This is going to sound like the most woo-woo shit you’ve ever heard but it just happened to me. I have put in zero training whatsoever on jumping (or exercising in general) and in the last two months I’ve gone from barely grazing the bottom of the rim on a 10 foot hoop to easily clearing it and grabbing rim jumping off of one foot or two feet.
Let me explain a little background first: I haven’t announced this goal to anyone because I feel like every time I have I’ve jinxed things and given up or just quit on it but this time feels different. I am going to dunk a basketball before my 32nd birthday on a 10 foot hoop.
I went out on July 23rd and tested my vertical to see where I was with no training and a very sedentary lifestyle and I still managed to touch the rim. I have done zero training so far for this goal which is always great when you’re procrastinating the start of doing something.
The thing that’s been hindering me is what’s stopping everyone from doing the things they wish they could do: perceived lack of time.
If I were being completely honest with myself, training to dunk would only take me maybe 4 hours a week at maximum and that would be enough to make great consistent progress. That 4 hours has to come from somewhere and I have to make that though which is why I haven’t so far since starting in July.
I saw this post on X/Twitter that was a screenshot of a study’s abstract saying that a group of people just imagining and visualizing themselves lifting weights increased their strength by something like 35% in 8 weeks while the group that actually lifted weights increased their strength by 52%.
Wanting to test it for myself but not really believing it, last week I practiced visualizing my run up and the technique of my jumps. I wasn’t visualizing myself dunking anything, just running up either side of the hoop off of each foot and making sure my technique felt natural and not as awkward as it did when I tested in July to see my baseline.
Tonight (Monday September 28th, 2026) I went outside at night to shoot around after a difficult evening with my son so I wanted to blow off some steam at the basketball court for half an hour.
For whatever reason I felt lighter than usual when I was running around and shooting jumpers off the dribble. I had real power behind my shot which was strange to me since when I show around at the church on Saturday in West Virginia my shot felt weak.
I didn’t even try to embarrass myself and try to touch the rim at the church but they also didn’t have breakaway rims so on the off chance I did, I didn’t want to damage the hoop.
Tonight though I thought “why not, let’s see if my approach feels better when I jump after visualizing before bed last week.” And I was shocked when my first jump off of one foot, without even giving it my all, was an easy rim grab.
I had to go back and test it again and again and again and I was still getting the same reach (still a little worried to push all the way and land weird or take off wrong since I’m untrained). I even tried jumping off of two feet and instead of grabbing the rim by my palm I was able to get two knuckles above to grab it.
Again. Zero training. I have not been exercising in any way. The only thing that has changed has been me visualizing my jumps before bed. I didn’t even eat lunch or drink all that much water today. It’s not like I was just in remarkably good condition today, but I still did it.
What if the difference between you wanting to do something and actually doing it really has all along just been whether or not you could actually picture and imagine yourself doing it?
Until next week,
Ian