My quest to dunk started poorly. The main problem was that I could only do about half of the very long list of ercises the Jump Manual instructed at the crowded and inadequate YMCA near my place. The basketball court—the only space big enough to do some of the drills—was always occupied with classes. The Strength Shoes, meanwhile, were so absurd that I was too embarrassed to wear them in front of other gym-goers. I used them only a handful of times, in an empty stairwell on the top floor of the gym.
I decided to see a personal trainer to develop a program that a) worked, and b) didn’t get me laughed out the Y. After some Googling, I came across David Janik, a former Division I football player at North Carolina State who advertised sports-specific training on his site.
I met Janik at Velocity Sports Performance in Manhattan, where he trains clients. Janik was so handsome and well built he looked like an X-Men character. We talked about my athletic background and what I needed to do in order to dunk in ten weeks. He assigned me a three-days-a-week program that would improve my explosiveness and overall leg strength and told me to check back in three weeks to adjust it. "If you follow the program and your intensity level is high," he said, "I guarantee you’ll dunk again."
the program went like this
Ten minutes of dynamic stretching and light track running
Twenty minutes of plyometric training, including broad jumps, one-foot jumps, box jumps, depth jumps (jumping off a bench, and immediately springing off the floor), and full squat jumps. The first week I performed the ercises at 60 percent max effort, the second week 70 percent, and so on.
Leg weights: three sets of 10 reps of squats, deadlifts, and Bulgarian split squats. All performed with correct form. If my form slipped, I lowered the weight.
Core ercises (i.e. medicine ball twists, leg lifts, etc.)
A minimum of ten minutes of static stretching at the end of the workout. When I was finished, I drank a protein shake mid with glutamine powder, which helps with muscle recovery.
I followed the routine Mondays and Fridays. On Wednesdays, I did the same plyometric drills but swapped leg weights with upper-body training (push press, pull ups, and push ups). On off days I rested or played basketball, and I tried to stretch and ice my knees and ankles daily.
I worked out hard and noticed benefits after just a few weeks. By the next time I saw Janik, I’d put a couple inches on my vertical. For the following cycle, I increased the weight on the squats, deadlifts, and split squats, and dropped the reps by two. Two weeks later, I added weight and dropped reps again.
Janik was available by text whenever I needed him, like my very own dunk training app. The important thing, he said, was to work out hard and smart. When my knees or back were sore, he advised lowering the weight for a few sessions and eliminating depth jumps. "Listen to your body," he told me. And I did: I took a day off here or there if I needed it; I added more weight when I felt good. When, after five weeks, I started to worry that I wasn’t going to dunk again, he kept me motivated. "Leg strength is the key. Squat deep. Ass to grass," he told me, unsympathetic to the known fact that squats are fucking terrible.
How to Train Yourself to Dunk a Basketball
How to Train Yourself to Dunk a Basketball
SubscribeGive A Gift
Things you buy through our links may earn New York a commission
Photo: Getty Images
Tomorrow night, Brooklyn’s Barclays Center will host the annual NBA Slam Dunk Contest as part of the league’s All-Star Weekend. Dunking a basketball is generally reserved for seasoned athletes with the incredible vertical leap required to rise high enough to stuff a ball through a ten-foot rim. But what about the aging average Joes who grew up watching high-flying stars like Dominique Wilkins and Michael Jordan? Could they ever soar high enough to achieve the dream of every schoolyard baller in the country?
Asher Price, a reporter at the Austin American-Statesman, spent a year of his life trying to find out and chronicled his quest to jam on a regulation hoop in the book The Year of the Dunk, which comes out in May. Price, who played coy about whether he was able to achieve his goal, spoke to Science of Us about what a rec leaguer would need to do to fly like a pro. (Spoiler: lots of squats and alley-oop attempts.)
So first off, why did you want to learn how to dunk? I think it’s the sort of thing that a lot of kids probably fantasize about, me included. Just like you might want to become an astronaut or something like that. I was always one of the tallest kids in my class, but I never really tried to dunk. And so as an adult, you start wondering a little bit about what sorts of things you left on the table, that you never really tried your hand at. And I got it into my head that I’d pick up this childhood fantasy of mine and see if I could dunk.
What kind of physical shape are you in? You mentioned you were among the taller kids in school. How tall are you? I’m six-two-and-a-half. So I’m tall, not very tall. When I started the project, I was in okay shape, but not great. I weighed over 200 pounds and had never belonged to a gym, and really despised working out, actually. I’m 35 now; I was 34 when I was doing most of this work. And so part of the project was obviously getting in shape.
And how much basketball experience did you have? Did you play in high school? As a kid? I played some pickup basketball, but I had never played competitive basketball. Two years back, I started playing. Just as something to do to stay a little bit active. The only organized sport I had played competitively was ultimate Frisbee. So I was a basketball fan, but I couldn’t execute a proper pick and roll.
If somebody wants to train to dunk a basketball, where do they start? The first thing they have to do is improve their flexibility, for a couple of reasons. They need to be flexible to undertake the kind of exercises they need to be able to jump higher. They also just need to be able to increase their flexibility, because in the short sprints you take when you try to dunk a basketball, if you can imagine yourself running up to try to dunk on the rim, the higher you can bring your knees in a sprint, just like a sprinter running the hundred meters, the greater force you’ll be able to exert on the ground, especially with your leaping step.
Then, in terms of exercises, you really need to get your whole body stronger. You need to improve your core, and obviously you need to improve your legs. So someone who is interested in jumping higher will find themselves doing a lot of squats. And I would suggest that if someone just started this, they could do a lot of squat exercises without even going to the gym or even bearing weight. You know, get up in their office cubicle and do ten squats. Three sets of ten reps of squats is a good workout.
Are certain muscles especially important to work out? I think one way of thinking about it is, less parts of the body, and more the kind of muscle. You want to develop your quick-twitch, or fast-twitch, muscles, because at the end of the day, trying to dunk a basketball is an explosive activity. You’re not going for a long-distance run here. You’re doing three quick steps, a hard shove against the ground, and exploding upwards. So the question is how to turn yourself into basically a sprinter. You do a lot of jumping exercises where you’re doing box jumps, where you jump off one box and as soon as you hit the ground, you try to jump up onto another box. That sort of thing.
What was your workout schedule like? I tried to work out at least a couple of hours a day doing something or other. So some days were lifting, doing arm and core lifting. Again, you can imagine these sprinters, they’re strong all over — if you think of Tyson Gay or someone. It’s not just their legs that are muscular, it’s their arms, too, because they have to pump furiously to get themselves to go faster.
Some days I would be doing leg exercises — you want to give yourself a 48-hour break between heavy lifting involving any given part of your body, to give yourself time to recover. Some days, I’d go out to the track and do a track workout like sprints. I was avoiding doing long-distance running, because I didn’t want to develop slow-twitch muscles. I wanted to concentrate on fast-twitch muscles. And then for fun, on the weekends, I would play soccer or pickup basketball. I was becoming a better athlete because of this. Not only was I faster and stronger, but I was also more confident, in terms of just the run of play in any of these team sports, because I was more athletic than I had been.
There are videos on YouTube promising to teach someone to dunk in, like, three or four weeks. Is that at all realistic? I mean, I think you can probably improve your vertical some in a month. I think, though, that for most normal people who aren’t teenagers who are trying out for their basketball team, who don’t have all that time on their hands, I think there’s a much saner way to go about it, where you’re steadily improving your vertical over a period of time. You know, there’s a lot of this kind of slightly crazy, kamikaze, self-improvement type of thing, whether it’s trying to jump higher or do anything else. I’m sure those things work to some extent, but it’s not the way I would have wanted to go about it.
What’s a more realistic time frame for an adult who really wants to do this? In the tradition of New Year’s resolutions and the like, you can give yourself a year. I certainly didn’t want to give myself more than a year, because after a year I knew I would grow tired of it, and my body would start to get quite unhappy with me. But I would recommend to someone that they give it a go for at least six months. It’s also a way of just getting yourself in fantastic shape. I mean, trying to dunk a basketball in itself is awesome. It’s really great to be able to dunk a basketball, to get yourself higher up than you thought possible. But the process of getting yourself in that kind of position is itself rewarding.
Watching videos of other people who’ve tried this, a lot of them are attempting alley-oop dunks. Is there a reason for that, or are they just showing off? No, I think there’s a practical aspect to that. It’s hard to grip a basketball. I mean, that’s another physical challenge. I have pretty small hands, and one thing I had to train myself to do, which I couldn’t do at the start of this project, is palm a basketball. So that involved fingertip push-ups, to get the tips of your fingers much stronger. It involves, while hanging out and watching television, trying to palm a basketball for as long as you can. You want to get into a quick, full sprint, and you want to be able to grip the basketball as you go up to jam it. So doing those things can be a challenge. That’s partly what’s behind people doing the alley-oop-type things or throwing it up off the backboard. In some cases, they simply can’t grip the ball on the way to the hoop, so their solution is to throw it in the air, catch it, and try to bring it down.
What else did you learn while training? I went to England and met with an entomologist in Cambridge who studies jumping insects. I was interested in how human evolution and jumping compared to the jumping of other kinds of creatures.
What did you learn about jumping from the insects? I learned that insects are fucking awesome. There was an insect in particular that I was interested in called the froghopper, or spittlebug, that is basically one of the world’s top jumpers. It’s a survival mechanism. It can jump far, far higher than we can as a function of its weight, basically. So I learned that humans are quite modest in the jumping scheme of things.
How to Train Yourself to Dunk a Basketball
Things you buy through our links may earn New York a commission
What to Know About the Balenciaga Ad Scandal
What We Know About the Death of Shanquella Robinson
What Is It This Time?
A Month in a Tuscan Villa Didn’t Fix My Burnout
Rebel Wilson, We’re Confused
What to Know About the Balenciaga Ad Scandal
A Month in a Tuscan Villa Didn’t Fix My Burnout
What Is It This Time?
What We Know About the Death of Shanquella Robinson
The Haunting of a Dream House
The Latest
holiday gifts 2022
The Best Secret Santa Gifts Under $25 (That You Can Buy on Amazon) From a stainless-steel pierogi press to a banana-shaped cat toy.
By Dominique Pariso
fashion
What to Know About the Balenciaga Ad Scandal The fashion house is under fire for two separate campaigns that consumers say promote child exploitation.
keeping up with the royals
Will and Kate’s Big Night Out (in Boston) The Prince and Princess of Wales touch down in Beantown on Wednesday.
yikes
Rebel Wilson, We’re Confused Her new loungewear collection isn’t size-inclusive … at all.
crime
An Ex-Cop Allegedly Catfished a Teen and Killed Her Family The former Virginia trooper was killed in a shoot-out with authorities last week.
holiday gifts
17 Best Luxury Candles That Double As Great Holiday Gifts Including an affordable option.
celebrity
Billie Eilish Is Amped to Be Dating Jesse Rutherford “Round of applause for me.”
do i need this?
The Dapper Dan x GAP Hoodie Collab Is Back In four new plaid colorways for the holidays.
divorce
Kim and Ye Are Officially Divorced Ye will reportedly pay Kim $200,000 in child support every month.
ask a beauty editor
‘Is Dermarolling at Home a Good Idea?’ The issues with DIY microneedling aren’t as obvious as you might think.
parenting
What Is It This Time? When my younger child recently woke up barfing, I tried to figure out if she had RSV, flu, COVID, hand, foot, and mouth disease, or yet another thing.
By Lydia Kiesling
why is your skin so good
How Kelly Rowland Gets Her Skin So Good Her “obsessive” routine involves regular cryotherapy facials, lots of face tools, and multiple cleansers.
celebrity
Meghan Markle Won’t Be Joining TheReal Housewives Anytime Soon Fans will have to settle for watching her life on Netflix.
strength
Country Singer’s Kids Are Naturally Ripped, You Freaks Jessie James Decker did not Photoshop abs onto her young children, okay?
is this flirting?
So This Is How Ben Affleck Signs His Flirty Emails Is it a promise, or is it a threat?
gone sale-ing
These 16 Cyber Monday Beauty Deals Are Still Going Strong Tatcha, Sephora, and Nordstrom are still offering some great discounts.
black friday
17 Cyber Monday Fashion Deals You Can Still Shop From Everlane, Nordstrom, Saks, and more.
celebrity
Hailey Bieber Shares Her Experience With Ovarian Cysts She revealed she’s suffering from a cyst “the size of an apple.”
crime
What We Know About the Death of Shanquella Robinson A 25-year-old American woman was found dead while on vacation in Mexico. Authorities have issued an arrest warrant for one of her friends.
ask a boss
‘Should I Give My Boss a Holiday Gift?’ All your questions about holiday gift-giving at work, answered.
More Stories
Email You\'ll receive the next newsletter in your inbox. *Sorry, there was a problem signing you up.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Already a subscriber?
What is your email?
This email will be used to sign into all New York sites. By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy and to receive email correspondence from us.
Enter your email: Please enter a valid email address.
Sign In To Continue Reading
Create Your Free Account
Password must be at least 8 characters and contain:
This password will be used to sign into all New York sites. By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy and to receive email correspondence from us.
You’re in!
As part of your account, you’ll receive occasional updates and offers from New York, which you can opt out of anytime.
Already a subscriber?
What is your email?
This email will be used to sign into all New York sites. By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy and to receive email correspondence from us.
Enter your email: Please enter a valid email address.
Sign In To Continue Reading
Create Your Free Account
Password must be at least 8 characters and contain:
This password will be used to sign into all New York sites. By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy and to receive email correspondence from us.
You’re in!
As part of your account, you’ll receive occasional updates and offers from New York, which you can opt out of anytime.
Already a subscriber?
Already a subscriber?
Email You\'ll receive the next newsletter in your inbox. *Sorry, there was a problem signing you up.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Already a subscriber?
What is your email?
This email will be used to sign into all New York sites. By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy and to receive email correspondence from us.
Enter your email: Please enter a valid email address.
Sign In To Continue Reading
Create Your Free Account
Password must be at least 8 characters and contain:
This password will be used to sign into all New York sites. By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy and to receive email correspondence from us.
You’re in!
As part of your account, you’ll receive occasional updates and offers from New York, which you can opt out of anytime.
Already a subscriber?
What is your email?
This email will be used to sign into all New York sites. By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy and to receive email correspondence from us.
Enter your email: Please enter a valid email address.
Sign In To Continue Reading
Create Your Free Account
Password must be at least 8 characters and contain:
This password will be used to sign into all New York sites. By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy and to receive email correspondence from us.
You’re in!
As part of your account, you’ll receive occasional updates and offers from New York, which you can opt out of anytime.
Already a subscriber?
Already a subscriber?
Email You\'ll receive the next newsletter in your inbox. *Sorry, there was a problem signing you up.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Already a subscriber?
What is your email?
This email will be used to sign into all New York sites. By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy and to receive email correspondence from us.
Enter your email: Please enter a valid email address.
Sign In To Continue Reading
Create Your Free Account
Password must be at least 8 characters and contain:
This password will be used to sign into all New York sites. By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy and to receive email correspondence from us.
You’re in!
As part of your account, you’ll receive occasional updates and offers from New York, which you can opt out of anytime.
Already a subscriber?
What is your email?
This email will be used to sign into all New York sites. By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy and to receive email correspondence from us.
Enter your email: Please enter a valid email address.
Sign In To Continue Reading
Create Your Free Account
Password must be at least 8 characters and contain:
This password will be used to sign into all New York sites. By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy and to receive email correspondence from us.
You’re in!
As part of your account, you’ll receive occasional updates and offers from New York, which you can opt out of anytime.
Already a subscriber?
Already a subscriber?
Email You\'ll receive the next newsletter in your inbox. *Sorry, there was a problem signing you up.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Already a subscriber?
What is your email?
This email will be used to sign into all New York sites. By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy and to receive email correspondence from us.
Enter your email: Please enter a valid email address.
Sign In To Continue Reading
Create Your Free Account
Password must be at least 8 characters and contain:
This password will be used to sign into all New York sites. By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy and to receive email correspondence from us.
You’re in!
As part of your account, you’ll receive occasional updates and offers from New York, which you can opt out of anytime.
Already a subscriber?
What is your email?
This email will be used to sign into all New York sites. By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy and to receive email correspondence from us.
Enter your email: Please enter a valid email address.
Sign In To Continue Reading
Create Your Free Account
Password must be at least 8 characters and contain:
This password will be used to sign into all New York sites. By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy and to receive email correspondence from us.
You’re in!
As part of your account, you’ll receive occasional updates and offers from New York, which you can opt out of anytime.
Already a subscriber?
Already a subscriber?
Basketball coaching hacks: how to score goals for beginners
Even if you are a novice basketball player, we will not give you a training plan, but we will tell you why the ball flies anywhere but into the ring and into your hands. It's all about technique: even with regular training and perseverance, novice adults and children often make simple mistakes. It's a shame, let's fix it. Below are 11 life hacks on how to hone your technique to increase the likelihood of a goal for your team.
Basketball Shot Rules for Beginners
1. Hands up
In pursuit of the attacker, raise your hands, even if you are standing with your back to the pass, and even more so if the ring is in front of you. Your raised hands will increase the chance of intercepting the ball from the opponent by 2 times. Don't overlook this little thing!
2. Make shield rolls
Even Tim Duncan did not neglect them! A square is drawn on the basketball backboard. If you are standing opposite the ring, then aim at the middle of the upper part of the square, if you are standing on the side, then at the corner. If you hit this square, then the ball is at 90% of cases will fall into the ring. The law of physics and no cheating!
3.
Look at the ring, not at the ball
Practice driving the ball with your hand, not your eyes, develop tactile control. Your eyes should be on the hoop while dribbling and be aware of the position of your body in relation to the hoop. Then you will be able to take the correct posture, and the throw will be effective.
4. Dribble with the balls of your fingers only
The palm should not touch the ball, only the pads of the fingers. Dribbling should become familiar to you, like an extension of your hand. Then you can change its trajectory at any time and you will have more chances to score goals. Practice with the ball constantly.
5. Throw with one hand
If you throw the ball with two hands, you reduce the chance of hitting the basket. All the efforts of the throw are in one hand (in the right for right-handers, in the left for left-handers). The other hand only holds the ball, the leading one holds it with the fingers, not the palm.
6.
Do not jump when protecting the ring
Jumping is the main mistake of rookie defenders. To intercept the ball and block the shot, simply stick out your hands. When you are in a jump, the attacker will easily bypass you.
7. Don't look back
When you dribble, don't look back, but dribble and aim for the ring, focus on shooting (or passing to another player on your team).
8. Bring the throw to automatism
Incorporate the most basic basketball techniques into your training plan and bring the shot to automatism. Throw first from a distance of half a meter from the ring, gradually increasing it. Learn to throw the ball so that it hits the hoop without touching the edge.
Throw the ball with all fives and jump
Throwing Rules:
Head in the center of the body - if tilted, accuracy is lost.
Look at the ring: mentally build a trajectory. If you are far away, the ball flies in a curved curve with a maximum height of 2 meters above the hoop.
A strong hand is in front and throws, a weak hand is on the side and directs, only holding the ball. The elbow of the throwing hand must be in line with the ring.
The ball must rest on the fingers without touching the palm. The fingers are as far apart as possible and grab the ball.
Throwing arm bent 90 degrees, forearm perpendicular to the floor. If you bend less, then you get not a throw, but a throwing of the ball horizontally.
The main thing in the throw is the position of the body and its balance. Place your feet apart and parallel to each other: it is important to orient them in the middle of the basket. Then the direction of the body during the jump will coincide with the direction of the throw, and the ball will fly straight into the ring. When the feet are uneven, the ball flies in the wrong direction or does not reach (although the throw was normal).
Take a deep breath and release as you exhale.
How to hold the ball and shoot in basketball
How to throw correctly: straighten your arm, point your wrist up, and with your hand set the ball to rotate in the opposite direction from the flight. The ball should seem to "roll" off your fingers.
9. Copy masters and play as a team
Watch professional basketball games and try to copy the movements of your favorite players in training. And be sure to conduct game sparring - this will allow you to develop more techniques.
10. Do not throw in a straight line
The higher the arc of the ball, the greater the chance of a goal and the less chance of blocking by the opponent.
11. Do not throw the ball from a full height stand
This is the biggest newbie mistake!
Before the throw, bend your knees slightly and at the moment of the throw, straighten your body, making a jump. You need to straighten up and push off the ground at the same time. When squatting, keep the elbow of the throwing arm close to the body and towards the ring.
The jump will give momentum to the ball and will allow you not to make sudden movements with the brush.
***
And to be a long-term player, do not forget about your health: take care of your joints and muscles, use tapes, do a warm-up. And be sure to strengthen your arms, legs and shoulder girdle, develop coordination. Regular exercises on uneven bars and horizontal bars will help you with this.
How to throw the ball correctly in basketball: technique, tips, video tutorials
The first thing taught in any basketball section is how to throw the ball correctly in basketball. This is where all the NBA stars once started. In addition to throwing technique, many more qualities will come in handy on the court: speed, strength, agility, quick reaction, but it all starts with technical improvement. For basketball players, this process never ends; in training, they work out tactical schemes and constantly work on the shot. In this article, you will learn how to throw and score the ball correctly, what types of shots are, which ones are the most effective, and how to improve your basketball shot.
If a basketball player does not progress, he becomes less successful. Therefore, after training, the players do not leave the court and for a long time just throw the ball into the basket from different points, this can go on for several hours in a row. So do both schoolchildren who have recently joined the section, and athletes from the best leagues in the world. It is extremely important to master the technique, but it is just as important to continue to work on it, to include basketball throwing exercises in training so that all movements are not only memorized, but also verified.
Types of throws
Almost the whole game consists of throws, and they differ from each other. There are different types according to the execution technique, for example, a dunk or a half-hook, as well as by range: directly from under the shield, from a short or long distance. There are also differences in the method of implementation, for example, after dribbling or in a jump.
The simplest in terms of technical implementation are lay-up and dunk. The first is performed from below, usually right from under the basket, it will not be difficult even for a child to master the correct throw in basketball from such a distance. The dunk will be a little more difficult, as physics intervenes. It is necessary not only to throw the ball, but to group well, to jump high in order to be as close to the basket as possible. In this case, it will be possible to simply put the ball into the ring with two hands or one. You can learn more about this from the article “What are dunks in basketball and how to do them correctly?”.
In the case of the dunk, it is important not only to know how to shoot correctly in basketball, but also to work on the strength of your legs and improve your jump. That is why training begins not only with throws, but with general physical preparation. The very first to be mastered will be from an average distance, this is the basis of everything, these are exactly what they do as a free kick. To implement it is simple and difficult at the same time, the moment is not technically difficult, but extremely responsible.
The worst thing that can happen to a beginner is learning the wrong technique to throw a basketball. The body has muscle memory, so learning something from scratch is easier than relearning. Incorrectly learned movements are reflected in accuracy. Sometimes even high-level basketball players spend several years to correct the wrong technical points that they found in school.
In terms of efficiency, there is no technique that will make any player successful. Much depends on individual characteristics, primarily on height and other anthropometric data. Therefore, you need to master the correct shooting technique in basketball in different performances in order to understand which one makes you more effective.
Correct execution
When learning any throw, you need to watch the position of the body. In the case of the usual, the legs should be shoulder-width apart, this gives stability and enhances coordination of movements. The throwing leg is slightly forward relative to the supporting leg, about half a step. The heels are torn off the floor surface by just a couple of millimeters, the knees are slightly bent, this gives the body springiness.
The main characteristic of basketball shots is accuracy, and it depends on the position of the head. The head should be located strictly in the center of the body, if you tilt it to the right or left, then a deviation will occur, accuracy will suffer.
Let's move on to the most important thing - the work of the hands. When taking out, the thrower is bent at the elbow at a right angle, her forearm is located perpendicular to the floor. With proper implementation, the ball will come off your hand at the level of your forehead or a little higher, this should be taken into account when training a shot in basketball. The second hand is the insurer, it should not firmly fix the ball, just hold it slightly. If you do not listen to this rule, then in flight there will be a deviation from the desired trajectory. In this case, before the throw, the projectile is fixed exclusively with the throwing hand.
Spread your fingers wide for better control of accuracy. The larger the captured area, the easier it is to control.
Accuracy is also affected by backspin, which is given to the ball by fingertips at the very last moment. Twist the middle and index fingers. The throwing arm should not be tense, the ball is escorted exclusively by the hand. The faster it is released, the more accurate its flight will be.
Basketball throwing technique consists of many tiny details, and each of them is important. Before you throw, you need to sit down slightly in order to straighten up at the right moment, this is not done abruptly, but quickly. Such actions allow you to transfer an additional momentum to the projectile. The flight range depends not only on the force that is invested by the throwing hand, so there is simply no need for its tension and sharp movements with the brush.
Last but not least is the trajectory. Players constantly calculate it to understand how to hit the basket in basketball from the distance they are at the moment. The trajectory should always be curved, throwing in a straight line is not worth it for two reasons: it is more difficult to get into the ring, and it is easier for representatives of the other team to intercept the blow. The higher the trajectory, the more likely it is to hit the basket, and not the bow. In addition, according to the rules of the game, block shots can only be placed during the ascending phase of the movement. It turns out that the higher the highest point of the flight is located, the more difficult it is to intercept it.
How to choose a throwing technique?
Do not try to master difficult throws until the most common one is brought to automatism. It is necessary to constantly do throwing exercises in basketball on technique, initially not even paying attention to accuracy and speed. Muscle memory should be replenished with basic movements, and only after that you can try to repeat the tricks of Kevin Durant or Stephen Curry. You can learn about a complex and very effective technique from the article “How to do a hook throw in basketball?”.
What is needed is automatism, since in real game conditions there will be no time to think about how to place a foot or place hands. Opponents simply will not provide such an opportunity. Over time, you will realize that, technically, the execution of a jump shot is very similar to a free kick. The basic principles are exactly the same, the only difference is in the position of the legs. They must be positioned so as to maintain good coordination of movements at the time of the throw and after it.
When teaching how to shoot in basketball, a lot of attention is paid to the position of the body. High-level basketball players can shoot from any position, with the head and torso always in the correct position: perpendicular to the court and turned towards the basket.
When I was finished, I drank a protein shake mid with glutamine powder, which helps with muscle recovery.
And I did: I took a day off here or there if I needed it; I added more weight when I felt good. When, after five weeks, I started to worry that I wasn’t going to dunk again, he kept me motivated. "Leg strength is the key. Squat deep. Ass to grass," he told me, unsympathetic to the known fact that squats are fucking terrible.
But what about the aging average Joes who grew up watching high-flying stars like Dominique Wilkins and Michael Jordan? Could they ever soar high enough to achieve the dream of every schoolyard baller in the country?
Just like you might want to become an astronaut or something like that. I was always one of the tallest kids in my class, but I never really tried to dunk. And so as an adult, you start wondering a little bit about what sorts of things you left on the table, that you never really tried your hand at. And I got it into my head that I’d pick up this childhood fantasy of mine and see if I could dunk.
They also just need to be able to increase their flexibility, because in the short sprints you take when you try to dunk a basketball, if you can imagine yourself running up to try to dunk on the rim, the higher you can bring your knees in a sprint, just like a sprinter running the hundred meters, the greater force you’ll be able to exert on the ground, especially with your leaping step.
Three sets of ten reps of squats is a good workout.
So some days were lifting, doing arm and core lifting. Again, you can imagine these sprinters, they’re strong all over — if you think of Tyson Gay or someone. It’s not just their legs that are muscular, it’s their arms, too, because they have to pump furiously to get themselves to go faster.
I certainly didn’t want to give myself more than a year, because after a year I knew I would grow tired of it, and my body would start to get quite unhappy with me. But I would recommend to someone that they give it a go for at least six months. It’s also a way of just getting yourself in fantastic shape. I mean, trying to dunk a basketball in itself is awesome. It’s really great to be able to dunk a basketball, to get yourself higher up than you thought possible. But the process of getting yourself in that kind of position is itself rewarding.
I have pretty small hands, and one thing I had to train myself to do, which I couldn’t do at the start of this project, is palm a basketball. So that involved fingertip push-ups, to get the tips of your fingers much stronger. It involves, while hanging out and watching television, trying to palm a basketball for as long as you can. You want to get into a quick, full sprint, and you want to be able to grip the basketball as you go up to jam it. So doing those things can be a challenge. That’s partly what’s behind people doing the alley-oop-type things or throwing it up off the backboard. In some cases, they simply can’t grip the ball on the way to the hoop, so their solution is to throw it in the air, catch it, and try to bring it down.
I was interested in how human evolution and jumping compared to the jumping of other kinds of creatures.
Authorities have issued an arrest warrant for one of her friends. 
By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy and to receive email correspondence from us. 
By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy and to receive email correspondence from us. 
*Sorry, there was a problem signing you up. 
*Sorry, there was a problem signing you up. 
It's all about technique: even with regular training and perseverance, novice adults and children often make simple mistakes. It's a shame, let's fix it. Below are 11 life hacks on how to hone your technique to increase the likelihood of a goal for your team. 
Look at the ring, not at the ball 
Do not jump when protecting the ring 
To implement it is simple and difficult at the same time, the moment is not technically difficult, but extremely responsible. 
The throwing leg is slightly forward relative to the supporting leg, about half a step. The heels are torn off the floor surface by just a couple of millimeters, the knees are slightly bent, this gives the body springiness. 
In this case, before the throw, the projectile is fixed exclusively with the throwing hand. 
Players constantly calculate it to understand how to hit the basket in basketball from the distance they are at the moment. The trajectory should always be curved, throwing in a straight line is not worth it for two reasons: it is more difficult to get into the ring, and it is easier for representatives of the other team to intercept the blow. The higher the trajectory, the more likely it is to hit the basket, and not the bow. In addition, according to the rules of the game, block shots can only be placed during the ascending phase of the movement. It turns out that the higher the highest point of the flight is located, the more difficult it is to intercept it. 
Muscle memory should be replenished with basic movements, and only after that you can try to repeat the tricks of Kevin Durant or Stephen Curry. You can learn about a complex and very effective technique from the article “How to do a hook throw in basketball?”. 
