Inhuman. Usain Bolt breaks the unbreakable record again, by a ton. 19.19 in the 200m. The gap he opens up in this race, oh my.

Here’s an HD video of Usain Bolt crushing his own world record in the 100 meters. 9.58! Tyson Gay turns in the third-fastest time in history at 9.71.

I’ve sung the praises of Tabata intervals many times, so it’s only fair that I include this interesting reality check from Lyle McDonald.

I have no idea if this works, but awhile ago Jason Ferruggia was touting Jon Hind’s Power Jumper. Hind is the former strength coach for the LA Clippers. It wasn’t enough to get me to buy the product, but I am playing with a homegrown version that uses a couple Iron Woody bands I already had on hand tied together, plus a couple NRS straps for attaching them to my feet. Works great. Hinds' jump training program (PDF) is available online.

The other interesting thing I came across was Andrew Darqui’s Iso Extension Stims. I tried these yesterday for the first time, using a Glute Ham Raise machine instead of one of those 45-degree things, making sure to point my toes, while pulling on a band to pile on the resistance. I followed the protocol described in section 5, “Example Usage & Session”, but for vertical leap, and I did gain two or three inches between my first set and my last. Since my vertical is pretty meager, this is a big percentage gain (but also means I have more room for improvement). LOTS of disclaimers though: I used a different machine, I’m not a very good jumper so it’s not hard for me to get better, I’m not sure I did it right, maybe I got better just by being more warmed up, etc. But I’ll keep working ‘em in and see how it goes.

Could this guy be more fun to watch? Usain Bolt turns in a 19.59 in Lausanne, in the rain, into a headwind. The Science of Sport has some good commentary.

Very interesting article from Kelly Baggett, 7 Modern Day Myths About Plyometrics. Here’s more about the Iso Extension Stim(ies) he mentions.

Usain Bolt lays waste to another world record, this time the 150 meters. Watching the race brings back Olympic déjà vu; total destruction of the field. Here’s the Science of Sport’s take. I wonder if he can score a WR in the 400 too? He’d need to take like 2.5 seconds off his personal best, I think. Michael Johnson thinks he can do it.

P.S. Here’s the super slow-motion replay of his 100m Olympic final again. Even slowed way down his feet spend such a remarkably short amount of time on the ground, and I love watching the clock tick down as he runs past it.

Fantastic Nike commercial featuring a Kobe Bryant puppet heckling a LeBron James puppet over his three championship rings. (via kottke)

Video of Andy Bolton’s new deadlift world record. 457.5kg (1008.6 lbs). Over one THOUSAND pounds, and he looks like he could have lifted even more.

Lyle McDonald on the 5x5 program.

The folks over at RingTraining.com have unveiled a nice looking tool to help ease into advance ring strength moves, the Elite Strength Trainer. There’s good info there, and this was in the e-mail announcement:

I just wanted to let everyone know that the Elite Strength Trainer is now available. It’s selling at a $40 discount till January 1st. It’s a new tool that helps train for the cross, maltese and other advanced ring strength exercises. It works by adjusting the leverage placed on your arms in 10 increments. As you get stronger, you simply move up to the next level. It brings the direct, linear progressions available to weightlifters into the world of bodyweight exercise.

A few months ago, I took a prototype to the national team training center. I met with Kevin Mazeika, head coach of the US Olympic Team, and Jordan Jovtchev, 5-time Olympian, and they both offered me some feedback on the design. Within 15 minutes of setting them up in the gym, I had almost a dozen national and Olympic caliber gymnasts from the American and Japanese teams try it out. They had all used equipment in the past that worked on the same principle, but unanimously preferred the design of the Elite Strength Trainer. They liked that it had a lot of adjustment points, it was quick to adjust and easy to set up and comfortable to use. This is actually a tool that is quite important in the training of a lot of top-level gymnasts. For some of them, it is just for conditioning. But they already have short arms, so it’s almost like they’re already using it! For others, it’s the safest way to get back strength after an injury or to develop new strength skills. For the rest of us, it is a great way to safely and effectively incorporate advanced ring strength moves into our training.

Sorry not to let you know about the sale earlier (which will probably be over by the time you read this), but I didn’t get the announcement until 12/30.

Alobravo has a fun collection of videos up, The 6 Sickest Playground Workouts You Can’t Do (no arguments here). I’d seen the Bartendaz one before, but the rest where new to me. The Hannibal video is unreal. The guy does some exercises I’ve never even imagined before. (via SttB)