39 and Dunking!!!

My 39th birthday has come and gone, and so it was time to get some dunks down and officially say that I'm 39 and dunking.

I haven't progressed on my weight goal (still around 230 lbs), but I did manage to hit 4 total dunks tonight after my weekly basketball game:  2 right-handed and 2 left-handed.  I was surprised at how easily I could control the ball with my left hand -- almost as comfortable as my right.

So, to celebrate dunking at age 39, and dunking left-handed.... here's John Starks with one of the most famous left-handed dunks of all time:

I'M BACK! 39 and Dunking?

So.... despite my best intentions to keep working on my vertical through the summer, keep losing weight, and keep dunking -- I ended up gaining about 10-12 pounds (earlier in September, I was up around 230 from 218!) and losing some of my vertical as a result.

BUT -- fall basketball season just started up, and I'm trying to get back to the good habits that helped me meet my goal of dunking at age 38.  Also, my 39th birthday is quickly approaching, so I'm updating my goals:

1)  DUNK GOALS:

• Keep dunking at age 39, and into my 40's!
• Hit more types of dunks:
• Dribble dunk (i.e. a legal basketball dunk)
• Off-the-backboard
• Two-handed
• Reverse dunk

2)  WEIGHT GOALS:

• Starting from 230 lbs, I want to get back under 210 lbs (losing at least 20 lbs).  This will also help my knees/body from feeling sore every time I wake up the next morning after some dunk practice.

3)  VERTICAL JUMP GOALS:

• Standing/No-Step Vertical Jump:  28" (getting half of my hand over the rim)
• Running/Max Vertical Jump:  34" (getting my full wrist over the rim)

Now that I've updated my goals... here is a new clip of me practicing some jumps and even hitting one dunk at age 38.9:

April Update

I haven't posted in a month, but wanted to write a quick update.

My basketball season wrapped up (our team got slaughtered in our playoff game), so I haven't been doing my weekly dunk attempts.

However, it is SPRING now in Toronto, and I've been looking for a good park/playground basket nearby to keep dunking on through the summer.  There are a couple at my kids' school that are around 9'6" (a bit too easy to dunk on), and another one in a park nearby that is around 9'10".  I did a few dunks on this rim, and I think it will be good enough to practice on through the summer.

I will keep taking some video clips of my dunking progress, and post them here and on YouTube.

In the meantime - I just saw an INCREDIBLE dunk on YouTube this week... a windmill from the free throw line:  enjoy!

WEEK 10: DUNK CLIPS!

This week, I managed to setup my phone for all of my post-game dunk attempts.
(I didn't want to miss any dunks this time)

Good news: I now have video proof that I'm able to dunk again at age 38!

As I noted a couple of weeks ago, I'm now able to get my entire hand over the rim (shown at the start of this clip). With my hand measuring 8.5", I'm going to record this as hitting 10'9", or a 32" max vertical with my 8'1" reach.

My second video shows a few misses, but still showing some good progress:

What's next?  I still need to hit my goals of losing 20 lbs, increasing standing vertical by 6", and increasing max vertical by 6".  And -- I will keep working on dunking... these dunks are just squeaking in, and I need to get a couple of inches higher to get them cleanly through with more power.

March 1st: Progress Updates at the Two-Month Milestone

As of today, I'm exactly 2 months into my quest to dunk at age 38.

I weighed 218.2 lbs on the scale this morning -- down 8 lbs from the 226.2 I weighed on the morning of January 1st, 2015. So, I'm averaging 4 lbs/month, or about a pound a week. At this rate, I would hit my weight loss goal in about 5 months.

My Standing Vertical Jump is still right around 10'3", which is a 26" standing vertical (up +3" from when I started the year). My goal of +6" on my standing vertical will likely be the hardest goal to hit, but I'll keep aiming for it.

My Max Vertical Jump is around 10'8" (I can now get my wrist to the rim), which is +5" from the start of the year when I could only hit 10'3".  My 31" running vertical is getting close to my goal of gaining 6 inches, so I might need to adjust this goal higher -- I had originally thought that I'd need to get to 11 ft to make sure I was able to dunk cleanly!

And.... the most important goal:  I've already managed to get a couple of dunks down!
(Week 7 was the first time that I hit a dunk)

Now -- I just need to get some dunks on video to prove it (hoping to do this tomorrow).

WEEK 8: Vertical Jump Tests on 10'3" Basement Ceiling - MAJOR Improvement

I wasn't able to make it to my weekly basketball game this week, but I did take some video of vertical jump practice in my 10'3" basement.

I can almost get my entire palm to the ceiling now, which is MUCH better than this clip from Week 2 (mid-January) where I could only skim the ceiling with my fingertips:

Seeing my progress on video is exciting, and encouraging.  I'm hoping to get some dunks on video by next week!

Richard Jefferson (age 34) Throws One Down!

Richard Jefferson (age 34) looking like his younger self with this dunk:

Good to know that he hasn't lost all of his hops from 10-15 years ago:

Week 7: I DUNKED AT AGE 38!

Some exciting news from last night's basketball game.

First, our team won (even though I missed basically every shot that I took).

Second, after the game, I DUNKED!  (twice!)

Unfortunately, both of my dunks were before I'd started recording video clips... but I did have a witness from my basketball team see them.

DUNK ONE:

• Standard Two-Foot Jump with One Hand. I'm still not very far over the rim, but the ball went in pretty cleanly.

DUNK TWO:

• Bounce dunk, where a near-perfect toss made it a very easy finish.  Approached from left to right, and the ball sat up perfectly just in front of the rim (almost a goaltend).

Also, I am jumping higher than any time this year.  On my running vertical jump attempts, I managed to get my entire hand over the rim (to my wrist). With my hand measuring 8.5", I'm going to record this as hitting 10'8", which equals a 31" max vertical with my 8'1" reach.

Here is a new clip of my misses (taken AFTER I'd made the two dunks):

From the NBA Celebrity Game Warmup - Grizzlies' Owner Robert Pera Dunking

He's almost 37, he's a billionaire, he owns a NBA team (Memphis Grizzlies), and HE CAN DUNK:

(yes - I'm jealous)

NBA Slam Dunk Contest - I'm Picking Zach Lavine (and it won't be close)

The NBA Slam Dunk contest is here!

Saturday night should be a good one, with an amazing field for the 3-point Shootout, and some freak athletes for the Slam Dunk Contest.

I'm picking Zach Lavine as the Slam Dunk champion, and I don't think it will even be close.

Check out how easily Zach Lavine hits these crazy dunks:

UPDATED:  I was right.  ;)

WEEK 6: some dunk attempt video clips, including 1 "almost dunk"

Tonight was the opposite of last week. Instead of having tons of energy after my weekly basketball game (which, we lost AGAIN, by the way), I was completely worn out and started to get cramps and other leg issues - likely from over-working my legs.

However, since I had my phone there with a camera this time, I still tried in a few dunk attempts.

Here are 3 videos:

1) 4 Dunks Attempts - the 4th one off a bounce almost went down:

2) Another Dunk Attempt that actually went down, but not cleanly:

3) Another dunk attempt - getting stuffed by the rim (this is how I felt on most of my attempts):

Clip #2 shows that even with some hurting legs, I'm still pretty close to my goal!

I'm only in Week 6, and I've only lost about 5-6 lbs of my 20 lb goal, so the journey continues.

Week 5: GETTING CLOSE!

I played another pretty bad basketball game tonight, but I had a bunch of energy left after the game, so I attempted several dunks.

Unfortunately, I forgot my phone/camera to take video... I'll have to try and describe how close I'm getting:

• Running Vertical: I can still consistently get 2/3 of my 8.5" hand over the rim, which is about 10'6"-10'7" max vertical jump. I'm going to record this as 10'7", which gets me to a 30" running vertical.

• Dunk Attempts:
• I realized that with my large hands, and my ability to palm the ball, I may not need to get up as high as some other dunk trainers that I've studied on YouTube etc.
• I got about 10 attempts over the rim, and squeezed a couple in!  Still, none of these were clean dunks, so I can't say that I've reached my goal yet.
• I'm learning more and more about jumping technique.  My best dunk attempts were where I ran in from the left of the basket, took off in front of the basket, and then tried to get the ball over the right side of the rim with my right hand. I've noticed that I lose a LOT of momentum when I and holding the ball vs. jumping without the ball.  I still need to work on my explosiveness both with and without the ball.

Overall, I'm really encouraged, and I'm feeling that a few more weeks of training (and some more weight loss) should get me to my goal!

(I had this poster on my wall as a kid)

Week 5 Vertical Jump Tests -- Progress!

To start my 5th week of my journey to dunk again at age 38,  I recorded a few vertical jump tests in my basement. (I warmed up first with some running on the treadmill -- hence the sweat)

As a reminder, here was a clip of some jump tests in my basement from Week 2 (could touch fingertips to 10'3" ceiling with running jump):

A couple of firsts today... exciting to see some progress at the end of month one.

1) My first time touching the 10'3" ceiling from a standing start:

Based on this, I'm going to update my standing vertical to 10'3", which equals a 26" standing vertical with my 8'1" standing reach! (view the "Tracking My Progress" Page for details)

2) My first time touching 2 hands to the 10'3" ceiling:

Week 4 Vertical Jump Tests

My 3rd basketball game of the year was tonight, and I was hot and cold to say the least. We got killed as a team, but I had a few decent plays, and I can definitely feel my endurance getting better each week with the extra treadmill work I've been putting in.

Vertical Jump tests:

• Standing Vertical: I can get still my fingers about 1"-2" over the 10ft rim. Not much has changed, so I'll keep this recorded as 10'1" (121"), or a 24" standing vertical with my 8'1" reach.

• Running Vertical: Like last week, I can get my fingers approximately 6"-7" over the rim (most of my hand). I'll stick with the same measurement as last week (10'6", or a 29" running vertical), but I'm definitely aiming to get this up by next week!

• No dunk attempts tonight, but I've also added a running two-handed test to my weekly routine. I can consistently get about half of my fingers (2") of both hands over the rim.  So, I'll mark it as 10'2" for this week.

One concern with my training is that I haven't lost any more weight over the past week.  I'm still around 222 lbs, which I'm going to aim to get under 220 by next week.  This would put me with over 6 lbs lost in January 2015, and (hopefully) set me on a path to stay under 220 lbs from February onward.

Oh - and Happy Birthday to former Raptors' star Vince Carter, who joins me at age 38! I think it's safe to say that he is the best 38-yr-old dunker in the NBA now, even if he's not jumping over 7ft Frenchmen anymore.

Wait... dunking can hurt you?

So, Kobe's recent 2-handed dunk against New Orleans (which looked pretty standard on replays) actually TORE HIS ROTATOR CUFF.

http://www.sportingnews.com/nba/story/2015-01-22/kobe-bryant-injury-update-lakers-torn-rotator-cuff-pelicans-achilles-knee

If this can happen to a 36-year-old professional athlete, I'll assume my 38-year-old body could see even worse.  All the more reason to lose some weight and take pressure off when I'm jumping.

More NBA Slam Dunk Contest News

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/sources--antetokounmpo--oladipo--plumlee-in-dunk-contest-205223454.html

Four participants entering the NBA Slam Dunk Contest:

• Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Bucks
• Victor Oladipo of the Magic
• Mason Plumlee of the Nets
• Zach Lavine (pictured) of the Timberwolves

I'm not sure what this means for Andrew Wiggins, but those are 4 solid choices.  All 4 are consistently making highlight reel dunks in games, and most have participated in the NCAA dunk contest.

Looking forward to it!

Week 3 Vertical Jump Test (and short video clip)

I played my 2nd basketball game of the year tonight, and felt much more in the flow than last week. I didn't even take many shots, but didn't make nearly as many bad turnovers (and our team actually won, which we don't do all that often).

While at the gym, I did a few Vertical Jump tests:

• Standing Vertical: I can get my fingers about 1" over the 10ft rim. This measurement is pretty consistent - every time I attempt a standing vertical, I get 1"-2" over the rim. For tracking my progress, I'm going to record it as 10'1" (121"), or a 24" standing vertical with my 8'1" reach.

• Running Vertical: I can get my fingers approximately 6"-7" over the rim (most of my hand). I'm going to record this as 10'6" (29" running vertical), which is unchanged from last week.

• I also tried a couple of dunk attempts with the ball, but was nowhere close (yet). The misses weren't even funny enough to post online. I'm equally close to dunking with a 1-foot vs. a 2-foot jump, but I've always been more of a 2-foot jumper, so I'm going to keep focusing on that.

I also took a few clips of my tests... most of them are not worth posting, but here is a short clip of my running vertical:

A couple of things I noticed from seeing myself on video:

• My gut is sticking out of my uniform!  Whether I make my dunking goal or not, I definitely need to lose the 20lbs I'm aiming for.
• My jump technique isn't too bad, but I can definitely work on carrying more speed through the jump. I need to work on speed/explosiveness with my vertical jump training.
• I think I've got a good shot at hitting my goal!  I don't want to be overconfident, but I'm starting my quest a LOT closer to the goal than some other people that I've seen online. Many jumpers couldn't even hit the 10ft rim consistently when they started.

Who's 38 in the NBA?

As I work towards dunking again at age 38, I've realized that there are very few examples/role models from the NBA. When looking Ten Oldest Players in the NBA for 2014-2015, only 3 are already 38 (I'm excluding Steve Nash, since he's effectively retired): Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett, and Andre Miller.

Some interesting dunk-related notes from this list:

• One of the most famous dunkers ever - Vince Carter - is the next oldest, and turns 38 exactly one week from today (January 26th). Already this season, Vince has proven that he can still throw down impressive dunks in his late 30's.

• The only player who is close to my size is Andre Miller. He's listed as 6'2" and 200 lbs, which is almost exactly what my weight goal is. To show that even NBA players my size struggle with dunking, here's Andre Miller's last attempted in-game dunk (it didn't turn out so well).

(to be fair, Miller did surprise people with a solid in-game dunk back in 2010 at age 33)

Week 3!

Alright... into Week 3 of my 2015 quest to dunk again at age 38.

On the bathroom scale this morning, I had gained a bit from last week (mainly because I had an amazing all-you-can-eat dinner on Friday night)... I'm sitting at an even 222 lbs, which is still over 4 lbs below where I started. However, taking a bit of a step backwards forces me to focus more and keep my diet & exercise routines on track.

Tonight I have a weekly basketball game, so I will do some more Vertical Jump tests to see how I'm progressing towards my goal.

For inspiration, I happened to find this site:
flysohigh12s (Malte) Vertical Jump Training

This is a 5'7" white dude! (8" shorter than me)

Now, I have no idea if the basket is actually 10ft, but I was still impressed.

Toronto's Andrew Wiggins to Enter Dunk Contest?

Dunk News of the Day:
http://www.sportsnet.ca/basketball/nba/andrew-wiggins-in-dunk-contest-apparently-according-to-pops/

From seeing some of Wiggins' high school and NCAA dunks, I wouldn't consider him the favourite... even Zach Lavine (Wiggins' Timberwolves teammate) has a more impressive set of dunk clips. Also, he's pretty low-key, and the NBA dunk contest requires a bit more flair to get the fans on your side.

That being said, Wiggins is the current front-runner for Rookie of the Year, and this can only help his profile.

*** NOTE: since this article, 4 other contestants have been confirmed for the dunk contest, and Wiggins is out.  Zach Lavine (Wiggins' Wolves teammate) is my pick -- check out his clips on YouTube etc. to see why!

Feelin' Good!

I'm now 2 weeks into my quest to dunk at age 38, and I'm feeling pretty good!

I weighed 221.4 lbs on the scale this morning, which is a weight loss of 4.8 lbs from the 226.2 I weighed on the morning of January 1st, 2015.

No treadmill or vertical jump training today - just some stretching, sit-ups, and some red wine to celebrate a good start.

I have told several co-workers about my New Year's Resolution to dunk, including some executives... so the pressure is on to make this happen.

15 more pounds and (hopefully) about 5 inches on my vertical jump to go!

Test Video Clip: Vertical Jump Practice on 10'3" Ceiling

ok... I guess this is a real thing now!

Here is a short clip of me doing 2 test jumps in my basement.  The ceiling is about 10'3", which I can touch pretty easily with my fingertips -- even without much of a run up, and jumping off of carpet!

The good news is: I can get some basic vertical jump practice done in my basement.

The bad news is:  I have a LONG way to go to add 6" to my vertical and be dunking again at 38.

First game of the year: some good news, and some bad news

I played in my first basketball game of the year tonight. It had been over a month since I'd last played, and it showed. I was AWFUL on the court (bricked a ton of shots, made bad turnovers), but my vertical jump tests during warm up weren't too bad!

Jumping without the ball, I could get almost 2/3 of my hand above the rim (about 5"-6" of my hand and fingers), which equals a maximum running vertical of about 29" (10'6" - 8'1" standing reach = 29").  I could even get my fingers a couple of inches over the rim on a running two-handed jump.

I've read articles saying that you need to be able to reach about 10'10" to cleanly get dunks down (since a standard basketball is 9.5" in diameter), but that is WITH the ball. I'm going to target a maximum running vertical of 34", or about 6" higher than it is now -- allowing me to touch right around 11 ft. With hands that are approximately 8.5" long, that means I'll need to be able to get my wrist about 3.5" above the rim.


How do I plan on adding 6" to my maximum running vertical?

1. Losing Weight:  I want to lose at least 20 lbs, with a stretch goal of losing 27 lbs to get under 200. I'm off to a pretty good start, losing 2-3 lbs since New Year's! 200 lbs would still be about 15 lbs more than I weighed in high school, but I'm trying to be somewhat realistic about where my body is at age 38 vs. 18. 
2. Vertical Jump Training: In addition to running on my treadmill in the basement a couple of times per week, I'm going to add a variety of leg exercises to my routine. These will include Standing Squats, Depth Jumps, Tuck Jumps, Calf Raises, and a few others that I've read about online. I plan on using only my body weight (no additional weights), as the main goal is training my legs for jumping without burning them out.
3. Practice: I will be putting in extra time to work on the basics of jumping with and without a basketball. I don't live that close to a basketball court (the outdoor ones in Toronto don't help me much when it is -20 Celsius outside), so this will mean showing up a bit earlier to my weekly games.

Sorry - no video this week, but I'll make an effort to get there a bit earlier next time to take some clips of my standing and running vertical jumps... and maybe even a dunk attempt or two.

A bit of history...

I was born in 1976, which (coincidentally) was also the year of the first ABA dunk contest !

This was made famous by Dr. J and his foul-line dunk:

The entire 1976 ABA Dunk Contest can be found on YouTube:

A new (but familiar) challenge...

When New Year's 2015 came around, I chose to make a resolution that was more fun than the standard "lose weight" or "make more money".  I wanted to make a health-focused resolution, but also set myself up for a challenge that I would actually enjoy taking on.

Before I get to my 2015 goal, a bit more about me:  I'm 38 years old, and married with 2 young daughters. I have a career that keeps me extremely busy, but I try to make it to a weekly Monday night basketball game if I'm in town.

I also love watching basketball - NBA, NCAA, and beyond. Each year since I was a kid, the NBA Slam Dunk contest was something I'd make sure to both watch live AND record so that me and my friends could replay every dunk over and over to study and then try to later emulate in our driveways and school gymnasiums.

In high school, I could dunk. I first remember dunking at the end of grade 9 (on one of the slightly bent rims in my high school gym). By grade 10, I could dunk on a regulation 10ft rim, and by grades 11-12, I could occasionally throw down a few trickier ones. The last time I remember being able to dunk consistently was during university in my early twenties.

So - my 2015 resolution is not to dunk for the first time... but rather to dunk for the first time IN OVER 15 YEARS.

A few key stats:
Height = 6'3"
Weight (as of January 1st 2015) = 226 lbs.
Standing Reach = Approximately 8'1" (97")

Now, when it comes to my vertical jump, I haven't yet measured it accurately. However, using some rudimentary tests, I'd estimate a standing vertical of 23" (I can barely touch a 10' rim), and a running vertical of about 27" (I can get my fingers over the rim).

As you can see, I have a lot of advantages aiding me in my quest:  I'm tall enough, I have long arms & big hands, and I've dunked in the past.  However, the days of throwing down bounce dunks in high school gyms are well behind me, and I'm carrying an extra 40+ lbs from my high school days.


This is where my quest begins... stay tuned for updates (including some videos) throughout 2015!