Jump Around

I spent part of my evening last night trying to teach my son how to jump. In basketball, he'll sometimes go for the long shot and come up short, even when his elbow is high enough for a good arc. I thought teaching him to jump might help.

I had him jump from a standstill onto an 18" box, which he did but with slighly sloppy form. Then I took him to a room with some metal bars to hang from, some mats, and with a 2kg, 3kg, and 5 kg medicine balls. I had him try to jump and touch this one bar, but he was about two inches short, which frustrated him. I showed him that a few inches above the 18" box he had jumped on earlier would gt him close. I then demonstrated a rudimentary snatch/throw using the 5 kg ball, which he then found to heavy to toss up. I then showed him the same toss in 3 steps, starting with the 2 kg ball. First, I had him get in a position like an RDL and execute it until he reported a stretch in the hams: I then told him once he felt that, that he has less than a second to jump. Second, I taught him the first pull, only to the knees. Third, the second pull: shrugging the shoulders hard, thrusting the hips forward, and jumping using only the calves so as force the ball to swing upward a bit. Than I had him do put it all together and toss the ball straight up high as fast as he could. I took him a while to get the hang of it but once he did, he was surprised how much lighter the 5 kg ball was when he got to it. I then had him do dribble drills for a while, as a break.

I stacked up some mats until they were higher than an 18 inch box, and pointed to the goal height I predicted he should reach if he wanted to touch the bar. I had to sit on them to keep it stable: the soft mats would cushion his landings. I then told him to jump using what I had taught him (I even demonstrated with a very explosive jump). Sure enough, he shocked himself with being able to reach it. Then I kept stacking the mats gradually, and he kept surprising himself with how high he could jump but he failed within an inch of the mark. Just as well, though: enough for the night, he was stoked.

Today, I thought of that whole explosion business as I decided to test on front squats before bowling. Note: Timberlands make great squat shoes! I loaded 225 on the bar (215 is my max) and proceeded to triple that (NSCA formula: 254 lbs Brzycki formula: 238 lbs). I then rested 3 minutes and attempted a 245 lift. That came up gradually but strong enough that I went for a second rep but could not come out of the hole. Maybe, it was yesterday's jumps. Maybe, I should have gone for the 254. But I'm very satisfied. I can't wait to apply the Prilepin Program to bench presses.

Tomorrow, Week 5 Prilepin Squat/DL.