This was the first time I really talked through a session on camera, and the first time I filmed a vertical jump workout. After a session with my friend Hunter Castona, I picked up better audio gear and decided to start explaining what I’m actually working on instead of just posting the makes. So this one is two parts: an outdoor dunk session I built entirely around my weaknesses, and the leg day I did the very next morning.
Why I Built a Whole Session Around My Weaknesses
During that session with Hunter I tried a lot of dunks I’d never tried before, and it made something obvious. If I want to be one of the best dunkers in the world, and one day the best, I can’t just keep repeating what I’m already good at. I have to train the things I’m bad at. Right now those are three: off-the-dribble dunks, my left hand, and one foot.
So that was the whole plan. Warm up low, lock in my routine dunks on a normal rim to hold my consistency, then spend the rest of the time on the stuff I usually avoid. It’s easy to film a highlight by doing your best dunk on repeat. It’s a lot less fun, and a lot more useful, to spend a whole session on the dunks that make you look bad.
Warming Up on the Low Rim: One Foot, One Hand, Calling Every Dunk
I started low, around 7’7″, working one foot with one hand. To keep myself honest, I called out every dunk before I tried it and showed every attempt, makes and misses. No editing out the ugly ones. One of the dunks I landed was something I’ve hit maybe three times ever on any rim height, so that might’ve been a PR right there in the warmup.
I’m also trying to learn the Jordan Kilganon spin lob. Almost nobody does it, and it sets up a lot of other dunks, so it’s worth the reps even when it looks rough early. If some of the moves in this section are new to you, I keep a running breakdown of the names on my dunk terminology page.
One honest problem the whole session: my shoes. On basically every jump I was rolling my ankle and fading away instead of going straight up. Once you’re drifting on takeoff, the dunk is already harder than it needs to be, and that’s before you add a weak hand or a tricky entry on top of it.
Moving Up to 9 Feet to Work My Left Hand and Off-Dribble
From there I moved up to 9′ for my routine lob dunks, right hand off a left-right plant, just to hold that consistency. Then I went to 9’6″ and 9’9″ to actually grind the weak stuff: left hand and off-the-dribble.
The holes showed up fast. My off-the-dribble timing isn’t there yet, and the off-the-dribble 360 I had pretty consistent last summer has faded since I stopped drilling it. My left hand and one foot both have a long way to go too. I’m not going to pretend it looked clean, because it didn’t. But that’s the entire point of a session like this. You go find the weak spots on purpose so you know exactly what to fix, instead of discovering them in a contest when it actually counts.
My First Vertical Jump Workout (The Leg Day)
The next morning was a lift day, and the first vertical jump workout I’ve put on camera. My programming right now is run by Tom Barnes and Austen Young through Jump X, so this is their work, not me guessing in the gym.
We opened with isometrics to manage my knee pain, which is something I have to stay on top of year-round. Then sprints. I’m slow, the ground outside was uneven, I felt it in my hamstring, and I only got three of them in. The set was supposed to be around 40 meters, but the conditions were what they were, so I just got it done rather than skip it.
Then hang cleans: 135, 155, and 175 for a few reps, which might’ve been a rep PR. I honestly only ever track my one-rep maxes, so I’m bad at knowing my multi-rep numbers. The last rep at 175 barely went up, but it went up.
Last was front squats, and this is the part I care about most right now. I kept the weight light on purpose, 155 up to 175, because my back squat form has been rough and I’m weak in the bottom position. I started the first set heel-elevated to feel the depth, and lifting on carpet didn’t help my balance at all. I was going to push to 185 on the last set, but I shifted onto my toes and lost my form on a couple reps, so I stayed at 175 instead. I’d rather move less weight correctly than more weight badly. Fixing that squat depth and form is my number one weight room priority this summer.
A couple of the machines I was programmed to use weren’t available outside, so I subbed where I had to. Seated calf raises in place of the Smith machine version, and I’m still hunting for a good lying hamstring curl substitute. If you’ve got one that works without the machine, drop it in the comments, because I genuinely want to know.
Training Smart for a Big Summer
The reason I was drilling weaknesses and building strength was that the summer ahead was packed. I had a dunk camp in June, another in August, a dunk contest in September I hadn’t talked about much yet, and a bunch of sessions with the Minnesota guys, plus some travel I hadn’t fully mapped out.
The plan was to build strength, take a de-load before the June camp, get back to work in July, take a smaller de-load before August, and manage my knee the whole way through. I wanted to do well at every camp and contest, but I wasn’t training for any single one of them. I was training for long-term success, which still means training smart, not just hard. That mindset came partly from learning the hard way that pushing through pain instead of around it sets you back further than resting would have.
Part of why I’m rebuilding at all is that I took about four months mostly off to play basketball. I lifted a little, but nowhere near my normal volume, and I got noticeably worse. Stepping away from basketball to go all in on dunking is exactly why I don’t want to lose ground like that again. The goal is to get back to where I was and then go well past it.
The Takeaway
If there’s one thing to take from this, it’s to train your weaknesses on purpose. It’s not fun to spend a whole session missing left-handed off-the-dribble dunks, but that’s where the growth is. The strength work underneath it is what makes the new dunks possible, so build that too. If you want to understand what actually raises your vertical before you start grinding, I broke down the one quick fix that helped me jump higher in a separate post. Stay consistent, and think in years, not weeks.
This was also my first real attempt at lifting and talk-through content, so if you want to see more of it, let me know. And if you want help with your own jump training, I coach. Reach out to me on Instagram at @dylanhaugen23 and I’ll get you going.
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