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this morning: ankle stiff and sore, pain at outside of ROM in all directions. minor swelling. balance is a little off, wobbly with closed eyes and intra-foot autocorrections are mildly painful.

still, this could be worse.

sucks about stalling, man. i know the frustration. believe me.

also, somehow only just now saw your vid from january. why does your SVJ clip look like someone was spying on you? 

how's your gut?

not sure what happened. CNS just seemed to pack it up and call it a day after those first 3-4 jumps. did not get above 32" the rest of the time and had a few jumps where i didn't even follow through because i was out of position or knew i wasn't gonna get up. sickness could surely have played a part. can't think of anything else, really, because i've been sleeping and eating fine and it wasn't early in the morning, when i usually struggle.

better luck today, i hope.

WEIGHT: ???
SORENESS: none
ACHES/INJURIES: sick but mostly over it; left shoulder
MENTAL STATE: see above, otherwise good

- warm up

- DLRVJ x a bunch
near-PR off one step (33+), dunked mini soccer ball with first four-step jump, all downhill after that.

about 45 minutes total, still not quite right health-wise but i think i'll feel normal tomorrow.

elbow position is an individual comfort thing for the most part. if you're not getting discomfort from it then i wouldn't worry too much. your hands are pretty far apart, though, if you're worried about it maybe put them closer together. i start with my thumbnails on the edge of the knurling and then extend my thumbs out from there. has the added benefit of ensuring that i have the same -- and symmetrical -- hand positioning on the bar.

one thing i did notice is that your right elbow flares farther back than your left. that's probably a shoulder thing, i bet a dollar that one of your shoulders is more mobile than the other. something to look at.

yes and no. lebron could be an epic contest dunker if he put his mind to it. he can touch 12' and he's strong as shit, there's no doubt in my mind he could do something ridiculous like a two-basketball reverse elbow hang if he put some effort into practicing it. but he won't, and that's fine: it wouldn't help him be a better basketball player. and i guess that's my point. dunking is a specialty now for some leapers with elite talent and athleticism, and guys who are basketball specialists can't go toe to toe anymore because they spend their time doing something that makes them millions of dollars instead.

none of vince's dunks are as great as the kilganon double reverse elbow hang. none. and he's 3-4 inches taller than kilganon is.

the last dunk is amazing. it's funny to look back at the progenitors, it's only 12 years ago that he did that, 15 years since vince and obviously longer since jordan/wilkins and before that dr. j, but now none of the best/most creative dunkers in the world play in the NBA, except maybe gerald green. there are some guys who can really fly (looking at you, zack levine), but pretty much any of the top youtube stars would annihilate the NBA dunk contest.* you can tell from richardson's narration, he and arenas were making it up on the spot. there are dudes - famous dudes, whose names are known by hundreds of thousands of people - who spend all day thinking about and practicing dunks.

there's a point in there somewhere, i swear to god. i guess just that the internet changed everything.

*except that no one gets pumped about a ringer. part of the fun of the NBA contest for a long time was that the guys were already superstars and you got to see them show off in a way they couldn't otherwise. the youtube dunkers will never be that. and non-superstar NBA players are boring. the only NBA dunk contest dunks that come immediately to mind from the last ten years are green with the cupcake candle and javale with two rims.