How the 5'7'' Nate Robinson won the Dunk Contest

The New York Knicks guard Nate Robinson is known as a freak of an athlete. Being only 5'7'', Robinson won the the NBA slam dunk contest in 2006 against sick dunkers like Josh Smith and Andre Igoudala. His best dunk was arguably the one over 1986 champion Spud Webb. His block on the 7' 6'' Chinese Center " Yao Ming is already a youtube classic. So, there is no question the guy can jump. Actually, he has a vertical leap of 43.5 inches!

"First time I touched the backboard, I was 12. I touched the rim as I was 13, and as I was 14, I could finally dunk." - Nate Robinson

Although Nate could dunk at such a young age already, it took him a lot of training to reach his current vertical leap. Simply take a look at one day of his after-college program (it's a 4 days a week, one hour a day workout):

Day one (f.e. Monday):

• jumping rope. (400 jumps)

• Sprint-and-drop. Run the width of a basketball court, then do ten push-ups. (10 sprints)

• leg curl (2 sets of 10)

• chest press (2 sets of 10)

• standing cable fly (2 sets of 10)

• Dumbbell Curl. (2 sets of 10)

• Single-arm triceps extension. (2 sets of 10 with all arm)

• High knee-raise sprint (20 sprints)

You will find more information about Nate's workout here .

P.S. Keep in mind: its more important how you jump than how often you jump. The latter trains your jumping endurance, but to improve your vertical jump you need to work on your muscle strength - low reps, but high intensity is the key!