I don’t want to bore everyone to death just yet with my adventures in Ecuador, but expect an update (with videos!) about that later this week. I’ll also have some travel tips that would followed the “fitness” aspect of this blog.
As mentioned in a previous post, one of my goals on the year is to get my vertical leap to or above 36″. I did this in an effort to make haste slowly, as I can get a bit OCD about achieving goals and burn myself out rather fast. However, it seems that the box squats and mild plyo are doing their job, as this video shows:
My inexperience with macs has left a large video compressed and squished, but you get the idea. A rough estimate would have that 3/4 of the way up a backboard, but I’ll test again in 6ish weeks at the local community college’s gym, as they have a vertical jump board. For those counting at home, I’m 6’3″ hence my reach test to ensure that the basket was 10 feet high (I was a bit surprised myself).
Maybe I’ll get my vert over 40″, thus dispelling the “white-guys-with-long-legs-like-quarter-horses-can’t-jump” myth.
Skyler Tanner 
Great post. How long did it take to develop that jump ing ability and where did you start?
Varangy,
Grew up playing basketball, which for all intents and purposes stopped when I was 18. Have played sporadically since.
In my early years, I didn’t have anything resembling power, so most of my jumps were built on speed and skill. Since I’m much much stronger now but less skilled, I jump off two feet. I suspect that more frequent practice will bring back old skill combined with new strength.
So the short answer: It’s been a long time indirectly coming and I expect fast progress now that I’m focusing on it.
Best,
Skyler