How can I dunk?

[SmileyEH]

I did squats regularly for a couple months and gained about 3 inches on my vertical.

Excercises for figure skaters would also probably be best - I would look into that.

-SmileyEH

[jason_t]

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A female friend of mine is 5'8" and she can dunk. Why can't I? [img]/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]

[/ QUOTE ]

Ha. You're beat by a girl.

[ThaSaltCracka]

men have a distinct advantage physically over women, so it would be much more likely for a man 5'9" to dunk than a women 5'9" to dunk.

When I said it wasn't possible for you to dunk, I didn't say it was because of your height, but more that you would probably have to add close to 10 inches on your vert to be able to dunk, and I don't see that happening.

[siccjay]

Strength Shoes

[SackUp]

Plyometrics, bounding, strength shoes, Leg lifts including lots of calfs, jump rope, and one of the most important and overlooked things: STRETCHING. It definitely will not be easy, but is possible for sure. I'm a little over 5'8 and I could dunk a mini ball. I'm pretty sure I could dunk a regular size ball if I would have kept up the routine. But then I graduated from undergrad and became a law student and that was that. I can palm a ball too, but a lot of that has to do with hand size and strength. It is obviously a lot easier to palm a ball if you have bigger hands, but you might be able to do it if you do lots of gripping exercises (insert whacking off joke here).

Anyhow, GL.

[htc1278]

I was a volleyball player and I increased my vertical substantially by getting the Jump shoes and training with them. Plyometrics also helps as does weight training. Running sprints is good, too. Good luck in your quest. I'm 5'10" and I could jump high enough but I couldn't palm a basketball. The only way I could dunk was by catching the ball after I'd jumped.

[Dead]

Best response so far, thanks.

Do you think I need to put on muscle to do it?

[MEbenhoe]

[ QUOTE ]
Tell me what to do and I will do it.

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This would require:

hours a day of working out (a specific workout to target the key areas for this), 4-5 days a week

A strict diet

hand strengthening drills so that you could palm or come close to palming the ball, 2 handed dunk isnt that much harder though

the dedication to possibly do this for a year before seeing results

[Dead]

And what would I need to do for maintenance? I need to maintain the diet for the rest of my life to continue being able to dunk?

[zaxx19]

Depends on the ineherent ratio of slow twitch to fast twitch muscle fibers.....

It may be possible. How is your jogging versus your sprinting?

The best training for vert is still the old Soviet periodization methodology where you begin by using alot of weight and mid reps in "core" exercises like squat/dead lift, leg press....

You then progress to mid weights for fast more explosive reps in olympic lifts/ squats..

Finally you only train with Plyometrics.
(this is obviously a gross oversimplification)

Depth Jumps are amazing for Vert but can cause stress injjuries in some people such as knee tendonitis and shin splints.