VB Alert Week 3?

Just after finishing week 2 of VB Alert, I sprained my big toe (Note: big toes are surprising important for jumping/running) so I had to take some time off. The toe still hurts some, but I've been able to play and resume working out. One of the week 1-2 exercises (square jumping) aggravates the toe and may be why I injured it to begin with. Luckily, there are several exercises to choose from, so I've avoided that one.

I started over with VB Alert, and yesterday finally got to move on to week 3 which has new exercises. For weeks 3 and 4, you continue doing 2 exercises from weeks 1 and 2, and you add 2 new exercises. Yesterday, Fox and I did jump rope and jump and reach from week 1-2 and added no arm jumps and laundry jumps. According to VB Alert, no arm jumps will make you puke, but we didn't find them to be that bad, I wonder if we're doing them wrong. The laundry jumps (jump back and forth over object, perhaps a laundry basket) hurt my toe a little, but overall the workout was not as bad as I feared, though my hams and calves are quite sore today. For the laundry jumps, VB Alert suggests using a "very collapsible" object to jump over. We didn't have a laundry basket, so we stacked up some of those blue yoga bricks. Fox completely wiped out on the first set and almost took me out with him (even though we set up about 6 feet apart). It was hilarious, I don't know how the 4 other random people in the room kept a straight face.

We've also gotten several other Rivalers doing VB Alert at the Saturday track workouts. The jumping rope is a big hit. One thing I like about the program is that it is very easy to do anywhere really, you just need a jump rope and enough room to jump up. That, and it doesn't take very long, so there is really no excuse for not doing it 3 times a week. Unless you have a bad toe. Seriously, it's debilitating, who da thunk?

Last thing, I re-measured my vertical prior to my second week 2. I've gained about 1-1.5 inches. However, I had done nothing for about a month before the first time I measured, so doing any workout probably would have shown some improvement.

VB Alert Week 1

After hurting myself doing Air Alert, I decided to try the Volley Ball Alert (not it's real name). I started on Sunday doing the jumping rope and square jumping exercises. Jumping rope sucks, it's very hard, the square jumping was fairly easy, I wonder about doing it one-legged. I was a little sore the next day, mostly butt, groin, and hamstring. All Air Alert ever did was make my calves sore. Jumping rope and square jumping both seem pretty calf intensive, but the one-legged jumping rope definitely works the whole leg.

I did the same exercises on Tuesday, when Fox joined me, giving up on Air Alert as well. He looks like Vanilla Ice when he does the one legged jumping rope. On Thursday, we went to the gym and did the jump and reach and pool jumps. The jump and reaches are fairly tough, and I think they worked my abs. Weird. The pool jumps make you look like a complete idiot. They're fun though. For the first set of exercises, I would rank their difficulty from hardest to easiest as: Jumping rope, jump and reach, pool jumping, square jumping.

Again, I like that the total reps are lower, and that the intensity is higher (particularly for the one legged jumping rope). There is still a fair amount of endurance involved, 5x15 jump and reaches will make you tired.

Air Alert done

Last Wednesday, I did my final Air Alert workout. I will no longer be doing Air Alert. On the very last jump of the day, the full jump on the last set of squat hops, I hurt my back. I think I was tired from all the reps, and my form slipped and for the next 3 days I was pretty much confined to bed. I'm much better now, though I'm taking this whole week off to try and get back to 100%. Next week, I plan on starting the volleyball program I talked about in the last post. It's a 3 day a week program, I'll keep doing my upper body workout, and I'll add in some cardio, probably just 15 min of running on days I'm not doing plyos.

I had added about an inch after just one week to my vertical, but I'm pretty sure that was just because I had done nothing for the previous month. I guess we'll see how Fox does with it. Has anyone started the volleyball workout yet?

Alternate vertical leap program

Week one of Air Alert is done. Not too bad, certainly not as bad as week one last year. I've had some people asking me about the other jump program I found. It's a volleyball program. It doesn't have near as many reps, and has a progression in intensity of exercise-type, which I think is a better way to approach a vertical leap program. It still doesn't have any lifting involved though. I hope to get some info on other vertical leap programs up here soon. As I said, I'm giving Air Alert six weeks to see how it does. If it's not showing me some improvement, I'm going to try the volleyball program. Even if I am happy with Air Alert and go all the way through, I may do the volleyball program after a bit of a break, I think they'll be complimentary.

Also, I moved the blog to the beta blogger. Not sure what that means yet...