The ability to dunk a basketball is one of the most sought after skills to both amateurs and professionals, but for most the ability is one of the hardest to achieve.

Here are a few exercises to get you dunking.

Your Personal Hoop Approach

As Michael Jordan said during an MVP interview, “I used to ride the bicycle a lot, I used to work on jumping, I used to just try to jump and try to dunk … if you exercise that muscle to that activity, somehow it’s going to improve.”

Once you have the muscle needed to reach the hoop, you can focus on your approach with the ball. Spend time practicing your technique with a friend that can tell you where you need to improve. Juwan Howard of the Miami Heat said “Teammates have a way of pushing each other to ensure you get the most out of your workout.”

Squats

Though this may seem like a pretty basic exercise, the key is to push your self to your limit. As NBA start Karl Malone of says, “If I’m not sweating I don’t think I got a good workout.” One place to push yourself in your routine while increasing your vertical jump is by performing squats.

This exercise works the muscles in your upper and lower legs you use to jump, so including this in your routine is a good place to start. It’s best to stand with your feet shoulder width apart, keep your back posture straight, and lower your body by bending your knees until your waist reaches your knees. In addition, consider holding weights at the same time to increase the difficulty level.

Toe Raises

The nice thing about this exercise is it can be performed just about anywhere. With your feet shoulder width apart, shift your weight onto your toes – the way you might if trying to see over a crowd. Performing this while in line at the store, at home in the kitchen, or even at work can increase the strength of your calf muscles with little effort or time at all. Again, adding more weight will help add a higher difficulty level to this exercise.

Another great way to increase the difficulty of this exercise is to stand on a slant of some sort with your toes pointed to the more elevated side of the slant. Executing the exercise on a slant not only forces you to lift your weight upward, it requires that you first lift your weight up to level position.

Jumping Rope

Clipper’s strength coach, Johnny Doyle, says “Your success is obviously dependent on your legs,” so it’s crucial you find several exercises that hone and build that area. One way to do this is jumping rope. This puts your calf muscles to use with as a fast-paced fitness exercise.

Basketball players strive to increase their leg strength because it increases his or her vertical jump height, which in turn affects the ability to dunk, but the key to making progress is staying with it and pushing your self to do better.