RAD blog

For basketball athletes, the ultimate sign of authority is throwing down a dunk - as a result, it is not uncommon to see basketballers spending hours on end trying to improve their vertical jump. There are many ways to improve your jumping ability, but are you going about your training the right way?

This article will explain the most important factors in maximising your training and provide a program which will help to improve your vertical jump to get you ready to dunk.

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Understanding Jumping - Newtons Third Law

Looking to the science behind any movement of the body through space, we have 1 constant responsible factor:

FORCE.

Lets start off really basic... When walking, our body is propelled forward through application of force to the ground in a downward and backward motion - if we press harder this results in a bigger (and faster) step. Newtons Third Law reflects this, recognising that every motion or movement produces an equal and opposite reaction - proportionate to the amount of force we apply.

When we run - a faster version of walking, among some other more technical factors, the major facet resulting in the end product of a faster movement is the greater force application to the ground.

From a point of view of force application, jumping is no different (other than the vertical application of force) - we apply force to the ground to move in the opposite direction (up). The more force that we apply to the ground - the greater the opposite reaction will be (elevation).

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Four Basic Principles

Now that we understand the importance of force application in jumping, let's discuss 4 key principles of dunking.

Mobility: Improving mobility particularly at the hip, knee and ankle will allow you to get through the ranges required to achieve full extension and thus maximise the range through which you can apply force.

Strength: Strength, broadly speaking, is the force production capability of a muscle. The greater the strength of the athlete (relative to body weight), the more force that we can apply to the ground. Keeping in mind our opposite and equal reaction - more force into the ground results in a bigger jump.

Reactive strength: The rate or speed at which we are able to produce and apply force also plays a role in jump height. Put simply, reactive strength sees us balancing the speed of our movement and the amount of force applied, rather than producing maximal force slowly, or moving really quick but not applying a lot of force. An equation used to represent the ideal balance is the reactive strength index, whereby RSI = jump height/contact time, which essentially says apply force quickly.

Technique: It's all well and good being able to jump high on the spot without a ball, but if you can't handle the ball, or jump off a run up then you will struggle.

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Training Outline

The exercises from the program below are an example session that can be completed at home with no equipment. Work through the exercises in 'supersets' - i.e. complete each coloured block in a loop. Rest in between exercises as needed.

Session 1:

Session 2:

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You can find videos of all of these exercises on our youtube channel - https://www.youtube.com/@radcentre

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From here this then builds a solid foundation upon which we can then start to include more complex movements - things like olympic lifting variations, the addition of bands and higher intensity plyometric drills. But it is really improtant to nail this solid foundation before introduce the higher intensity drills to avoid any injuries.

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Technique & Tips

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On-Court Warm-Up

• Be sure to warm-up appropriately at the court and progress jumps prior to attempting any dunk. Refer to our FREE Warm-Up Guide. CLICK HERE.‍
• Include some extra jumps to get your nervous system and muscles firing - e.g. 5 x drop jumps.

Grip

• Practice palming the ball as much as possible - do this walking around the house etc.
• When you're getting close, attempt dunking with smaller balls - i.e. start with tennis ball and progress.
• Complete some stress ball squeezes whenever you can to build your grip strength.

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Approach and Jump

• Practice approaching and jumping at the rim - aiming to get wrists up over the rim.
• 1 versus 2 foot takeoff - which is better? That depends. Test out both and see what works for you.
• Work on the premise of reactive strength - don't approach and drop super deep, find the balance between getting off the ground quickly and dropping to a reasonable depth.

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Do you want improve your vertical jump?

Our expert team of Strength and Conditioning Coaches have worked with hundered's of athletes to help improve their performance.

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We are so confident that if you stick to our program, you are guaranteed to improve your vertical jump - or if you don't we will give you your money back.

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Following a thorough performance assessment (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypf53psrXZ0&t=31s) we then map out an individualised program to help improve your performance.

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To find out more info contact our team here - https://www.radcentre.com.au/athlete-development-program

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