Adarq.org

That all makes sense, but like you say, increasing your lifts isn't always a simple matter.

I heard different opinions on what to do when tired during VertFreak. Some people (including the staff) said push through it as hard as you can and the results will come. I did and they didn't. I never would have worked out that much if the staff and other users didn't encourage it.

On Friday I re-tested my lifts for the Vertical Mastery pre-tests. My box squat was about the same as it was 3 months ago (215 pounds x 6 reps at a body weight of 155) but my deadlift was up about 30 pounds to 295 x 3 reps. Jack put together a Vertical Mastery program and it's not much weight lifting- much more jumping exercises to work on reactive and explosive strength. I did a core workout yesterday and the first plyometric workout today and they went well- not too long, moderately difficult, and pretty fun.

I responded to some forums on the Vertfreak site over the last few weeks because I just finished the intermediate strength program. I gained maybe a quarter of an inch over the 12 weeks and I think I was severely overtraining- not just from the sprints but from the length and volume of the workouts overall. Some people on there were criticizing me, making it sound like I didn't work hard enough or my recovery habits (sleep, diet, etc.) were poor, so it's nice to see that my claims of overtraining might be valid. Most people on the VF forums said they love the program and got great results from it.

The sprints were usually twice a week, once something like "10x100m Uphill sprints light jog down recovery" and once something like "10x125m light hill incline sprints (70% max speed/above a jog pace) Walk back recovery".

You can always ask for a refund and I'll sell you my copy of it cheap, since I'm done with it. Maybe I should ask for a refund too but I don't think Adam is very happy with me right now, lol.

And since I just joined here, I'll give a quick intro. I'm Craig, I'm 33, 5'8", 155 lbs, and have usually been into endurance sports. I've accomplished lots of my goals over the years such as bicycling across the USA and bicycling 200 miles in a day, running a marathon in my target time, and getting my bench press up to 200 pounds. I've shifted a little bit over the last 2 years to try to get my running vertical leap up to 30" to touch a 10' hoop. It's something I've always wanted even though I haven't played basketball in about 10 years. It was about 28" back in college, 25" when I started working on it again last year, and now 28" again. I used VJB and some similar workouts over the last year and a half to get it back there but I'm now at a plateau. I'm going to start Vertical Mastery over the weekend and Jack told me about this thread after I was complaining to him about how tired I was after VF. He's been very helpful and friendly and I'm looking forward to getting going with Vertical Mastery.