The Unbearable Lightness of Dunking

I have settled into a pretty solid routine for working out. Monday, Wednesday, and Friday finds me in the gym at work, where I open with 15 minutes of cycling (RPMs > 80, resistance 7/20), 3 sets of 20 lunges (with 10-pound weight extended and twisting with each lunge) and 20 squats, a bicep-tricep set, then 4x20 calf raises and/or quad-hamstring weight lifts. This usually takes 45 minutes. Twice this week I've also put in an hour-plus of one-on-one basketball (Saturday & Thursday), with all the starts, stops, pivots, sprints, etc. that goes with it. Needless to say, my confidence in my surgically repaired joint is high! But my leg muscles and knees are starting to feel WORE OUT. Of course this is to be expected. I haven't put such a concentrated effort on my lower body, well, ever. I wonder how often I should rest the leg workout. Every other day seems fine to me, but adding in the basketball games on the off days might be pushing it. Simply wailing away on muscles won't allow them to recover and rebuild stronger. Or more likely, my legs need to build up some toughness.

Josh Smith ruining the Celtic's evening

Because my hip seems in decent shape, I need to add some exercises that will start providing serious boost to my non-dunking vertical. Thanks to advice from several people, I will soon start cleans (but not the part where you lift it over your head - the "jerk"? - because of my shoulder), squats with weight, box-stepping with weight, leg presses, and of course good ol' straight jumping. And I need to add in a running/cardio aspect for two reasons: one, to help keep my weight down and thus deny gravity its stern grip, and two, because the Warrior Dash is in May! It is expected that axes will be thrown and death staved off for one more day. Sign up quick!