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MAINTENANCE / TAPER
Since I’m stopping VCE after 8 of 12 phases it’s not fair to immediately test my vert and consider that to be what the program delivered. I know the CNS takes longer than muscles to fully recover so I scheduled some shorter maintenance sessions (adapted from Vert Shock) which I will do for 2-3 weeks, testing my vert once a week.
15 Oct
Around The Square – 3 x 4
Tuck Jumps – 2 x 10
180 Squat Jumps – 3 x 10
Lunge Jumps – 3 x 12I forgot how great it feels to do tuck jumps, the reactive ball of the foot contact must surely translate well to jumping.
17 Oct
Lateral High Jumps – 3 x 20
Single Leg Box Jumps – 2 x 8
Seated Jumps – 3 x 8I took depth jumps out of this because those are very demanding on the CNS and the goal is to give mine a break.
18 Oct
Uphill Sprints – 4 x 20m
Uphill broad jumps – 15,15,12I had to do these on a side road and needed to bail from the final set as a car was coming. I’m rarely that out of breath following VCE but 15 broad jumps do it for me.
19 Oct
Foam roll, 11 stretches
A1 Deadbug Rocker – 3 x 8
A2 Mini Band Ankle Turn – 3 x 25
Toe Raises – 3 x 8 x 3 secs
SL ball of foot turn – 3 x 6I was picking a selection from the Phase 1 core/mobility day.
20 Oct
Vert Test – 25 jumps, best of 73cm/28.75″
Beyond the warm up I stuck with a LR plant as that gets me the most height. I got quite high walking into a 2 step approach and only slightly better from a full approach. I uploaded everything to YouTube so people could give me feedback ahead of next Tuesday, the video is below. I felt good but not amazing so I’m still hopefully that with another week of rest I can get higher (PB is 74cm).
WEEK 53-54
6 Oct
Arnold Press – 3 x 12 x 6kg
Weighted Pull ups – 5 x 20kg, 5,4 x 15kg
Pike Push up (feet elevated) – 4 x 8
Handstand practice – 3 x 30 secs
Reverse Table Top – 30 secs
Hanging Toes to Bar – 3 x 7The reverse table top is to balance out the shoulders from handstand practice but I feel like a single set will suffice.
10 Oct
L-Sit to Tucked Sit to Tuck Planche Pulse – 4 x 3
Advanced Tuck Planche – 6 x 6 secsDid abs this morning in another routine so skipped any here.
13 Oct
Arnold Press – 3 x 12 x 6.5kg
Weighted Pull ups – 6,6,4 x 15kg
Pike Push up (feet elevated) – 3 x 8
Handstand practice – 3 x 30 secs
Reverse Table Top – 30 secs
Hanging Toes to Bar – 3 x 8Better balance today. I was doing flutter kicks off the wall and held one for a decent time.
17 Oct
Pseudo Waistline Holds – 5 x 5 secs
Planche Lean – 26cm, 6 x 6 secs
Raised L-Sit – 15,14,12 secsHere’s the handstand practice
WEEK 51-52
25 Sept
Arnold Press – 2 x 10 x 6kg
Weighted Pull ups – 2 x 6 x 10kg
Pike Push up (feet elevated) – 3 x 6
A1 Handstand practice – 15,18,16 secs
A2 Reverse Table Top – 3 x 20 secs
Dragon Flag Lowers – 4,3,3This will be the weights based session I do between the more technical days. I like the Arnold Press for deltoids, weighted pull ups are recommended a lot, and I’m coming back to learning to handstand. The dragon flag ab exercise was a miss and I’ll change that.
28 Sept
L-Sit to Tucked Sit to Tuck Planche Pulse – 4 x 3
Advanced Tuck Planche – 5 x 6 secsAnother discovery was an optimal set & rep scheme for isometrics based on your maximum hold. I’ll be following that instead of constantly going to failure like I used to.
1 Oct
Arnold Press – 3 x 12 x 6kg
Weighted Pull ups – 3 x 6 x 15kg
Pike Push up (feet elevated) – 10,9,8,7
A1 Handstand practice – 3 x 30 secs
A2 Reverse Table Top – 3 x 30 secs
Hanging Toes to Bar – 4 x 6The first session was only a few sets to avoid a lot of doms, this time I upped the volume.
4 Oct
Pseudo Waistline Holds – 5 x 5 secs
Planche Lean – 26cm, 6 x 6 secs
Raised L-Sit – 20,10,10,10 secsHere are the planche leans, I can shift the wooden structure for more/less of a lean in cm.
WEEK 47
26 Aug
L-Sit to Tuck Planche – 5,4,4,4,3
Pseudo Waistlinte Hold – 5,5,5,330 Aug
Pull ups – 8
Flex Arm Hang – 3 x 30 secs
EZ Front Raise – 3 x 12 x 16kgWEEK 48-50
Rest and recover. I watched a few videos on the optimal rest period between sessions and someone argued the point that longer rest is better, with 5 days between intense sessions. My inner elbow joints have been aching and in general I feel like I’m bringing residual soreness/tiredness into the next session, so I’m giving my body a more extended break before coming at this again.
WEEK 32
5 Oct
4 Core supersets
6 Oct
Stability Drill – 3 sets
Hopping Drill – 4 sets
Lateral Drill – 3 sets
Skipping Drill – 3 sets
Step Up Variation – 5 sets
Weighted Jumps – 4 sets
Tibialis Raise – 25 reps7 Oct
Knee Strength Drill – 3 sets
Hang High Pull – 4 sets
Clean Variation – 3 sets
RLESS – 5 sets
Nordic Curls – 4 sets10 Oct
Phase 1 Jump Mechanics Drills – 2 x 1 set
Full approach – 12-15 attempts
4 Core supersetsI had an Epsom Salt bath on the 8th and gave my legs 48 hours to recover. I almost didn’t do the session because I was so short on time but I managed to do one set of drills and some approach jumps. The surface was wet so it wasn’t max. effort, I was at a new court which had a 9’9 rim I managed to touch. I prefer my regular court as it’s almost always empty, so will go back to that next time.
11 Oct
Stability Drill – 3 sets
Hopping Drill – 4 sets
Skipping Drill – 3 sets
Step Up Variation – 5 sets
Weighted Jumps – 4 setsI wasn’t feeling it at all today, this was a real chore and I skipped the lateral drill.
12 Oct
Knee Strength Drill – 3 sets
Hang High Pull – 4 sets
Clean Variation – 3 sets
RLESS – 5 sets
Nordic Curls – 4 setsAgain not the best session, I’ve had poor sleep this week and it showed.
This is where I stop Vert Code Elite. I’ve looked at phase 9 and I don’t feel like I’m missing out by stopping now. My technique is holding me back more than my strength/power right now, so for me the best thing is to write my own program, prioritise technical drills, and also give my body a rest. I know how to peak when it’s muscle soreness but a lot of this is CNS which takes 3-4x as long. I’m going to do two weeks of low intensity maintenance plyo’s and test my vert a few times along the way.
After that I have the exposure to enough programs to know what I should be including and I’m confident I can write up a nice program that’s tailored to my own weaknesses. Phase 9 had sprints and bounding, and as it rains most days I know I’ll only get frustrated about not being able to go flat out on tarmac.
I’ll leave you with the 9’9 rim touch, it didn’t make a noise and I didn’t celebrate so when I was reviewing the video I could only narrow it down to one of these two jumps.
