How To Increase Your Vertical Jump
The vertical jump is considered the ultimate sign of athleticism in sports. In basketball, usually the players with the highest verticals excel over all the rest.
When describing the vertical jump it is broken down into two phases. It can be broken down into the preparation for the jump. Which is your body lowering and stretching muscles in your hips and thighs. Then there’s the actual jump or take off where your muscle propel you upward as you push off against the ground. That’s it in a nut shell. To improve your vertical there are a few simple things you’ll need to do.
First, you’ll need to measure your vertical jump properly.
To do this, you’ll want to stand sideways next to a wall extends as high as possible and touch the wall. Record the height of the spot touched on the wall while standing and reaching as high as you can.
Now standing in same spot, jump as high as you can and touch the wall again. Your vertical is calculated by subtracting the spot touched while standing from the spot touched during the vertical jump. You’re not allowed to take a step before jumping. Taking a step before jumping usually leads to inaccurate vertical.
You can take 3-5 vertical attempts and use the best one as your vertical.
Vertical jumps vary from person-to-person. A 30 inch vertical on a person who is 5’7″ is totally different from a person who is 6’3″ with a 30 inch vertical. Also, two people may be the same height and both have a 30 inch vertical, but one person may have longer arms. So the person with a longer wing span would definitely get up higher than the other person. On average, I’ve always looked at anything above 30 inches as being good, 36 inches (3 feet) to be a great vertical, and 40+ inches being amazing.
When it comes to improving your vertical the gold standard is strength training coupled with plyometric training.
In my opinion, when it comes to the vertical jump, the most important muscles to focus on are your quadriceps (the front of your thighs).
There is a lot of information out there saying that it’s all about your calf muscles. I totally disagree. Most of your power comes from your quadriceps. Therefore it is important to put a program together for yourself that builds these muscles.
One of the simplest little-known ways to improve your vertical is through repetition.
Not too many people talk about this and many try to sell all this fancy stuff for jumping higher, but the bottom line is, through muscle memory alone you can increase your vertical. All you have to do is go out and jump and you can train your muscles and become a higher jumper.
You can start by marking a spot and jumping to touch that spot over and over again daily. Over time, you’ll jump higher.
So this was a basic breakdown with a some simple stuff that you can use to increase your vertical. Once you have figured out your vertical and you have an idea of some of the things that go into jumping, the next step is putting a program together. Ideally you want a program that is geared to your sport. There are so many one size fits all programs out there, but I recommend the ones that are specific to your sport. And I’ve also found that less is more when it comes to this.
I’ve seen players get injured trying to do too much. You want to be sure not to overdo it when working on your jumping. Remember your muscles need rest to grow and respond to training.
|
YES! I Want to Learn the Secrets to Increasing My Vertical Jump and Jumping Higher Than Ever Before Send Me My Free “Vertical Jump Tips” Email Course Today! You Will Receive the First Lesson in Your Inbox Immediately. 100% Spam Free! I Value Your Email Privacy. |
