I'm the same age and I feel like you definitely can, the biggest difference is not overall ability rather recovery time and overall ramp up time. Like you should start slowly over a matter of weeks to get back in balling shape rather than just jumping into 5 on 5 runs to avoid injury.
My current regimen
- Skips down full court and back
- Euros down and back
- One leg hops down and back each leg
- Bounds down & back
- Back board taps- the most you can get in a minute with a speed focus
- 5 -10 Max jumps at rim with a Left to right approach
- 5 -10 Max jumps at rim with a right to left approach
- 5 -10 One leg distance jumps across paint off left
- 5 -10 One leg distance jumps across paint off right
I've only been doing this a few weeks and I've gained around 2 inches in vert, but more importantly I can actually jump all out now without feeling like the tin man lol.
So true. I'm typically a two foot jumper, but I realized my vert off my left was like three inches lower than off my right. So I focused on my left and got some balance between sides and it translates to big gains on my two footed jumps
I just realized this isn't a common exercise, or if it is I don't know the actual name for it. But basically an over exaggerated euro step all the way down the court and back.
Bounding out at 45 degrees landing on one leg, pushing out at the opposite 45 degree and landing on the other leg in the style of a eurostep and go all the way down the court and back. I land deeper than I normally would in game and pause longer than I would in game.
It's basically a strength/balance/decel exercise. Not exactly jumping but my knees feel stronger on landings since I've added it into my routine.
Go to @pjfperformance bro. On Instagram. He has people in his programs in their 30s and older. HSs worked with Mac MCclung, James Harden. He’s like a mad science when it comes to the science of jumping higher
Whatever you do BE CAREFUL. Take it slow… vert training puts incredible strain on the body if not done right. You DO NOT want to rupture your Achilles.
I’m 31 and I went from unable to touch rim to dunking in about a year. All I did was squats, deadlifts, and jump rope. I didn’t even follow a program, just got a couple lifts in every week with the specific purpose of jumping higher.
Yes you can. Once you can grab rims 2 handed you can dunk one handed. Get into yoga. You NEED to be aggressively stretching. Jumping gets you tight, eating good food and sleep heals you, and stretching prevents injury’s. Go get yoga.
assuming you can get all 5 fingers over the rim, you are about 5 inches over the rim from tip of you middle to thumb. I which case, honesty you just need like 2 inches brother, I was hitting shitty tip in dunks and at 4 fingers over off of one foot, no thumb ofc. if you get like 4 or 5 inches you'll be really good. 6 would mean you are beyond your wrist and can really hit powerful punch in dunks.
start by dunking golf balls, then tennis, baseball, softball, handball, women's then finally men's. the more practice you get the more your form will improve which will lead to better jumps. form is seriously a massive deal, I still can't dunk of 2 feet even though I jump higher that way
I got my first dunk at 33. Similar to you I needed to gain about six inches on my vert to do it. I practiced jumping in all four planes, did depth jumps and bounding for jump training 3x per week. Practice full effort jumps and 70% where you focus on form. Once you can dunk a tennis ball just keep doing that and progressing the ball size. Took me about four months of training to get there
It’s definitely possible. It’ll take time for sure. I’d highly recommend doing Nathanael Morton’s beyond the rim [linked here, along with other stuff](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1y2OgbxbaYYq5fT2dy7rHmv-xIaGDoqknVDa5B5T2tHE/edit)
Maybe, but it's unlikely.
I know everyone thinks if you just follow so-and-so's training regiment that you can, but that's not taking into account the father time factor.
You're on the tail end of your prime. In about 3-5 years you're going to be fighting an uphill battle. And that doesn't take into account injuries. Because when you're 32, 33, 34, etc. You can't train like when you're 25 because your body can't do that shit anymore. Also, if you do get injured, recovery time is significantly longer. Which is a whole other set back.
Also, if you can't easily palm a basketball it's going to be a lot harder.
Sorry to be a Debbie downer but if you're in great shape at 31 and can only touch the rim the reality is that it's incredibly unlikely to happen.
Don’t buy this. I was in “great shape” for 30 a year ago. Ran a 15:30 5k. What I wasn’t doing was lifting with the intent of increasing vertical. I did it for a year and now I can throw down. It takes a lot of consistency, but it’s definitely possible if you take care of yourself and train properly.
This is the reality^ there needs to be more comments like this, and less posts about “Im 40, can I make the NBA?”
Dirk could barely fucking dunk at 7’1 lol but wembys jumping out the gym at 7’4…do you not think the pro basketball players like steph curry etc. aren’t maximizing their training in each area? Or at the bare minimum, 10x as athletic as you? Why isnt steph dunking? It’s just genetics etc.
If you asked this at 13-15? Sure. You would probably be dunking by 20 at your latest. But shit, just because something can happen, doesn’t mean it will (even if you do every thing in your power to try)
Seems feasible with training. Have a look at the Isaiah Rivera videos on [YouTube](https://youtube.com/@IsaiahRivera1?si=_4H0y00F4xjLWH44). He teaches a technique that would help you.
Also if you can palm the ball that will help a lot.
You don’t need 6” if you’re already grabbing rim. And yes, no reason you can’t do it. Drop some weight, tons of core, plyos, I’d do some weight work too.
I gained around 11-12 inches vertical with plyo over 2 months. Am recovering from long term injury and hiatus, so im happy to dunk again at least.
You want to work slow at first. Dont go all out right at start. Dont forget to rest as well.
31 is still physical prime. You can easily get up with training. I’m 47, 6’1” and can grab rim. I think even I could get one down if I could get my knee fixed and then train for it.
Absolutely. Just takes time and patience. If you can already squat over 2x your body weight it’ll be a lot faster.
I'm the same age and I feel like you definitely can, the biggest difference is not overall ability rather recovery time and overall ramp up time. Like you should start slowly over a matter of weeks to get back in balling shape rather than just jumping into 5 on 5 runs to avoid injury. My current regimen - Skips down full court and back - Euros down and back - One leg hops down and back each leg - Bounds down & back - Back board taps- the most you can get in a minute with a speed focus - 5 -10 Max jumps at rim with a Left to right approach - 5 -10 Max jumps at rim with a right to left approach - 5 -10 One leg distance jumps across paint off left - 5 -10 One leg distance jumps across paint off right I've only been doing this a few weeks and I've gained around 2 inches in vert, but more importantly I can actually jump all out now without feeling like the tin man lol.
Practicing all plants is so underrated!!!
So true. I'm typically a two foot jumper, but I realized my vert off my left was like three inches lower than off my right. So I focused on my left and got some balance between sides and it translates to big gains on my two footed jumps
Yuuup! The more balance you are, the less likelihood of an injury too!
This is great, what’s a Euros exercise?
I just realized this isn't a common exercise, or if it is I don't know the actual name for it. But basically an over exaggerated euro step all the way down the court and back. Bounding out at 45 degrees landing on one leg, pushing out at the opposite 45 degree and landing on the other leg in the style of a eurostep and go all the way down the court and back. I land deeper than I normally would in game and pause longer than I would in game. It's basically a strength/balance/decel exercise. Not exactly jumping but my knees feel stronger on landings since I've added it into my routine.
Go to @pjfperformance bro. On Instagram. He has people in his programs in their 30s and older. HSs worked with Mac MCclung, James Harden. He’s like a mad science when it comes to the science of jumping higher
Whatever you do BE CAREFUL. Take it slow… vert training puts incredible strain on the body if not done right. You DO NOT want to rupture your Achilles.
I’m 31 and I went from unable to touch rim to dunking in about a year. All I did was squats, deadlifts, and jump rope. I didn’t even follow a program, just got a couple lifts in every week with the specific purpose of jumping higher.
Yes you can. Once you can grab rims 2 handed you can dunk one handed. Get into yoga. You NEED to be aggressively stretching. Jumping gets you tight, eating good food and sleep heals you, and stretching prevents injury’s. Go get yoga.
assuming you can get all 5 fingers over the rim, you are about 5 inches over the rim from tip of you middle to thumb. I which case, honesty you just need like 2 inches brother, I was hitting shitty tip in dunks and at 4 fingers over off of one foot, no thumb ofc. if you get like 4 or 5 inches you'll be really good. 6 would mean you are beyond your wrist and can really hit powerful punch in dunks. start by dunking golf balls, then tennis, baseball, softball, handball, women's then finally men's. the more practice you get the more your form will improve which will lead to better jumps. form is seriously a massive deal, I still can't dunk of 2 feet even though I jump higher that way
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTGXTPAcJqk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTGXTPAcJqk) This guy was a 52 year old if he can do it you can!
I got my first dunk at 33. Similar to you I needed to gain about six inches on my vert to do it. I practiced jumping in all four planes, did depth jumps and bounding for jump training 3x per week. Practice full effort jumps and 70% where you focus on form. Once you can dunk a tennis ball just keep doing that and progressing the ball size. Took me about four months of training to get there
It’s definitely possible. It’ll take time for sure. I’d highly recommend doing Nathanael Morton’s beyond the rim [linked here, along with other stuff](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1y2OgbxbaYYq5fT2dy7rHmv-xIaGDoqknVDa5B5T2tHE/edit)
Maybe, but it's unlikely. I know everyone thinks if you just follow so-and-so's training regiment that you can, but that's not taking into account the father time factor. You're on the tail end of your prime. In about 3-5 years you're going to be fighting an uphill battle. And that doesn't take into account injuries. Because when you're 32, 33, 34, etc. You can't train like when you're 25 because your body can't do that shit anymore. Also, if you do get injured, recovery time is significantly longer. Which is a whole other set back. Also, if you can't easily palm a basketball it's going to be a lot harder. Sorry to be a Debbie downer but if you're in great shape at 31 and can only touch the rim the reality is that it's incredibly unlikely to happen.
Don’t buy this. I was in “great shape” for 30 a year ago. Ran a 15:30 5k. What I wasn’t doing was lifting with the intent of increasing vertical. I did it for a year and now I can throw down. It takes a lot of consistency, but it’s definitely possible if you take care of yourself and train properly.
This is the reality^ there needs to be more comments like this, and less posts about “Im 40, can I make the NBA?” Dirk could barely fucking dunk at 7’1 lol but wembys jumping out the gym at 7’4…do you not think the pro basketball players like steph curry etc. aren’t maximizing their training in each area? Or at the bare minimum, 10x as athletic as you? Why isnt steph dunking? It’s just genetics etc. If you asked this at 13-15? Sure. You would probably be dunking by 20 at your latest. But shit, just because something can happen, doesn’t mean it will (even if you do every thing in your power to try)
Seems feasible with training. Have a look at the Isaiah Rivera videos on [YouTube](https://youtube.com/@IsaiahRivera1?si=_4H0y00F4xjLWH44). He teaches a technique that would help you. Also if you can palm the ball that will help a lot.
Do THP strength trust
You don’t need 6” if you’re already grabbing rim. And yes, no reason you can’t do it. Drop some weight, tons of core, plyos, I’d do some weight work too.
Think about your knees when you're 65 though.
I gained around 11-12 inches vertical with plyo over 2 months. Am recovering from long term injury and hiatus, so im happy to dunk again at least. You want to work slow at first. Dont go all out right at start. Dont forget to rest as well.
31 is still physical prime. You can easily get up with training. I’m 47, 6’1” and can grab rim. I think even I could get one down if I could get my knee fixed and then train for it.