Thanks!

Given mediocre genetics and an optimal training regimen, what is the minimum height a male can be and still be reasonably likely (> 50%) to successfully dunk on a standard 10-ft NBA rim?

*mediocre / optimal both with respect to the goal of dunking

Impossible to answer really but anecdotally there aren't many people under about 6'2-6'3 that can dunk without seriously above average hops.

Unless they have these

If I had to prop bet on a random guy being able to dunk I'd like him to be 6 foot 4 before I'd start to like my side tbh.

Or 6'2 and black ( just being real)

For mediocre genetics and an optimal training regime started young, I would say 6'2. I see no reason a moderately tall person who has any degree of athleticism could not, with 10+ years of training, develop enough power:weight to dunk.

i know this is probably asked alot but what are the best stretches for hip flexor or general strengthening exercises?

This was recently on Alan Thrall's channel:

That guy does some really weird things though

Hi guys, I am not sure where this post should go.

Basically I am an intermediate lifter/crossfitter (athletic background in and before highschool + 2 years of Crossfit) that had shoulder and knee surgery. I was fit by normal standards. (10 to 20 percentile among Crossfitters on most workouts according to Beyond the White Board)

The shoulder surgery was for a SLAP tear from little league 20 years ago that never fully healed. The damage was worse than expected according to the surgeon. Apparently he found very deep and old damage (I guessed and he agreed it was probably little league pitching) in my labrum and surrounding tissue. I didn't understand nor particularly care exactly what he was talking about.

The knee surgery was for plica removal.

Fast forward 10 months after shoulder surgery and 6 months after knee surgery. Knee swelling is finally 90% gone. Still some pain when coming off a box (but not up). Nothing limiting for squats and even box jumps and PT says it's fine as long as I know to stop myself when pain starts to get uncomfortable.

My shoulder and bicep is where I am getting awfully depressed. I am stretching every day for at least a minute but it's just so tight I can't stabilize an empty 45 lbs bar overhead without feeling the bicep/shoulder pinch/pull. It took almost 6 months of 3x a week PT sessions before the PT even allowed me to hold a 20 lbs dumbell over head.

There is progress, but it's incredibly slow.

Recently I am doing very slow and light workout (like 65 lbs front squats, 95lbs cleans, and ellipticals. No jumping/running, heavy squats or any explosive movement to overhead) to stay in shape but I am still clearly losing muscle mass, especially around the areas that matter most for appearance (aka, pects, shoulders, biceps). I can't bench press due to the left shoulder situation. Floor press was okay but I feel a pinch where my bicep attaches to shoulder on the way down and that scares me. PT and Doctor predictably said to play it safe and go lighter and just take it slow.

TLDR: Shoulder and knee surgeries have dramatically limited my ability to do typical workouts. How do I stay in shape and/or rehab faster?

So unless you intend to compete, why go faster?

It's just too slow and I am old. Every pound of muscle I lose is going to take a month or two for me to regain and I've probably already lost 10.

Hey everybody, beginner programming question for you all.

First some info about me: I'm 27 years old, 6'1", ~172lbs, have never lifted before. I'm a semi-serious runner and want to incorporate some strength training in my routine. I currently run 4 times a week, will bring that up to 5 times a week soon. My main goals doing strength training are improving core stability and aesthetics.

So I've been lurking H&F a bit and started doing SS, only 4 workouts in though. However, I'm starting to doubt whether squatting 3x/week in addition to running 4-5x/week is feasible longterm. Right now I'm only squatting 40kg and it already feels pretty hard.
My initial plan was to do SS for a few weeks to improve core strength and then transition into a mix of squat/BP/OHP/DL (with constant weight?) for core stability (and because it's fun ) and hypertrophy for looks.
Regarding diet, I currently seem to be eating at maintenance as my weight stagnates but will try to eat a bit more going forward to allow my body to recover properly and also to gain some muscle.


What do you guys think? How would you go about this?

I don't mean to be a dick about this (sounds frustrating as hell), but healing is going to take what it's going to take. You don't even sound that old, if little league was only 20 years ago. What's your age?

You say the knee is mostly better except pain "coming off" a box--does that mean landing from a drop or are you stepping down?

What sort of work did you do in PT most recently and did he give you any specifics to keep working on? I'll throw some stuff out but obviously check with your PT and/or keep being careful. You may also want to try a more sport-centric PT facility, like ones who work with athletes trying to get back out on the field.

Have you tried swimming or rowing? It may not help you keep the hypertrophy trophies, but may at least get the muscles working and some bloodflow and ROM work to the shoulder.

You might be able to find (in a standard commercial gym) a machine focused on triceps that doesn't put pressure on the shoulder. Likewise maybe tricep pushdowns on a cable station or even a "careful" skullcrusher. Have you tried preacher curls?

I'd say mixing that much running with SS style core lifts *may* be feasible long-term (see the trick below), but is almost certainly not in the short term, right now, at the very beginning of the program. Prioritize the lifting for the first month or so to take advantage of the newbie gains, perhaps to the point of not running, at all. After that, you may find reducing the SS lifting to 2 days/week, and possibly doing "speed work" at the end of the sessions (and calling that a run day) is workable. At any rate, you'll know the lifts by then and you'll know how you feel the day after. You wouldn't need to keep the weight constant, but you may want to just microload.

Just my take; I was running a good deal when I started SS and quickly stopped and...well I just got hooked on lifting instead.

Stepping down. No pain if I just hop down.

I am already rowing (low intensity, I treat it as an alternative to elliptical) regularly but right knee limit volume and intensity. I... can't swim. It may be a good time to learn.

Will try preacher curls for sure. Tricep pushdowns are part of my weekly PT sessions. Other parts of my PT (mostly working on shoulder) is stuff like internal and external rotation with band. Overhead stretches, shoulder raises, and basically a lot of the stuff I'd do for warm up before snatching but with a little more weight and volume. T and Y raises on bench, some light presses on inclined bench, and stuff like that. Other than that it's massages. The PT spends a lot of time pushing my shoulder into the socket to get more external rotation. With him pushing, I can get past the angles that would usually hurt comfortably.

Thank you. I really do appreciate straight up advice like this.

i wouldnt know where to begin with half the stuff he does but i had to skip lower body day today (FML) because at bottom of the squat it really hurt and when i turn my leg outwards it hurts like hell i have been going alot heavier on legs lately been hitting my PBs last 3-4 lifts maybe i should have a deload week now?

Does anyone have a good resource for kettleballs they can recommend?

I want to learn to kettleball snatch

Thanks Holliday, I'll try to make it work. Not running won't happen because I love it so much, but maybe it will take a backseat for a few weeks.

Hey bros,

I feel as if I'm starting to grow out of beginner programming, both in terms of the lack of volume and working at near my 5RM every day. I recently read Scientific Principles of Strength Training, which advocates a more block-periodized approach. I'm trying to put together a hypertrophy / work capacity block based on the concepts from this book and I've come up with the following:



The %'s would be based on training maxes that I would conservatively estimate at the beginning and increase by increments each mesocycle based on performance. Has anyone tried a program like this and had good results? Would you suggest a better template? Is it a bad idea to stay away from >75% 1RM loads for extended periods of time as a natural early intermediate lifter?

Thanks in advance.

Why don't you just run the juggernaut method?

I hit my all time PRs (501lb squat, 308lb bench) following a block periodisation program I put together after reading that book. I'll try to dredge it up this weekend.

My original post is here and begins the discussion around building the block and then implementation runs through the end of 2015

It seems pretty cool, but I'd rather spend more than a month at a time doing higher reps. Also, the book advocates a 4:1 accumulation:deload ratio while the JM is 3:1. So I guess I could do juggernaut but stay in the 10s and 8s phases, and add an extra accumulation week before deloading. But then it wouldn't really be juggernaut anymore...

Much appreciated.

it's 8 weeks of 10s and 8s

Even if you don't want to do it I suggest you take a look at it to adjust your numbers. 3x10x60% is way too easy and 6x6x75% probably too hard.