Adarq.org

Hear me out. I've decided to make a last ditch push for a windmill by xmas before I hang up my hoop dreams, accept the passing of youth and embrace being an older man.

Theres a lot of talk about plyometrics when it comes to dunking but no one ever talks about the upper body. I think even if i somehow get my ducks in a row and am able to jump high enough to legitmately attempt a windmill, i'll not actually be able to, owing to a lack of explosive upper body. Hard to explain but bringing the ball around quickly in the short time you're in the air is not something I can take for granted and actually needs to be trained. Not that im in any danger of jumping the 36 odd inches i'd need for a windmill any time soon.. but suppose i will keep working towards that end, what can I do to make sure my upper body also improves over time so that when the time comes that I can jump high enough, im also able to land some nice dunks.

i dont have any special attachment to a windmill, it just seems like one of the hardest dunks one can do, so that's why i'm referring to it. I also like that dunk where you have your back to the rim and you bring the ball down low between the legs before finishing the dunk - not sure what it's called, but again i'd like to have enough upper body explosive whatever to successfully complete that dunk in the fraction of a second i am in the air.

Thank you for your thoughts and to scooby for inspiration for thinking about adding mad inches to my lying plyo pushups.

Buy a medicine ball and do fast wall bounces, back and forth with a partner with increasing distance, medicine ball one-arm pushups. I haven't read your journal recently but are you benching atm?

Cool, i'll try get a medicine ball. NOpe not benching, bothers (rehabbing injured) rib.

good call on the med ball stuff. overhead slams are good, too: bring the ball up overhead and throw it against the ground as hard as you can. depending on the ball, be careful it doesn't hit you in the face on the way up!

Agreed with LBSS on the slams. Also, over head tosses will help lower body explosiveness, core strength and shoulders/arms.

I say this and realize these are two things i should be doing and....Im not.  Time to re write my programming a bit.

I'm going to buy a 5kg ball right now. Can someone please outline a quick workout that I should try tonight? I'll buy the 10kg ball later on once i've found a decent price. Thanks!

---

Ok update, i ended up getting a 10kg one as well. fell in love with the 10kg even though i only planned on getting the 5kg because it was a compact size, about a basketball size. I hate that it costs so much to buy gym equipment here  

---

I weighed them and the 5kg is 4.88kg and the 10kg is exactly 10kg! Im annoyed about the 5kg being lighter, i would have been ok with it being heavier. blah.

---

Sample workout for tonight still welcome Do i use both or just one?

some examples of things to do with the MB that are upper-focused:

1. supine chest throws: lie on your back with your knees bent. hold the ball at your chest and throw it straight up as high as you can. catch and repeat x 5-10.
2. overhead slams: stand holding the ball at about your waist. raise your arms overhead and throw the ball down as hard as possible. catch and repeat x 5-10. be careful if your ball is bouncy as getting hit in the face with a 22-pound object is not fun.
3. rotational wall slams: stand perpendicular to a sturdy wall with your knees bent, holding the ball around your waist. twist to throw the ball against the wall as hard as possible. catch and repeat x 5-10. you might have to play around with staggering your feet a bit.

T0ddday is obviously a huge supporter of overhead throws, if you have a big enough space then you should do those, as well.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCVDgqcKfoc" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCVDgqcKfoc</a>

Watching this vid of Toddday doing medball overhead throws made me think I need to get some video of me throwing. I'm still getting the technique down, my last set last night was actually my best one yet .. ball went further and it felt better on the release. However i didn't video that set only the one before it. But i would like to have a way to measure improvements. So need to find a way to track distance thrown. I will see if i can find a way. Failign that, i need to get myself one of those clickers..