leg progress :( whats wrong?

[megad]

I started squatting heavy, atleast to parallel, a few months ago after the high school basketball season ended. Since then, I've noticed that my vertical leap, instead of rising, seems to be getting lower. My legs actually feel heavier now when I'm playing. Should I add any plyos or anything to my routine? Or should I cut back on eating (I'm eating like a horse)? Or anything?

Any advice is appreciated.

Thanks

 

[coolcolj]

you sound like your overtrained. You have pushed your CNS into "over-reaching" status.

and if you don't lift correctly it can slow you down. must lift explosively - push it hard.

You can't squat heavy for too long it willburn you out, and can slow you down, you have to cycle the poundages.

 

[Curious George]

A Couple of things:

A large squat does not always translate to a better vertical. There are different types of strength. Jumping usually takes EXPLOSIVE STRENGTH while squatting heavy takes explosive strength, but also ABSOULTE STRENGTH. What I am getting at is you need to train for a certain type of strength in order to impove in it. Squatting will help you, but it does NOT ALWAYS help.

Plyos work on explosive strength. Get a good book on depth jumps or do a search on www.elitefts.com and look in the book section. I am not qualified to set up a plyo routine and I don't want to give you any advise that might not work.

Something else to try: Instead of squatting heavy, take a weight that is approx 60% of your max weight and explode it up like it was a million pounds. You may actually bring your feet off the floor with the thrust of your legs. Do reps like this as this works more on explosive strength.

Check out www.elitefts.com for books and some good sport specific advise in the q&a section.

 

[megad]

you sound like your overtrained. You have pushed your CNS into "over-reaching" status.

and if you don't lift correctly it can slow you down. must lift explosively - push it hard.

You can't squat heavy for too long it willburn you out, and can slow you down, you have to cycle the poundages.

By squatting heavy, I mean that I do 5x5 and my last couple reps are usually hard to push out. But yea, I use weight that I consider heavy for me. I am trying to push it up explosively, but beacuse the weight is too heavy, I end up going slow.

As for overtraining, I train legs in the weight room once per week. I have basketball practice twice a week. And I have about 3 games every weekend. Do you consider this overtraining? Now that I look at what I'm doing, it does seem that I'm not giving my legs enough rest.

 

[coolcolj]

not just legs - CNS too, it sounds like a lot.

too many games - BBall players have to learn - if you want to improve, back off from the games. I rarely play at all these days because i train so intensely.

once you get there then you go and play and reap the rewards.
train hard in the off-season not in season

 

[Curious George]

megad, do you have a hard time sleeping? When the cns gets overstimulated it leads to restless sleep. Good call Cool!

 

[megad]

not just legs - CNS too, it sounds like a lot.

too many games - BBall players have to learn - if you want to improve, back off from the games. I rarely play at all these days because i train so intensely.

once you get there then you go and play and reap the rewards.
train hard in the off-season not in season

Saying that I play in "too many games" is hard to believe. All of my past coaches have told me that in order to get better, you must play more. However, at the level I am playing at now, my skills aren't what's holding me back, it's my power.

CCJ, what do you do in terms of diet? Do you eat everything in sight, or do you make you sure that you only eat things low in fat?

 

[megad]

megad, do you have a hard time sleeping? When the cns gets overstimulated it leads to restless sleep. Good call Cool!

No, I sleep fine. Lack of sleep may be hurting me though. Now that I think about it, I only get about 7 hours of sleep on school nights.

 

[thriller]

you have to think long term.... your coachs are right if you want to be the best ball palyer you can.. you should be playing on average 3- 4 hours a day... shooting ball handling playing ppl better then you, stronger, faster, and bigger then you... when i was serious about ball i played for over 3 hours in the snow, rain or sun.... but i was over training as you could see... but i didnt know the stuff i know now... and i have different goals then i did before...

but you, you understand you need more power... so you have to understand that your biomechanics might go down (shot, handles, ect.) but in the end you will be better.

my 2 cents.

 

[coolcolj]

Saying that I play in "too many games" is hard to believe. All of my past coaches have told me that in order to get better, you must play more. However, at the level I am playing at now, my skills aren't what's holding me back, it's my power.

CCJ, what do you do in terms of diet? Do you eat everything in sight, or do you make you sure that you only eat things low in fat?

After a point in time you will not improve your atheltic abilities by playing, yes you improve skills like shooting by playing. But you can't both play a lot and weight train with heavy weights.

practise shooting yes, but don't play to much. You only have so much recovery ability. After a period of training you can improve your work capacity however.

When your strength goes up so will your game. You'll be faster, able to hold your body position better when tired etc etc
In the off season you hit the weights hard, and back off the ball, then you switch it around come season time.

I don't watch what I eat, I just eat every 2-3 hours. Plus off course my whey/carb drinks after training, and whey before.

 

[Zander1983]

If it is your skills that aren't holding you back, then ease up on them and concentrate on what is - your power. Taper your skills work back to the bare essentials and put that time and effort into fixing your weak links.

Sure, you get better at a game by playing it. However, if you're being held back by something the game itself can't improve, then I think you know what to do...

 

[megad]

CoolColJ, I read somewhere that on your sprinting day, you do 5x30meter sprints then do agility drills afterwards. Would it be ok for me to substitute plyometrics for agility drills?

 

[coolcolj]

that would be good.

just don't over do it -

 

[megad]

Thanks for all the help, CoolColJ. i appreciate it

 

[megad]

Nevermind about the plyometrics, I can't squat twice my body weight (or even 1.5 times) like all the articles state. I'm just going to build my strength base up and do sprints and a few agility drills for a few months.

If you want to know, I'm about 6'5" 210 pounds. Now, I'm squatting about 175 pounds at 5x5 (I struggle to finish the last couple reps). I can dunk with one hand, and can almost dunk with two hands, but not quite. I'm jealous of the 6'5" kids on my basketball team that can dunk two handed without a running start

 

[coolcolj]

that's only for depth jumps in the 24-30inch area.

You cna still do hops, bounds and side to side jumps etc and low 12-18inch depth jumps