Thanks for visiting dunkbonds.com, the dormant Rails app I built to gamify charitable contributions toward personal goals, piloted around my goal to dunk. You'll notice I have made zero effort to update its style, so it still harkens back to its original 2011-era mint.com inspiration, when it was likely already looking pretty dated. Have a click around!
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December 06, 2012

A New Diet Strategy, and I Fell Down Some Stairs

Last night I took the fast way down the last four steps when taking the trash out and landed on my left hip/back/ilium/whatever.  It was painful, but I think I came out with just a bruise.  This should not affect the DUNKbond yield.

In other news, I'm four days into a new fat loss strategy:  basically a very strict low carb diet during the week plus a weekly, cheat day carb binge (which, counter-intuitively, can actually promote fat loss.)  It's derived from a mix of the 4-hour body slow-carb plan, and on Kiefer's thoughts (quick and dirty insulin spikes, plus a few carb backloads after workouts.)

How is this any different than what I've been doing?  In a word, compliance.  An underlying goal of DUNK is to change habits to focus on the goal, and compliance is a good metric.  The chart below is how I've rated my meals based on a +3 to -3 scale.  As you can see, I've been spotty on compliance for a while.  The flat line at the end denotes that I've been perfect so far this week:



For those of you on iOS who can't see the chart, here is a static image:

The diet actually hasn't been too bad, but I'm looking forward to Saturday.  There will be Little Star.
November 30, 2012

John Keifer and Robb Wolf on Carbs

My buddy Mark sent me to Robb Wolf's latest podcast episoide in which he interviews John Kiefer, who geeks us up on carb-backloading, macronutrients and our circadian rhythms, and other fascinating stuff (if you're into this sort of thing).

Definitely presents some ideas for the diet.
November 29, 2012

DXA Body Composition Testing

Being leaner would help the DUNK effort almost as much as lowering the rim.  The thing is, I don't know how much excess bodyfat I'm carrying around, so I scheduled a DXA scan with the The Body Composition Center in Redwood City.

I'm guessing I'm probably in the 15-18% range, and at ~173lbs, that would mean I'm carrying around 26-31lbs of fat.  If that's the case, losing 6-8 of those would be nice, but let's see where I'm at before setting any milestones.  
November 26, 2012

Injury Update, November

Left adductor (pectineus?), hip flexor:  

Ever since Disneyball dunk day I've been plagued by this.  Breaking into the slightest jog aggravates it.  Hell, walking can aggravate it.  I've worked through it to get workouts in, and it's getting better, but it's keeping me off the court and probably needs some time and work.

    Hip pain, tightness:  

    Likely quadratus lumborum &tensor fascia latae, to which I'm no stranger.  This is troubling because it gives me absolutely no confidence in my lower back during any sort of spinal-loading movement such as squats, deads, olympic lifts, etc, so I simply haven't been going there.  I can get by on front squats, but it feels tenuous.  Also, it hurts almost all of the time.


    Shin splints:  

    These seem to be doing well with the rest, but I have no way to know since I haven't been to the court in a few weeks.  

    Strategy:  

    I'm taking a week off of training, which is well timed to coincide with having wrapped up two four-week training program phases.  Reevaluate on Sunday. 
    Myofascial release minimum of three times a day to hit the TFL, QL, and hip flexors, when socially acceptable to do so.
    I'm going to shoot for a minimum of 20min of yoga per day, and optimally 45-60.  Shout out to yogadownload.com and their audio & video podcasts, classes, and iPhone app. 

    November 10, 2012

    I Dunked the Disney Princess Ball!

    Behold:


    September and October were discouraging, but this was some redemption.  I got back to the court on 11/6 to practice jumping and decided to bring her along just in case I was feeling good.

    Good thing.

    For those of you who aren't aware, I've designed a scientific progression of things to dunk on my way up to a basketball:
    • tennis ball
    • softball
    • a donut (for endorsements, please contact my agent.)
    • The Disney Princess Ball
    • Mini basketball (arguably the same size as the Disney ball)
    • Volleyball
    • Basketball
    Proof:

    Not the most commanding of dunks, but it counts.  The ball got a little hung up on the rim on the way down, but I didn't give up on it.  

    The video stills offer a good opportunity to analyze my footwork to improve that penultimate step.  
    Tracking my steps
    My last step is still a bit longer than the preceding step, and I see I'm actually taking a long 3rd to last step followed by the shorter final two.  

    Another thing I'm noticing is how god awful SLOW I look.  It's a wonder I get off the ground at all.  Optimally, you need to run as fast as your jump transition can handle without breaking down.  This is something I definitely need to work on.  

    All in all, it was a very energizing and reinvigorating visit to the court.  Cautiously optimistic about the final ~4 months.