

How a 5'5" Basketball Player Trained Himself to Dunk - wallflower
http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2013/10/how-a-55-basketball-player-trained-himself-to-dunk/280148/

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danial
Here is the short documentary being referred to in the article.

[http://vimeo.com/74061236](http://vimeo.com/74061236)

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kinleyd
Thanks. That was inspiring to watch.

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TheBiv
This link told me nothing about "how". I learned more from HN comments than I
did from the link. Shame on link-bait.

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ivan_ah
They say in the video: power training (e.g. jumping with weights).

Very inspirational.

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nazgulnarsil
how did you arrive at the term power training and how did you decide that this
was jumping with weights?

Power _lifting_ is a necessity as most competent coaches will make sure one
can squat around 1.5x bodyweight or more before doing plyo training (drop
jumps), which is hugely effective for vertical improvements, but highly
stressful on the joints, tendons, and ligaments.

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bcbrown
Power training would logically be training the attribute referred to by
'power'. That can be trained with the Olympic lifts, amongst other things.

Here's a video of an Olympian shot-putter training, including 'jumping with
weights':
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frFVhwIy_PU](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frFVhwIy_PU)

Not to say that strong tendons and joints are important, nor that the article
mentions powerlifting, which is not concerned with power.

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nazgulnarsil
>Inspired by Russian powerlifters, Todd trained himself to dunk the ball
through rigorous strength training, as well as running and jumping exercises.
Over three years, Todd gained 85 pounds of muscle before he was finally able
to dunk the ball.

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cafard
85 lbs. on a 5'5" frame? How does that affect speed and endurance in a full-
court game?

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kinleyd
I'm 5'10", and unfortunately some of it comes from a long long neck and a fine
head. A well known coach once called it wasted height, as it doesn't help any
in basketball. Things got a little worse with the fact that my upper body is
disproportionately longer than my lower body. Doesn't help your jump any, but
at least it gave me some reach - 7'3" with my arms extended.

And so, I needed a vertical leap of 3 feet to grab the ring. The happiest day
of my basketballing life was after some weeks of pumping iron (leg weights), I
did leap and grab that ring - once. It was such a thrill.

That was way back in college. I wish I'd gone all the way like Brandon did.
But hey, I'm only 50 now, and still playing basketball. I'm inspired. I think
I'm going to go for it again. ;)

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prawn
Muggsy Bogues, at 5'3", dunked in high school before making the NBA.

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gokhan
He also did it.

 _"...and his first dunk story at 5'2 at the age of 13..."_

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brandon_Todd](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brandon_Todd)

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film42
We all have potential to be and do whatever it is we want to. Sometimes we
just stop believing. Let this be a reminder that we can!

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qq66
Tell that to the blind person who dreams of being a fighter pilot.

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virtualwhys
Meh, sorry, guy very likely had crazy hops before the training regimen, don't
discount genetics.

If you lack natural coordination and explosiveness, at 5'5" you'll never dunk
a basketball no matter how hard you train.

However, you may have the ability to code explosively in the same way that one
is able to shake another out of their shoes with a crossover dribble; that, or
train your mind to do so. The former will arguably be the superior "player" as
they likely started coding at age 8, drawn to it without knowing why, and the
latter likely came late to the game (case here).

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MarkMc
But if he had spent all that time practicing his 3-point shot instead, would
he be a better basketball player now?

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ianstallings
I would say that his improved vertical leap will help there too. 3-pointers
are impossible against a good guard without a good vertical leap to gain a
height advantage, distancing yourself and taking a shot without fear of
rejection.

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cranklin
don't forget about Muggsy Bogues!

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sharmanaetor
How is upper body training helping him jump higher?

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jyu
Momentum of arms swinging upward. To see correct jumping form, look at proper
volleyball spiking technique.

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ivan_ah
Wow cool. Wouldn't have though about this, but the arm swing seems to add 9cm
to one's jump:

    
    
        Participants jumped higher (0.086 m) in the arm swing
        compared to the no-arm swing condition ... 
            --- http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15519601

