In episode four of Dunk Talk, I (Dylan Haugen) sat down with my co-host Hunter Castona and special guest Josh Ruble to dig into one of the most impressive transformations in our corner of the dunk community. Josh is a twenty-two year old dunker who gained eight inches on his vertical and went from basic one-handers to an arsenal of over twenty different dunks in roughly two years. What stood out to me most was how his story highlights the difference between lifting heavy and lifting smart.
Growing Up Athletic but Not Thinking Dunking Was Possible
Josh grew up playing football, basketball, and baseball. He was always athletic but on the shorter and skinnier side, so dunking never felt realistic to him. His first exposure to pro dunking came through Instagram around sixth or seventh grade, when he started seeing clips of dunkers tagging each other in posts. The specific moment that stuck with him was watching Isaiah Rivera jumping over his siblings in a driveway. That clip lived in his mind for years and planted the seed. Eventually he got to the point where he could grab the rim at fifteen, and about seven months later he hit his first one-hand dunk. But for a long time after that, dunking was just something he did casually. He was not having real dunk sessions or training specifically for vertical.
Elite Strength Numbers That Were Not Translating
One of the most interesting parts of our conversation was Josh’s strength background. He started lifting seriously after eighth grade under a strength coach for high school sports and built up to some genuinely impressive numbers. He has back squatted 405 pounds with a belt, power cleaned 260, hang cleaned 250, front squatted 315, deadlifted 455, and even benched around 315 at his peak. Those are numbers that a lot of dunkers would assume would automatically translate to an insane vertical, but Josh found that chasing max weight was not giving him the jump gains he expected. When he shifted his focus to cutting weight and improving relative strength instead of absolute strength, that was when his vertical actually started climbing. It is a lesson I think a lot of people in the dunk community need to hear. Being strong is important, but being strong relative to your bodyweight is what actually matters for jumping.
THP Strength and the Real Jump in Progress
Josh joined THP Strength in April 2022 for structured jump training and coaching. He admitted that for the first stretch he was not fully consistent with the program, which he considers a mistake. When he stopped training altogether for a few months, he noticed his progress stall completely. Once he recommitted and started doing every workout, things took off. The program helped him refine his power clean technique and overall jump mechanics, and it gave him the structured approach he needed instead of just showing up to a gym and doing random lifts. The difference between Josh before THP and Josh after committing fully was night and day. Within that time frame he went from doing basic one-handers and two-handers to landing double-ups, J-Rich dunks, left-hand eastbays, and behind-the-back variations.
Building a Local Dunk Community from Scratch
Something I really appreciated about Josh’s story was how he built a dunk community around himself organically. Unlike many of us who discovered existing groups, Josh started by just having a friend record him at the gym. As he posted more videos, other local athletes saw them and wanted to join. His sessions grew from two people to ten or more participants, and they even started drawing small crowds at his former high school gym. That grassroots approach to building a community is something I have seen work incredibly well. When you put your training out there publicly, like-minded people find you. Josh’s sessions became a training ground for everyone involved, with guys pushing each other to try new dunks and compete in a healthy way.
Goals and What Is Next for Josh
When we recorded this episode, Josh was preparing for the Wisconsin Dunk Camp with a goal of testing a 44-inch running vertical on the Vertec, up from the 40 to 42 inches he last tested two years earlier. He was not locked into hitting one specific dunk at camp. Instead he just wanted to stay healthy and enjoy the sessions. Beyond camp, his longer-term goals included landing underboth-legs dunks, perfecting a full 360 windmill, working toward elbow dunks, improving his off-dribble consistency, and eventually pushing his vertical toward 48 inches. He also talked about wanting to compete in dunk contests once his consistency catches up. Hearing Josh lay out those goals with that much specificity made it clear he is someone who takes this seriously and has the work ethic to back it up.