I decided a little over a month ago that I wanted to dunk. When I first walked onto the court and jumped as high as I could, I was in for a rude awakening -- I was about 2 or 3 inches below clipping the rim, and I'm 6'0. So I started trying to get myself in shape.

For the past month I've been doing weighted calf raises (40 pound dumbbell in hand, balancing against a wall, on one leg, 4 or 5 sets of 8 - 12 reps), one-leg squats (bodyweight, 5 sets of 5 - 6 reps), and I've also just practiced jumping a lot, by touching the rim as much as possible, as well as any 10 foot ceilings I come across.

Sometimes I do both the calisthenics/weightlifting and the jumping practice on the same day, but I always take at least a day off in between workouts with the raises and the squats, and I stop vertical jumping at the rim when I start to get sore in the joints (usually after a day or two).

Here's an example week:

Monday -- Jump high as much as possible
Tuesday -- Jump some more, squats and calf raises
Wednesday -- rest
Thursday -- rest
Friday -- squats and calf raises
Saturday -- jumps
Sunday -- jumps

Somewhat haphazard.

I gained inches really fast the first two weeks on my program, but I haven't been able to grab the rim yet, I've only gotten my fingers about an inch above it at most.

Is there any muscle group I am neglecting? Are the weights I'm using appropriate? Anything I'm doing wrong? Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Go over to www.defrancostraining.com and he's got an article up about how to increase your vert jump

Thanks evolution. I can't wait to try out his techniques once I'm rested enough. (Hehe...especially the "dirty tricks" like stretching the hip flexors -- an extra inch or two for free would make my month)

leg presses and squats i guess, ive been able to jump naturally but i think those two have helped me, i dont rele go intense on them but im 5ft8 and can kinda dunk it, not like throw it down or anything little let downs

I read that relying too much on the quads and not hamstrings will affect your knees in jumping. I'm afraid of getting jumper's knee (I've come close, but I always rest and take tons of Ibuprofen when my knee starts to hurt) so I want to start working out my hamstrings more, if what I've read is correct.

My problem is that I don't have enough equipment. I can do hyperextensions by hooking my legs around the back of my office chair and lying stomach-down where I would usually sit, but I can't use any dumbbells or the chair would tip over. I do single-leg bridges up and down with my foot on the bed, but I don't feel that I get much range of motion for the hamstring. I can't deadlift because my dumbbells are light. I can't do good-mornings because I have tendonitis in my elbows and it hurts too much to hold dumbbells that are heavy enough to challenge my back and hamstrings.

Is there anything I can do with only 40 pounds of dumbbell, my own body, and household items, or am I going to have to go to the gym to deadlift?

Have you tried single leg deadlifts? They will work more stablizer muscles as an added bonus. I've been reading that single leg exercises are better for athletes anyway. I've done them two ways one with my nonlifting foot on a bench behind me and still leg deadlifts with my no lifting foot raising as a counter balance

Bumpbert, I am looking to do the exact same thing as you. I am 6’4 and can dunk with 1 hand off 1 leg, but cannot dunk off 2 legs. I stopped one day and said “That’s it, I am going to dunk it off two legs with two hands.” Since then it has been about a month. I have been doing weighted calf raises with my barbell on my back and a sitting calf machine. Also I do leg presses and hamstring curls. I do/did this 3 times a week. From this, I just started to get “jumpers knee” yesterday, so I’m out of those exercises for a while. But, from doing this for a month, I increased my vertical about 4 inches when jumping off 2 feet! Try these exercises if you can, just don’t over do it like I did. If you lift hard on Monday, don’t do it again until Thursday/Friday. Hope this helps!

-Win

Plyometrics can really help as well. I've always thought that using weights all the time will restrict in you jumping higher. Try hopping on 1 leg for 25 metres and then change legs, and then try jump squats. Go down like you would normally do during a squat and push up from your feet and get as high as possible and when you land, you automatically go down again and jump back up (very tiring after a while). You can then just do jumps on the spot in rapid succession or quite fast succession for about 30-60 seconds.

Don't forget to stretch as well, and good luck.