Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Esquire, the Shifter Team, 3 Solids


For those of you that follow this blog, you are likely my friend or a fan of Dunk? on Facebook (and if you are not you can follow me on Twitter at cspann85, but friend me, all the cool kids are doing it). It should have come as no surprise that my article appeared in Esquire about the genesis of the Dunk? I talked about it enough. Esquire is an established and contemporary publication and working with their editorial team was humbling, exciting, and exhausting at the same time. I received my BA in English Literature from University of San Diego and my MFA from Falmouth College in Cornwall, United Kingdom, so actually writing something and having it published in a non-student run publication is as good as it gets. What started out as a 2,000 word saga of redemption and retribution was transformed into a chiseled 700 word clear cut message. Essentially what was once a bloated, over thought and stagnant existence would become a trimmer and better version of myself. You’ve heard all of this before. Esquire legitimizes what we are doing with Dunk?. My hope is that Esquire readers need to read installment after installment. If you haven’t had the chance, you can read it here Esquire Piece.

There has been one major change to the production and what I hinted at in the last blog. I am now and will be until the end of the documentary, trained by the entire Shifter Team (Bernie Darcy and Jase Graber). I can’t thank Heather Lehman enough for getting me started, and if the truth be told I didn’t give her a 100%. I am sure if Heather heard me say that she would say something like “I didn’t give myself a 100%”. However, if I lament on the past anymore my editor (Mom) will quit so onward we go.

The Shifter Team is training me for free and the training is much more than the actual Shifter machine. Here are some words from Bernie Darcy about what my training entails. “The basic outline is: Lots of rock climbing and some hiking uphill. Basically we're utilizing the SAID (Specific Adaptation to Imposed Demand) principle to get your body to adapt to you constantly raising your center of gravity (COG) above the ground. The more strenuous the activity used to raise the COG the faster your body increases your strength to weight ratio (and overall lightness) while you're getting a great dynamic functional workout.

Rock climbing will be the launching pad to getting you into a full functional training program designed to prevent injury while setting your body up with a strong foundation to help you train to jump. This program will put highest priority on balance, symmetry, stabilizing all joints, increasing accuracy, and heightening reflexes. The next priority level will be passive range of motion followed by active range of motion while continuing to build on the other priorities I listed above. After building that strong foundation we can start working on power (this is where plyometrics come into play).

At this point your body should be setup to perform very athletic movements with a minimal injury risk. This is where Jase and I will take our knowledge of jumping technique and coach you through the timing and strategy of a quick/powerful jump.

As far as a timeline, it all depends on how well you progress through the stages. Just like you're finding in the Shifter training, each level of progression is dependent on achieving the previous level. I'm very happy with the rate of your progression at this point, but each one of the progressions has the potential to expose dis-functions in your body. When we run across those it can take some extra time to get rid of it and move on to the next thing. You're really close to finishing the Shifter progressions so now your job is to climb your ass off. As you get better at climbing and the weight starts dropping, we'll be getting further into the functional training program.”
You can see Jase demonstrating the Shifter Jase Shifting

Let me translate. I will be hiking, rock climbing, and dieting. For the past three weeks I have worked out a total of 18 days out of 21. Since I started Shifting, climbing and hiking I am down 8 pounds to 248. I plateaued at 238 last June and I need to get to 185-190ish in order to dunk. Diet is my Achilles Heal, but Jase assures me the more I get my weight off the ground the less I will feel like eating. God, I hope he’s right.

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