Alright guys, lemme tell you how I absolutely sucked at jumping just a few months back. Seriously, felt like my sneakers were glued to the floor every time I tried to grab a rebound. Saw that insane clip earlier this year of Ja Morant almost posterizing Wemby – you know the one, where he cleared like a dang rocket even though it got waved off. Pure insanity. And watching McClung, that human pogo stick, get called the GOAT by Vince Carter himself after winning again? Yeah, that lit a fire. Decided enough was enough. Needed that bounce.
The Starting Point (aka Rock Bottom)
First thing I did? Measured my sorry vertical. Just stood flat-footed, reached up as high as I possibly could against the garage wall. Marked it with some tape. Pathetic height, seriously. Felt about two inches off the ground. Knew I needed a plan.
Step 1: Digging Into Ja’s Sauce
Scoured everywhere online. Watched slo-mo vids of Ja jumping – over and over. Focused real hard on how he moved. Noticed a couple big things:
- The Deep Dip: Dude gets LOW before he explodes up. Like, seriously bends those knees deep. Way deeper than I ever did.
- Arm Swing Chaos: He whips his arms UP hard when he leaves the ground. It ain’t some polite little wave; it’s a full-force slingshot motion.
- Landing Ain’t the Goal: Seems obvious, but he ain’t thinking about landing. Every cell is screaming “UP!”.
Started trying to copy that movement pattern. Just the motion, no jump yet. Felt super awkward at first.
Step 2: Building the Explosive Legs
Figured my chicken legs needed some serious work. Started simple:
- Jump Squats (Death by Air): Just squat down (trying to mimic Ja’s deep dip!), then explode up, reaching for the ceiling. Did sets of 8-10, rest, repeat. My legs screamed bloody murder after two sets. Took weeks to feel less like dying.
- Stair Hopping: Found some concrete steps outside. Started just hopping up them one foot at a time, focusing on exploding off the foot on the ground. Later worked on two-footed hops. Brutal on the calves.
- Hold that Pose: Added deep squat holds at the end. Hold that Ja dip position for as long as possible. Quads on FIRE.
Consistency sucked sometimes. Some days I skipped. Others I pushed too hard and hobbled.
Step 3: The Arm Whip
This felt downright silly practicing alone. But I committed. Standing in place, no dip even:
- Arm Swings Only: Just practicing whipping my arms DOWN hard and then UP even harder. Focused on generating momentum upwards. Like trying to launch myself just with arm swing. Tried to make it forceful, like Ja.
- Adding the Dip: Then combined it. Deep dip, swing arms DOWN into the dip, then VIOLENTLY swing them UP as I push with my legs.
This made a HUGE difference. That upward arm swing pulls you up way more than you think!
Step 4: Measure Again & Mindset Flip
After about 3 months of this grind (minus the skipped days!), I finally went back to the garage wall. Nervous as hell. Did the whole movement: Deep dip, explosive leg drive, HUGE arm swing UP… reached… marked it.
Grabbed the tape measure. Holy crap. Legit gained a solid four inches!
It ain’t Ja levels, not even close. I’m not dunking on 7-footers anytime soon (or ever!). But playing pickup now? Feels different. Way more confident going for boards. Got a few “Where’d that come from?!” shouts from guys at the court. Still gotta focus on the arm whip every dang time – it’s not automatic yet.
The biggest lesson wasn’t just the exercises. It was fully committing to exploding upwards with everything I had, arms included, like Morant does. Forget landing. Forget looking smooth. Just think UP! Takes constant effort, but man, it works. Keep grinding.
