Dunking ability

Question
Hi,

I am a 6-5 tall guy and can hardly dunk the ball( just one hand dunk, can not do a two). I am 25 years old and been away from the playground for about 4 years. I recently went back on playing and found out that I can not dunk anymore and it drives me crazy as I was a dunk machine when in high school. I believe it has something to do with weight as I was about 200 pounds 5 years ago and about 257 pounds now. When I stopped (meaning not being a part of a Team, I will play once in a while with my friends), I was more into lifting weights and will most of the time work out my upper body. Couple months ago I tore my ACL while playing ball and had a ACL surgery in which the surgeon took a part of my hamstring and created a new ligament. I understand my ligament will not be like before and I need to muscle up my leg to help the ligament to support my joint. Right now I am doing phisio everyday for the next 4-6 months before I can go back on playing ball. I really want to play basketball like I used to, specially dunking, rebounding and blocking. My intention is find a Team once I recover so I can be committed. I read the article about the 15 years old, 6-6 tall guy who wants to dunk and I saw the exercises for the vertical jump which I intend to do. Is there any other exercise or advise you can provide?? Either in loosing weight if needs to (what should be my ideal weight) or for my ACL reconstruction. I heard that jumping rope is a good exercise to improve your ability to jump and that ABS helps in jumping as well. Is that true??

Please let me know.

Thanks,

Dave.

Answer
Hi Dave,
First of all, make sure you complete your therapy and that you are cleared by your doctor to workout and play again. Second, I'm sure the extra weight has alot to do with your inability to dunk (and probably contributed to your injury as well) so losing weight is the first thing you should take care of. For your height, anywhere from 200-210 should be ok for you. Jumping rope is good for your quickness off of the floor when you jump, not necessarily how high you get up. It is still a good exercise for the legs and for weight loss. Abs definitely effect your jumping ability. Take your body through the motions of a vertical jump right up to the point where your feet are about to leave the ground. Stop at the last second and you will feel your Abs constrict. There is also a plyometric exercise called box jumps that helps with vertical jumping. It's hard to describe like this so I would suggest consulting with a personal trainer to learn more about it.