Okay, so I admit to participating in the verbal intercourse that bore this blog. That said, Air Alert III has worked wonders for me and the Emory kids participating in it with me. I am finishing week nine on Friday, and already my vertical has gone from 17.5" to 25", a whopping 7.5" increase. Some of the kids have experienced similar gains. The best part is, the program goes 15 weeks and it promises between 8" and 14".
However, the program is not easy, by any stretch of the word. Your legs will hurt. There will be sets that you think that you simply cannot complete because your legs hurt so bad. There are times where you compromise form for future reps. When this happens, you have to push yourself, and sometimes you really don't think you can. For me, it's the calf raises. I hit around 35 and the last 15 are absolute death. But, a good part about this program is, while it ramps up quickly, the preceding week definitely preps you for its successor. When you get to about week six, you begin to look down on those who are on week, say, three as sissies because they have half as many to do as you and they're whining.
Another pitfall to this program is that you must re-learn how to read the disc. "Whatever, I read so well now that nothing could alter my super-human reading skills." Picture this: you read very well, you jump at full strength at the right moment and get the disc at your full extension at your highest point every time. Now, imagine adding 4" to your jump. Or imagine adding even 1" to your jump. You are going to start doinking discs because even though you are up there, your hand is way above where the disc is. This is why even if you choose to do this program, you MUST still go out there and play. In fact, the program instructs that you do so. You have to learn your new highest point, and man is it not easy. This goes doubly for during the week when your legs are shot from the workout and your vertical is actually lower than where it would be if you would wait a day or two. Essentially, your vertical leap is in flux the whole time you're doing this program, so reading becomes a chore. Also, whenever a disc goes up and it's you against someone not on the program, everyone who knows this fact chants simultaneously, "Oooh, let's see if that jump program's working!" or, "Air Alert!" which kind of puts you on the spot and forces you to get the D or catch or succumb to indefinite haranguing.
I do highly suggest this program, although it is not for the unmotivated or the faint of heart. If you truly wish to see results, you must follow the program to the letter and really focus on your form as opposed to the reps you're doing. I missed the Friday of week seven and the Friday of week eight (Turkey Tourney all day travel, and family Thanksgiving travel to FuttBuck, IN, respectively) and came back to measure at the beginning of week nine to see that I'd lost four inches to my vertical. Also, aside from being the most mentally painful day, it was also the most physically painful since day one, week one. Yesterday wasn't that bad, giving me hope that I will gain those 4" back and maybe some come next Tuesday.
It also makes your legs ridiculously buff, which ladies like.
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Excellent post Edelman. I'm planning on starting the program with 'my SPSU team' in January. At first I figured we'd just try to incorporate the exercises into practice, but the more I hear about your experiences, the more I think we should do the program by the letter, outside of practice. Hopefully if the guys see some results early on they'll stick with it. I'm trying to track down a vertical jump measurer to track our progress.
I am a little concerned that you lost 4 inches after taking a couple of non-consecutive days off. What's going to happen at the end of the program? What's the maintenance going to be like? I know they say you can do the program again later to add more (but not 8'-14'), but do they talk about maintenance at all? I guess we'll find out when you get to week 16.
Lastly, I'm sure I speak for everyone (Fox) when I say, post some before and after pictures of those legs pretty boy.
Oh, one more thing. You lack the perspective to see it, but yelling Air Alert at you every time there is a jump-disc is fucking hilarious.
i didn't "lose" 4 inches...at the time of measurement, i was 4" below where i was. after thinking about it, i concluded that this was due to my lack of exercise the previous 5 days (tday) and the ridiculous 5 minute mile warmup that chimpo had us run. i'm pretty sure i'll be where i'm supposed to be come monday.
what we've been doing to measure is have someone stand next to a wall or post or something and jump straight up, taking care not to bend your knees while in the air, and measuring the height of the bottom of the heel (eyeing it, really. but we make them do it 3 or 4 times with a few people watching). i think a measuring tool would be key tho. another way to do it would be to get one of those rosin bags from REI and cover your hands with it, then jump next to a dark wall and touch at your highest point, and measure that.
also, the program comes with a maintenance schedule...it's pretty easy. basically you just do week 8 on the alternating schedule, or you play a sport 2-3 times a week. as ultimate players, i don't think that we should have a problem with maybe playing 2x or so a week and maybe doing the workout 2x a week.
as for the pictures...i didn't think to take a before, but i will take an after for you (and fox) and post it.
You can measure it by measuring someone's height including there hands strait up in the air, then watch to see were they touch after jumping. You measure it by having a piece of masking tape marked off from 9 feet to about 15 feet. I plan on jumping that high.
I'm wondering if you have noticed in increase in sprinting speed with this workout?
Wow, seems like an intesne workout you guys got going on there...
My only worry would be that you'd be spending all of your time working on your verticle and neglect other plyos that work on quickness or speed...
You don't think the Air Alert exercises could be built into a more general plyo workout schedule?
whitey: yes, i've noticed an increase in speed. the program says that your 40 should drop .1 to .2 seconds, which is pretty good. and my legs get comments from all the ladies.
seigs: i agree. sometimes i feel like, "well shit, i'm just working on my vertical and things like my sprinting and cutting are going to be neglected." but then i realize that this is a finite program that you do once and then maintain w/jumping and plyos. other stuff can be worked on later, more closely to when the season starts.
i wouldn't suggest doing another leg workout while doing air alert because i feel as though it will negatively impact your potential vertical, and this workout i think does plenty to build the muscles you're looking for in many other plyos. obviously it is not the end-all, be-all of leg exercises, it's one workout that focuses on a specific aspect of athleticism.
the early offseason is a great time to experiment with workouts so you can maybe get an extra edge here or there, while the later offseason is where you either do or do not integrate your experiments into your normal, bread-and-butter workouts
of course i am no expert on fitness or anatomy or anything of that sort, this is just an ignorant kid's take based on his personal experiences. did i mention the ladies really dig my legs?
Ladies only really care about upper body.
I'll give this Air Alert deal a try sometime when I'm not doing club and college. I have no off-season right now...
But sounds pretty cool...
I've had my spsu guys doing a basic plyo routine (posted over at http://ultfris.blogspot.com/2005/06/training-for-ultimate-part-2-of-3.html). I do think, as Edelman says, that Air Alert is supposed to improve speed as well. I would think you could easily add some quickness drills, they aren't usually too taxing.
Good to see you Seigs. Kat still cracks up about 'do it doggystyle' on occasion.
You too Wood!
I feel like our paths will cross again on a nice, grassy field sometime.
You should actually come up here sometime. we play on the snow. You could wear short sleeves for once.
Sounds like a great program to start in mid-January so that I'm peaking during tryout season.
Only thing is, the program emphasizes getting out and playing during off days. This is not going to happen for me, at least during the first half of the program. Is this a major problem? I'll be getting plenty of light leg workouts via skiing...
tarr: not getting out and playing while on this program won't affect your vert. however, it will affect your playing (obviously aside from the fact that you're not playing). in my post, i talk about how your vert is constantly in flux, which can negatively affect your play if you don't constantly get out there and try to re-calibrate yourself.
an alternative to actually getting out and playing ultimate is just doing something where aggressive jumping is wont, like basketball, or high jumping.
I plan on starting this, im just curious if I should because I play basketball 5-7 days a week for 3 hours, mostly just shooting. Im a sophomore in highschool. Is that a bad idea to do this?
i am 14years.i have 1 question that will my growing of heigth get stop by doing air alert????
Just a quick question about week 15. Squat Hops are only suppose to be done on Wednesdays but week 15 says we do them 5*50. In the instructions for week 15 we only do air alert on Mon-Tues-Thur-Fri. Any suggestions
Good post Eldman. I just started Air Alert about 3 days ago. But, I got my information online. I hear that there are other stuff in the dvd that you need to do so you wont have muscular imbalances. Is that true? If there is anything else I need to follow please let me know. Thanks a lot!
I started air alert 6 weeks ago .... At that time time I could only touch the rim..... And now I'm dunking like crazzy ... To all u guys out there air alert cannot harm u .... It I the best ....
air alert this is very serious cause the air is vital for us no air is no people so lets take care of this lets plant more trees and lets meka less pollution and if we need extra help we can Buy viagra cause this medication can help too.
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