Woosta's road to dunking, gaining 30 lbs and mixed martial arts journal [ VIDEOS!! ]

[Woosta]

age: 22
height: 6'1, 6'2?
weight: 155 lbs ( I eat a shitload and don't gain weight )
profession: programmer

goals for 2011:

- have striking on the level of http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SidBtvTwCLk
- be able to dunk a basketball

11/7/2010:

- me shadowboxing
- my jumps before jump training

 

[SociallyChallenged]

You can gain weight if you actually want to. It's just more work than most think Welcome to the journals though. Will be interesting to read up on some MMA training.

PS: You know Giorgio Petrosyan is one of the best Muay Thai fighters in the world, right? He's been training since he was 12

 

[Woosta]

PS: You know Giorgio Petrosyan is one of the best Muay Thai fighters in the world, right? He's been training since he was 12

Yes I do and that's exactly why I picked him to surpass or attempt to. I want to strive to be as good as the best.

 

[SociallyChallenged]

Yes I do and that's exactly why I picked him to surpass or attempt to. I want to strive to be as good as the best.

How long have you been practicing Muay Thai?

 

[Woosta]

How long have you been practicing Muay Thai?

I've started the striking arts - boxing/kickboxing/MT earlier this year ( January-ish ).

 

[OILFIELDTRASH]

I can give you a little advice as far as dunking. You're gonna need some explosive leg strength. Quads and hamstrings mainly. Calves do little to nothing as far as hops. What's worked best for me has been heavy squats and I believe heavy deadlifts have helped me too. Practice jumping is key too. Go to the gym and work on touching the goal first. Then work your way up. Another exercise is to grab some dumbells (start with 15-20lb dumbells) and squat down and jump with all your force upwards with dumbells in hand 3X5. Dunking is a possibility since you are 6'2. Me I'm 5'10" with a short wingspan so it was really an uphill battle. I am to the point I can grab and hang off a 10" rim but I lack the genetics and sophisticated professional type training it would take for someone like me to dunk a basketball. Unfortunately genetics are going to play a HUGE role in this. All you can do is do your best with your God given genetics and see what happens.

Where are you now as far as hops?

 

[Woosta]

I can give you a little advice as far as dunking. You're gonna need some explosive leg strength. Quads and hamstrings mainly. Calves do little to nothing as far as hops. What's worked best for me has been heavy squats and I believe heavy deadlifts have helped me too. Practice jumping is key too. Go to the gym and work on touching the goal first. Then work your way up. Another exercise is to grab some dumbells (start with 15-20lb dumbells) and squat down and jump with all your force upwards with dumbells in hand 3X5. Dunking is a possibility since you are 6'2. Me I'm 5'10" with a short wingspan so it was really an uphill battle. I am to the point I can grab and hang off a 10" rim but I lack the genetics and sophisticated professional type training it would take for someone like me to dunk a basketball. Unfortunately genetics are going to play a HUGE role in this. All you can do is do your best with your God given genetics and see what happens.

I'm going to just start out with jumping 2x per week and leg exercises per Andrew Darqui's instructions ( former S&C coach ). He used to not be able to touch the rim and can now dunk and jump pretty high, so I'm going to go with the routine he gives me after the first 2 weeks of just getting started.

Where are you now as far as hops?

Well I recorded that video yesterday so I'm only at the touching the rim part. Adarq says I could dunk in 6 months but I think 3 months would suffice. Let's see how this goes...

 

[OILFIELDTRASH]

How did you get in contact with him and is he charging you anything for the training program? I'd love to start training for hops again. One last go at dunking. But shit it's hard when you're barely 5'10" and have a short wingspan.

You got my desire to dunk fired up again. I'm 29 so this will be my last solid chance.

 

[Woosta]

How did you get in contact with him and is he charging you anything for the training program? I'd love to start training for hops again. One last go at dunking. But shit it's hard when you're barely 5'10" and have a short wingspan.

No, he helps people for free. Checkout http://adarq.org/.. sign up, make a journal, checkout the stuff other people are doing.

If you are familiar with irc, we chat in irc://irc.efnet.net/#jumping.

There have been people he's assisted who haven't been able to touch rim, who can dunk or are at least very close to dunking now.

 

[SociallyChallenged]

All of the Olympic lifts (and the variations) will help your explosiveness as well. Work on your clean and jerk, snatch, power clean, etc and your vertical will improve guaranteed.

Also, I just watched your video. Any jump training is going to help you. You can be great at basketball, but not be very explosive. I think that any explosive or plyometric work will improve your vertical.

 

[Woosta]

11/8/2010:

- biking to metro ( 5 mins )
- biking from metro ( 5 mins )
- 1.25 hrs of heavy bag workout consisting of squats, lunges, ab exercises, striking. my leg kick speed rebounding from consecutive kicks is getting rapidly fast
- calf raises at home

ate...

- croissant
- roast beef sandwich w/ veggies
- chili soup from quiznos
- cant remember what else i ate, but i ate way more

 

[Josh]

Also look into box jumps to help explosiveness off the group to dunk

 

[Woosta]

Another workout at 6 AM today. Did squats/pushups/situps/bagwork/box squats/other shit. Did accuracy ball for like half an hour. Also did deadlifts ( 195 lbs meh ), fedor thrusts.

 

[Woosta]

Did a workout 11/15/10.

Also 11/18/10...

Did jump roping 11/21/10 ( today ) at 6 AM .. for about 10-15 minutes. Along with some jumps.

 

[Woosta]

20 mins of jump rope + shadowboxing 11/22/10

 

[Koing]

It's about strength/power to weight ratio that helps you jump, being explosive (not all 'strong' people can jump and not all good jumpers are strong) and having good technique.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCpA8u2D75E

My technique sucks for running jump as I don't practice it. I can grab the rim with both hands from a standing position, but I gain next to nothing with a run up as my technique is sh!t and I don't practice...I'm going to brute force a slam dunk when I can front squat 200kg's...lol

I'm 5'10 and usually 90kg morning weight but I've sadly lost 3kg whilst being on holiday!

My verticals 87cm, bro's 95cm!

Koing

 

[OILFIELDTRASH]

It's about strength/power to weight ratio that helps you jump, being explosive (not all 'strong' people can jump and not all good jumpers are strong) and having good technique.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCpA8u2D75E

My technique sucks for running jump as I don't practice it. I can grab the rim with both hands from a standing position, but I gain next to nothing with a run up as my technique is sh!t and I don't practice...I'm going to brute force a slam dunk when I can front squat 200kg's...lol

I'm 5'10 and usually 90kg morning weight but I've sadly lost 3kg whilst being on holiday!

My verticals 87cm, bro's 95cm!

Koing

Damn dude you're a beast. Nice ups for a big guy. Strange how you get no extra lift when running. Maybe those big muscles aren't that limber?

 

[SociallyChallenged]

Damn dude you're a beast. Nice ups for a big guy. Strange how you get no extra lift when running. Maybe those big muscles aren't that limber?

He's an elite-level Olympic weightlifter. His big muscles are limber enough. You could take from this and add a bit of muscle. That would 100% make your goal of dunking easier. That is, if you built fast muscle, including big Oly lifts into your weight training.

 

[OILFIELDTRASH]

He's an elite-level Olympic weightlifter. His big muscles are limber enough. You could take from this and add a bit of muscle. That would 100% make your goal of dunking easier. That is, if you built fast muscle, including big Oly lifts into your weight training.

In no way was I saying anything bad about him. Just making an observation that maybe his size limits him from getting even higher while running and jumping. I'm sure that isn't even a goal in his mind. He probably went out one day and just jumped straight up and grabbed the rim and said "This is cool." I'm impressed with the video. Hardly ever see big guys like that get up. I got plenty of muscle on me. I'm up to squatting about 285lbs for 5 reps for 3 sets and I basically sit down cause I go so low. I'm almost 180lbs. I don't want to get any bigger. I enjoy being quick and not wearing out while jogging or playing b-ball by having massive amounts of muscle. Everyone has their own specific goals they strive for.


Not trying to derail Woosta's thread. I'm out.

 

[SociallyChallenged]

In no way was I saying anything bad about him. Just making an observation that maybe his size limits him from getting even higher while running and jumping. I'm sure that isn't even a goal in his mind. He probably went out one day and just jumped straight up and grabbed the rim and said "This is cool." I'm impressed with the video. Hardly ever see big guys like that get up. I got plenty of muscle on me. I'm up to squatting about 285lbs for 5 reps for 3 sets and I basically sit down cause I go so low. I'm almost 180lbs. I don't want to get any bigger. I enjoy being quick and not wearing out while jogging or playing b-ball by having massive amounts of muscle. Everyone has their own specific goals they strive for.


Not trying to derail Woosta's thread. I'm out.

Doh, thought you were Woosta. Didn't read the poster's name. The advice is to Woosta, not necessarily you Sorry about that.

 

[Woosta]

Muay thai class.. got mad cramps from jump rope, then shin block exercises, variety of pushups, practiced low/high kicks, practiced 6 hit combo with flying knee at the end, and some other misc stuff.

PS - hot girl in gym.

 

[Woosta]

mon nov 26 - did boxing because i was dead sore from MT
mon nov 29 - worked out ab execises, swivel/speed bag, knee bag, heavy bag punching, kicking, and both, gnp on bag
wed dec 1 - MT class, saw girl again and had first conversation
fri dec 3 - MT class, girl wasnt there.. fuck
sunday dec 5 - im still sore from friday and at the end of my 12-13 hour day i decided to work out anyway..


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghCaF6C2GR0#t=05m10s

video features me soccerkicking a banana and almost tripping, rofl

 

[Woosta]

dec 6th - a few rounds on the heavy bag
dec 8th - muay thai class
dec 10th - muay thai class
dec 11th - ran to store w/ vest on, cardio
dec 12th - ran to store

 

[Koing]

Damn dude you're a beast. Nice ups for a big guy. Strange how you get no extra lift when running. Maybe those big muscles aren't that limber?

My running jumping technique isn't very efficient due to the fact that I don't practice. I'm much better off 2 feet ur to the movement being very similar to lifting and the fact that I lift 10-15hrs a week. I should work on it but I'm too busy getting myself back to lifting others so I can hit 2011 hard.

Back squats 201kg 1rm
181x3
170x5reps x5sets
161x6reos x6sets

I'm going to brute force a dunk when I can squat enough

I'm very supple naturally and I am religious on my dynamic stretching pre training.

Koing

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Watched your vids; you are improving.

I do not know if your trainers have discussed it with you, but you have a bad habit of turning your head, to the point you stop tracking the target. Particularly on hooks and elbows. You should keep your eyes on your target/opponent, as much as possible.

A sparring partner or opponent will quickly pick up on that. They will time you, and catch you with a shot you are turning your head right into. The other problem, is the shot you don't see coming is the worst kind.

And remember to separate your boxing defense from your MT defense. Bobbing and weaving is awesome for boxing, but you can end up eating some serious kicks and knees if you carry it over. I only mention that because you threw a jump knee out of it, so it looked like you were blending it in to your MT.

Hey, do what you want, and listen to your trainers first and foremost, but it is something you might want to think about.