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Yama
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Joined: 18 Jul 2010
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 Posted: Sun Aug 24, 2014 7:42 pm Post subject: Dunking a Basketball |
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| I am 17, 6'3" and weigh 160 lbs. I can grab the rim but cant get close to dunking. For my basketball team we work out a couple days a week, do box jumps and a couple sets of squats. I squat about 175 lbs. I have a very poor diet and eat only junk food, is that a factor in my weak vertical? What can I do to increase it, ive heard doing push ups help but i don't see how. |
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PLATNUM
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| Posted: Sun Aug 24, 2014 9:45 pm Post subject: |
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Damn son... I'm 5'8 - 160ish and in my youth I could touch the rim.
Squats... and lay off the junk food.
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methdxman
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| Posted: Mon Aug 25, 2014 4:42 am Post subject: Re: Dunking a Basketball |
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| Yama wrote: | | I am 17, 6'3" and weigh 160 lbs. I can grab the rim but cant get close to dunking. For my basketball team we work out a couple days a week, do box jumps and a couple sets of squats. I squat about 175 lbs. I have a very poor diet and eat only junk food, is that a factor in my weak vertical? What can I do to increase it, ive heard doing push ups help but i don't see how. |
How long have you been squatting for? Sorry but you're not working hard enough. Obviously you didn't win the genetic lottery but if you really want explosive hops there are so many other exercises you should be doing.
Power cleans.
Power Snatch
Push Jerk
Double unders (jump rope).
The first three will give you explosive power, but they will take a while to learn properly. The last one is to get used to coming off the ground fast. |
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Yama
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| Posted: Mon Aug 25, 2014 1:56 pm Post subject: Re: Dunking a Basketball |
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| methdxman wrote: | | Yama wrote: | | I am 17, 6'3" and weigh 160 lbs. I can grab the rim but cant get close to dunking. For my basketball team we work out a couple days a week, do box jumps and a couple sets of squats. I squat about 175 lbs. I have a very poor diet and eat only junk food, is that a factor in my weak vertical? What can I do to increase it, ive heard doing push ups help but i don't see how. |
How long have you been squatting for? Sorry but you're not working hard enough. Obviously you didn't win the genetic lottery but if you really want explosive hops there are so many other exercises you should be doing.
Power cleans.
Power Snatch
Push Jerk
Double unders (jump rope).
The first three will give you explosive power, but they will take a while to learn properly. The last one is to get used to coming off the ground fast. |
Thanks man! I appreciate it and I will try those exercises, and ive been squatting for three months. |
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venturalakersfan
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| Posted: Mon Aug 25, 2014 2:01 pm Post subject: |
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Sometimes it is just genetics. I was 6' in high school and had no problems dunking. I never worked out at all other than running and stretching.
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Yama
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| Posted: Mon Aug 25, 2014 2:04 pm Post subject: |
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| venturalakersfan wrote: | | Sometimes it is just genetics. I was 6' in high school and had no problems dunking. I never worked out at all other than running and stretching. |
Yeah lol, brown man cant jump. |
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Reflexx
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| Posted: Mon Aug 25, 2014 2:05 pm Post subject: |
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| 175 lbs squats are probably not going to get you strong enough to dunk. Change up your leg routine so that you introduce muscles to more types of stimulus. I imagine that you should be squatting at least 250. That's how much I was doing at 17, but I couldn't dunk. I could only grab the rim. But I'm only 5'9". |
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Yama
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| Posted: Mon Aug 25, 2014 2:07 pm Post subject: |
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| Reflexx wrote: | | 175 lbs squats are probably not going to get you strong enough to dunk. Change up your leg routine so that you introduce muscles to more types of stimulus. I imagine that you should be squatting at least 250. That's how much I was doing at 17, but I couldn't dunk. I could only grab the rim. But I'm only 5'9". |
Are you suppose to work your legs out every day, or every other day? |
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Mike@LG
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| Posted: Mon Aug 25, 2014 3:20 pm Post subject: |
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Wingspan?
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Gimme_the_rock
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| Posted: Mon Aug 25, 2014 3:41 pm Post subject: |
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In addition to some of the tips already recommended ... go ahead and add some sand dune sprints too.
Plyometrics with Jump soles?
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nickuku
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| Posted: Mon Aug 25, 2014 3:50 pm Post subject: |
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You are really skinny for your height and should be able to fairly easily. I was 5'11" during my playing days in HS and was able to get a little more than a hand over the rim. Fast food is okay at your age but not everyday. Its going to catch up to you sooner or later. I do recommend frog jumps. Those helped me tremendously but I do have to warn you not to do them during the season too much or before games. They turn your quads into jello.
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Yama
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| Posted: Mon Aug 25, 2014 3:52 pm Post subject: |
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| Im not sure of my wingspan but my arms are pretty long, I have a Durant type skinny body and do jump soles really work? I'm going to try and start eating clean and see what happens. |
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Reflexx
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| Posted: Mon Aug 25, 2014 4:25 pm Post subject: |
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| Yama wrote: | | Reflexx wrote: | | 175 lbs squats are probably not going to get you strong enough to dunk. Change up your leg routine so that you introduce muscles to more types of stimulus. I imagine that you should be squatting at least 250. That's how much I was doing at 17, but I couldn't dunk. I could only grab the rim. But I'm only 5'9". |
Are you suppose to work your legs out every day, or every other day? |
Once or twice a week should be more than enough if you're working them hard. You want to give them time to recover. And remember to consume a lot of protein. |
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AY2043
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| Posted: Mon Aug 25, 2014 5:33 pm Post subject: |
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Keep up with the squats and box jumps. Throw in some calf raises too.
Also, you'll notice that usually the more you do something, the better you get at it. The more you lift weights, the stronger you get, the more you play guitar the you get better at guitar, etc. Same thing with jumping. Just do a whole bunch of it, and you'll get better. |
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Laker_Town
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Joined: 26 Jun 2006
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| Posted: Mon Aug 25, 2014 6:13 pm Post subject: Re: Dunking a Basketball |
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| methdxman wrote: | | Yama wrote: | | I am 17, 6'3" and weigh 160 lbs. I can grab the rim but cant get close to dunking. For my basketball team we work out a couple days a week, do box jumps and a couple sets of squats. I squat about 175 lbs. I have a very poor diet and eat only junk food, is that a factor in my weak vertical? What can I do to increase it, ive heard doing push ups help but i don't see how. |
How long have you been squatting for? Sorry but you're not working hard enough. Obviously you didn't win the genetic lottery but if you really want explosive hops there are so many other exercises you should be doing.
Power cleans.
Power Snatch
Push Jerk
Double unders (jump rope).
The first three will give you explosive power, but they will take a while to learn properly. The last one is to get used to coming off the ground fast. |
I'd advice great caution with that one. Could lead to premature fatherhood. dont close you eyes son. |
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GSDunk
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| Posted: Mon Aug 25, 2014 6:27 pm Post subject: |
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It's genetics. I'm white and could dunk when I was 16 and a shade under 6-0.
My brother was doing reverse dunks back when we were kids and he was only 5-11. Neither of us ever did any leg work. |
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LakerLanny
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| Posted: Mon Aug 25, 2014 8:35 pm Post subject: Re: Dunking a Basketball |
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| Yama wrote: | | I am 17, 6'3" and weigh 160 lbs. I can grab the rim but cant get close to dunking. For my basketball team we work out a couple days a week, do box jumps and a couple sets of squats. I squat about 175 lbs. I have a very poor diet and eat only junk food, is that a factor in my weak vertical? What can I do to increase it, ive heard doing push ups help but i don't see how. |
I was in the same boat as you when I was in my sophomore year of HS.
What I think would help you is sit ups, ab cruches and calf raises.
It is a bit of a misconception that lifting weights will increase your leap. Believe it or not, have very tight abs will help you leap...trust me on this.
Also, if you are already able to grab the rim you really are not that far away from dunking. Do you jump better off one foot or two? I was always a bit unusual in that I actually dunked better off two feet than one.
The calf raises don't even need to be with weights on, just do them on a stair or a curb even. If you can strengthen your calves and abs, you will be throwing down by Christmas, I guarantee it. Let us know when you tomahawk your first one!
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akbroker
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| Posted: Mon Aug 25, 2014 10:03 pm Post subject: |
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| Had this exact same predicament before. Could dunk maybe 1 out of 10 tries if lucky. And it sucked cause I played for my HS team and everyone in my team could dunk with ease. Tried different gimmicks too but they only wore me out and I didn't see much improvement. Until a friend told me to just jump rope regularly and skip the fancy stuff. Requires dedication but I promise you it will work if you stick to it. Increase your workout gradually until you can do 30 minutes comfortably. By that time you would have gained a few inches in your vertical which should cover the difference between touching the rim and actually throwing it down. Good luck! |
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sickside323
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Location: East Los Angeles, CA
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| Posted: Tue Aug 26, 2014 8:33 am Post subject: Re: Dunking a Basketball |
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| LakerLanny wrote: | | Do you jump better off one foot or two? I was always a bit unusual in that I actually dunked better off two feet than one. |
i had a friend that was exactly the same way. for the life of him, he could not jump off of one foot. he would try and try, but he would always automatically gather himself on both feet and jump. i found it so weird.  |
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Yama
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| Posted: Tue Aug 26, 2014 2:29 pm Post subject: Re: Dunking a Basketball |
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| LakerLanny wrote: | | Yama wrote: | | I am 17, 6'3" and weigh 160 lbs. I can grab the rim but cant get close to dunking. For my basketball team we work out a couple days a week, do box jumps and a couple sets of squats. I squat about 175 lbs. I have a very poor diet and eat only junk food, is that a factor in my weak vertical? What can I do to increase it, ive heard doing push ups help but i don't see how. |
I was in the same boat as you when I was in my sophomore year of HS.
What I think would help you is sit ups, ab cruches and calf raises.
It is a bit of a misconception that lifting weights will increase your leap. Believe it or not, have very tight abs will help you leap...trust me on this.
Also, if you are already able to grab the rim you really are not that far away
from dunking. Do you jump better off one foot or two? I was always a bit unusual in that I actually dunked better off two feet than one.
The calf raises don't even need to be with weights on, just do them on a stair or a curb even. If you can strengthen your calves and abs, you will be throwing down by Christmas, I guarantee it. Let us know when you tomahawk your first one! |
I think I can dunk slightly better with one leg but there pretty even. Is there a certain amount of reps and sets for the crunches and calf raises? Should I do them daily?Thanks for the advice, im definently going to do those exercises and ill let you know as soon as i throw one down  |
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Yama
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| Posted: Tue Aug 26, 2014 2:33 pm Post subject: |
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| akbroker wrote: | | Had this exact same predicament before. Could dunk maybe 1 out of 10 tries if lucky. And it sucked cause I played for my HS team and everyone in my team could dunk with ease. Tried different gimmicks too but they only wore me out and I didn't see much improvement. Until a friend told me to just jump rope regularly and skip the fancy stuff. Requires dedication but I promise you it will work if you stick to it. Increase your workout gradually until you can do 30 minutes comfortably. By that time you would have gained a few inches in your vertical which should cover the difference between touching the rim and actually throwing it down. Good luck! |
Thanks im gonna buy a jump rope and dang you must've played for a good school lol, no one at my school can dunk i'm actually the closest one so far. |
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GSDunk
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| Posted: Tue Aug 26, 2014 4:34 pm Post subject: |
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Yama...At 6-3 160 lbs, you are extremely thin and I'm assuming you have long and very skinny legs, right??
That right there is sorta the problem.
I've seen lots of players with similar builds, and virtually none of them could jump. Sorry to be blunt, but you don't have enough leg strength to dunk.......not yet anyway.
You need to build your calves and quads. Especially the calves. And work them daily.
I'd do tons of leg lifts and squats and if you do that with any seriousness, you'll be dunking with ease in no time.
.....and just for the record, I've seen a few guys that weren't great jumpers pick up 6 inches of vertical just by doing leg lifts every day. |
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akbroker
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| Posted: Tue Aug 26, 2014 5:50 pm Post subject: |
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| Yama wrote: | | akbroker wrote: | | Had this exact same predicament before. Could dunk maybe 1 out of 10 tries if lucky. And it sucked cause I played for my HS team and everyone in my team could dunk with ease. Tried different gimmicks too but they only wore me out and I didn't see much improvement. Until a friend told me to just jump rope regularly and skip the fancy stuff. Requires dedication but I promise you it will work if you stick to it. Increase your workout gradually until you can do 30 minutes comfortably. By that time you would have gained a few inches in your vertical which should cover the difference between touching the rim and actually throwing it down. Good luck! |
Thanks im gonna buy a jump rope and dang you must've played for a good school lol, no one at my school can dunk i'm actually the closest one so far. |
Ranked 13th in state, 5,000 something in nationals. Dominated our conference though. And there are many variations to jumping rope, but I was lazy so what I did was "skipping" Number 1 of this video www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZX-NdILjBWY when warming up and cooling down and focused on "hopping" with decent elevation once I was warmed up, which is Number 9 of that same video but minus the double thing he's doing or whatever you call it. I just kept it relatively simple and was content once I was able to dunk consistently. Gained 5 or 6 inches in vert I think doing that, so nothing too dramatic but enough to be able to make an uncontested dunk. So I assume that you would see better results than me if you tried different variations which targets different muscle groups. My friend even tried adding 5lb ankle weights. He had crazy hops but messed up his knees later and he claims it was because of the ankle weights. So I don't suggest doing that in case the idea ever comes up. Just keep it simple unless you dream of being able to do between the legs and 360s 
I also rode a stationary bike btw at max resistance and moderate speed for an hour and a half a day. That was my other leg workout because jogging gave me shin splints. |
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akbroker
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| Posted: Tue Aug 26, 2014 5:53 pm Post subject: |
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And my upper body exercises were push ups, pull ups and dynamic tension by a guy named Charles Atlas. I really wasn't a fan of working out. I didn't even enjoy off the ball basketball drills but I could practice all day while holding the ball. Trying different "offensive" moves and even going back and forth simulating a fastbreak. Very unconventional training I know and guess that's why I was merely a role player  |
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Yama
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| Posted: Tue Aug 26, 2014 6:29 pm Post subject: |
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| GSDunk wrote: | Yama...At 6-3 160 lbs, you are extremely thin and I'm assuming you have long and very skinny legs, right??
That right there is sorta the problem.
I've seen lots of players with similar builds, and virtually none of them could jump. Sorry to be blunt, but you don't have enough leg strength to dunk.......not yet anyway.
You need to build your calves and quads. Especially the calves. And work them daily.
I'd do tons of leg lifts and squats and if you do that with any seriousness, you'll be dunking with ease in no time.
.....and just for the record, I've seen a few guys that weren't great jumpers pick up 6 inches of vertical just by doing leg lifts every day. |
Thanks for the advice! My legs are extremely thin i need to get them stronger and gain some mass. |
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