Can Bryan Johnson Learn to Dunk at 49?
Bryan Johnson
Bryan Johnson has a new goal: dunk a basketball. He calls it "fresh and fun" and "hard," and says he loves it. The video follows the early months of that training. It covers why he has shifted from lab biomarkers to a goal anyone can see, how his trainer has built the program, where his vertical jump started, and how likely the trainer thinks success is.
From "Don't Die" to Doing Something
Johnson says the dunking project has turned into a quest that captures what his larger "Don't Die" project is about. In his framing, "don't die" is not only about stopping the negative. It is about doing the positive.
He argues that biomarkers don't mean much to most people on their own. What matters is what you can do with them and what they let you aim for. Conventional thinking would say a 49-year-old has no business trying to dunk. Johnson suggests that "in this new world" that may no longer be true, and that dunking at 49 may now be something you can at least imagine.
Why VO2 Max Stopped Being Enough
Johnson explains what drove his earlier training. He was trying to hit the biomarkers of an 18-year-old, including a VO2 max in the mid-50s, which he calls elite capacity for that age. He still thinks VO2 max matters because it gives credibility. His team works in a credible way and publishes its data.
He also admits he "got too far sucked into that." In his view, few people care whether your VO2 max is 55, but many more care whether you can dunk. He describes the change as a kind of maturing: focusing on markers people understand and can see, and "trying to speak the language of the world." He concludes that dunking would probably be the best biomarker he could ever achieve.
The Training: Foundation Before Fireworks
Johnson's trainer works with professional NBA players. Clips from their sessions show several exercises:
- High pulls from the hang position, not from the rack, with a quick dip before the pull.
- Side-to-side drills.
- Ankle-driven bounces. For these, the usual cue of getting the knees over the toes is dropped. The trainer tells Johnson to imagine the leg as "a 2x4," with everything going through the ankle like a calf raise. Height is then added so the movement is "like a bouncy ball."
- Crossover-to-base movements, from left to right, going "up and over as far as you can."
- A 45° bounce, meant to be "really bouncy."
The trainer explains the reasoning behind the program with a house analogy: you don't start by building the roof. Many people jump straight into flashy work like intense plyometrics and do little else. The first two months of Johnson's program are instead about "laying an incredibly strong foundation."
The trainer ties this to how tendons and muscle adapt at different speeds. By his account, tendons take 8 to 12 weeks to adapt, while muscle takes 3 to 4. So the early phase focuses on tendon health and stiffness. The next steps he describes are:
- Stacking strength on top of that base to produce more force.
- Working on rate of force development so that force comes faster.
He says he is excited for the next two months.
Baseline Jump and an Honest Estimate
Johnson's baseline vertical jump was 23 inches, or 23.9 inches by his more precise figure. He recorded it on video and gave it to Ed. The context suggests Ed is the trainer. Johnson says he kept telling Ed to "be real with me," and that if they weren't going to make it, he was okay hearing that. Ed's answer, as Johnson tells it, was: "I think we can do this."
The trainer then explains his optimism. In his view, someone who is very lean and takes care of their nutrition and sleep has the odds in their favor, because those things add up. The physical requirements he names are:
- Healthy, stiff tendons.
- The ability to train well enough to put the required force into the ground.
He says they had "kind of just saw" that force over the past hour of training. When asked for a number, he puts the chance of success at 80 to 85 percent. That is his estimate, not a measured result.
Three Months In
Early in the video, Johnson says they have about a month of training behind them. By the end, the trainer says they are "just under 3 months" in.
Johnson describes the change in how he feels. At the start, he wasn't very confident in his body. Now he is "starting to feel the gains." He calls this session one of the better days, says he especially enjoys moving to heavier weights, and says the training days have become very enjoyable.
The video ends without an answer to its title. It does not show a dunk or report a new vertical jump. What it offers is a 23.9-inch baseline, a plan that moves from tendon work to strength to speed, and a trainer's estimate of 80 to 85 percent that Johnson will dunk at 49.
The new big goal is to dunk a basketball. It's fresh and fun. It's hard. And I love it.
And this is going to be the high pull. So, not starting from the rack this one. We'll 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. Go for five.
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.
Biomarkers 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 up.
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 the VO2 max is important because it's credibility. Like we do things with 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 can dunk a basketball, that's probably be the best biomarker I could ever achieve.
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 you're the physiology, right? Like your tendons take 8 to 12 weeks to adapt versus 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 in 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 it's fire." Like, you know, like I've been trying to tell Ed like, "Ed, you can be real with me." You know, "If we're not going to make it, you could tell me." You know, like "I'm okay with like you telling me." And he's like, "I think we can do this."
Get our 45° bounce. A little up and over 45°. Really bouncy. Yep.
I think if you have somebody that is incredibly lean, takes care of themself 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 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 the higher weights. So, yeah, feeling good. This is our... How long we're into this now?
Just under 3 months.
So, 3 months now and I'm starting to feel the gains. It just feels good. First when you start, you know, you're not very confident in your body. Now it just feels good. So, these days are very enjoyable.
Mhm.
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