How do I add air time? - Page 2

30" vertical being a genetic freak? if you had a 45" vertical, maybe, but I think most people in decent shape could get 30" if they trained and were coordinated. to dunk you need to be able to touch (roughly) your wrist on the rim. If you're a two foot jumper, keep doing that. Watch guys on youtube, mimic their motion, make sure you get low, and get a good arm swing. You don't need to palm the ball. People use that as an excuse as to why they can't dunk. I pretty much never palm the ball when I dunk. The momentum of pulling your arm back a bit when you dunk keeps it in your hand, not palming it. my problem jumping off of 2 feet is that I have pretty poor flexibility, and as such I don't get low enough. Try to stretch all of the muscles in your legs, especially the hip flexors. practice grabbing the rim for a few weeks and see if you've improved at all after that time I think you missed my point a bit. Some people jump better off of 1 foot, others off of 2 feet. I haven't really seen anyone who's switched from 1 to 2 feet or 2 feet to 1 foot and achieved any gains from it. Keep jumping how it's comfortable for you, and get better at that. You also don't need to palm the ball, like I said. You need to be able to get the ball high enough so it just gets over the rim. Maybe try practicing how you normally jump, but with a smaller ball. Get used to maybe a tennis ball, then volleyball, then girls bball, then a basketball. Why do people think you need to palm it to dunk? Where does that come from? I can't pick up the ball off the dribble and palm it, so pretty much never palm it to dunk in practices or games. I understand the theory behind it, but in reality it doesn't make much sense to me.

When I used to row we had a black guy on our top boat, pound for pound probably the strongest and most explosive guy in a boat. He was about 6'4" 210. Inside a boat he could keep a rhythm no problem, outside a boat for some reason he had none and he could not dunk a basketball, mainly cause he didn't jump properly. In about one afternoon we taught him how to jump, create torque etc etc and while he was no Lebron he could throw down pretty fiercely.

Also, in addition to what most people said I would stress box jumps and add jump roping.

so wrong. I've seen 5'5" laotian dudes dunk with 2 hands. Explosive jumping ability. It's not because you are asian, it's because you are weak

PM me with your email.

apparently, my joke was lost in translation.

If you squat 315 and deadlift 285 you're not gonna be dunking anytime soon.

Learn to squat correctly. Increasing your vertical will be aided a lot by explosive hip and knee extensor power. Think about Olympic lifters during a clean and jerk -- right before the catch the bar gains a lot of speed as the resistance is set onto the joints and the muscles can then produce more work.

But yeah, learn to squat correctly. If you're squatting more than you're deadlifting (unless you're doing 500+ or something crazy) you aren't squatting correctly.

Wow. What? I have a few friends who can dunk like crazy and there is NO way they can correctly squat 315 lbs. Probably not even 275lbs. Where do you get a correlation like that?
If the OP is 6'3", lean, and decently coordinated, I honestly doubt his deadlift and squat need to significantly improve to be able to dunk. Would it help? probably. But I think he would get enough out of doing snatches, some cleans, maybe some plyos, and practicing his jumping regularly to get high enough to dunk.

Plyos worked out great for me, although I did them for sprinting speed and not vertical leap. Shaved my 100 m time by quite a bit. Keep up your weight lifting routine (it seems to be working well for you) and add 3 plyo sessions a week. Listen to your body, though. Don't do plyos if you've got a pull in your hammie or something. Plyos are rough on the body. Probably wouldn't hurt to supplement some glucosamine to prevent joint troubles.

Interesting thread. I'm in the same boat but I've dunked before but just now after a few years I'm trying to get up there again. For two-foot jumpers, my advice and what the person I train with is don't rock your feet before you jump. Another thing, practicing dunking with smaller balls to get your technique right. Try dunking something 10 times a day or so.

I'm talking about the squat/deadlift ratio, not the weight. When the total weight of a personal best squat exceeds the deadlift, chances are very high that the squat is shallow and the lack of a full range of motion limits overall vertical jumping ability. Think about it this way: most Olympics lifters have a vertical that exceeds NBA players.

lefty

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