Derrick Rose Dunks or how to jump higher

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

Rose, the No. 1 pick in the 2008 NBA Draft, is a great jumper: He can get his head up to rim level with no problem. Rose’s athleticism is almost terrifying: 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 (an 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 20-meter run (2.65s!), the longest Power Ball throw (69ft), shined 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 physicals at Orlando’s pre-draft camp in the summer of 2008, Rose showed a 40-inch vertical. So, there is no doubt that Derrick Rose can jump. You might remember his sick reverse dunk at the 2009 All-Star Skills Challenge, which, by the way, he won handily. What about his alley-oop-dunk against the Sixers? Or his facial on 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 the 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”).