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How a 5'5" Basketball Player Trained Himself to Dunk
- film42 13y agoWe 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!
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- qq66 13y agoTell that to the blind person who dreams of being a fighter pilot.
- danial 13y agoHere is the short documentary being referred to in the article. http://vimeo.com/74061236 http://vimeo.com/74061236
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- kinleyd 13y agoThanks. That was inspiring to watch.
- cranklin 13y agodon't forget about Muggsy Bogues!
- TheBiv 13y agoThis link told me nothing about "how". I learned more from HN comments than I did from the link. Shame on link-bait.
- ivan_ah 13y agoThey say in the video: power training (e.g. jumping with weights). Very inspirational.
- nazgulnarsil 13y agohow did you arrive at the term power training and how did you decide that this was jumping with weights? Powerlifting 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.
- bcbrown 13y agoPower 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.
- nazgulnarsil 13y ago>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.
- cafard 13y ago85 lbs. on a 5'5" frame? How does that affect speed and endurance in a full-court game?
- virtualwhys 13y agoMeh, 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).
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- sharmanaetor 13y agoHow is upper body training helping him jump higher?
- jyu 13y agoMomentum of arms swinging upward. To see correct jumping form, look at proper volleyball spiking technique.
- ivan_ah 13y agoWow 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
- prawn 13y agoMuggsy Bogues, at 5'3", dunked in high school before making the NBA.
- gokhan 13y agoHe 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
- MarkMc 13y agoBut if he had spent all that time practicing his 3-point shot instead, would he be a better basketball player now?
- glanch 13y agoHe's 5'5". In a competitive game he would probably be playing a slash-and-kick style point guard role, not a 3-point jump shooter. His shot would get blocked too often because of his height.
- ianstallings 13y agoI 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.
- kinleyd 13y agoI'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. ;)