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somebody has a 100.6* degree fever and feels achy all over. that someone is me. gonna see how i feel early tomorrow (no gym this morning because i checked the schedule and there's boot camp wednesday mornings...glad i checked before i went to sleep) but probably no workout.

 

*38.1 for you NON-americans.

^ see my post just before yours, not talking about skill but strength

you're imagining a dichotomy that's not there. sports strength like what you're talking about with the skinny little guy who can't be stripped IS skill. and that skill IS strength. they are the same. i'm not trying to be zen, that's just the way it is. no other measure than "can you take the ball from him when he's going to the hoop" is worth anything when you're measuring his strength at holding onto the ball when he's going to the hoop. i would bet $100 that the only "measurement" that correlates strongly would be something like how fast he can get through taylorhorton's dribbling complex.

edit: and if you took that guy and added barbell strength WHILE NOT ALLOWING HIS SKILLS TO DEGRADE, he would be even harder to take the ball from. but improving his ball handling even further obviously is not going to have a strong influence on his bench. as for what's appropriate for an individual's progression as a player, it depends on the individual. if i wanted to get better at basketball i'd be best-off dropping almost all of my weight room work and spending nearly all of my training time on the court. i'm reasonably strong but mediocre at basketball. if anthony davis wants to get better at basketball he should probably spend a bit more time working on his bench. he's skinny like a runway model but has breathtaking skills for someone his height.

it's connected entirely to skill. you can't take the ball from that guy because he has complete control over the ball, relative to everyone else on the court.

two further thoughts about swinging the plate that high:

1. i know you say you're getting good hip snap but it looks very much like you're loading your low back at the expense of loading your hamstrings. you're doing A instead of B below

      _____O                     O
     |                               /
     |                             /
     |_                            \
                                     \
           A                         /_
                                                             
                                    B

god those are awful diagrams. i'll try to do a better version later.

2. my n=1 with swings is that when i make an active effort to arrest the weight at about eye height the whole exercise is crisper and more explosive.

looks like i might be traveling the first two weeks of november. that puts a big ol' hiccup in the middle of any training plans. BUT, that said, because the hotel in tajikistan is really only set up for BB-type stuff anyway, i figure now is a good time to start boring but big. if i kick it off today i can get through two microcycles on two days a week, with two days a week still on the track, through the end of october. i will eat at or even a teensy bit above maintenance until i leave. on my trip i will continue with high volume shit but obviously not on this schedule, and then when i get back through christmas will be full on BBB, four days a week. time to shut the fuck up about getting bigger/stronger and actually go for it. i know i've said that before, but i'm getting annoying even to myself. post-trip will be same split as below but minus the track days. it'll be too cold to sprint most of the time anyway. in the new year, re-evaluate and either continue BBB for another cycle or two, or switch to a speed/power block where i do a lot more sprinting and bounding and a lot less lifting. i'll switch to the latter at some point in the new year either way.

morning jumping will continue throughout. day one of that is tomorrow, unless i have to be on a call with pakistan at 7 AM, in which case it'll be thursday.

also, i'm going to cut out alcohol during the week and make an extra effort to keep it moderate on weekends. started that last week/weekend but i figured i'd make it official.

beginning split is as follows, aiming for four workouts per week. technically i started yesterday:

DAY 1
sprints and bounds

DAY 2
Press 5/3/1
Bench 5x10
Chins 5x10
*Curls 3x10
*Tricep Pushdowns 3x10
*Face Pulls 3x10

DAY 3
sprints and bounds

DAY 4
Deadlift 5/3/1
Squat 5x10
Hanging leg raise 5x10

DAY 5
sprints and bounds

DAY 6
Bench 5/3/1
Press 5x10
Barbell Row 5x10
*Curls 3x10
*Tricep Extension 3x10
*Bent Lateral Raise 3x10

DAY 7
sprints and bounds

DAY 8
Squat 5/3/1
Deadlift 5x10
Ab wheel roll out 5x10

*optional

massive caveat: if i get a job overseas, full-on re-evaluation will obviously need to take place. but for the time being, this is the plan.

funny you should say that, i think your gct on your depth jumps looks too short! 

i benched 245 a couple years ago. with a conscious effort to gain muscle i feel like 275 is a reasonable goal. it'd be 1.5xbw at 185 lbs.

for the first time in five years, i'm gonna try out a new gym. 

i'm feeling weird/sad about it, but it's ridiculous for me not to have regular access to an indoor basketball court. i'll also try something new: short, frequent early-morning workouts just for jumping. low intensity, low volume, separate from my normal work out schedule. but i need those reps and i think i'll have free reign at the new gym from 7-7:30 AM or so.

gonna stick with the current track day/weights day split for a little while longer, but add in a bit more volume to squats in preparation for starting a strength/mass block soon. leaning toward a 5/3/1 variant with tentative goals of 10 lb weight gain, 385 squat, 405 DL, 275 bench and 185 OHP. all while working on movement efficiency in the movement i ostensibly care most about (i.e., jumping at a basketball hoop) at least 3-4 times per week.

and now, to the track.