Bryan Johnson, 49, is training to dunk a basketball with NBA trainer Ed. Starting with a 23.9-inch vertical, he's following a science-backed program that prioritizes tendon health and progressive loading. After three months, he estimates an 80-85% chance of success.
The new big goal is to dunk a basketball. It's fresh and fun. It's hard. And I love it.
This is going to be the high pull. So not starting from the rack. This one will be in the hang position. So right here, and I just want that quick dip.
So I have a trainer. He works with professional NBA players. We have like a month behind us, and I am really enjoying it.
Love it. Going for 5.
It's taken this turn where it's become this quest that kind of encapsulates everything this project stands for. You talk about Don't Die, and it's not about stopping the negative, it's about doing the positive.
And we're going side to side here.
Numbers don't really mean much to anyone. It's what you can do with them. It's what can you aspire to do? So typically you would say a 49-year-old has no place dunking a basketball, but in this new world, maybe that's not true. Maybe that you can imagine dunking a basketball at 49 now.
Perfect. You have the range. Peek through a little bit and then stick and hold. Obviously don't clip our nose, clip our face, but get here and think, hold this position for a sec and then stand up fast. Perfect. Nice. Good. And set it down.
I was trying to basically hit the biomarkers of like age 18, which is like a VO2 max in the mid-50s. That's like elite 18-year-old capacity. I do think that VO2 max is important because it's credibility. Like, we do things, we're credible, we publish the data. So like, I think that's cool. But also, I think I got too far sucked into that. A small number of people care if your VO2 max is 55. Many more people care if you can dunk a basketball. And so I think, like, focusing on markers that people care about and can see and like, oh, I understand you, man. So it's just like, I guess we're just maturing, trying to speak the language of the world. So if I could dunk a basketball, that'd probably be the best biomarker I could ever achieve.
3, 2, good. On this one, I know we usually try to get knees over toes on our squats, but this is like almost pretend this is a 2x4 and everything is through that ankle. It's like a calf raise. Yep. There we go. Now, add a little height to it. There we go. Yep. Like a bouncy ball.
Good.
I think the coolest part about this process is like the first 2 months is laying an incredibly strong foundation, right? If you're going to build a big beautiful house, You don't start by building the roof. And a lot of people will start with, you know, this fancy stuff you see, like crazy plyometrics, and that's all you're doing. But what we're doing in these first 2 months is setting an incredibly strong foundation. And your— the physiology, right? Like, your tendons take 8 to 12 weeks to adapt versus the muscle that takes 3 to 4. So we're building tendon health and stiffness right now. And now we're going to start stacking the strength on top of that for the force display. And then You know, kind of rate of force development to make that even faster. So like, again, you built an incredible foundation. I'm excited for the next 2 months and where this is going to go. Now we'll go crossover to base. And so left to right, up and over as far as you can.
My baseline measurement is 23 inches for a vertical. 23.9 is my baseline jump. So I got it on video. And I gave it to Ed.
Good.
And I was like, if accurate. And he's like, I feel inspired. Like, you know, like I was— because I've been trying to tell Ed, like, Ed, you can be real with me, you know? Like, if, if we're not gonna make it, you could tell me, you know? Like, I'm, I'm okay with like you telling me. And he's like, I think we can do this.
We get our 45-degree bounce. A little up and over, 45 degrees, really bouncy. Yep. I think if you have somebody that is incredibly lean, takes care of themselves from a nutrition and sleep standpoint, your odds are in your favor. Like, that really adds up. I think the physiological requirements are you have to have healthy tendons, You know, stiff tendons, and then also, you know, to be able to train properly to, you know, put the required force into the ground, which we kind of just saw over the past hour. That's, you know, you're, you're doing that. So I think your odds, the odds are in your favor. I think if I had to put a number on it, I'm saying like 80 to 85% chance we get this done.
Today was one of the better days. Like, I really like getting into bed. the higher weights. So yeah, feeling good. This is our— how long are we into this?
Just under 3 months.
So 3 months now, and I'm starting to feel the gains. It just feels good versus when you start, you know, you're not quite— you're not very confident in your body. Now it just feels good. So these days are very enjoyable.
