Dunking A Football

First, the shin splints have come under control. There wasn't too much helpful information online, so here are the key things that helped me get past them.

First, shin splints are the muscle on the front of your shin becoming separated from the bone. It connects the shin to the top of your foot and is anchored along the flat blade of the shin.

• If your shoes are past 3 months of use and the splints have started, go ahead and get new shoes. Buy from a store that has "experts" watch you run.
• After a run, stretch the each muscle by pointing your big toe at the ground and trace the alphabet with your toe.
• Follow this immediately with ice (in a ziploc, wrapped with a dish towel) for 30 minutes.

Rinse and repeat. Other sites recommended Advil or some antinflammatory medication, but I found that didn't do much to fix the problem.

Quick meathead update: Yesterday I squatted 175# and did 270# on the leg press. Progress!

Today I did a "strength and conditioning" workout with the football team. I have decided that words cannot adequately describe how much this sucked. I didn't finish. It reminded me of the first time I went into the weight room, back in September 2009. My body was so unprepared for that level of intensity that I threw up afterwards. Today was similar, minus the vomit: I simply was not prepared for an anaerobic workout of that level. I'll be back there Monday to try again though!

This is the goal: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjZOb-1nj2w

Dunking Away Again in Dunkeritaville (I hate Jimmy Buffet)

With a mostly functional left shin and a new pair of shoes, I'm looking forward to reinvigorating the quest for the dunk. I got back in the weight room yesterday for the first time in 10 days (Warrior Dash, camping trip, else) and squatted 135# x10, 155# x10, and 165# x6. I think in the future I'll start in the 150 range for 2x10 and aim for upping my max squat by 5# a week (4-5 reps at max weight). I'm concerned that I'm leveling out. That may be a function of hitting a natural plateau, or that the past few weeks have been screwy with finals and the camping trip.

I'll be out of town, and therefore not working out, for 15/30 days in June. Epic month in terms of vacations, less so in terms of dunk questing. To be sure, there is something to be said for letting the body rest and recover, as I noted earlier. But taking half a month off won't be doing me any good. On the plus side, I can run now (new shoes!) and that can be done about anywhere. I suppose with that I can add in "jump-squats", where one jumps from a squat position and pulls one's legs up to one's chest while one is in air. Fun!

Lord of the Dunk: Return of the King

And by "return", I mean my leg is healed and I can run/jump/play again! And by "king", I mean someone who plays 3 games of 5-on-5 and misses every single shot. AWESOME.

We then played a game of 3-on-3 and then 2-on-2, and I fared moderately better there. And to be fair, I made 2 baskets in the last 5-on-5 game, but they were lay-up put-backs on fast breaks. For most of the game I was getting schooled: on 3 consecutive possessions I turned the ball over by having it bounce off my hands or crotch, a player drove past me by bouncing the ball over my head, and I airballed a 3. I'd like to chalk that up to it being a month since I last touched a basketball, but regardless that was pretty shameful.

I'm glad to find my leg is working two days before Warrior Dash. Although I found yesterday while playing full court that my stamina is gonna be the largest factor in determining my success at the race. I haven't run since early March, and now I'm tackling a 5k with obstacles. Almost immediately following, I go on a 5 day hiking trip. So needless to say my legs are going to be so happy with me through the next 7 days.

As far as the quest goes, I did manage to get my squat up to 165# for 6 reps and leg press at 250#. I've held off the squats because they've been straining my hip and I need to be in the best shape going into these two events. I have been doing leg extensions instead, 55# on each leg, and hamstring curls at 70#. The sorest part after a 2-hour basketball session turned out to be my calves.

All in all, I'm looking forward to running again - although I'm sure I'll be feeling differently halfway through that 5k.

Dunk Another Day

I'm still hobbled by this shin splint / bone bruise / voodoo curse in my left leg. I've sworn off all impact activities for the next 3 weeks in a desperation move to heal before the 5k Warrior Dash on May 22, followed by a week of hiking and camping in the north Georgia mountains. As such, any notable progress on actually dunking is, as always, postponed until this damn body gets its act together.

Despite the injury occurring the first week of March, I have not done myself any favors by continuing to play basketball on Fridays and, occasionally, football on Sundays. A week ago today, I ran 3 laps on a track. 3. My left shin was throbbing for hours afterwards. Unbelievable.

So... it's just more exercise. Through most of January, February, and March I was working out 3, 4, or even 5 times a week. Sticking with my 5# weekly increases on the squat finally caught up with me, and the punishing workout schedule was not allowing my body to recover. It got so that I was always sore and never feeling at full strength. I felt I had finally peaked at 155# on the squat and was starting to trigger some old soreness in my hip. The 3-lap fail last Sunday was the last straw. I've been pushing my body too hard. Combined with the injury to my shin, I haven't been able to adequately recover and continue increasing weight in my exercises.

With that realization, coupled with a week of hiking I need to be healthy for, I've scaled back to 2 days on, 1 day off. Weights, cardio, recover. Repeat. Having been through this new cycle twice now, I can already feel the results. My body is in much better overall shape, and I plan on sticking with this lighter cycle until I return from the hiking trip. Tomorrow is my first attempt at squatting 160# - 5 more pounds and I'm squatting my body weight! That's gotta be a milestone or something, for scrawny guys. Anyway, because of my inability to run/jump, there will continue to be few posts here. Once I'm fully mobile again I'll start re-measuring verticals, running jumps, and things of that sort. Until then, sleep, perchance to dunk!

I'm Bone Dunked

Well, it's been just over a month since the shin bone collision that's slowed my progress. The X-ray turned up negative, the weird bump is slowly going down since I've been rubbing it several times a day, and aside from some discoloration the first week there's been no outwardly physical signs of damage. I spoke with the training staff and they conclude, since the X-ray was negative, that the most likely culprit is a bone bruise. Confirmation of this diagnosis would require an MRI, but the last time I had that done it cost $300 and I'm not THAT curious.

"What can I do to speed up the healing?", I asked politely of the head trainer. "Jack", came her succinct response. "Can I injure it more by playing sports on it?", I inquired. "Nope" she eloquently answered. It takes anywhere from several months to a year for a bone bruise to heal completely. FUCK. THAT. I just got my body back into kickass shape, and now I'm laid up because of this suckass injury. Well, at least I know I can't make it worse by continuing to exercise.

I played my worst game of basketball last Friday morning, going 1-for-5 and turning the ball over twice. Awesome. My team lost all four games. I'm definitely not nearly as mobile, but having not shooting around in a month has really deteriorated whatever shot I thought I had. Sunday I played football and because of stupid leg got to be all-time QB and surprised myself, completing long and short passes regularly. I managed to suck it up and play receiver on a third of the plays and did well there too, although I couldn't start fast off the line as I couldn't push off my leg.

Today in the weight room I did my first squats at 150# and finally met a fail point! On my third set of 10, I could only do 6 reps. Ach! I'm not too worried however, as it was my first set on a new weight and I hadn't done lifting since Thursday previous. I'm confident this Thursday I can knock out the entire 3 sets of 10 at 150#. On cardio days I've been increasing my time as well, and on Monday I did 44 minutes on the Death Machine. Of course I would murder to be able to run outside - 75, sunny, no humidity - but this damnable leg won't let me.

So for now, I'm going to keep trying to play through on Friday basketball and Sunday football. The leg is s l o w l y feeling better, and I'm sure if I laid off the weekend sports it'd heal faster, but I just can't do it!! I'm also going to dedicate an ibuprofen routine, 400mg 3x a day, one glass of milk a day (strong bones!!), and icing the leg when I get home. With an estimated recovery of several months, I can't really gauge when I'll be 100% again... but the build-up of dunkness continues unabated! If I can keep this squat-weight increases up, by the end of the month I'll be squatting my body weight - how cool is that? I mean, for me?

Sleek Dunks

The Return of the Tanita Body Composition Analyzer TBF-300A Maximum Comfort Tentacle Wonder!!

Initial Analysis 01/11/10 (difference)

Weight: 166# (+1.6)

BMI: 23.8 (+0.2)

Fat %: 8.4% (-2.2%)

Basal Metabolic Rate: 1819 Cal (+10)

Impedance: 447 Ohms (-48)

Fat Mass: 14.01# (-3.4)

Fat Free Mass: 152# (+5)

Total Body Water: 111.2# (+3.4)

Explanations of these metrics.

Hell and yes. It would seem I've gained about 5# of muscle while losing 3.4# of fat, accounting for my slight weight gain. Being poor pays off - I can't afford to eat out a lot, and don't buy any snack foods or mayonnaise, so I'm kinda healthy by default. These numbers aren't super impressive by any stretch of a meathead's imagination (and there's not a lot to stretch to begin with - zing!), but I'm not looking for big gains in muscle. In fact, adding too much weight would be a detriment. The only area I'm concerned about is keeping my weight low and my leg muscles up.

I did my last 3x10 of 145# squats today with confidence - this weekend I'll try my legs at 150#. Tomorrow I'm going back in to basketball for the first time in two weeks. My leg no longer hurts at rest, but pounding it up and down the court may result in a different feeling. I'm planning on taking 4 ibuprofen before the game as a preventative measure. It'll be an interesting Friday, as tonight I'm going to a concert that most likely won't be over until near midnight and I have to get up at 5:30 for basketball. Ah, life: how tremendous!

Just a brief how-do-ya-do.

The pain in my shin has subsided somewhat. It has moved a little further down and a little deeper. It feels closer to my ankle. But it is not significant, and is fading slowly each day. Another week off and I should be OK.

I have been using the Death Machine, and added the leg press to my workout for the first time. This was done as a final exercise, so I didn't push for a heavy load but could comfortable do 2x10 reps of 200#. I've done my third round of 3x10 squats at 140#, so tomorrow I'll try 145#. The squat weight hasn't become impossible yet: each 5# addition is noticeable however, but by the third round I'm usually able to finish without having an aneurysm.

Again, nothing super to report, as I'm waiting for this leg thing to go away so I can resume playing basketball. I'll probably give it a shot this coming Friday and hopefully not re-injure anything. I'll also try and get another body analysis done. I've been eating less-than-ideal recently, mostly out of laziness/time constraints, so I'll be interested to see how that interacts with the workouts I've been doing since the last analysis.

In other news, the Hawks continue to frustrate with their glaringly inept leadership, there are 6 weeks of school left, and baseball opens today. So now I can watch 4 uninterrupted hours of fat guys hanging out on a lawn, getting paid more than the GDP of South America. Neat.

This is an athlete. If it approaches you, do not smell like a cheeseburger.