WHETHER IT’S AT the YMCA or on the blacktop hustling like Billy Hoyle, we’ve all daydreamed about driving to the hole, leaping up and over a defender, and posterizing some poor schmuck à la John Starks’ ’93 dunk over Michael Jordan and Horace Grant. Yet it rarely happens, and it often has more to do with your vertical leap than your ability to execute a pick-and-roll.

To help you get above the rim, we used our own resources and asked Mubarak “Bar” Malik, the director of performance for the New York Knicks, for pointers. He says that “improving vertical leap involves heavy recruitment of the leg muscles, so training should emphasize vertical loaded movements like squats, deadlifts, and Olympic lifts.” And when on the court, follow these tips to perform your max leap each time you drive the lane and go for a slam dunk.