Did you see Baron Davis' dunk on Andrei Kirilenko in the last playoffs? What about the dunk on Jermaine O'Neil and the one over Thielo Green at UCLA?

Everyone who has seen these dunks knows that it's impossible to forget them. But a lot of people also wonder how a guy who weighs about 220 pounds at 6' 3" can jump that high. One thing is clear: you must have very strong leg muscles to get that weight in the air!

So, it's all about weight training. If you are more heavy like Baron it's actually about Olympic weightlifting.

The most important benefit of Olympic weightlifting is it teaches the body to fire all the muscle fibers at once.

Different studies have proved the effectiveness of Olympic weightlifting. For example a group of lifters did various Olympic lifts (High pulls, Power Clean, and Clean and Jerk), and were compared to a group using vertical jump exercises (Single and Double Leg Hurdles Hops, Alternated Single-leg Hurdle Hops, etc). After the 8 weeks of training the Olympic weightlifting group had significantly increased their 10 meter sprint speed and their standing jump over the control group using standard vertical jump exercises (Tricoli, 2005).

Similarly a 15 week study was also performed using football players and compared a powerlifting program to an Olympic weightlifting program for athletic performance. After the 15 week study was over the Olympic weightlifting group had a significant improvement in the vertical jump and 40 meter sprint over the powerlifting group (Hoffman JR, 2004).

But can not only focus on weightlifting because as a jumper you also need to be quick. So you also need to work on your quickness. How do you train that?

Five sets of wind sprints (50 meters) three times a week are a very effective exercise.

Another excellent exercise is the jump rope. Jumping rope not only gives you explosiveness and calf strength but is also a great way to build stamina, and work on your overall leg strength. Jump rope at least three times per week.

For more tips and exercise details please visit the following site:

www.howtodunk.org