Before We Get Started Learning How To Dunk

Before an average player can even think about dunking, he should take an inventory and be realistic. A person’s height and their athletic abilities are the two main factors that determine from the beginning if he will ever be able to dunk. Not to say it isn’t possible, but there are very few 5-6 players that will ever be able to dunk. In fact, an average sized person will have to have above-average jumping ability in order to be able to dunk. Be realistic in your goals. At the same time, don’t limit yourself before you even try. Many people have made amazing increases in their vertical jumping ability. It will take hard work, but it will be worth it.

Things you should evaluate before starting on your quest of how to dunk a basketball:

1. Is height (or lack of) a problem? You can’t change this. You CAN increase your vertical leap, but you still may never be able to dunk. But, that is okay! Develop other areas of your game.

2. Are you overweight? By carrying more weight than you should, you are limiting your jumping ability.

3. What are your athletic abilities? Some people just have the “gift” of being able to jump. It can be developed as well, but know where you are starting. Measure your vertical leap before you start so you know how you are progressing.

4. What kind of shape are you in? Jumping involves muscle groups from the entire body. Just having strong legs alone is not the answer.

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How To Dunk A Basketball – Now Let’s Get Started

Start by getting in the best overall shape you can get. This includes waist, chest, shoulders, and arms as well as your legs. In order to reach your ultimate jumping potential, you need to be in good shape overall. You use your entire body while jumping, so it only makes sense that your entire body needs to be in shape. While this part of the process isn’t glamorous, it is necessary. A good foundation is needed in order to see the best results. Start here and you will be rewarded down the road.

What is involved in “The Jump”

A standing vertical jump is measured by jumping from a starting position with both feet flat on the floor. This type of “jump” is not done too often during a game since it is from a stationary position. Most often, a player will jump off one foot while reaching up with the opposite hand. A right-handed person will usually jump off their left foot while reaching up with the right hand. For a left-handed player, this is usually reversed.

The player is usually running as well while doing this. Because of this, he is able to convert some of the forward motion into vertical motion while he is jumping. This increases the height of his jump over the player that is jumping from a standing position.

A person that is reaching up with one hand can reach higher than someone that reaches up with two hands. Try it yourself. Stand next to a wall and reach up with two hands and see how high you can touch. Now do it with just one hand. You will be able to reach considerably higher with just the one hand.

So, the best (and most common) method of dunking is for a person to hold the ball in one hand, run and jump off one leg while reaching as high as possible to try and jamb the ball into the basket.

Where To Start

Jumping is an explosive exercise. Yes, your muscles need to be “strong”, but you need to train the way you are going to use your muscles. A long-distance runner trains by running longer times at a slower pace. A sprinter trains by running much shorter distances at a very fast pace. In general, weight lifters train to lift a heavy weight several times. Jumping is a one-time, act of explosion.

For best results (in your jumping ability), you need to train this way as well. Of course, to be a complete player, you need the endurance of being able to run for distances as well. But, for what we are concentrating on (your vertical jump), you need to train explosively.

With this in mind, some exercises that have been used for years by athletes are not exercises that are the best for their jumping abilities. For example, “jumping” rope. While many would think that, since it involves jumping, surely it would be good.

In fact, it is a more aerobic exercise and is more like jogging. It is good to get you in shape, but not best for increasing your vertical leap.

The ball you use is also important. It may seem obvious, but don’t start with a basketball. Start with a tennis ball or a golf ball. As you progress, you can move up to larger balls, until you are able to use a basketball.

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A General Outline

1. Get in better general shape. If you are already there, you are ahead of the game.

2. Practice explosive exercises. Don’t overtrain! This will be the hardest point for many people to nderstand. It goes against some of the “old school” training that most of us have learned. You want to be strong, but you need to concentrate on training the fast-twitch muscle fibers to improve umping. And if you are training to the point of muscle fatigue or soreness, you may be over-doing it.

3. Take small steps. Make it a goal to touch the rim first. Then grab the rim. Then “dunk” a tennis ball. Then a volleyball. And on and on.

In all this, remember that each person is different (and starts at a different level). Your goal should be to improve YOUR jumping ability – not to be like someone else. Some people will improve faster than others, but it is more based on your commitment than other factors. You can improve your vertical jump and be able to dunk a basketball! Just keep at it!

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The key  is understanding the role your body type plays. Age, gender, race e.t.c., are not the deciding factors. You need to assess your own individual response to training, as this varies from person to person. Giving you exercises simply doesn’t cut it if you want real hops…you NEED a cycle based on exercises for your given body type, aiming at your weakness, which cycle from Strength to Explosiveness to Plyometrics.

Some Basic Steps to Get You Started

1. Assess yourself using current strength and your level of experience with previous types of training. The best way to get the most gains is to construct a brand new strength foundation, then performing an explosion phase converting to further inches.
2. Practice Lifts. Total body strength is the key for such an athlete and there is no better exercise than the full back squat. This gives you progressive increases on spinal loading, which increases stabilization under tension, stretch-response of hip muscles and hamstrings etc.
3. Root the squat centrally within most of your lower body workouts. 6-8 decent lifts gets the best strength developments and vertical carryover. For the upper body days, the philosophy is the same, with the central exercises being bench press, overhead press variations, pull-ups and dips. Remember the overlooked muscles towards the end of the workout, such as hip flexors, the shins , transverse abdominals e.t.c.
4. Acquire lifting technique in a safe and effective manner. Undergo 3-5 week strength phase for upper and lower body. Done correctly, visible gains of 5+% on each lift should be seen weekly. Thus you will start to envision how his jump is guaranteed to increase.
5. Correctly exercise explosive and plyometric training varying and relative amount to the heavier strength training. These are your “field workouts” and are completed pre-weights. E.g., on Day 1 you begin by engaging in a series of tempo runs, sprints and low-intensity plyos (after a dynamic warm-up of course). By the time Phase 3 comes around, this will have gradually switched to shorter tempo runs, overspeed (downhill) sprints and high-intensity plyos.
6. Emphasis on the heavier weights should fade as you progess through the phases.
   
7. Visualize by closing your eyes, imagining yourself exploding upwards. Visualize yourself with large leg muscles that are tightened like springs, ready to blast you up into the air. Say to yourself “I feel myself getting more powerful and much lighter.” Then jump again. You should observe a noticeable increase in your vertical jump. (Sports psychologists have long recognized the effectiveness of “mental practice” in improving athletic performance.)

For more detailed information on advanced programs available to help you learn how to jump higher, see our Review of Vertical Jump Programs or go straight to our recommended system…How To Jump Higher!

Here’s the details of what really happens when a player does a slam dunk (but any other sport where jumping is involved applies as well). Coming down the court, a player jumps and Newton’s third law of physics comes into play. This states that every action has an equal and opposite reaction; the player pushes against the floor and the floor exerts a force back.

If a player is running during the jump, his/her center of mass follows a parabolic path, which basically looks like a rounded off mountain top. A persons “center of mass” is located around their midsection. This means that, if the person stayed in exactly the same position during the jump, his/her midsection (and therefore, entire body) will follow this path. But as a player jumps while running, the center of mass is lifted — and manipulated. By bringing his knees up, he’s raising his center of mass relative to his head. He does that on his way up. On the way down, of course, he lowers his legs and that lowers his center of mass which is bringing it back to where it normally is, which effectively raises his head relative to the center of mass. The head no longer follows the parabola. The head stays up there at one height.

So what you get is during part of the time, the head stays at the same height. The center of mass goes up and down, through gravity and him manipulating his center of mass. In essence, the player’s head is the key to why our eyes believe there is such a thing as hang time. When we look at each other, we don’t normally look at our “center of mass”. We usually look at the head (or at least the upper part of the whole body) . But this really is happening; the head is staying constant for an unnaturally long time because he/she manipulates his center of mass.

If there is really no such thing as “hang time”, how is it that one person can stay in the air longer than another person? The REAL answer is that they can JUMP HIGHER. Check out our reviews of the vertical jump programs to see which one can help you improve your hang time.