Hey everyone, I have a new, exciting (for me) goal this summer: I want to be able to dunk a basketball. I leave for grad school at the end of July and want to do it before then. I had a log on here a few months ago leading up to my last powerlifting meet. You can find that here:
http://www.T-Nation.com/free_online_forum/blog_sports_body_training_performance_bodybuilding_log/riddle22s_training_log?pageNo=0#2841724
The first post in that thread has all my background information. Since those who are interested can find it there, I’ll just post my stats here.
22 years old
5’11
205lbs
Best meet lifts: (raw, 181 class)
Squat - 450
Bench - 285
Deadlift - 560
Total - 1295
Vert: ???.. never had it officially measured. I’ll give a conservative guess of 30", probably a little more. As of right now I can touch a rim from a standing jump and can hang on it with a running jump.
My plan of attack for this is inspired by Kelly Baggett’s ‘ultimate training split’ which you can read about here: The Ultimate Split
Basically you set up 4 workouts, 2 upper body and 2 lower body. You train MWF, rotating between the 4 workouts. Plyos and speed work are done before the upper body sessions. I plan on running about 8 weeks of his basic setup and then switching to a 4 week phase where I focus solely on increasing explosiveness and speed and just maintaining strength. After training for powerlifting, I know I’m good in the strength department, it’s my explosiveness and movement efficiency that need work.
That’s it for now, I’ll post my first workout, which I did today, in a few minutes. Please get on me about this, I train alone so I need someone to hold me accountable.
4/24/09 - Upper Body
Foam Rolling
Dynamic Warmup
Single Leg Lateral Hops - 2x10sec
Single Leg Triple Jumps - 4 sets
Dips
10xBW
5x70
5x70
5x70
6x70
Weighted Pullups
8xBW
5x25
5x25
5x25
5x25
DB Front Raises - 3x8-12
Bar Curls - 3x8-12
Reverse Cable Extensions - 3x8-12
This workout was a pretty crappy one cause I was hungover and tired. I picked weights that would normally be very easy but ended up being hard today. I was out drinking last night and went to sleep at 3:30 only to wake up at 7:30 for work. Part of the reason I chose Kelly Baggett’s split is because it allows plenty of recovery time. I’m in college so late nights of drinking are a fairly regular occurence.
4/27/09 - Lower Body
Foam Rolling
Dynamic Warmup
Low Squat Hops - 4x10sec
Standing Broad Jumps - 6x3
Reactive Squat Jumps
5x45
5x95
5x95
5x95
5x95
Conventional Deadlift - 75%
5x225
3x315
3x405
3x405
3x405
3x405
3x405
Calf Raises - 3x10-12
4/29/09 - Upper Body
Foam Rolling
Dynamic Warmup
Single Leg Stair Jumps - 2x3 front/side/back
Single Leg Bounds - 4x3
Cable Rows
10x175
8x190
8x190
8x190
Incline Press
8x135
6x185
6x185
6x185
5x185
DB Curls - 3x8-10
V-Bar Pressdowns - 3x8-12
Lat Raises - 2x10
5/1/09 - Lower Body
I haven’t been slacking, I did the workout on friday, I just forgot to post it.
Foam Rolling
Dynamic Warmup
Lateral Barrier Hops - 4x10sec
Standing Vertical Jumps - 6x3
Snatch High Pull
3x135
3x225
3x225
3x225
3x225
Front Squat
5x135
6x225
6x225
6x245
3x245
Ab Rollouts - 3x8-12
Calf Raises - 3x10-12
5/4/09 - Upper Body
Foam Rolling
Dynamic Warmup
Single Leg Lateral Hops - 3x10sec
Standing Triple Jump - 6 each leg
Pullups
6xBW
6x25
6x25
6x25
6x25
Dips
8xBW
6x70
6x90
6x90
6x90
DB Front Raises - 3x8-10
Bar Curls - 3x8-10
Reverse Cable Extensions - 3x8-12
5/6/09 - Lower Body
Foam Rolling
Dynamic Warmup
Low Squat Hops - 4x10sec
Sprints - 6x30yards
Reactive Jump Squats
5x95
5x95
5x95
5x95
5x95
Conventional Deadlifts
5x225
3x315
1x405
2x455
2x455
2x455
2x455
2x455
Hanging Leg Raises - 3x8-12
Calf Raises - 3x8-12
5/8/09 - Upper Body
Foam Rolling
Dynamic Warmup
Single Leg Lateral Hops - 3x10sec
Single Leg Bounds - 6x3
Cable Rows
9x190
8x197.5
7x197.5
6x197.5
Incline
6x135
6x185
6x185
6x185
5x185
Cable Curls - 1 Dropset
V-Bar Pressdown - 1 Dropset
Lat Raises - 1 Dropset
5/11/09 - Lower Body
Foam Rolling
Dynamic Warmup
Lateral Barrier Hops - 4x10sec
12" Depth Jumps - 6x3
Paused Jump Squats - 6x3x115
Full Olympic Squats
8x135
6x245
6x275
6x275
Calf Raises - 3x8-12
CoC Gripper - A few sets and reps with #1.5
5/13/09 - Upper Body
Foam Rolling
Dynamic Warmup
Single Leg Lateral Hops - 3x10sec
Single Leg Box Jumps - 6x3 worked up to 30" box
Weighted Pullups
8xBW
6x25
6x35
5x35
5x35
Incline DB Press
6x50
6x85
6x95
7x90
6x90
Cable Lat Raises - 3x8-12
Bar Curls - 3x8-12
DB French Press - 3x8-12
5/15/09 - Lower Body
Foam Rolling
Dynamic Warmup
Low Squat Hops - 4x10sec
Box Jumps - 6x3 worked up to 44" box
Reactive Squat Jumps - 6x3x115
Conventional Deadlifts
5x225
3x315
5x405
4x455
3x475
4x495 PR
Hanging Leg Raises - 4x max reps
Calf Raises - 3x8-12
CoC - Few sets and reps with #1.5
The deadlift PR really surprised me. I was pretty tired after the box jumps and squat jumps and didn’t feel particularly strong warming up. I think I could have gotten a 5th rep but I’m purposely avoiding failure on my strength exercises because I’m focusing more on explosive power right now. I feel like 550 would be no problem right now pulling conventional which means my sumo pull is probably somewhere close to 600. Maybe after I finally dunk I’ll focus on that.
5/18/09 - Upper Body
Foam Rolling
Dynamic Warmup
Single Leg Stair Hops - 4x10
Single Leg Box Jumps - 6x3 worked up to 30" box
Incline
6x135
4x205
4x205
5x205
5x205
Pullups - 50 total reps done in between sets of incline
Reverse Cable Flys - 4x8-12
DB Curls - 3x8-12
Rope Pressdowns - 3x8-12
Wrist Curls - 3x8-12
5/20/09 - Lower Body
Foam Rolling
Dynamic Stretching
Reflexive Stair Jumps - 3x10
Low Squat Hops - 3x10sec
Box Jumps - 6x3 worked up to 46" box
Reactive Squat Jumps - 5x3x95
Full Olympic Squat
6x225
3x315
3x295
*Cut these short because I tweaked something in my left quad. It feels like a mild strain. I was trying to rush through the workout and jumped to 315 too soon. I’ll ice it tonight and see how it feels on friday.
Bar Rollouts - 3x8-12
Calf Raises - 3x8-12
CoC #1.5 - 3x8 w/right hand and 3x5 w/left hand
5/22/09 - Upper Body
Foam Rolling
Dynamic Stretching
Reflexive Stair Hops - 4x10
Single Leg Stair Hops - 4x10
Single Leg Bounds - 6x3
Pullups
6xBW
5x35
5x35
6x35
5x45
High Incline DB Press
6x45
8x80
7x85
6x90
6x85
Blast Strap Face Pulls - 4x8-12
DB Curls - 3x8-12
DB French Press - 3x8-12
Wrist Curls - 3x8-12
Looks like you’ve got a great setup man - I think you have a great shot at dunking by July if not before, especially with your strength background. I’m in about the same boat as you right now (minus about 250lb in the powerlifting total and 30lb weight, but similar height and jumps), and just started a log here too. I’m doing more of a Westside style template right now, but it’ll probably end up looking more like what you’re doing (the Ultimate Split) once my ankle heals up and I can do more jumping and movement efficiency drills. Good luck! Hopefully we’ll both be dunking soon enough…
5/26/09 - Lower Body
Foam Rolling
Dynamic Stretching
18" Drop Jumps - 4x5
Single Leg Box Jumps - 5x3 worked up to 32"
Reactive Squat Jumps - 4x3x95
Conventional Deadlifts
5x225
5x315
4x405
3x455
6x485 HUGE PR!
Full Contact Twist - 4x4-6 each side
Calf Raises - 3x8-12
CoC - Few sets and reps with #1.5
I played in a flag football tournament this weekend and was pretty sore so I pushed monday’s workout back to tuesday. I also cut back on some of the volume because tendonitis has really been flaring up in my medial shin area and where my quad connects to my patella. I was VERY happy with the deadlift PR, which blows any other deadlift set I’ve done out of the water. That set projects my conventional deadlift max at about 570. Considering that my conventional has always been about 30 lbs less than my sumo and that 1RM charts usually underestimate my max, I’m feeling pretty good about that. I really think that all this dynamic work has really improved my explosiveness. It feels like every rep just flies off the floor.
5/28/09 - Upper Body
Foam Rolling
Dynamic Stretching
Low Squat Hops - 4x10sec
Single Leg Lateral Hops - 4x20
Single Leg Bounds - 6x4
Incline
6x135
6x185
5x205
4x215
4x205
Pullups - 50 reps done in between sets of incline
DB Cleans - 4x12
Rolling DB Extensions - 3x8
DB Curls - 3x8-10
Wrist Curls - 3x12
6/1/09 - Lower Body
Because of the flag football tournament last weekend I trained tue/thur of last week instead of mon/wed/fri. I did this because I wanted to stay with my theme of making sure I fully recover between training sessions. The beauty of this split is that I just simply pick up with the workout I left off on. It doesn’t matter what day it is on.
Foam Rolling
Dynamic Stretching
Lateral Barrier Hops - 4x10sec
Single Leg Lateral/Forward Hops - 4x20each
Box Jumps - 6x3 worked up to 48" box
Reactive Squat Jumps - 6x3x95
Olympic Squats
6x135
5x225
5x275
5x295
*cut these short again because of the pain in the tendon above my patella. I’ve had this pain before when I used to squat with a high bar narrow stance style. I think the pain is caused by a combination of this squatting syle and all the jumping. Next time I squat I’ll switch back to a low bar powerlifting style squat to take some strain off the tendon.
Bar Ab Rollouts - 4x8-12
Calf Raises - 3x10-12
6/3/09 - Upper Body
Foam Rolling
Dynamic Stretching
Reflexive Stair Jumps - 4x12
Single Leg Bounds - 5x4 each leg
3 Board Press
8x135
5x185
5x225 add 3 board
5x265
5x265
5x275
High DB Row
8x100
8x110
8x110
8x110
Incline Front Raise - 3x8-12
Blast Strap Face Pulls - 4x8-12
Bar Curls - 3x8-10
Reverse Wrist Curls - 3x12-15
6/5/09 - Lower Body
Foam Rolling
Dynamic Stretching
18" Drop Jumps - 4x5
Single Leg Box Jumps - 5x3 worked up to 34" box
Conventional Deadlifts
5x135
5x225
5x315
3x405
3x455
3x475
4x515 PR
Full Contact Twist - 4x6-8
Calf Raises - 3x8-12
Hit another deadlift PR today which I’m happy about. What I’m not happy about is the pain (tendonitis?) in my lower legs and right patella tendon. I skipped one of my movement efficiency exercises and the reactive squat jumps today because of it. I’ve started intramural football and softball so the increase in running isn’t going to help things. Because of this I think I’m going to seriously cut back on the volume of my jumps and movement efficiency work. This isn’t what I want to do because this is the area I need the most work in, but I can’t continue on like this because the pain will only get worse.