RECOVERY
Training hard is only half the battle. You might have the greatest work ethic and
willpower imaginable, but if that’s all you have you’re not going to get very far. You
also must be able to train smart and pay attention to your body. One individual might go
out every single day and run 15 miles followed by 2 hours of weight training followed by
2 hours of jump training. This would sure require a lot of dedication and it would create
a lot of perseverance and the ability to push through fatigue, but what kind’ve
improvements do you think this person would make? I can tell you they’d probably
increase their endurance but make no progress whatsoever and their performance in the
vertical jump would actually decrease considerably! In contrast, another individual could
go and dedicate to training 1 hour total per week on a consistent basis and from
experience they could get results that could be earth shattering! It is fairly rare too find a
young individual who does just the right amount of training and not too much or too
little.
The body only has so much energy available to perform and only so much adaptive
energy to recover from the demands you place on it. Progress is basically just adaptive
energy being utilized to enhance performance. When you train you’re placing a stress on
your body. When you rest your body it then adapts to this stress so that it can better
handle the stress you’re placing on it. Progress doesn’t happen when you’re training but
rather when you’re resting! If all you do is train or you train too much then the body
doesn’t have enough time to adapt to your training. If you don’t eat a good high quality
nutritious diet then the body doesn’t have enough raw material from which to repair
itself.
In contrast, if you don’t train enough or at all then your body has no stress, and thus,
nothing to adapt to in order to increase performance. This is why the right amount of
training and recovery is of utmost importance. The workouts are designed to take care of
both. Just realize that it takes time for your body to adapt to the stresses put upon it and
you can only make progress so fast. I can say that in about 99% of the cases with athletes,
if you’re doing the training programs as designed and you’re not making progress it is
because you’re overtraining rather than under-training. This goes for any program not
just my programs. This over-training isn’t happening from the programs per se, but
rather all the other activities that you’re doing. If you expect to make progress following
a vertical jump specialization program while you’re also playing full court basketball for
2 hours per day 7 days per week your progress will likely be either zero or very little. In
fact, in this situation, many people actually regress!
Here are some tips or some guidelines you can use to make sure you’re getting enough
recovery. If you’re training consistently simply ask yourself these questions to help
assess your state of recovery and thus your state of adaptation:
1) Do I feel stronger and more explosive every week?
2) Do I remain excited about training every week?
3) If my goal is to put on weight, is it happening?
4) Am I sleeping well?
5) Do I wake up feeling refreshed each morning?
6) Am I completing each workout feeling as if I could go back and do
more?
If you answer "yes" to all of these questions, then you’re on the right track. If you answer
"no" to a couple of them, then it’s time to take a closer look at your other activities, your
rest, and your nutrition. Are you spending too much time playing other sports or
spending too many hours on the court? Are you eating plenty of good, clean, nutritious
food? Are you getting enough sleep each night? If you answer no to some of these then
simply pay more attention to them. If you answer yes to all of these then you may just be
burned out and need to take ½ to a full weeks rest. Remember, long-term progress!!
There is nothing at all wrong with taking a planned rest period. In fact, one of the
greatest performance coaches in the world, Ian King, has all his athletes take a mandatory
½ week of active rest after every 3 weeks of training! The reason he does this is because
he has found his athletes actually get much better results following this approach. They
come back to train renewed with energy and excitement and within a week surpass their
previous performances. This is also the reason that active rest is already built into the
programs I’ve designed. This can be a few days to a week of "active rest" if you want.
You can and should take in some outdoor activities and occasional light exercise. Just
stay away from the heavy iron during this time.
The training programs I’ve put together are designed to be “stimulatory” in nature. That
is, they are designed to stimulate your body to increase strength, power, speed, and
explosiveness. All these factors combined lead into increased performance. The
workouts are not designed to kill you! Stimulate is not the same thing as annihilate!
Generating fatigue is not the same thing as generating results. A workout doesn’t have to
be extremely tough and long in order to be effective. In fact, the reverse is usually true.
You could run around with lead boots on holding 50 lbs overhead until you threw up and
this would surely wipe you out but what kind’ve improvements would it stimulate?
Probably none. You should finish each workout feeling slightly refreshed, not totally
worn out. You should feel as if you could go back and complete 50% of the workout
again no problem. If you’re feeling totally drained you’re probably doing too much and
need to cut down on volume.
Uit: The Vertical Jump Bible
ad: Kwil gaan trainen
ma rust maar keer goe das nooit slecht 
