Nathanael Morton: Ladies and gentlemen,
if you have not yet seen the dunk of the year by Anthony Edwards, let's just take a
moment to watch this clip, so that we can set the stage for the rest of this video.
When I was in elementary school, there was a kid named Billy Marino and he was the elementary
school bully. He was in the fifth grade and I was in third grade. And one day we were
playing tackle football. And I had the ball and I was running it, and he basically picked me up
and dropped me on my head. And I basically had to just get up and act like it didn't
hurt because I couldn't beat him up. I just had to get up and act tough
like it didn't hurt. But secretly it knocked the wind out of me. Inside, I was like...
I felt that again, when I saw this dunk, I felt that again. So, my prayers go out.
Nathanael Morton: But anyways, guys, let's get into
this video. I'm going to give you three exercises that you can do to dunk like Anthony Edwards. Now,
please understand, Anthony Edwards has, obviously, put in a lot of work. So, you are going to need
to put in a lot of work. And these are not the only three exercises that you could do
to dunk like Anthony Edwards. He might not even do these exercises, but I've looked at his jump
style. I've looked at his technique and these three exercises will help you dunk a little bit
more like Anthony Edwards. Let's go. Nathanael Morton:
Exercise number one is going to be a 1, 2 depth jump. So, in a normal depth jump, you drop off of
the box, both of your feet hit the ground at the same time, you go into knee flexion, and then you
jump into the air as high as possible. In a 1, 2 depth jump this better represents what actually
happens in a two foot approach vertical jump. So, Anthony Edwards is predominantly a right, left,
two foot jumper. So, if he were to do this drill, this exercise, what he would do is he would push
off of the box with his left foot. He would allow his right foot to hit the ground first. Then,
he would go into his penultimate jump with his right left, and then he would jump into the air
or over a hurdle. Nathanael Morton:
Now, I don't want you to copy Anthony Edwards, if you are a left right,
two foot jumper. Just do the opposite. And guys, you should practice both of these. Remember,
you should be practicing all four of your approach jumps, trying to get them as even as possible. So,
off of your left foot, one foot jump off of your right foot one foot jump. Off of your right, left,
two foot jump. And off of your left, right two foot jump. You should be trying to get these even,
so that you don't have any imbalances. Nathanael Morton:
The same goes for this 1, 2 depth jump. You should be practicing the same amount of sets and reps
off of your left, right approach that you do off of your right, left approach.
Even maybe a couple extra reps off of your weak approach to get that up and even with your strong
approach. I would start off by doing three sets of three reps off of your weak approach,
and off your strong approach. And if your approaches are not even, if you could jump way
higher off your strong approach than you're weak approach, then I would go ahead and add an extra
set of three reps off of your weak approach. And what that's going to do is work on that
explosive penultimate step, just like Anthony Edwards has. And we're adding in the box, and we
all know that depth jumps are a more effective exercise than just regular vertical jumps. So,
it's going to add in that component right there, and take your penultimate to the next level.
Nathanael Morton: The second exercise that I think you should do
to jump like Anthony Edwards, which I preach a lot on this channel, is joint-angle specific squats.
Anthony Edwards, you can tell that he has tons of rate of force development, tons of explosive
strength. And he doesn't really have a deep knee angle when he jumps. So, if you are a beginner,
I would do full squats. But if you are an intermediate, or even more advanced
lifter, and you've been squatting for a long time, and you have access to weights,
I would start to do joint-angle specific squats. So, film yourself, doing a jump
look at the specific knee flexion that you have, how far down do you go when you jump? And then,
mimic that joint-angle when you squat. Nathanael Morton:
So, box squats are okay, regular back squats are okay, front squats are okay.
But whatever squats you do, I would start to mimic your joint-angle, and get explosive
at that joint-angle. The sets and reps for squats are going to vary, but whenever you are trying to
get extremely explosive like an Anthony Edwards, I would do a little bit heavier weight, trying
to move the bar as fast as possible, and I'll do lower reps. So, something like six sets of two,
or six sets of three reps going heavier and heavier trying to progressive overload, trying
to get faster when you move the bar increasing that rate of force development every single time.
But six sets of two, or six sets of three at your joint-angle specific squats is going to really
help you jump like Anthony Edwards. Nathanael Morton:
The third exercise that you can do to jump like Anthony Edwards are trap bar jumps. And if you
don't have the trap bar, dumbbell squat jumps. And if you don't have dumbbells get some books
in a backpack and jump with your backpack. And if you don't have a backpack, if you don't go school,
then just do body weight, squat jumps. Because Anthony Edwards, as I've already stated,
has an insane amount of explosive strength. His rate of force development is probably off
of the charts. So, what we can do with trap bar jumps, or dumbbell squat jumps
is we can work the stretch reflex, the stretch shortening cycle and increase our rate of force
development at the same time, helping us to jump at least a little bit like Anthony Edwards.
Nathanael Morton: And I wouldn't go too heavy
for these. If you have a trap bar, I would start light, once again, do lower reps. So,
something like five sets of two, or five sets of three, or six sets of two, or six sets of three.
Just higher sets, higher intensity, but lower reps, because we don't want to be doing tons
of volume with these. We want to be as intense as possible for a few jumps. So, if you have
dumbbells start with the five pounds, next week do 10 pounds. Next week, 15 pounds. Next week,
20 pounds. And try to go up, and up, and up. Nathanael Morton:
But you are going to hit a point where adding more weight is no longer effective. So, make sure that
you could be as explosive as possible, jump as high as possible in these. You can't jump as high
as possible if you're dead lifting or you're trying to do a trap bar jump with 315 pounds,
or 405 pounds. You're not going to be explosive. You're not even going to be able to get off the
floor. So, make sure that you can at least get off the floor work that rate of force development,
work that stretch reflex, stretch shortening cycle, and increase your vertical jump as
high as possible. Nathanael Morton:
But guys, those were three exercises that you could do that mimic the joint-angle,
mimic the jump technique, mimic the skills and the rate of force development that Anthony Edwards has
and get as close to him as possible. But guys, it's going to take a lot of work. So, go ahead put
in the work, take the action, like it says on my shirt. Knowledge is not power. Dreaming, hoping,
wishing, planning, thinking about what you want isn't going to get you there. That's only half of
the battle. You eventually have to take action, go out and do it to make your dreams come true.
Nathanael Morton: Like this video,
if you like it. Comment "Jump" down below for a free body weight vertical jump training program.
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the t-shirts are now available. And I will see you guys in the next video.
Nathanael Morton: (singing).