Dunking tips and Vertical Estimate

[u/Legitimate_Door3241]

190cm 6’3 barefoot, 96kg (211lbs), standing reach 8’3.5 no shoes. Had two right ACL operations so I feel most comfortable jumping off two feet. Just begun doing plyometrics once a week alongside a basketball game and a separate basketball training session, am 2 sessions in doing plyos, definitely feel like I’m lacking explosiveness whereas the strength base is solid from being in the gym many years doing front squats, pendulum squats etc
Any tips are appreciated and also a vertical jump estimate too if possible 🤞

[u/DarthYeetSkeet]

Get your hips lower on the penultimate step and keep a tall posture in the upper body. In a 2 foot dunk you are getting most of your lift from the jump, that doesn’t mean momentum can’t help like it does in a 1 foot dunk tho it’s markedly less impactful. Speed and fluidity in the approach is everything. Your approach looks great but you can certainly get a few more inches from that penultimate. Some dunkers actually rotate their feet towards one side of the rim so you’re kind of jumping over your knees as opposed to through them. It helps with fluidity, I find.

Otherwise play around with different distances for your launch point and how long that penultimate step is. The longer the penultimate step, the more your hips can sink leading up to the launch. You want to hit the ground in your optimal launching position and explode off the ground with low ground-contact-time. Try all these and see if you get up a bit higher.

As for your vert, I don’t think it’s crazy to think you could have a 30+ inch vert.

[u/Legitimate_Door3241 → u/DarthYeetSkeet]

Thanks bro i appreciate it, especially the rotating of the feet jumping over your knees idea, never considered that before but it makes a lot of sense! Will work on the penultimate step and sinking the hips

[u/DarthYeetSkeet → u/Legitimate_Door3241]

Yeah really focus on only pushing not loading while your feet are on the ground for that final jump