Welcome And An Introduction
Like many young men in the twilight of high school, I wanted to be able to dunk a basketball. I was 6 feet tall, I could jump higher than average, and I played basketball every chance I got. When I graduated, I was the strongest I had ever been, and I just finished the boys volleyball season on the varsity team. I was a lean 150 lbs, the heaviest I had ever been to that point, and I could dunk a volleyball regularly. I was within maybe an inch or three of vertical leap away from being able to dunk a basketball.
At the time, I think I had a 30 inch vertical. After graduation, I continued to play basketball at least once a week, but I lost regular access to weights. I stayed at that vertical for about a year. That's when things went south. For a variety of reasons, I stopped playing regularly, and haven't been able to train consistently for the last 20+ years. During that time I picked up a degree in exercise science, and I have spent a reasonable amount of time becoming acquainted with the science of jump training. I know how to train my jump effectively. I know what works. I know what doesn't work.
There are a lot of Youtube videos with training programs to increase vertical. There are a lot of paid programs to increase vertical. Most of the stuff I have looked at isn't that good. The stuff freely available tends to follow Sturgeon's Law, if not a more pessimistic version of it. A fair amount of the videos out there are clickbait attempts to get you to go to their site to pay for their secret information. You can waste a lot of time chasing information, and you usually get either garbage or a sales pitch. There isn't a lot of signal in all that noise.
That brings us to where I am now. In January my situation allows both the time and resources to work out and actually do some solid jump training. While I went into the gym with the standard fitness goals of most of the gym going world, I still have that goal to dunk a basketball. I'm heavier (about 180 lbs), but my body composition is probably about what it was when I was 18. My strength has slowly shifted from mostly leg strength to more upper body strength. As of January my vertical has shrunk to about 24 inches. While I say I'm 6 feet tall, I'm probably closer to 5 ft 11.5 inches. My reach is average to slightly less than average. I'm about 1.5 inches shy of touching the top of a men's volleyball net at 8 feet. And the biggest one, I'm almost 45.
All of that together, I estimate I need to add around 12 inches of vertical to get high enough to throw down a basketball. With a run up I was about an inch or 2 from touching the rim when I started this journey in January. At my age and coming from my consistent lack of training, I don't know if it is physiologically possible to put on that much vertical. My goal may very well be Quixotic, but I'm going to try.
This blog will be where I document my progress and process. I'll put some discussion of the theory behind the training, and why I am doing what I'm doing. Hopefully I can succeed and achieve my goal. At the very least I'm going to put the real information here so aspiring jumpers and dunkers can actually do it right.
At the time, I think I had a 30 inch vertical. After graduation, I continued to play basketball at least once a week, but I lost regular access to weights. I stayed at that vertical for about a year. That's when things went south. For a variety of reasons, I stopped playing regularly, and haven't been able to train consistently for the last 20+ years. During that time I picked up a degree in exercise science, and I have spent a reasonable amount of time becoming acquainted with the science of jump training. I know how to train my jump effectively. I know what works. I know what doesn't work.
There are a lot of Youtube videos with training programs to increase vertical. There are a lot of paid programs to increase vertical. Most of the stuff I have looked at isn't that good. The stuff freely available tends to follow Sturgeon's Law, if not a more pessimistic version of it. A fair amount of the videos out there are clickbait attempts to get you to go to their site to pay for their secret information. You can waste a lot of time chasing information, and you usually get either garbage or a sales pitch. There isn't a lot of signal in all that noise.
That brings us to where I am now. In January my situation allows both the time and resources to work out and actually do some solid jump training. While I went into the gym with the standard fitness goals of most of the gym going world, I still have that goal to dunk a basketball. I'm heavier (about 180 lbs), but my body composition is probably about what it was when I was 18. My strength has slowly shifted from mostly leg strength to more upper body strength. As of January my vertical has shrunk to about 24 inches. While I say I'm 6 feet tall, I'm probably closer to 5 ft 11.5 inches. My reach is average to slightly less than average. I'm about 1.5 inches shy of touching the top of a men's volleyball net at 8 feet. And the biggest one, I'm almost 45.
All of that together, I estimate I need to add around 12 inches of vertical to get high enough to throw down a basketball. With a run up I was about an inch or 2 from touching the rim when I started this journey in January. At my age and coming from my consistent lack of training, I don't know if it is physiologically possible to put on that much vertical. My goal may very well be Quixotic, but I'm going to try.
This blog will be where I document my progress and process. I'll put some discussion of the theory behind the training, and why I am doing what I'm doing. Hopefully I can succeed and achieve my goal. At the very least I'm going to put the real information here so aspiring jumpers and dunkers can actually do it right.
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