I put my elbow in the rim on the first try.
That single moment told me everything I needed to know about where my jump was at. It happened on a random Wednesday, right after I got back from California, and it was one of those sessions where I felt amazing the second I walked in the gym.
Coming Home From a Bad Session
If you watched my last video, you know I was out in California and I did not have a great session there. So honestly, I was kind of questioning how this one would go. You never really know how your body is going to respond after travel and a rough day in the gym.
Then I got back home, got in the gym, and felt amazing immediately. My warm-up off-the-dribble dunks just felt wild. Right away I knew this was going to be a different kind of day.
A Good Off-the-Dribble Windmill to Start
Once I felt how springy my legs were, I hit a good off-the-dribble Windmill in my warm-ups. That alone was a great sign. When the Windmill is coming easy early in a session, it usually means the rest of the day has a chance to be special.
So I kept testing the jump, and that’s when I made a spur-of-the-moment decision that ended up being the highlight of the whole session.
Elbow in the Rim on the First Try
I randomly decided I was going to try putting my elbow in the rim. And I got it first try. That surprised me so much.
Here’s why it mattered. Getting my elbow in the rim meant that was around an 11’4″ to 11’5″ touch. That’s five more inches than I touched at Dunk Camp last year. Five inches is a massive jump for me, and to hit it on the first attempt without grinding for it told me my jump was really coming together at the right moment.
For context on how much that matters, you can check out my vertical and training and how I track these touch numbers over time. The whole point of all the work is to see the number climb, and this was proof it was climbing.
Peaking Right Before Camp
The timing could not have been better. Dunk Camp was the next week. At the time I posted this I was putting it up on Saturday, and camp started on Monday, so I was just two days out from the best event of the year.
Touching five inches higher than I did at camp the year before meant I was in pretty good shape heading into it. No matter what happened, I figured I should do pretty well. That’s a great feeling to carry into a week like that. If you want the full backstory on the event, here’s my Dunk Camp Day 1 recap from a previous year.
The Honest Mistake I Made
As good as the session was, I have to be honest about the one thing I did badly. I structured it terribly.
When I have days where I’m jumping super good, sometimes I get too excited. I stop focusing on certain things and just start trying a bunch of random stuff. That’s exactly what I did. With the way I was jumping, I definitely could have hit some new dunks. But I was so amped up that I kept going for tons of new stuff instead of locking in on one or two specific goals.
It’s a real lesson. Jumping out of the gym is a gift, and wasting it on scattered attempts is the easiest mistake to make. The days you feel the best are the days you most need a plan. I dig into how I think about this more in my breakdown of session dunks and structure.
One More Thing About This Session
This was also my last session with long hair for a while, so it kind of marked the end of a little era on top of everything else.
I hoped I didn’t overdo it that day, but even if I did, the elbow-in-rim touch told me I was peaking at the perfect time. I was super excited heading into Utah for a camp all about dunking, created by dunkers for dunkers, with tons of pros there. If you want to see where my journey on the rim began, here’s where it all started for me.
Best session leading into the best week of the year. I’ll take that every time.
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