Derrick Rose Dunks or how to jump higher

There’s no question: Derrick Rose nails like crazy. The 20-year-old Chicago Bulls point guard who is only 6 foot 2½ (not 6’3” as in this NBA profile), is quite possibly the most athletic point guard in the NBA!

The No. 1 pick in the 2008 NBA Draft, Rose is a great jumper—he can get his head level with the rim with no problem. Rose’s athleticism is almost frightening: In 2005 he participated in the NIKE Boys Elite Skills Academy in Beaverton, along with 17 of the best high school basketball players in the country. There the boys underwent a specific test called SPARQ (acronym for Speed, Power, Agility, Reaction and Quickness). The results were quite interesting:

Rose, who was 16 at the time, finished second to Brandan Wright (right who?). Rose recorded the fastest 20m dash (2.65s!), longest Power Ball throw (69ft), shone in the Compass Drill (6.19s), and also had the one-step vertical jump. highest at 38.6, at 16!

Then three years later, during fitness tests at Orlando’s pre-draft camp in the summer of 2008, Rose displayed a 40-inch vertical. So there’s no question that Derrick Rose can jump. You might remember his sick reverse dunk in the 2009 All-Star Game Skills Challenge which, by the way, he won handily. What about his alley-oop-dunk against the Sixers? Or his facial in Leandro Barbosa?

Now, if you want to jump higher, it’s important to include three important elements in your training: weight training, plyometrics, and stretching. For weight training, try an exercise called the Back Squat. The important point here is not the number of repetitions but how fast you can move the weight. A good plyometric exercise is the Squat Jump: place your hands on the ground between your legs. Now jump as high as you can and as soon as you land jump back into the air. Then stretch your quads (google “standing quad stretch”).

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