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Dunking Under 6 Feet
A brief look at my journey to dunk a basketball.
In terms of athletic ability, I have never been anything special. I am under 6 feet tall but, I always aspired to dunk. I wanted to dunk to say I did it, and I had a lot of fun achieving my goal.
If Not Now When?
When I decided to dunk, I went all in. I was 24-years-old and out of shape. A few years before, I had grabbed the rim, but I had regressed and could barely touch the rim. I was only getting older. I thought if I didn’t try to dunk now, I would never have another chance.
Over the next six months, I became consumed with the prospect of dunking. It was always on my mind. Dunking became my top priority.
Measurements
- Height: 5'11" (71 inches)
- Standing reach: 7'9" (93 inches)
- Starting vertical: 27 inches
A basketball hoop is 10 feet tall (120 inches). To dunk, you need to get the whole basketball over the rim. Although the diameter of a basketball is between 9.43–9.51 inches, there are ways to manipulate the ball to dunk without jumping 9.5 inches above the hoop. For example, if you can palm a basketball, or hold it in one hand without dropping it, you can dunk by jumping, at a minimum, 4 inches above the rim. If you cannot palm a basketball, you need to be at least 6 inches above the rim to dunk.
I cannot palm a basketball and, as I found out along my dunking journey, I needed to clear the rim by about 8 inches to dunk. Over six months of training, I increased my vertical jump by about 30%. I went from a 27 inch to a 35 inch vertical.
Workouts
- Gym three to four times per week. Exercises include plyometrics, weight training, and a lot of jumping. I followed the beginner workout program in The Vertical Jump Development Bible by Kelly Baggett.
- Yoga once per week to increase flexibility.
