Testing a 45-inch vertical at Dunk Camp is no joke, and Jordan Pimstone did exactly that. In this episode of Dunk Talk, I (Dylan Haugen) and my co-host Hunter Castona interviewed Jordan about his journey from basketball player to competitive dunker, his training methodology, and his plans to peak even higher by next year’s camp.
Who Is Jordan Pimstone?
Jordan is 23 years old and from LA, though he recently moved back home after spending some time in the Bay Area in Northern California. He got into dunking through basketball — like a lot of us — and took a gap year after high school where he trained full-time in a Kobe-style schedule: workout, rest a couple hours, workout again, rest a couple hours, workout again. On-court sessions, weight room work, ball handling in the garage, and injury prevention all crammed into his daily routine. That dedication built the athletic foundation that eventually led him to competitive dunking. You can find him on Instagram @jp.dunks and YouTube @Jp.dunkss.
From College Basketball to Full-Time Dunking
Jordan’s path to dunking wasn’t straightforward. He played college basketball but dealt with a rough situation — the culture wasn’t great, the team was insanely overworked, and there were a lot of politics involved. He ended up going 18 months straight of workouts during peak COVID without a real break. At one point he transferred to a new school and even started training to make a comeback, grinding hard for three months before realizing something important: he wasn’t going to go pro in basketball, so did he really want to spend his senior year playing for a team, or did he want to focus on dunking and actually have fun again? He chose dunking, and that decision is what led him to lock in fully on vertical jump training and eventually show up at Dunk Camp.
Gaining 7 Inches on His Vertical
One of the most impressive parts of Jordan’s story is that he added about 7 inches to his vertical through structured training. That kind of gain doesn’t happen by accident. Jordan got very intentional about how he programs his training, and the results at Dunk Camp — a 45-inch vertical on the Vertec — proved his approach is working. He emphasized that the biggest change was getting educated about proper strength and conditioning, because looking back at his earlier training during that gap year, he would have done a lot of things differently. He also talked about how jumper’s knee used to be a serious issue for him, but now that he knows how to properly manage his load, it’s no longer a problem.
The Burner Analogy: How Jordan Periodizes Training
Jordan shared one of the best training analogies I’ve heard on the podcast. His mentor told him to think of different training qualities as burners on a stove. At any given time, you turn one burner all the way up — like strength — while keeping everything else at a simmer. Once you’ve made the gains you want in that area, you adjust the burners and shift the emphasis to something else. Right after Dunk Camp, Jordan went into a strength-emphasis phase and planned out his entire next year of training: six months of one focus, then six months of the next, all designed so he can peak at the following year’s Dunk Camp and show up significantly better than this year. That level of intentional periodization is something a lot of dunkers could learn from.
The Hand Speed vs. Bounce Problem
We had a great discussion about a common theme in the dunk community: most dunkers either have insane hand speed with less vertical, or crazy bounce with slower hands. Jordan mentioned that he regrets not spending more time on low-rim skill work when he was younger and less prone to overuse injuries, because that’s where you develop the hand speed and coordination for technical dunks. He pointed out that guys like Jordan Kilganon and Isaiah Rivera are truly elite because they have both — perfect hand speed combined with insane bounce. Hunter and I are kind of the opposite — we’ve been building bounce but our hands need work. It’s one of those things where being aware of the gap early gives you a huge advantage.
Living in LA and the Dunk Scene
Being based in LA puts Jordan right in the middle of one of the most active dunk scenes in the country. There are tons of dunkers out there, and Hunter and I both mentioned that we’ve been wanting to get out to LA and get some sessions in. The concentration of talent in that area means Jordan has access to high-level dunk sessions and the kind of competitive environment that naturally pushes you to get better. It’s a big advantage over dunkers who are more isolated geographically.
Explaining Dunking as a Sport
We had a great tangent about how hard it is to explain competitive dunking to people who aren’t in the community. Jordan said he usually tells people he takes the best part of basketball — slam dunking — and does it as its own sport. Even then, most people don’t really understand that dunking can be competitive without playing actual basketball. It’s a relatable struggle for every dunker. Hunter and I deal with the same thing constantly. The sport is growing, but there’s still a big gap in public awareness between what we do and what people think we do.
Watch the full interview with Jordan Pimstone above. Follow him on Instagram @jp.dunks and subscribe to the Dunk Talk Podcast on YouTube so you never miss an episode.