My writings will have two purposes: 1. to keep readers entertained with interesting and actionable basketball ideas, and 2. to keep myself accountable to my dunk goal and hopefully share useful training advice.
I wanted to share my jump/dunk journey up to this point so that we can all be on the same page going forward. I am a 90s child. As I was growing up, YouTube burst onto the scene. By the time I was in my 20s, I was hooked to Ball Is Life mixtapes. That is where I saw things like this:
That’s 5’ 10” Jahii Carson going and getting a poster. Stuff like this, made me think, “Maybe it’s possible. Maybe I CAN work on my bounce, and with the right mindset and training, maybe I can find myself dunking on someone.”
That dream was just that, a dream, for most of my 20s. I would spend a lot of time working on my basketball game but very little time working on developing my jumping ability. I made attempts- I tried “Jump Attack” on at least two separate occasions. In both instances I strained my ankle and then “rest” turned into not really trying/believing I could develop my jumping ability.
I even picked up the I’m Possible Jump Training program that was a collaboration between one of my favorite basketball trainers, Micah Lancaster, and 5’ 10” college dunk champion Jacob Tucker. I got better at basketball but once again- I didn’t jump higher.
Fast forward to November 2022. I am 31 years old, and resigned to the idea that I will never dunk a basketball. The dunk gods decided in this moment to conspire and present me with two case studies.
Case Study 1 (Kadour Ziani, 5’ 11”, 49 years old)
Case Study 2 (Andy Nicholson, 5’ 10”, 50 years old)
Both of these men are much older than me and BOTH are jumping higher than I am. They are clear examples that maybe jumping high enough to dunk is less about your age and more about controlling the things you can- training your strength, and actually continuing to train your jumping ability.
I still had/have my doubts. Kadour is an ex-pro dunker after all, and Andy at least has dunked in the past. I meanwhile, have never dunked, not even during the “heyday” of my athleticism as a high school basketball player. Yet a sense of determination set in after seeing these two dunk. I saw Kadour’s t-shirt that reads “Dunk or Die” and I thought to myself, “That’s it- I have no excuses anymore. I am going to give everything I can to reach this dream. I don’t have unlimited resources, but I am going to give everything I have. If it really means pushing my body to the point where it feels like I will be on the verge of ‘Dunking or Dying’ then at least I can lie in my grave knowing I gave my very best effort to get to that elusive rim 10 feet above the ground.” That sounds a bit morbid, but I feel like it was the level of commitment I needed to begin moving forward.
Training
With that, my training began.
November 2022 - January 2023
200 jump rope jumps per day (Monday through Saturday)
Basketball Wednesday nights
Flexibility work after workouts, focusing on hamstring flexibility
February 2023 - August 2023
Attended Dunk Mini-Camp in Salt Lake City
Vertical jump was very low at this point; I was reaching in the upper net area of the basketball hoop.
Started to train jumping in the pool: 100 jumps (2-foot LR, 2-foot RL, 1-foot R, 1-foot L)
Basketball Wednesdays
Physical Therapy to strengthen ankles
August 2023 - January 2024
Began following Jump Manual workouts
Lifting 4 days/week, jump sessions on Saturdays
Changed diet to include much higher amounts of protein
By December of 2023 I was solidly touching the rim on most jump days off of two feet
February 2024 - March 2024
Since about July of 2024 I developed shin splints after doing large amounts of lifting, and also training for basketball. As I cut out playing basketball, it improved but never went away. I finally felt like something had to change and I began 6 weeks of relative rest.
Swimming (30-45 min.) M,W,F,Sat
Began counting calories in an attempt to lower my body fat percentage
March 8, 2024 - Present
Began training with THP Strength
Recommitted/improved my calorie tracking with a continued commitment to dropping my body fat % (Current weight of 174 lbs. with the goal of dropping about 10 lbs. over the course of 10+ weeks.)
I will have to get videos of my jumping and how it has progressed since I began. I still have a long ways to go, but I am at least trending in a good direction.
I have learned SO MANY THINGS during this process, but I will have to try and share what I can as I continue to update you all week to week. I would feel blessed for you all to join me on this journey.
Here are clips of me measuring my vertical and working on my back squat this past weekend:
So what is your equivalent of dunking? What progress and wins have you seen this week? I look forward to progressing along with you!
Nice Cameron! Keep it up!!!