Week 17 - "The Dream"

This past week, I had a dream that was just awesome. In my house, there is an area where, going from the family room into a hallway, the ceiling transitions from a vaulted ceiling to about an 8-foot ceiling leaving a wall that starts at 8 feet and ends at over 11 feet above the floor. I'll use this wall to measure my standing vertical when it's too cold or icy to measure my vertical on my driveway basketball hoop.

In this dream, I was measuring my standing vertical and was frustrated by my lack of progress. My wife then tells me that I'm not fully extending through the hips. So, on the next jump I follow her advice and I end up hitting my right deltoid against that wall. I remember feeling like I was floating in the air and looking down at the ground and noticing how far away it seemed. It was awesome! That vertical, in real life, would have been around 41 inches.

Now, I'm not suggesting that this is a premonition of events to come and that I'll end up with a 41" standing vertical, but it has motivated me to change my training. I am going to continue weight training and add jumping technique training, without much plyometric work, for the next few weeks. I think that the reason my jumps have stalled is that my form is poor. I'm stronger than I've ever been, but I'm not using that strength to its fullest potential because of poor form. I know that the major reason for my poor technique is the fear of hurting my knees because of knee problems I've had in the past. Ironically, because of poor jumping technique, my knees are hurting after most of my plyometric exercise days.

Here are my best measurements this week:

• Standing vertical: I performed 2 set of 6 reps a few days this week really trying to improve my form.
• One-step vertical: Again, grabbing the rim with 2 hands.
• Hexbar deadlifts, feet elevated on 2.5 inch platform: 315 pounds for 3 reps
• Close-grip bench press: 225 pounds for 3 reps
• Dynamic effort box squats: 175 pounds for 10 sets of 2 reps
• Dynamic effort bench press: 135 pounds for 8 sets of 3 reps
• Military press: 165 pounds for 3 reps
• Barbell rows: 245 pounds for 3 reps
• Power cleans: 205 pounds for 1 rep
• Hang power cleans: 195 pounds for 1 rep

I also added Bulgarian split-squats, pogo jumps, dumbbell swings, calf raises, floor presses, and abdominal work.