Dwyane Wade of the Miami Heat absolutely posterized Anderson Varejao of the Cleveland Cavaliers on a monster dunk, showing his vertical leap and power.
Dunking is almost entirely dependent on your vertical leap. If you can increase your vertical, you have a better chance to throw down at the rim.
Part of jumping higher involves building up your leg muscles. Plyometrics (exercising design to mimic game-time jumping) can be very effective in building muscles. Additionally, technique is important. Visualizing yourself jumping higher can often add a few inches, as can swinging your arms upward.
Three weeks in on The Jump Manual and my legs are growing like a Chia Pet on steroids. Man, I never thought gains like this were possible. I measured my vertical today at basketball practice – I gained 6 inches in 3 weeks! That’s crazy. I can hang on the rim now.
I still can’t dunk but to jump higher is now second nature to me. I realized that with other programs before The Jump Manual, or with no program at all, I was doing my exercises wrong. It’s not about jumping a lot, it’s about training your muscles to explode when they jump. The Jump Manual shows me exactly what to do and when. In fact, I am training less than before. Before I was building endurance. Now I am building vertical explosion.
My teammates all want to start training with me. I don’t blame them. I am starting to swat their shots in practice and no one can stop my drive to the rack. I guess I’ll let them in the secrets from The Jump Manual secret…lol!
Finished up the basketball season. We finished a game short of the playoffs. I was frustrated that I wasn’t in the game for the last 5 minutes. The guy who took my place (a sophomore!) missed a wide open jumper that could have tied the game. Shooting the 3-ball is my specialty. But Coach likes this dude because he is 4 inches taller and can hang on the rim.
Anyway, getting benched meant it was time to try something other than the gym to improve my vertical. Read about Air Alert on the internet. Sounds pretty good. The price is really cheap — like 20 bones all in. Can’t go wrong for that price. Anyway, it is supposed to arrive on Tuesday. I like that Baron Davis and Larry Hughes are on their website. Check it out: Air Alert
Summer league is around the corner. My teammates and I are practicing after school. My buddy Jason was almost dunking yesterday. He can’t palm the basketball and I think that’s what’s keeping him from slamming. I can barely touch the rim…and only if I get a running start. But I am hoping that Air Alert is the solution. Dude, if I could learn how to dunk, that would be sick. Imagine the look on Coach’s face when I slam during the ‘layup’ drill…that would be great!
Hey, Guys. It’s Josh here. Thanks for checking out my blog.
I am on a mission to Jump Higher!
I am tired of getting my shot blocked and getting benched. It’s time to do something about it. Like a lot of you guys, I thought hitting the gym was the best way to increase my vertical. You know, popping up plates with the football dudes. It definitely works to build up my legs, but I’m not seeing the results when I drive to the hoop. I got a few inches of vertical but nothing that has me rocking the rim. I think the problem is I’m not really sure what jump exercises are right or how many reps to do. I did some research on plyometrics but don’t really understand it.
I gotta figure out something soon. We’ve only got 5 more games until the playoffs and I want to be on the court.
I’m gonna blog all my thoughts so you can see how I boost my vert. Follow along and comment.
