When does your vertical start to drop?

[3stat2]

Hey everyone,

We've all seen players like Vince Carter go through the process of losing their vertical year by year, and it isn't too pretty watching a reknown dunker lose so much of his hops. Right now I'm 21 years old, 6'1, and my vert is about 37-38 inches. Now I know it's not a fundamental part of the game which is technically unnecessary, but I can't help but feel a little uneasy about the day I can no longer dunk.

The wear and tear you put on your legs probably has a lot to do with it, as well as the shape you keep your whole body in. But assuming they stay in shape, I've heard that players reach their athletic peaks around 22-24 - does that sound about right? I know Dwight Howard gained a tonne of vert between the age of 18 and 20, and he seems to have increased it even more this year.

Any other opinions on when people's jumping ability starts to decline?

[otmtheshank]

I recall hearing multiple times that a person's prime in terms of athleticism is usually in their early 20's. Of course, there are tons of people who reach their primes in later years, but if an athlete stays on a consistent workout/diet routine, then their best results should end up in the age range you mentioned.

[ILballa]

It's different for different people.

[determined2win]

one thing is as you get older your body parts no longer function as well as they used to, its natural, sometimes you can regain it, sometimes you cant.

[Hoopla]

Technically, your overall potential is at its peak when you're 21. However, unless you're training 24 hours a day, its uncommon to ever reach your maximum potential fitness. With this in mind, you should be able to keep improving up until your late twenties, when the decline will become a little more noticeable

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[supersmashbros]

As you mentioned yourself, your vertical isn't that important for your game, so I suppose if you happen to lose a little over time it wouldn't really affect your game? But I suppose you as long as you vertical is sufficient than you shouldn't worry to much about it. :rockon:

[Rake2204]

I can relate to the original poster. I've been dunking like crazy over the past 5 years out of fear that I might lose the ability any day now. However, I am 25 and honestly dunking better than ever. I know my day will come, and I know it won't affect my game per se, but I just love dunking. It will take a lot of the fun out of basketball for me. It is a strong source of pride, one of the best feelings in the world, and often makes me stand out amongst a crowd.

[Automajic23]

F Bombs. Does this mean my Vert is going to go on the decline soon? I'm turning 24 in August and this past year I am finally able to dunk. (When I was 18 I couldn't palm a ball but I could grab rim with both hands easy). From ages 20-22 I had fallen out of shape and couldnt even grab rim.

At 23 I started working furiously to get it back and now I can dunk it off one leg. I can't throw it down hard but I can get it in. Am I bound to lose this in a few years?

6' - 175lbs, play and workout almost everyday except game days.

[Suprageex]

I know Dwight Howard gained a tonne of vert between the age of 18 and 20, and he seems to have increased it even more this year.

Howard worked much on his vertical, basically because he's a center, and he needs to gain vertical to block balls. Centers don't work (often) on 3pt shots or something, so his vertical is one of the most important aspects of his game...

I guess at the age of 25-27 your legs (as an athlete) start to decline. F.e. Bryant doesn't quite have the hops he had in his early years. When their vert. is going down, you see players evolve into more consistent shooters...

[NotYetGreat]

Not really sure, since I haven't even reached 20s yet, but I think when you abruptly change your regular workout (in a negative way) or maybe stop working out and practicing your jump, you lose some of it.

[Batman]

Everybody is different. Demetrius Hook Michell is 5'9 and still dunks over cars at the age of 35

[Kumo]

As you mentioned yourself, your vertical isn't that important for your game, so I suppose if you happen to lose a little over time it wouldn't really affect your game? But I suppose you as long as you vertical is sufficient than you shouldn't worry to much about it. :rockon:

He said that dunking wasn't. Vertical is extremely important to basketball. Rebounds, blocked shots, tips, fade-aways, dunking (highest percentage shot). Basketball is a game of jumping, if you can out-jump your opponent at the level of basketball most of us play, you will have a huge advantage.

[supersmashbros]

He said that dunking wasn't. Vertical is extremely important to basketball. Rebounds, blocked shots, tips, fade-aways, dunking (highest percentage shot). Basketball is a game of jumping, if you can out-jump your opponent at the level of basketball most of us play, you will have a huge advantage.
My bad...jumping is of course very important for the game, but dunking is not (that's unless you can't score in any way). I am not sure what the average vertical leap is for a healthy (but non-athletic) adult male or female? I think my vertical of 28-30 inches is pretty impressive for a largely sedentary, non-sports active guy (I can just barely touch the rim with my standing reach of 7,7 ish with shoes on).

[iambeinreal]

If you avoid injury to your joints you can definitely keep improving your vertical for many years to come. This is because the human peak strength years are around the ages of 28-30. If you look at the Olympic jump records, many of them were set by athletes in their late 20s. At some point though, the joints start to become less elastic, and most people simply get out of shape as they age.

[supersmashbros]

If you avoid injury to your joints you can definitely keep improving your vertical for many years to come. This is because the human peak strength years are around the ages of 28-30. If you look at the Olympic jump records, many of them were set by athletes in their late 20s. At some point though, the joints start to become less elastic, and most people simply get out of shape as they age.
So I guess I am not at my peak physical strength yet? That's good because once your physic declines, that would suck.

[iambeinreal]

So I guess I am not at my peak physical strength yet? That's good because once your physic declines, that would suck.
Well, thats assuming that you keep exercising and stay healthy up through that age. I think many NBA players start to experience declining athleticism before age 30, because the extreme number of hours they log running, jumping, and cutting wear down their bodies.

It appears as though Vince Carter may not have lost as much hops as many people think though:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2PUXGwNvGM

[dwade83]

age 28-30

[Rake2204]

Well, thats assuming that you keep exercising and stay healthy up through that age. I think many NBA players start to experience declining athleticism before age 30, because the extreme number of hours they log running, jumping, and cutting wear down their bodies.

It appears as though Vince Carter may not have lost as much hops as many people think though:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2PUXGwNvGM
For some reason that clip made me happy. It's good to see Vince Carter still elevating a little bit. And by little bit I mean doing something at age 32 that I've never been able to do ever.

[DECK]

It's different for different people.
Yeah, if u keep playing ball and stick to ur workouts and diets then you shouldn't lose ur vert for some time.

[Rake2204]

Technically, your overall potential is at its peak when you're 21. However, unless you're training 24 hours a day, its uncommon to ever reach your maximum potential fitness. With this in mind, you should be able to keep improving up until your late twenties, when the decline will become a little more noticeableI've heard various accounts of physical peak being anything between age 21 and 27. However, I'm a big believer in the idea presented here. I believe we can see a smooth or sometimes dramatic drop in athletic ability amongst aging NBA players because many of them have been pushing themselves and reaching their peak for as long as they've been in the league.

For example, very hypothetically, let's say Kobe Bryant's maximum potential vertical leap was 42''. Due to the extreme manner with which he was pushed to work out and achieve the most out of his body, he likely came very close to reaching that number for many years, perhaps meeting 95-100% of his athletic potential. As such, the moment his body begins to decline, it'll become noticeable that him even reaching his full potential for his age may result in lesser numbers (say, a new maximum vertical potential of 38'').

On the flip side, I'm going to use myself as an example. As a 21 year old, I could dunk comfortably and my running max vertical was right around 34''. At that point however, I was not affiliated with any teams, coaches or trainers and it's clear and obvious I was not pushing myself to the absolute limit. I worked hard, but not "achieve 100% potential" hard. Let's say I only reached 70% of my max potential at that age, where if I was fully committed and busted my tail off, perhaps I could have been a 38'' inch guy or something.

I'm 28 now. I think it's likely my maximum jumping potential has dropped. Perhaps the hypothetical 38'' mark is no longer reachable. However, this year I began committing slightly different workout regimens to maximizing my jumping ability. As such, perhaps at age 28 I'm reaching 75-80% of my max potential for my age, compared to the assumed 70% at age 21. As such, my vertical number has sustained or even improved since I was 21.

To break it down in simpler terms, all hypothetical:

For someone (a pro) with a max potential vert of 42'' at age 21, with 100% workout tendencies and effort, they will likely come close to jumping 42''.

When that same player begins to age, their max potential vert will drop. By age 28, it may only be 38''. Still assuming they're being pushed to 100%, they'll have a 38'' vert.

For a regular person, their max vert may be 40'' at age 21, but they may only have 70% workout tendencies and effort, so perhaps they only develop a 33'' vert.

As that regular person ages, again let's say to age 28, their max vert may only be 37''. However, perhaps they have 75%-85% workout tendencies and effort now, thus perhaps leading them to a vertical number closer to their body's maximum - somewhere in the 34-35'' range, which would in fact eclipse their younger vertical number.

Long story short, I think most of us likely do not push ourselves as hard as humanly possible, so there's likely a bigger window to make ourselves jump higher in comparison to professional athletes, who have likely been achieving their maximum potential (or very, very close) for as long as they've been playing.

[01amberfirewv]

It's pretty hard to put a definite year on it. I would say when you stop using it for what ever reason you will start noticing a decline. I know for myself I could jump higher in my early 20's but I was leaner and more active. I do from time to time work on increasing mine but it seems like as it gets higher the injuries come more often. In other words when I'm jumping higher its much harder to tolerate a bad landing so I end up rolling my ankle then I have to take it easy and my vert drops again.

[ILLsmak]

Hey everyone,

We've all seen players like Vince Carter go through the process of losing their vertical year by year, and it isn't too pretty watching a reknown dunker lose so much of his hops. Right now I'm 21 years old, 6'1, and my vert is about 37-38 inches. Now I know it's not a fundamental part of the game which is technically unnecessary, but I can't help but feel a little uneasy about the day I can no longer dunk.

The wear and tear you put on your legs probably has a lot to do with it, as well as the shape you keep your whole body in. But assuming they stay in shape, I've heard that players reach their athletic peaks around 22-24 - does that sound about right? I know Dwight Howard gained a tonne of vert between the age of 18 and 20, and he seems to have increased it even more this year.

Any other opinions on when people's jumping ability starts to decline?

I wonder if it ever does in terms of true vert.

They say later that you build the most muscle. I wonder, then, if you couldn't just build leg muscle.

I know my vert dropped, but I gained weight. I think that might be the larger reason. I weigh like 155 now and I was about 125 when my vert was best (at age 16/17 before I destroyed my ankle.) Obviously I'm not a big person, but that's what I would watch. Even in the NBA, it seems like dudes get heavier when they start to lose their vert.

Not to mention the NBA guys are just wearing their bodies out. I think you can keep your max vert past your 30s if you work on it, though. But that's just my opinion. You'll have have to work harder than you did when you were 21.

-Smak

[Rake2204]

I wonder if it ever does in terms of true vert.

They say later that you build the most muscle. I wonder, then, if you couldn't just build leg muscle.

I know my vert dropped, but I gained weight. I think that might be the larger reason. I weigh like 155 now and I was about 125 when my vert was best (at age 16/17 before I destroyed my ankle.) Obviously I'm not a big person, but that's what I would watch. Even in the NBA, it seems like dudes get heavier when they start to lose their vert.

Not to mention the NBA guys are just wearing their bodies out. I think you can keep your max vert past your 30s if you work on it, though. But that's just my opinion. You'll have have to work harder than you did when you were 21.

-SmakI don't know the in's and out's of muscle, but I'd presume there's muscle that will make you broadly strongly and then there's also muscle that builds speed and response. Clearly, I think jumping would require an effective mix of both. I believe someone can have strong leg muscles but still not necessarily contain the reflex and quick muscle response to spring off the floor with extreme effectiveness.

At this point, I'm operating under the "use it or lose it" clause. I feel like if I don't continue working to maintain and improve my hops (at age 28), they'll be walking out the door sooner than I prefer.