Jump Quixote

Two months later, and a birthday later (I'm 45 now) and I'm here with my second update. I'm not seeing the progress I would like, but I'm not surprised. The jump focused Tuesday/Thursday workouts are working well for me. I'm able to function normally during the week at work and volleyball practice. I am seeing small progress. Today after a shorter amount of warm up I was able to touch rim and get the tip of my finger above. I'm hitting right at the first joint of my middle finger on my better jumps. I would estimate my jump is up about another inch above the last update, and 2-2 1/2 above my starting point. I was able to get my head above a regulation men's volleyball net. During scrimmages that I played, my muscular endurance lasted pretty well. Longer rallies with a lot of jumps started to make my legs feel like jelly. Overall I'm feeling pretty good about how things are going. I would like to get more Saturday workouts in now that the volleyball s...

I realize this might look like posting something new within 24 hours and there isn't really time to see results, but this update is weeks in the making. I originally intended to start this blog in January, shortly after conception of this idea, but life intervened when I could have started writing. My first workout of the year was on January 8th. My first leg workout was January 9th. Apart from one week that I didn't work out due to illness, I have gone to the gym at least 5 days per week to lift weights. 3 upper body days and 2 lower body days. Some weeks I got a Saturday leg workout in. Starting in February I went from just a lower body strength workout to a jump focused workout on Tuesday/Thursday. The January leg workouts had exercises that should help increase strength, but the primary goal of each leg workout wasn't jumping until February. The times I now get a Saturday workout in, I go for a workout focused on base leg strength. All that being said, I have worked...

Like many young men in the twilight of high school, I wanted to be able to dunk a basketball. I was 6 feet tall, I could jump higher than average, and I played basketball every chance I got. When I graduated, I was the strongest I had ever been, and I just finished the boys volleyball season on the varsity team. I was a lean 150 lbs, the heaviest I had ever been to that point, and I could dunk a volleyball regularly. I was within maybe an inch or three of vertical leap away from being able to dunk a basketball. At the time, I think I had a 30 inch vertical. After graduation, I continued to play basketball at least once a week, but I lost regular access to weights. I stayed at that vertical for about a year. That's when things went south. For a variety of reasons, I stopped playing regularly, and haven't been able to train consistently for the last 20+ years. During that time I picked up a degree in exercise science, and I have spent a reasonable amount of time becoming acquai...