Have you seen Tracy McGrady’s dunk over the 7’6’’ Center Shawn Bradley?
Ok, some time has passed since then, but T-Mac still got hoops. Actually, the 28-year old Houston Rocket still has a 35.5-inch vertical!
After and during his rehabilitation, McGrady worked at lot on getting stronger.
"Now, I persist to train every day, regardless I am at home or outside. My condition is improving slowly but surely. My strength and in fact everything is improving as well. I can clearly feel it. I will continue on my training. Unlike everybody thought and said, I need to prove that Tracy McGrady is not yet finished." – Tracy McGrady
Here’s a summary of his workout:
Dumb Bells
McGrady held two 70-pound dumb bells on both hands, and started lifting facing a mirror on the wall. Every session demanded McGrady to hold this pair of dumb bells straightening his arms for 10 times. McGrady had to swing his body back and forth to persist in the lifting exercise. He had to do such lifting for 4/ 5 sessions.
Solid Ball Practice
In this practice, McGrady had to lift a solid ball (at a weight of 16 pounds) above his head, and ran from one baseline to another baseline across the court. After a 3-peat sprint across the court, he then changed to another solid ball weighing at 8 pounds, lifted it in his hand, and jumped to touch the rim.
After some 10-peats of such practice, McGrady took up a skipping rope, and jumped for several minutes so as to relax.
During this workout McGrady also used some special exercises to increase his vertical:
Bouncing Machine
McGrady stood in the middle of the bouncing machine that was fixed stationary on the floor. He put on a suspender that could be able to bind tightly his upper body. Four strong rubber bands were connected to the suspender from the 4 corners of the bouncing machine. Then McGrady had to jump continuously for 30 times.
For more exercises and crucial things to know about vertical jump (f.e. why often what you “don’t” do is more important then what you “do” do) please take a look at this page I strongly recommend:
www.howtodunk.org
