Tag: Dylan Haugen

This 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.

Episode 53 of the Dunk Talk podcast is the one where Dylan Haugen and I talk through hitting my first under-both and everything that led into it. We had just filmed a reaction to that session right before, so this episode is more about the road to it, including the setback that almost wrecked the whole run. The full conversation is at the top.

The Knee Blowup in Vegas

Right before all of this, I went to Vegas feeling as good as ever. My two-foot was the best it had ever felt in warmups. Then it fell apart fast.

“Probably like three, four jumps in, my knee just kind of exploded, so I had to cut the session really early.”

Finn Addy

I got maybe six jumps off one foot that whole day before the tendon in my knee shut me down. It was the kind of thing that makes you wonder if the good sessions are even coming back.

“That was the first week in the past year that I had to take off from jumping. No jumping at all.”

Finn Addy

What Actually Fixed the Knee

I built back slowly. A week completely off, then isos, then a few weeks of short two-foot sessions, then two-foot with five one-foot jumps, then ten, and eventually full one-foot sessions again. The single biggest thing for my knee was not the isos, it was slow leg extensions.

“Those feel way better than isos to me. At the end of every workout I do three or four sets, three seconds up, four seconds down. I don’t think I’ll ever take them out of my program.”

Finn Addy

That is the honest reality of being a one-foot jumper once you get strong enough. You start jumping high enough that the knee pain shows up, and you go from dunking two or three times a week to getting maybe one real session. A lot of the job becomes knowing when to cut a session and doing the boring things that keep you healthy.

Getting Bigger Without Losing the Bounce

One thing that surprised people is that I put on real weight and kept jumping my best. Better sleep and better eating changed my body composition faster than anything.

“I weighed in at 175 yesterday. At Dunk Camp I was like 160, maybe under. So I’m up 15 pounds and still jumping my best.”

Finn Addy

As long as it is muscle, it does not seem to hurt the jump. I will still cut a little before a big contest, but only when I am chasing my absolute highest number.

The Under-Both, and What’s Next

Once my one-foot bounce came all the way back, the under-both finally happened. The biggest lesson I took from chasing it is simple: try it early in the session when you are fresh, not at the end when you are cooked. From here my list is long, but the headline goal is testing a 45 at The Dunk Camp, which would put my touch at 11 foot 10, plus a 360 behind the back and eventually a double Eastbay.

If you want the year that set all of this up, I recapped it in my 2024 as one of the most improved dunkers. The full episode is in the video above. Follow the journey on Instagram @finnaddy1 and on YouTube, or reach me through my Connect page.