This was my third week of Genius Hour. Fortunately, the workouts are getting more manageable; however, getting to the gym is still challenging. This week, homework, baseball, and family being in town packed my schedule. Therefore, it was difficult for me to get to the gym two days this week. I tried to find the time. However, I only managed to fit in one day this week. I worked out Monday afternoon and continued to do the same workouts as before. I am happy to report that I am slowly getting better at the workouts, and they are getting easier. I can tell my legs are getting stronger, and I am gaining more stamina. The first week of working out, my legs got weak mid-way through the second set, whereas now they are getting weak in the third set. I can also tell that my legs are getting stronger because I’m not as sore as before when working out. I still have a little soreness, especially the day after, but it’s not as bad as previously. I also got to get in some isometrics, nordics, and stretching this week. I have found out that it isn’t as bad as expected. In fact, it’s something that I don’t mind doing because it makes me feel better afterward. My body feels loose, flexible, and in a way, refreshed. In fact, it makes my body feel so good that I started doing some of these exercises before testing my vertical on Sunday. It gets the blood flowing throughout my body and releases any soreness in my muscles. Honestly, I think it helped me jump higher than expected this week. This week my standing vertical measured 108 inches, and my running vertical measured 111 inches. It was a new best for me, and it beat my first-week test in both standing and running by one inch. I wasn’t expecting this to happen, but I think it was because I worked out on Monday, and most of my soreness was gone. I think it also was due to doing some of the exercises before jumping. I don’t think my vertical will improve every week, but seeing just an inch of improvement excites me for what is to come at the end of 12 weeks.
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This was the second week of Genius Hour. Fortunately, it is getting a little easier, as I am slowly getting used to it. I spent Monday and Friday in the gym lifting weights. On Wednesday, I was at home doing isometrics, Nordics, and stretches. It was my first week going full force. While at the gym, I lifted weights, and while at home, I spent time doing isometrics, Nordics, and stretches. Last week, I only went through the exercises for one set, mainly to learn what they were and how to do them. However, this week I went all in and did three sets of each exercise rather than just one. I was shocked at how much more difficult it was to perform three sets compared to one. I had a rough time finishing the exercises on the third set but was determined to push through. It has shown me just how weak my lower body is and which muscles I don’t use regularly. However, the one positive thing about having such a weak lower body is that I have a lot of room for improvement. I have room to get stronger and increase my overall jump. I was also much sorer this week than last week because of the extra reps. I worked out on Monday and was sore until Friday, which was my next scheduled workout. Therefore, it worked out in my favor. As mentioned, I did isometrics, Nordics, and stretching on Wednesday. Thankfully, after doing this, my body felt better. I realized that some of my soreness had lessened or even gone away entirely. My body felt loosened up and fresh. On Friday, my workout was still challenging, even more so than Monday, because I was still a little sore in certain areas. However, I kept my focus and got it all done. While I was sore afterward, it was not as bad as it had been previously. Unfortunately, my soreness affected my vertical jump. This week, my standing vertical was 105, and my running vertical was 107. So, my standing vertical decreased by two inches, and my running vertical decreased by three inches. It was hard for me to bend down and get explosiveness on my jump, which hindered my results. However, I am ok with it though since it shows that my muscles are being worked and slowly getting stronger. I am hopeful that this soreness and decrease in vertical now will pay off at the end of the twelve weeks.
This was the first week of my Genius Hour project, and it was kinda tough. I didn’t realize how much time it would take out of my schedule, so I had to plan out time during the week to work on it. Anyways, I devoted some of my time to setting up my website for Genius Hour. However, most of my time this week was spent working out to improve my vertical. I spent Monday and Friday afternoons in the gym working out lifting weights and then worked out at home Wednesday afternoon. At the gym, my training included Jump-Rope - 3 sets of 100, Launch Lunge - 3 sets of 20, Depth Jump - 3 sets of 10, Jump Lunges - 3 sets of 20, Squats - 3 sets of 10, Single-Leg Lunges - 3 sets of 10 each leg, Deadlift - 3 sets of 10, RDL - 3 sets of 10 each leg, and Calf Raises - 3 sets of 10. My home workout included isometrics, nordics, and general stretching. I didn’t realize that lifting weights and stretching could really be that difficult. I found myself struggling with a lot of the workouts, even the stretches, but I knew I had to push myself and work through them. Honestly, I was shocked to see how stiff and weak my lower body was. However, it was good for me to realize it. I think there is hope for me to reach my goal of improving my vertical by at least three inches, if not more, considering my previous statements. It will definitely be a challenge for me to get there, but it should be an attainable goal. And, for the last portion of my week, I measured my first vertical jump on Sunday. When measuring my vertical jump, I always measure my standing and running vertical jump. To do this, I jump and reach one of my arms as high as possible on the backboard. I have something sticky, such as tape, in my hand and pin it as high as possible on the backboard. Then, I measure from the ground to the top of the tape on the backboard. This week my standing vertical jump was 107 inches, and my running vertical jump was 110 inches. While it was similar to what I had expected, it will surely improve over the next 12 weeks.
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