What's Next

                Yesterday I completed the Show and Go program, and I feel much stronger than before. I would love to know how much I’ve improved my one rep max for the bench, squat and deadlift, but unfortunately I didn’t do any pre-test before the program. But even though I didn’t do any pre-tests, I know I’ve accomplished much.

                So what’s next on the agenda? Race wise, I’m signed up to do the Delta Triathlon in April. It’s one of my favourite races to do, and although it won’t be the focus of my training over the next 3 months, I will be starting up some run, bike, and swim training. The next performance goal is to improve my vertical jump. All throughout high school when I was really into basketball, I was always a few inches shy of touching the rim. Now, without any formal jump training, I’m able to touch the bottom of the rim, although barely.

                Starting tomorrow, I’m going to do some tests to measure my vertical jump and my one rep back squat. In 8 weeks time, the goal is to go from barely touching the rim to grabbing it with ease. The program I’m testing to get me there is Kelly Baggett’s Vertical Jump Bible.

                There’s several programs to follow, depending if you’re a beginner, intermediate, or advanced jumper. After reading the descriptions of each program and the prerequisites, I would fall under the intermediate. Even under the intermediate program there are sub-programs, so the one I’m going to follow is a mix of strength training and reactive training.  Frequency of training is twice a week, so I can supplement the training with some tri training for Delta. Now, because I am doing strength/plyo work and endurance training concurrently, I understand I may not get the full results that I’m looking for. But if I limit the volume of endurance training, I should still see improvements in my vertical leap. I may focus more on my swim during this training period.

                Stay tuned everybody, I’ll report my progress over the next 8 weeks.