almost surprising advancements in my training, which I like to call a training epiphany. A good example of a training epiphany for me would be the first time I grabbed a 10-foot rim. It surprised me to find my hand cupping the rim and I was incredibly happy. A similar feat (training epiphany) that most people can relate to would be one’s first pull-up. It almost shocks you, in a good way, the first time your chin gets over the bar.

Now that you have read the first two paragraphs of this post you are probably asking yourself, “Is Ben complaining about not being able to dunk yet? What is the purpose of this post?” Rather than complaining I consider this post more of a form of catharsis. The point that I am attempting to make is that I need to remember how fun this process is and how much I have accomplished in the 23 weeks that have flown by since I began this quest.

The best way to eventually achieve a challenging athletic goal is to enjoy the process. I love coming to the gym, working out and striving to improve in something everyday. That is why I started this quest in the first place, because the only thing that I love more than simply training, is training to achieve a specific goal.

For those faithful Quest for Dunkage devotees who have continued to read the blog and post comments throughout the course of the last 23 weeks—what goal are you training to accomplish? Has your training been frustrating at times? All goals are welcome, even if your goal is purely aesthetic, like losing weight or being able to see your abs.

As Dena Evans the head coach at Point Guard College Basketball Camp says, “Relax through the frustration, tomorrow might be the day that you see a massive improvement in your performance.” Enjoy the process because your next big improvement is just around the corner, no matter how far off it might seem.

Week 24 Day 1

Rest Day

Minor Injury Report

I took a little bit of spill today after grabbing a rim on an outdoor court. I swung a little bit too far forward with my feet and my weight came out from under me. I landed on my tail bone and left wrist pretty hard. I'm glad to be in one piece, but don't be surprised if my training week doesn't include any weightlifting.

Week 23 Day 7

Workout:

1. 300 Shots

2. 3x 16 sideline to sideline sprints

3. 2 games of 2 on 2

4. 10 rim grabs

Week 23 Day 6

Workout:

1. 400 Shots

2. Conditioning: 6x defensive slide, back pedal, sprint drill

3. Hard moves off the dribble intermittently

Week 23 Day 5

Plyometrics Workout:

1. 10x1 Standing Box Jump

2. 5x3 High Bar Grabs w/ a 40lb weight vest

3. 3x3 Squat Box Jumps to High Bar Grab w/ 20lb weight vest

4. 15x1 Rim Grab

Week 23 Day 4

Workout #1:

1. 10x2 Backsquat

2. 5x5 Weighted Ring Push-ups (PR on ring push-ups... got up 100lbs added weight for 5 reps)

3. 25 GHD Sit-ups x3

20 Back Extensions x3

Workout #2:

1. 300 Shots

2. 3x 16 sideline to sideline sprints

3. Hard full court moves off the dribble intermittently

Week 23 Day 3

Basketball Shooting Workout:

1. 300 shots

2. Conditioning: championship suicide sprints x3

Week 23 Day 2

Workout:

1. 5 on 5 basketball for 20 minutes

2. one on one 2 games to 21

Week 23 Day 1

Rest Day

Week 22 Day 7

Rest Day

Week 22 Day 6

Workout:

1. 400 Shots

2. Conditioning: 3x 10 sideline to sideline sprints

Week 22 Day 5

Workout #1:

1. 5x3 Deadlift

2. 3x5 Weighted Ring Dip

3. 100 yards sprints on the minute every minute for 10 minutes

Workout #2:

1. 400 Shots

2. Conditioning: 3x 10 Sideline to Sideline sprints

Week 22 Day 4

Workout #1:

1. 30 Dunk Attempts

Workout #2:

1. 400 shots

2. Conditioning: 2x Half back Full back twice

Week 22 Day 3

Workout #1:

1. 5x5 Backsquat

2. 5x3 HSPU

3. 5x5 Leg Lifts

Workout #2

1. 400 shots

2. Conditioning: 3x 16 sideline to sideline sprints

5 Facets of a Good Jumper

I have been training to dunk a basketball for 21 weeks now and although I haven’t achieved my goal yet I have learned a great deal in the process. Here is a list of what I believe are the top five ways to improve one’s leaping ability:

1. Improve your flexibility: Stretching isn’t fun, it isn’t all that impressive, but an inability to utilize one’s full range of motion, specifically in the hamstrings and shoulders will invariably hinder one’s ability to reach their full potential as a jumper.

2. Visualization: Almost all great athletes visualize themselves successfully achieving their goals before they do so. To be a great leaper it is imperative that you see yourself in your mind’s eye jumping high with proper technique.

3. Strength: A good leaper almost always has an excellent strength-to-bodyweight ratio. If an athlete has a bodyweight snatch, double body weight backsquat and a 2.5 bodyweight deadlift, he will have a good static vert, guaranteed.

4. Technique: Jumping from a running start involves a great deal of skill and technique. People who are considered “natural leapers” simply gravitate towards the proper mechanics, people who do not have a ton of god-given leaping ability simply need to learn how to jump the right way. The videos on the page are very informative regarding proper jump technique: http://freeverticaljumptraining.com/vertical-jump-training/single-leg-training-vertical-jump-training/improving-standing-and-approach-jumping/

5. Practice: An old saying is that “practice makes perfect.” The truth is that practice makes permanent, so consistently training the proper jump technique over a long period of time will make you a better leaper. Training your fast twitch muscle fibers to activate properly and on a regular basis will elicit “muscle-memory” (the proper technique will become second nature). Jumping is just like shooting a basketball, swinging a golf club, or pitching a baseball, it takes time, effort, and repetition to improve.

Week 22 Day 2

Workout#1:

1. 5x2 Snatch

2. 3x5 Weighted Ring Push-ups

3. 5x5 Straight Body Lifts

Workout #2 Basketball Shooting Workout:

1. 350 shots w/ intermittent conditioning

2. Championship sprints x3 for conditioning

Week 22 Day 1

Workout:

1. 5x2 One arm Dumbell Cleans

2. 5x3 Weight Pull-ups

3. 25 Dunk Attempts

4. 100 three pointers

Week 21 Day 7

Active Rest Day

Week 21 Day 6

Workout:

1. 50 Dunk Attempts

2. 2 on 2 Basketball for 1hour and a half

Week 21 Day 5

Workout #1:

1. 25 GHD Sit-ups+ 10 Reverse Hypers

2. 5x2 Deadlift

3. 30 Rim Grabs/ Dunk Attempts

Workout #2:

1. Shooting: 100 Three Pointers

2. 3 on 3 full court pick-up basketball (about 45 minutes)

Week 21 Day 4

Workout #1:

1. Back Squat- 5x3

2. Weighted Ring Dip- 5x3

Workout #2:

1. Basketball Shooting Workout

Week 21 Day 3

Workout:

1. Basketball Shooting Workout

Week 21 Day 2

Workout #1:

1. 5x3 2 pood Kettle Bell Snatch

2. 5x3 2 pood Kettle Bell Overhead Squat

Workout #2:

1. Basketball Shooting Workout

Week 21 Day 1

Rest Day

Week 20 Day 7

Active Rest Day

Week 20 Day 6

Workout:

1.Rim Grabs

2.Dunk attempts

Week 20 Day 5

Workout:

1. High Box Jumps- 10x1

2. DB Shoulder Press- 5x5

3. GHD Situps- 3x25

4. Reverse Hypers- 3x10

Overtraining vs. Overthinking

A couple of weeks ago I said that I was going to write a post addressing the topic of adrenal fatigue. I researched the topic thoroughly, but through that process I realized that the information that I had “learned” had only made me more critical of my own training regimen, essentially compelling me to search for every minute symptom of adrenal fatigue that I might be experiencing.

Long story short, adrenal fatigue is a condition in which one’s adrenal glands function at a sub-optimal level when one is at rest, under stress, or in response to consistent or intermittent physical and mental demands. The term adrenal fatigue is used synonymously with the concept of “overtraining.” Adrenal fatigue can be caused by excessive physical, emotional and mental stress (and can also be triggered by excessive caffeine consumption, which causes a great deal of stress to the adrenal glands).

After I had researched the topic and took some time off, I realized that I was worrying way too much about the “adrenal fatigue” that I was experiencing. Sometimes life demands one to do work, whether it is mental or physical, when one is not in an ideal performance state. In order to be “functionally fit” one needs to be able to continue to do strenuous work under duress.

I had this epiphany today, when, after a night of lackluster sleep, I came to the gym feeling more like taking a nap than throwing a bunch of weight over my head. I decided to push through it and see how I felt. My lifting workout wasn’t amazing, but I got some good work done and felt like I overcame an enormous mental block in the process. Following the lift I decided to head up to Novato to do a shooting workout involving a couple-hundred made jumpers and a series of sprints intermittently between sections of shooting. I ended up having an awesome workout and I even hung on the rim a couple of times.

So when you are feeling tired and sorry for yourself, workout and push through the imaginary wall that you have manufactured in front of yourself. The human body is capable of much more then the mind allows us to be aware of.

All of this being said, rest days are essential to achieving optimal performance and sleep is just about as important to human vitality as breathing is. So take one, two, or even three rest days a week and “get as much sleep as you can without being divorced or fired” (quote from Robb Wolf), but play with pushing through fatigue, you might just have a stellar workout and turn your day around.

Week 20 Day 4

Workout #1:

1. 7x2 Backsquat

2. 5 sets of max ring push-ups

Workout #2:

1. 150 made shots with sets of 8 sideline to sidelines sprints

2. 10 rim grabs

Week 20 Day 3

Rest Day

Week 20 Day 2

Basketball Workout:

1. Ball Handling drills

2. 200 hundred made shots with 3 suicide sprints between sets of shots

3. 10 rim grabs

Week 20 Day 1

Workout:

10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1 of

Push-ups
Squats
V-ups