1320
« on: August 29, 2014, 05:53:15 am »
OK so let's see:
Strength:
Squat 375/177 = 2.11 squat
355/177 = 2.00 deadlift
395/177 = 2.23 hip thrust
Jumps:
Broad jump: 2.69 m
4 consecutive 2-leg bounds: 11.63 m
SVJ,2-leg running jump relaxed and regular, 1 leg jump on camera for comparison later
Now the thing is - how and where do you need to improve? What is the limiting factor in your jumps?
Well, if we look at the squat and the deadlift, they're both at 2x or more. However, the deadlift is lower than the squat. A good sign of quad dominance. The deadlift should pretty much always be heavier than the squat, unless grip issues are the limiting factor. What muscle is more active, specifically, in hip dominant, leg initiated deadlift pulls? It's the hamstrings. In a high bar squat, the hamstrings are pretty much taken out of the movement.
The same hamstring weakness is hinted when looking at your one-leg jumps - a lot of knee bending, quad load, hamstring unload. If this is true, you should also feel "difficult" running in a tall position and at top speeds (you'll find it easier to accelerate than to run tall after you reach a certain speed).
On the other hand, the hip thrust looked pretty good, and you also display some nice hip hyperextension in both the hip thrust and the 2-leg bounds. So the glutes are actually acting pretty good IMO.
Looking at your old clean videos, you still pull in a quad dominant manner. Once again, my hunch is that the hamstrings are weak.
It also doesn't look like the calves are that bad - except for the moment when you plant to jump off two feet and the first leg that you plant has the heel kept on the ground for pretty much the entire amortization phase. Now, that could be a calf strength issue or it could be a technique issue. You need to be able to plant a little deeper and a little offset, as Joel likes to say, in that LR position that you plant into. The first leg that you plant (the left one in your case) must be strong from a deep squat perspective, and the 2nd leg must be "stiff", as in a one leg jump. You cover the first leg by being strong in the squat, but you plant the way you plant right now because the 2nd leg, the right leg, is not stiff enough.
For example, if you look at 3:16 you can see both the left leg (that correctly is planted deep) and the right leg go deep. However, the right leg should be more in front of you in a stiffer, straighter position. The reason why you plant them both deep is because you want to use your strength rather than your "speed"... so the speed you get from your run-up doesn't really translate into vertical momentum. You could gain enough to dunk right there, IMO.
So what do we do at this point? How do we program this? Let's look at the issues again:
1) Hamstring weakness (overall);
2) Try to improve right leg stiffness (obviously, we're going to train both of them for this);
3) Improve technique off two feet (look at the rim at all times, instead of planting looking forward or at the ground);
4) Improve foot function and strength a bit, maybe it could help;
5) Improve overall power;
6) Test and see if this has improved your jumps or mechanics.
In practice, let's do this for the next 6 weeks and test at the end of these 6 weeks. If everything works right, maybe you will dunk (let's hope). Why so optimistic? Because you're already close and because you have the strength - you just need to express it better.
Week 1:
Monday (Hamstring-oriented plyos, try to do these barefooted if you have a track surface, or in running shoes):
Sprint: 3x60m (accelerate aggressively for the first 15m, maintain speed in a tall position, relaxed, for another 45m);
Consecutive 1-2-3 one-leg jumps with high hips: 3x50m (do 1-2-3-jump off one leg, land-1-2-3-jump off one leg etc, trying to prevent the knee from loading - do them submaximally, as low in height (with as little effort or momentum) as you "need" to prevent the knee from going forward - imagine yourself PULLING up instead of pushing through the knee);
Rudiment hops: 2x30m (these are just calf-jumps on the balls of your feet - trying to be very fast, minimal ground contact, going forward, sideways to the left, sideways to the right, and backwards for 30m - same minimal knee bend - so 2x30m means 2 sets of (30m going forward, REST, 30m going to the right, REST, 30m going left, REST, 30m going backwards, REST for 5 minutes, repeat this cluster one more time)) - do them bilaterally for now (on two feet)
Wednesday (Power):
KB or dumbbell swings: 3x10 (use something like 24 kg for KB, 16-20 kg for dumbbell)
Explosive high bar half squat with 50% ++ Emtpy bar rhytmic jump squat: 3x(3+5) (do 3 reps of high bar explosive half squats with 50% of your full squat 1RM - that is 375/2 = 187.5 lbs, rest 1 minute, then do 5 consecutive rhytmic jump squats with an empty bar, then rest 3 minutes and repeat this cycle two more times)
Romanian Deadlift: 3x5 (start with 50% of your deadlift 1RM, so that would be 355/2 = 177.5 lbs - maintain anterior pelvic tilt, load those hamstrings, use a slow tempo - 5 seconds down, pause just below the knee for 2 seconds, get back explosively (but under control))
One-leg calf raise to big toe raise: 3x10 (slow tempo, put the left foot on the left side of a plate so that the left side of the heel kind of hangs out (so only the ball of the foot is on the plate, the rest of the foot is hanging off the plate), so that when you do the calf raise you will roll to the big toe at maximum ankle extension - for the right leg, do the same, with the foot on the right side of the plate - hold with the opposite hand on something for balance)
Friday (Reactivity):
Sprint: 3x50m - these are maximal sprints, time them if you can;
Low box quick depth jumps:3x5 - use a low box and try to be as quick as possible off the ground. Height of the jump is of secondary importance;
Rudiment hops: 2x30m (same as Monday)
Then we'll see how it goes.
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