First off, thank you all for the love and support!!  The feedback has been inspiring to say the least.

My Current Workout Schedule

To bring you up to speed on how I’ve been preparing for my match-up with the great one, Michael Jordan, here is my current workout schedule:

Monday:  Run (4-6 miles)

Tuesday:  Basketball

Wednesday:  Off Day

Thursday:  Basketball

Friday:  Run (3-4 miles)

Saturday:  Run (7-10 miles)

Sunday:  Run/Bike/Rest (depends on scheduling)

I’m basically averaging 17-21 miles a week of running, with two days of hoops (weather permitting) mixed in.

Workout Results

I’ve been doing this for the last two and a half months and these are the results:

Weight: Lost 15 lbs. (Working on gaining back as much of that as possible)

Running Speed:  8 minute mile pace has become fairly easy on longer distances.

Speed Challenge:  6:33 minute average pace, when challenged by my younger brother on his short course (2 miles).

Jumping: Getting closer to grabbing the rim again:-)

A Different Approach

In the past, whenever I wanted to get back into basketball, I would immediately go to my strong suit which is shooting.

I would grab the ball, head to court and begin launching shots.  Tons of them.

I would do that until my shooting legs came back and the stroke felt good and then work my way into games.

What I finally realized, just recently actually, is that shooting will always be there for me.  I laid the foundation long ago and now it’s always just about fine tuning, not so much learning.  I could stop playing for years and still show up and shoot better than the majority.  That’s just the way it is.

I would always default to shooting because that was my comfort zone.  Everyone likes to do the things they are good at and shooting is what I do in the game of basketball the best.

With a different focus now, with the me vs. MJ focus now, I had to approach getting my game back in a totally different way and that would come in the way of conditioning.

Conditioning

My thought process on the workout schedule was to get my conditioning right first and then my game would much more easily fall into place.

I wanted to have the lung capacity and leg strength to drive to the basket at point 15, just like I did at point one.

I wanted to be able to grab the rim again…maybe even dunk

I wanted to be able to focus solely on basketball, not breathing, when I was playing or working on my game.

I wanted my conditioning to be the one part that needed no work.

It’s WORKING…it’s WORKING!!

As you can see above, under the workout results, the workout schedule is working.

I actually lost too much weight and am now working on gaining that back, which I have have 3-4 lbs so far.

After I finish playing basketball on Tuesday’s and Thursday’s I can still get the tips of my fingers over the rim.  Prior to the conditioning, I couldn’t even touch the rim anymore before, much less after a game.

I can say that I may just be in the best shape of my life right now and I can’t wait to see how I feel in another month.

HUGE New Goal

On top of getting my game back, I have set a new running goal.

I want to run a sub 6 minute mile before the end of 2010.

I may actually be able to do it now, as I haven’t tried, but nonetheless it’s now on the list of to do’s.

That is BEYOND huge for me.  As you know I was never a runner, and to set a goal like that at 33 makes me smile:-)

Up Next

I’m working on some really cool things that will take my hoops game to the next level, of which I won’t mention just yet.

I know, I know…what a tease.

I hope to unveil the next BIG step sometime in October and I am SO EXCITED to do so.

Thank you!

Thank you again for the support and love!  It really has made a big difference in my approach and helps to fuel me daily.

me vs. MJ, now at most 11 months away!!!!

The closest I ever came to throwing one down was repeated attempts in high school during gym class.  Each attempt thwarted by merely a few inches in jumping ability.  At the time, I could take a step or two and grab the rim with both hands, but I never could quite get the ball over the rim and down through the net on those attempts.

It was never really that disappointing though, because the logical side of me knew that jumping would never be how I made an impact on the court.  Not being able to dunk just focused my attention more on shooting and defense.  While the other guys, who could dunk, would stay on one side of the court attempting things they had seen on the tube, I’d practice shooting.

I had known the thrill of the slam from playing on the adjustable goal at my parents’ home.  We would lower it to 9 feet 6 inches and play games of 2-on-2 or 3-on-3.  There was nothing better than beating my man while the defense was looking the other way and dunking one.  I would get some sort of the feeling Mike had when he went baseline over Pat Ewing.  It was awesome!

My reality at 18 years past my birth was not dunking, but just trying to be the best overall player I could be.

I didn’t totally give up on the dream of being a high flyer though.  Around the age of 22 I bought a book written by the famed Tim Grover, called Jump Attack.  Tim was the guy that trained Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen and many others. The list of famed athletes that turn to Tim’s Attack Athletics today is staggering.  At the time, it was mostly about MJ.

My brother and I went though the training for a few weeks.  It consisted, if I remember right, of a lot of polymetrics and strength training.  The workouts in the book were no joke.

At the time I was working in the sports department for a local Orlando TV station and the Orlando Magic had drafted Corey Maggette out of Duke.  I saw in the book where Corey also trained with Tim.  Maggette could and still can jump out of the building.  After one game, in between interviews, I asked Corey about Grover.  The training was kicking my butt and I needed to hear from someone with experience if this was really going to help.

Corey confirmed that he did workout with Tim and was emphatic that if I did the workout it would add at least six inches to my vertical.  That was exactly what I needed to hear, but I still had questions.  I knew that talking about working on my vertical wasn’t the most professional thing to be doing as a young journalist in the making, but I didn’t really care.  I had a goal of being able to dunk and we were close to the same age, so I asked away.  Corey was beyond nice enough to answer each question and we even compared verticals (verbally), which gave him a good laugh:-)

Imagine not being able to dunk and then talking about your vertical in the locker room of an NBA team, to a guy who has springs in his legs.  That’s a enough pressure to make a polar bear sweat:-)

At the time my vertical was around 23.5 inches.  Corey’s was around 38-40 inches.  Over the following weeks, I would ask a question here and there.  He could tell I was into basketball and was really working my way through this book.  He even offered to allow me  to workout with him during the summer if I wanted to, so that I could see how he prepares and trains.

This was my chance to join the aerial elite!  Training with an NBA guy like Maggette would surely take my jumping ability to the next level.

Unfortunately for me, Orlando traded Corey a couple of months later, so that never happened.

I in turn slacked on the Grover workout program and to this day still have not dunked.  I haven’t even tried in over nine years.

Today I have little desire to slam, but it would be nice to get some of that limited jumping ability back.  When I match up with Jordan I at least need to be able to grab the rim.  The last time that happened was 10 years ago:-)

Note:   All those looking to improve their vertical, I highly endorse Tim Grover’s Attack Athletics.  Don’t let my lack of focus keep you from giving Attack Athletics and Jump Attack a try.  While I never achieved my goal, I did see improvement.