Gilbert Arenas Dunking or how to increase the vertical jump
You may have heard that NBA superstar Gilbert Arenas is quite unorthodox on and off the court, but especially when it comes to his training.
For example, when the team is inactive, he typically trains three times a day: first with the team at practice, then for drills at 8 p.m., and a third time around midnight, when he hits 300 jump shots on the machine. Rebound. His explanatory statement: Since most of his teammates don’t work out during the season, this is his chance to top them. And the key to this master plan to dominate the NBA? Beginning with game 42, the precise midpoint of the season, Arenas stops further workouts. “So while everyone else is wearing thin,” he says with a conspiratorial nod, “I’m finally getting my legs back.”
When you talk about Gilbert Arenas and training, there is a story you should know:
One day, after a team practice, Arenas made a $20,000 bet with fellow Washington Wizard DeShawn Stevenson. Agent Zero claimed that he could make more college basketball 3-pointers with one hand than Stevenson could make pro-level 3-pointers with two hands.
And out of 100 attempts, Arenas completed 73 shots! Stevenson, on the other hand, needed to make his last ten shots just to tie, but he only made his first five shots before missing his sixth (meaning Stevenson was 68 of 96).
But Arenas is not just a shooter. In case you didn’t know, the 6’4” guard has a vertical of 37 inches!
So what did you do to increase your vertical?
Just check out Hibachi’s favorite exercises to improve your vertical:
Box jumps:
Starting position: Place a foot-high plyo box in front of you. Now jump on top of the box. Go down and repeat. Don’t do more than 15 reps. You can use taller boxes later.
But jumping isn’t just about your legs, it’s also about the power you generate in your upper body (mainly your shoulders):
press thrust:
Starting position: barbell on the upper back. Quickly bend your knees and hips then explode up and push the bar up. Bring the bar to your shoulders and repeat the exercise for a maximum of 5 repetitions. Start with light weights and add weight later. Then do 5 sets of one or two reps.
Hang clean:
Starting position: bar above the knees, torso at a 45-degree angle to the ground. Now pull the bar up along your body. Rise up on your toes and pull your body forward. Start with light weights and do 2 to 5 sets of five repetitions. You can add weight later and work on one rep per set.