[ahmadouParticipant]

Im 17 years old and Im 6’3 170 and can dunk. I’m trying to build explosiveness as well as get to 190 by november.

[OrangeJuiceJonesParticipant]

Well, the first thing you want to do is start sprinting. Sprinting will simultaneously improve your speed and vertical. Do sprints on days that you work your legs in the weight room. If you do arms and sprints one day, then legs the next, etc., then you’re gonna put yourself at a high risk of injury within a few weeks. The second most important workout, though other may argue that this is most important, is plyometric training. There are some good plyometric training programs out there, but, IMO, the best are Air Alert 3 and the Vertical Jump Bible. You can get them off of Google for free!

For weight training, you want to allow yourself 48 hours rest for your upper and lower body — meaning that you should do your upper body workouts on Mondays and Thursdays, then do your leg workouts on Tuesdays and Fridays. When you lift weights, you get tiny, microscopic tears in your muscles. What you put into your body after you lift weights is what builds muscle. Aim for plenty of lean protein, fruits, veggies and whole grains. Getting too bulky in your upper body will obviously take away from your speed, jumping ability, and flexibility, so I wouldn’t focus too much on heavy lifting. Try some plyometric push-ups, regular pull-ups, clean-and-jerks, and medicine ball throws.

Now for leg weight training…. The single best weight training exercise you can do for your legs are squats. Since you’re an athlete, I would recommend pistol squats — squats with one leg and no weight. (I’ll post a few videos if you don’t understand some of these exercises.) Whenever you’re doing squats, make sure that your knees NEVER, EVER GO OVER YOUR TOES WHEN YOU BEND DOWN! This will lead to some serious knee damage.

Try and consume some whey protein within an hour after you finish your weight training workout. Whey protein is the best form of post-workout protein because it’s digested and sends nutrients to your muscles very quickly. You can find it at GNC or order some online if you really want it. If you don’t have access to it (or you really don’t like it), then low-fat chocolate milk is a good substitute. Stay away from empty calories.

The most overlooked aspect of explosiveness is agility and flexibility. Make sure you do moving and non-moving stretches before and after every workout. On days when you work your upper body, stretch your lower body, and vice-versa. There are plenty of agility workouts on YouTube. When you get a chance, check some of them out.

Good luck!

[Tim49461Participant]

 No joke when i say this but there is a easy workout to be explosive to be built.

Texas Tech U did a research project with its less then athletic students. After spending 6 week during this workout AVERAGE gains in 40 was .3 increase (5.1-4.9 was the normal speed before this)  AVERAGE gains in vertical was 5 inches ( I believe the starting average vertical was 21-24)

The Workout:

Ankle weights- Run in place at 70% speed for 30 seconds, rest for 30.  Increase 10% each new set.  5 sets Total

Weight Vest- Block jumps. Block height was 1ft 1/2 ( can raised) 10 reps 5 sets.  Start by dropping off the block and exploding off the ground once you feet hit back onto the block

Do this 3 days out of 7 for 6 weeks and you will see desired results.

Add this to Weight Lifting and expect even better results.

POWER CLEANS ARE A MUST! It basically workouts out every Muscle you need for jumping and running.

DO YOGA! no joke. Download p90x yoga and do it twice a week.

[TallmanNYCParticipant]

 I saw an article about that Texas Tech study. It seemed like an ad for weight vests and ankle weights. Something about it was shady. 

I don’t believe that you should wear ankle weights. Weight vests will probably build endurance, but I don’t know about increasing hops. I’ve done weighted plyometrics and it never increased my jump. Regular plyometrics did work a little and so did heavy weight lifting. What someone said above is right about not going to deep on your leg presses. Better to just increase the weight and keep a limited and controlled movement. You don’t bend your legs deeply in basketball anyway. 

[JoeWolf1]

 When training for explosiveness and agility you shouldn’t put a weight goal on yourself, IMO.  You should most certainly impliment plyomentrics as well as hang clean, snatch and push press.  Like OJJ said, as an athlete I’ll assume you’re doing squats, but the addition of those Olympic lifts will pay off as far as your explosiveness is concerned.  

I’m a huge advocate of weight training, and you seem to be a good natural athelte, but don’t get too consumed about putting on 20, lbs, but rather focus on your training and realize how much weight you can carry while maintaining the optimum amount of explosiveness.

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