Can I dunk? (Somewhat NRR)

You may be able to. I'm 6'4" and, last time I tried several years ago, I couldn't even touch the rim. I've never trained for explosiveness, however. Good luck!

WannaB wrote:

On fresh legs I can usually get my hand in the net.

Do you mean the rim? If not, good luck. Even palming the ball, you're gonna have to be able to touch about 10'7" to dunk (10'9" for two hands). Don't expect to magically find a few inches of vertical since you stopped running, you can improve your vertical leap a little (doing regular explosive sports can help) but it's a lot genetics...think sprinting.

Thanks for the input so far! I'm not expecting to get a few more inches of vertical since I stopped running. I would do workouts, but I just don't want to invest a lot of time if its never possible.

I have done virtually zero drills or anything to build explosiveness. If any trainers or anyone has info on that I would love to hear it.

I'm the same exact size as you, and one summer when I was in high school I did the "Air Alert" jumping program while also training for cross country (similar mileage to what you're doing now, maybe a little more). I trained like a maniac doing those explosive jumps. I went from not being able to touch the rim to being able to dunk a women's ball maybe one out of every three times I tried. I improved maybe eight inches on my vertical. I never slammed a men's ball, though. I blamed that failure on my tiny hands and my inability to palm the men's ball. Not sure if that's a legit excuse or not.

But, my teammate on the cross country team was just a little slower than me but the same height could throw down with two hands.

Definitely worth a shot!

I'm barely shorter than you. In the couple months after my senior year I played in the driveway a lot. Every couple days I would slowly inch the hoop up and see how high I could dunk. Went from barely getting net from being able to touch rim. This was with absolutely no training besides jumping around for 10 minutes everyday and running some. I'd think if you have more jumping ability than me (none) and spent some time doing plyos/strength training/jumping stuff, you'd have a chance.

Yea you can make it, just do a lot of jumping (preferably with a basketball or weight). Saying running a lot of miles kills your hops is the same as saying running a lot of miles hurts your ability to sprint (although being tired will).

The training like running, if you want to get better at running, run a lot; if you want to get better at jumping, jump a lot. And consistency is most important (i.e. doing fifty jumps every day).

Finally once you get close, getting your adrenaline up (getting yourself pumped up) can give you the extra two inches you need to finish the job.

workouts:

10x50m all out

squats

jump squats

olympic lifts*olympic lifters have the highest verticle of all olympic athletes, even high jumpers and sprinters

lifting, upper body and lower body

plyometrics

KETTLEBELLs

and any machine you can get your hands on like the vertimax, or cormax

trust me I can dunk

I'm a 6 foot white boy and I could throw it down pretty hard when I was around 16 by playing ball 2-3 hours a day after school and doing a lot of jumping exercises. But once I starting running straight miles I have lost a lot of ups and can barley touch the rim.

only on letsrun would someone be giving their running PRs on a thread asking if they could dunk a basketball.

Wait, do you mean that you can only reach the net on a good jump, or do you reach over the rim and INTO the net on a good jump? If the former, it's not going to happen, man.

I am currently a hs senior and played 3 yrs of basketball. 6'2, run a 4:23 mile, 1:58 800. I dunked on and off while I played and have been able to dunk consistently this year after dropping bball to focus on track. you probably wont be able to get one on the first try, but the best way to go about it is to just spend some time trying to touch backboard/touch rim/grab rim/throw it down. U have to put in the vertical miles if you know what i mean.

hsdunker wrote:

I am currently a hs senior and played 3 yrs of basketball. 6'2, run a 4:23 mile, 1:58 800. I dunked on and off while I played and have been able to dunk consistently this year after dropping bball to focus on track. you probably wont be able to get one on the first try, but the best way to go about it is to just spend some time trying to touch backboard/touch rim/grab rim/throw it down. U have to put in the vertical miles if you know what i mean.

This man is wrong. You do need a lot of "vertical miles" but depth jumps have been shown to have the greatest positive effect on vertical leap. Stand on a box, step off, and then explode back onto the box as soon as your feet (or foot) hits the ground.

Heavy squats, jump squats, tuck jumps, depth jumps. Do two-legged stuff and one-legged stuff.

Really? Higher than high jumpers?

You dont really get into specifics about extra weight or anything but you are on the right track. There are so many different workouts you could do but your bread and butter should be calf raises and squats/squat hops. My own workout (includes different suggestions) is below...

**4 x 10 Squat Hops (25lb vest + 2x40lb dumbbells)

**4 x 12 Calf Extensions (170-200lbs, machine)

4 x 20 Walking Lunges, 10 each leg (25lb vest + 2x50lb dumbbells)

4 x 10 Single Leg Squat, rest other foot on box (25lb vest + 2x25lb dumbbells)

4 x 10 Sideways Lunge, add a shuffle step between (25lb vest + 2x20lb dumbbells)

2 x 20 Squat Hops with 180 Degree Turn (no extra weight), 2 x 20 Squat Hops with 180 Degree Turn (2x20lb dumbbells) – combine into one set

4 x 10 Squat Hops, Reach Highest Point on Wall (1x15lb dumbbell)

4 x 20 Alternating Hopping Lunges, Single Location (25lb vest + 2x20lb dumbbells)

I only pick 5 of those workouts with the first two being included every time. I jump off two feet as well so thats why I have the sideways lunge and squats with 180 degree turns. I am 5'9" by the way.

i did "air alert" one summer and it dropped my forty time from completely unimpressive to very slightly less unimpressive. but it did increase my vertical by like 4 or 5 inches

This is Letsrun, where every skinny white dweeb can dunk a ball and run a 51 open 400(if they really tried).

Thanks to jfkldasd, kartelite, dean moriarty, carrythezero, biggestloser, POW, johndoe, cgrunner2007, hsdunker, what it is, peaches, and pattonian for all the constructive comments!!

It's been a lot of help!

jfkldasd wrote:

You may be able to. I'm 6'4" and, last time I tried several years ago, I couldn't even touch the rim. I've never trained for explosiveness, however. Good luck!

that's sad