You may know Boston Celtics little guard Nate Robinson as the human spring. In fact, the 5’7″ guard won the NBA dunk contest in 2006 against top dunkers like Josh Smith and Andre Igoudala. In his most memorable dunk of the night, he jumped over 1986 champion Spud Webb, and received a perfect 50-point score for the dunk.He also won the contest in 2009, against Dwight Howard, and this year (2010) to become the first three-time NBA Slam Dunk Champion.
Nate’s monster block against the 7’6″ Center Yao Ming is already a YouTube classic. So it’s obvious the guy got some hoops. He actually has a 43.5-inch vertical jump!
“The first time I touched a backboard I was 12 years old. I touched the rim when I was 13, and when I was 14, I was finally able to dunk.” -Nate Robinson
Although Nate could already dunk at that young age, it took hard training for him to reach his current vertical jump. After leaving university in 2005, he completed a special program
4 days a week, one hour a day of training.
His training consisted of:
Day 1 (Monday):
or jump rope. An excellent exercise to increase foot speed. (400 jumps)
or Sprint-and-drop. Run the width of a basketball court, drop down, and do ten push-ups. (10 races)
o Seated figure eight. Sit on a stability ball holding a ten pound medicine ball in front of you. Your elbows should be tight at your sides. Slowly make a figure eight motion with the ball, moving your lower body as little as possible. (15 eights, then 15 in the opposite direction)
o Leg curl (2 sets of 10)
o Incline Chest Press (2 sets of 10)
o Foot Cable Fly (2 sets of 10)
o Standing Dumbbell Curl Curl one arm, then the other, for one repetition. (2 sets of 10)
o One-Arm Triceps Extension From a seated position, with weight behind your head (not behind your shoulder), extend your arm until it points up. (2 sets of 10 with each arm)
Day 2 (Tuesday):
o Jump rope (400 jumps)
o High Sprint with High Knees Sprint across a basketball court staying on your toes and lifting your knees as high as possible. (20 races)
