Jason Kelce spent three months chasing something he had wanted since childhood. Not a championship. Not a record. A dunk! The retired Philadelphia Eagles center and future Hall of Famer documented the entire process on his New Heights podcast, and the journey was messier and more painful than anyone probably expected from him.

However, the most unexpected part of the story came from an outside voice. WNBA superstar Caitlin Clark offered Kelce a piece of advice on the podcast that changed how he approached the rim entirely. 

“I think you could do it, though. I think you can start with like a tennis ball, then you get the tennis ball, you go to like a volleyball, then you go to a basketball.”

The progression that Clark provided Kelce with on the New Heights podcast was about developing timing, coordination, and confidence at the rim before the full challenge arrived. 

At 38 years old, two years removed from the NFL, the elder Kelce was not doing this to prove he was still an athlete. He was doing it because the goal had sat unfinished for decades, and he decided that was long enough.

The path was not clean. Kelce tore his quad during training. He cut his hand and endured hundreds of failed attempts before the moment finally arrived in front of a live audience. And throughout all of it, he kept showing up, three days per week in the gym, plus daily jump practice built around a program specifically designed to develop lower-body explosiveness from scratch.

Furthermore, Kelce showed impressive athleticism throughout the process. But it still took the full three months of dedicated work before a successful dunk became possible.

Kelce's Workout routine for getting his first dunk

Jason Kelce did not stumble into a dunk at 38. He built toward it with a program structured around one specific physical goal.

As per an article from Generation Iron, here is Kelce's Workout routine for getting his first dunk:

• Kaiser Power Squats
• Medicine Ball Overhead Throws
• Rear-Foot Elevated Split Squats
• Single-Leg Plyometric Box Jumps
• Michael Jordan-Inspired Plyometric Drills

What do you think of Kelce's training approach? Tell us in the comments. 

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Written by

Zaid Quraishi

Edited by

Zaid Quraishi