Year end conclusions

Had the last couple of weeks off from training and basketball as the basketball gym is closed for the holidays.

Have been walking most days with the dogs for 2-3 mile walks so I am managing to keep the weight down a bit.

My end of year weigh in was 96.8kgs and 29.8% bodyfat which means that this year I have lost over 2kgs. This is however well below my target weight loss.

The last 3 weeks I have gone back to drinking coca cola which is the main reason that I haven´t got below 95kgs yet.

Although I haven´t lost a lot of weight this year I have definately improved my fitness levels and my arms and legs have toned up a lot. I noticed the other day that I do not get winded any more walking up the hill to my house any more where this time last year I had to stop half way and use my inhaler now I dont even get out of breath. Also playing basketball I can sprint the length of the court without getting out o breath which make playing much better :-)

In a bid to start loosing more weight I started skating again yesterday which was fun but I was really bad and my ankle hurt a bit. My son has started to get into skating as well so next year we are going to go skate at least every other day which will help with my weight loss and also build up leg strength.

I have been thinking about my fitness goals for next year and I have com up with the following:

1. Go one year without drinking Coca Cola. My record is 3 months so this will be hard.
2. Walk with my dogs for at least 30 minutes every day and record the walks with Strava.
3. Do jump training at least 3 times a week.
4. Skate at least 3 times a week
5. Play basketball at least 3 times a week.
6. Use car less.

My main goal is to lose 10.8 kgs to get my weight down to 85kgs by this time next year. I think with the lifestyle changes that I am putting in place in the goals above that my main goal is achievable.

I am dedicated this year to log all of my activities in a jornal and I am going to create a new blog to chart my progress.

Tomorrow I am going to take a lot of body measurements and measure my current vertical jump so that I can keep measuring my progress over the year.

I have decided that I am only going to take weight measurements once a week instead of every day as I was doing as I want to put more focus on lifestyle changes and less focus on bodyweight.

Good walk

Went for a good long walk with my dogs. Was given a blue heeler from my brother in law yesterday as it was my nephews who is away at uni.

Having a few teething problems with my old dog accepting the new dog but they are getting along better.

I tool them for a quick walk yesterday to test them out and things were a little tense. Today things were much better this morning. We walked 1.7 miles and climbed 500+ feet. I changed up the route this morning and took a cattle trail halfway up the Hill and went around the back of the Hill to the top. Also had to re root at the top of the Hill as there were people doing a religious ceremony around the cross that marks the top of the Hill!

I AM still sick and it was a bit of a struggle but the de tour helped as it was a little less steep.

My weigh in was 96.7 kgs and 30.1%.

Slack week so far

This week hás been crazy with work só i havent worked out get. I havê got 2 dog walks in tho só not all bad. Still got a sore throat as well.

Still Ill

Felt reall rough yesterday afternoon and this morning so didnt train today.

My weigh in was 96.4kgs and 30.0% bodyfat.

Still ill

Feeling ill still and now got a headache to go with the sore throat and fever.

I still managed to walk the dog for half a mile although we had to cut the walk short due to rain.

I also did my circuit for the day although the last set was a struggle.

I havê now bought some medicine and an going to spend the afternoon in bed.

My weigh in was better today. 95.6 kgs and 31.1%.

Sore throat again

Woke up this morning with a sore throat and a bit of a fever again!

I was also raining so I did 30 minutes on the exercise bike as a warmup for my skipping workout. Did 13.42km and burned 305 cals. Was on level 1 for 5 minutes then level 2 for 23 minutes and then level 1 again for the last 2 minutes.

Started doing the skipping worout but felt really bad so I am going to start on thurday.

Going to eat breakfast now then go and shoot hoops at the club for an hour.

Ankle hurting bad

Woke up this morning and my ankle is hurting really bad. Still managed to walk the dog and just finished my monday circuit. Walked 1.5 miles and climbed 476ft in 35.09 minutes.

My weighin today was ok 96.4kgs and 31% bf.

Going to ice my ankle now to and take a pain killer to see if I can stop the ankle hurting. Also going to buy a new ankle support today to see if that will help.

My training today was as follows:

Exercise	Sets	Reps
Skipping	3	1 min
Squats	3	10
stepup	3	20
Lataral Jumps	3	20
Front back Jumps	3	20
Squat Jumps	3	10
Stepup Jumps	3	20
Calf Raises	3	20
Plank	3	1 Min
Wall Squats	3	1 Min
Box Jumps (30")	3	5

Iced my ankle all morning and it is feel much better. I am going to ice it some more this afternoon so that I can hopefully do my aerobic skipping workout tomorrow morning.

Sunday training done

Just got back from training at the clube. 2 other people turned up as well so wasn't too bad although I dislocated by little finger on my left hand but it went back in to joint easily and isnt hurting too much.

Shot around a while then played 1v1 for and hour. I lost 50-46 but my shot was getting better with the new pro shot technique. After the 1 v 1 we shot freethrow. My first 10 free throws I made all 10. Then I made another 3 in a row missed 3 in a row then made another 3 of the last 4 shots. The last set of 10 I made 5 of 10!!

My weigh in today was good 96.0kgs and 31.9% BF.

Next week I am going to shoot every day to work on the new shot technique because I am still having problems shooting off of the index finger a lot of the time. I also have to work more at game speed.

Ankle Still Hurting!!

My ankle is hurting still but today I got up and up and walked the dog. I only went half way as I didnt want to hurt the ankle any more. I walked 1 mile and climberd 300ft in 21:13 minutes.

I am now half way through the first of 3 sets of my circuit, My ankle is hurting on the squat jumps but everything else has been pain free so far.

My weigh in today was poor again at 97.3kgs and 30.4% body fat. Up from 95.9kgs this time last week, I am definately going to have to do more this weekend.

Managed to do the 3 sets without problems but my ankle is hurting now that I have stopped.

I am now going to do 30 minutes on the exercise bike.

Did 10 minutes on level 1 and had to stop as my ankle was sore. Going to ice it now.

New Setback

Played basketball last night and when I stopped playing I noticed that my ankle was sore. As the evening wore on it hurt more. I put some ibuprofen cream on it and it is a bit better this morning but not good enough to train on. I am going to take the day off to rest and ice the ankle and see if I can train tomorrow morning.

O a positive note my knee has stoppred hurting!

My weigh in this morning was 96.9kgs and 32.4% body fat.

I have noticed that although I am not loosing much weight at the moment I am deffinately getting thinner. My legs and arms are much thinner and my waist has gone down 2 belt hooks in the last week which is a good sign.

I am thinking that I need to up the cardio a bit at the weekends to try and speed up the weight loss a bit. I am thinking of doing a hour or two on the bike before I go and shoot hoops at the club on saturday and sundays to see if this will speed up the weight loss.

There is a nice easy flatish route that I can do which passes in front of the clube that is around 20 miles.

First Jump Training Done.

This morning I took the dog for a walk up the hill and back. We walked 1.5kms and climbed 486ft in 33 minutes.

After the walk I did my first jump training workout. Each circuit took 19 mins so the 3 circuits took 60 minute with the rest periods in between sets. As I was doing the training I added 2 new exercises. The workout was as follows:

Exercise	Sets	Reps
Skipping	3	1 min
Squats	3	10
stepup	3	20
Lataral Jumps	3	20
Front back Jumps	3	20
Squat Jumps	3	10
Stepup Jumps	3	20
Calf Raises	3	20
Plank	3	1 Min
Wall Squats	3	1 Min
Box Jumps (30")	3	5

After the training I did a 10 minute cooldown.

My weighing in today was 96.2kgs and 30.4% bodyfat.

Working on Jump shooting

After 2 days of doing nothing my weight as gone up to 96.5kgs again and my body fat is at 31.5%!

I got up early and went to the club and shot hoops. While I was ill I was wating training videos on You tube. I found a really good one that teaches the same technique as Steph Cruuy uses.

Today I tried the technique out and it worked really well. My freethrow shooing was much more acurate and I was hitting 6-8 in a row.I also made jump shots off of all missed freethrows to incrase the insensity.

 After making 50 freethrows I started on the fake 3 foint shot fake drive dribble left and shoot the jump shot. The new techique worked well but I was experiencing pain in my left knee so I put my knee support on and that sorted the pain out.

After making 10 of these shots I move to fake 3 point shot on or 2 dribbles to the right to pull up jump shot. Again after making 10 of there I did 3 point shots using the new technique from a jump stop. Again after making 10 shots I made another 20 freethrows shooing jump shots.

The video I watched can be found here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-ZZ7nuFTkE

I have decided that I am going to have to stop with the gym an Pilates for a couple of months due to financial reasons so I am going to have to workout at home instead.

I am going to start doing the Jump training styled circuit Monday,Wednesday and Fridays and do a skipping based conditioning program Tuesdays and Thursdays.

As a warmup I am going to walk the dog at 6am every morning up to the top of the hill behind my house which is about a 30 minute walk and has an increase in elevation of over 400ft. This will also help with leg strenght and weight loss. After the walk I will stretch and then do the training. After the training I will do 30 minutes on the exercise bike and then stretch again.

The training programs are as followed:

Jump Training (mon, wed, fri):

Exercise	Sets	Reps
Skipping	3	1 min
Squats	3	10
stepup	3	20
Lataral Jumps	3	20
Squat Jumps	3	10
Stepup Jumps	3	20
Calf Raises	3	20
Plank	3	1 Min
Wall Squats	3	1 Min

Conditioning:

Exercise	Time
Double Leg Skipping	2 Mins
Rest	15 secs
Plank	1 min
Single Jumps (30 secs per leg)	2 mins
Rest	15 secs
Double Leg Jumps	3 mins
rest	15 secs
Pressups	10
Crunches	20
side to side	2 mins
rest	15 secs
Plank	1 min
Front back	2 mins
rest	15 secs
Swap legs	2 mins
Plank	1 min
rest	15 secs
scissor jumps	2 mins
Plank	1 min
rest	15 secs
Double Leg Jumps	2 mins

I have just downloaded the full proshotsystem shooting system e-book from the following site:

http://focusedshooter.com/

This is the full system that the youtube video was based. I am going to read it now and put it in action tomorrow morning during training.

Defunately ill again

Missed Pilates this morning. My alarm went off at 6:30 and i slept again until 7:30!!

I guess I must havê over done my workouts at the beginning of the week!

Last night i reorganised my gym área for the new training and i AM going to start the new program on monday. Also going back to Pilates on tuesdays and thursday mornings and doing the circuit on mondays, wednesdays and fridays.

For the first couple of weeks i AM not going to do the skipping routine that i posted yesterday. I AM just going to do the exercise bike warm up on tuesdays and thursdays before Pilates. After a couple of weeks i will start the skipping workout.

Here is a picture of my reorganosed gym.

Ill again!!

Woke up feeling Ill again this morning so decided not to train. Must have been a bit sick as I woke up at 8am!

Weighed in at 95.9kgs and 30% bodyfat.

I am going to see how I feel tonight but planning to do the  following skipping workout this eventing.

As a warm up I am going to do 30 minutes on the exercise bike followed by:

Exercise	Time
Double Leg Jumps	2 Mins
Rest	15 secs
Plank	1 min
Single Jumps (30 secs per leg)	2 mins
Rest	15 secs
Double Leg Jumps	3 mins
rest	15 secs
Pressups	10
Crunches	20
side to side	2 mins
rest	15 secs
Plank	1 min
Front back	2 mins
rest	15 secs
Jog in place	2 mins
Plank	1 min
rest	15 secs
Swap legs	2 mins
Plank	1 min
rest	15 secs
scissor jumps	2 mins
Double Leg Jumps	2 mins

I am then planning to do another 30 minutes on the exercise bike.

Changed up training

Changed up my training today as my traininer didnt come to the gym.

Did 30 minutes on the recumbent bike 5 minutes on level 3 and 25 on level 7 then went home and did the following circuit:

Exercise	Sets	Reps
Skipping	3	1 min
Squats	3	10
stepup	3	20
Lataral Jumps	3	20
Squat Jumps	3	10
Stepup Jumps	3	20
Calf Raises	3	20
Plank	3	1 Min
Wall Squats	3	1 Min

Had 1 minute rests between exercises and 2 minutes rest between sets. The workout took just ove 1.5 hours.

My weigh in this morning was 95.9kgs 32.5%  bodyfat.

Did Pilates today

Feeling much better today. Got up and went to Pilates which made me feel even better.

Weigh in was 95.3kgs and 30.5% body fat

Feeling Better

Feeling better and was able to play basketball full court for an hour and a half today.

Weigh in was 95.8kgs and 31.1% body fat

Still Sick

Feeling a bit better but still not able to work out.

Weighed in at 96.5kgs and 32.5% bf.

Still Sick

Tried to wake up again at 5:30 to go to the gym but was still sick. Got medicine today to see if I can get better.

Weighed in at 95.3kgs and 32% bodyfat.

Sick today

Went to the gym to do upper body but I felt really Ill. After 15 minutes on the ergonomic bike I was sweating and going to throw up. I decided to go home and slept for another 3 hours. I have a temperature, sore throat, aching body and a head ache.

Weighted in at 96.3kgs and 29.8% Body fat.

Played Basketball

Sunday played basketball for 2 hours but forgot to weigh in.

Aerobic rest done

Got up early this morning and took the dog for a walk. Took 33.29 minutes, walked 1.5 miles and climbed 486ft.

Also went on the exercise bike for 40 minutes did 19.12km and burned 435 cals. Did 5 minutes on level 1, 10 minutes on level 2, 10 minutes on level 3 and upped it to 5 minutes on level 4. Then did 10 minutes cool down on level 1.

My weigh in wasn't too bad I am down to 96.5kgs but have 32.5% body fat!

Last leg day of the week done

Did my leg session this morning and also 30 minutes on the recumbent bike on level 7.

My weigh in this morning was 97.1Kgs and 29.8% bodyfat.

Ate fried chicken and chips last nigh so that probably didn´t help my weigh-in.

Second arms day done.

Just got back from the gym did 20 minutes on the ergonomic bike on level 1 as it was broken again!

Did my usual arm routine and then went home and did 30 minutes on the exercise bike at home. Did 5 minutes on level 1, 15 minutes on level 2 and 10 minutes on level 3. Rode 14.40 km and burned 327 cals.

My weigh-in today was 96.5kgs and 29.1% bodyfat. In just over a month I have lost 1% bodyfat and 2 kgs not too bad.

Active Rest day

Woke up this morning feeling ill and my whole body was aching. Not sure if it was due to basketball last night or being ill.

On a positive note my weigh in was 95.9kgs  and 29.6% bodyfat.

Decided that I will not start the jump training today and will wait for a couple of weeks to get used to the changes in my weight training. I am going to talk to my Pilates instructor today to see if I can move my pilates to Wednesdays and use it as an active rest exercise.

This morning I took the dog for a 35 minute walk. We went up to the top of the hill behind my house and back which is 1.4 miles and we climbed 489ft.

Also did 30 minutes on the exercise bike 5 minutes on level 1, 15 minutes on level 2 and 10 minutes on level 3 pedaled 14.30km and burned 326 cals.

Arms day one done

Today was my first arm day doing 4 days split into 2 days legs and 2 days arms (upper body). As the workouts are shorter we went to the club and played one on one for 30 minutes. It was hard as my arms were pumped and tired from the weights. Also we upped the weights I lifted I suspect that it was my trainer wanting to give himself a better chance! His tactic didn't work as I won 50-26.

After the game I lowered the rim to 8ft 6inches and did some dunks to see how my jump was and I was easily able to dunk with 2 feet and 2 hands even from standing. When I tried this last month I struggled to dunk from standing. Today I was dunking hitting my wrists on the rim.

I also shot 10 free throws before I went home.

Last night I didn't start the jump training as I was feeling sick. I talked to my trainer and he agreed that I was better off only doing the jump training on my days off so I have decided that I am going to only do the jump training Wednesday and Saturdays. The gains will be smaller but I am less likely to over train and injure myself.

My weighin this morning wasn't too bad. 96.6kgs and 29.9% body fat.

Good Start to the week

Saturday I was feeling really rough I weighed in at 96.4kgs and 30.6% bodyfat. I tried to play basketball but after 1 game of 1vs1 I went home as I wasn't feeling good at all and was getting asthma which I havent had for months!

Yesterday I took my basketball hoop the the club and we played inside in the gym. We played half court 3v3 for one and a half hours. I also got a lot of sleep yesterday so today I am feeling really good.

This morning I went to the gym and worked out my legs. Also did 20 minutes on the recumbent bike (5 minutes on level 1 and 15 minutes on level 7). My weigh in this morning was better I was 96.2kgs and 29.9% body fat.

Although I haven't really lost a lot of weight or body fat yet I can feel that my body is changing and getting much more muscular. Also my stomach isn´t protruding past my chest any more which is also a good sign. I was also much more mobile yesterday and have started to feel my jump improving. Yesterday I was able to gram the 9 1/2 foot rim from standing so for my if I can get a 6 inch improvement on my vertical jump from the 12 week program that I will start this afternoon then I will be really happy.

As I wasn't feeling too over the weekend I have decided to measure my starting vertical jump today after I finish the warm up faze of the jump program.

I have just added a vertical jump section to my weight spreadsheet. I am also going to buy a training diary today so that I can record all my daily exercise, weight and how I feel in the diary to keep a record before I write this blog every day as I have found that I am not always able to write the blog every day due to time constraints.

Last day of gym done

On friday I did my last day of the gym for the week. My legs were really aching still from wednesdays leg session so just did upper body. Also dis 30 minutes on the exercise bike but with no resistance as the bike was with low batteries and wouldn't change resistance!

I weighed in at 97.3kgs with 30% bodyfat.

Jump Training Program

I have just found a good jump training program which seems to be effective and also looks safe, it also doesn´t require any equipment other than a skipping rope . I am translating it now into Portuguese for my players to use as well to do a test of the 12 week program.

The program can be found at:

http://www.basketballforcoaches.com/vertical-jump/

I am planning to change up my training a bit to allow me to do the program along with my current weight training on the days that I don´t do leg training.

As the program alternates from 4 times on odd weeks and 3 times on even weeks I plan to change from doing weights total body 3 times a week to doing split 4 days a week upper body twice a week and lower body twice a week alternating with the jump program.

I am talking to my trainer at the moment about this change.

Saturday morning I will do a warm up and then test my vertical jump as a base line before I start the program and then the next time I measure will be after finishing the first 4 weeks, then after 8 weeks and finally after 12 weeks. The program say that you will double your vertical jump which I doubt but I have seen people saying that they have increased their jump by 9 inches which is good.

After the 12 weeks I think that I will be sufficiently fit enough to start doing plyometrics twice a week as part of my normal training schedule to maintain the jump gains that will have resulted from the training program and utilize my plyometrics boxes that I bought last month.

A breakdown of the program is as follows:

Coach Mac Vertical Jump Program

Phase 1 – Weeks 1 – 3

1. Jumping Rope – 2 minutes.

2. Stretching

3. Jumping Rope – 2 minutes.

4. Slow Motion Squats – 3 sets of 10 repetitions.

5. Lateral Jumps – 3 sets of 20 repetitions.

6. Alternating Jump Lunges – 3 sets of 10 repetitions.

7. Tuck Jumps – 3 sets of 8 repetitions.

8. Toe Raises – 3 sets of 20 repetitions.

Week 4 – Rest.

Phase 2 – Weeks 5 – 7

1. Jumping Rope – 2 minutes.

2. Stretching

3. Jumping Rope – 3 minutes.

4. Slow Motion Squats – 3 sets of 10 repetitions.

5. 4-Corners – 3 sets of 12 repetitions.

6. Single-Leg Lateral Jumps – 3 sets of 15 repetitions.

7. Alternating Jump Lunges – 3 sets of 15 repetitions.

8. High Reach Jumps – 3 sets of 8 repetitions.

9. Straight-Leg Calf Jumps – 3 sets of 30 repetitions.

Week 8 – Rest.

Phase 3 – Weeks 9 – 11

1. Jumping Rope – 2 minutes.

2. Stretching

3. Jumping Rope – 4 minutes.

4. Slow Motions Squats – 3 sets of 10 repetitions.

5. Single-Leg 4-Corners – 3 sets of 10 repetitions.

6. Single-Leg Lateral Jumps – 3 sets of 20 repetitions.

7. Alternating Jump Lunges – 3 sets of 20 repetitions.

8. Tuck Jumps – 3 sets of 8 repetitions.

9. Straight-Leg Calf Jumps – 3 sets of 40 repetitions.

Week 12 – Rest.

Just worked out that the 12 weeks of the program will finish on 31/01/15 so on 1/2/15 I will be able to measure my vertical jump to see how successful the program has been.