FinnThis one is a reaction video. Dylan Haugen and I sat down for the Dunk Talk channel and watched back the session where I hit my first under-both dunk, which is easily the best session I have ever had. We had both just gotten our first under-both, so it was a fun one to break down. The full reaction is at the top of this page. Here is what actually went into that day.
How I Set the Day Up
Nothing about the training was fancy. It was general strength work, deadlifts and half squats, and I got noticeably stronger. The difference was the rest going in.
“I rested like a week, had an all right session, rested another four days, and then I was feeling really good right before I left the house. I told my mom the best jumping day ever.”
Finn Addy
I was so sure it was going to be a big day that I said it out loud before I even warmed up.
“Walked in the gym, I was with my brother, and I was like, I think I’m about to jump like 44 inches right now. And he laughed.”
Finn Addy
For the record, my brother is a 6’3″ one-foot jumper who used to be a powerlifter and squatted 585, so him laughing meant something. The adrenaline was already there before anything else. I was shivering in the car, wanting to dunk that badly. I will also be honest about the caffeine, because it was a lot: around 700 milligrams at 7 p.m., which is part of why I did not get to bed until 5 a.m.
The Right Gym, the Right Rim
The setting was perfect. It is my favorite gym, a 10 and a half foot rim with the exact amount of give I like, and I was dunking with a college basketball team that was going crazy from the very first jump. That kind of crowd energy is a real thing. My second jump of the day was a two-foot pump dunk, first try, and my two-foot has been getting stronger to the point where it surprises even me.
When I feel like that, everything comes on the first attempt. Being fresh does not just help your legs, it helps your hands and your hand speed too, and that is what makes the hard dunks possible.
The Under-Both
The under-both is the dunk I had chased forever, and on this day it came out clean. Watching it back with Dylan, his reaction said it better than I could.
“That was one of the craziest wins I’ve seen. Honestly, I don’t know why more one-footers don’t try under-both, because you made it look easy.”
Dylan Haugen
The frustrating part of being a one-foot jumper is that a day like this only comes around about once a month. When it hits, you have to make it count, which is exactly why filming your sessions matters so much. This whole breakdown only exists because the session got recorded, which is the case the Dunk Talk crew makes in why every dunker should make long-form content.
Right after we filmed this reaction, Dylan and I recorded a full podcast episode about the under-both and the rest of my year, which you can read in how I hit my first under-both dunk. The session itself is in the video above. Follow along on Instagram @finnaddy1 and on YouTube, or reach me through my Connect page.