Increasing your vertical jump is actually pretty simple. It’s so simple that I can literally break down what you need to do in order to increase vertical jump in 3 steps.
Increase Flexibility
You need to increase your flexibility if you want to reach your full vertical jump potential. Jumping requires you to use your muscles, and if your muscles are not flexible, your range of motion will be limited.
Most athletes think stretching is not necessary and they will skip stretching completely, but why? Have you seen what the Olympic gymnast are capable of? They’re all very flexible, but they can also jump very high. Is that a coincidence?
There are two forms of stretches; dynamic stretches, and static stretches. Dynamic stretching before athletic activity and static stretching after athletic activity will allow you to access your full vertical leap potential during athletic sport or event.
Put most of your emphasis on stretching your hamstrings and quadriceps. Those two muscles are most responsible for your vertical leaping power, so make sure you stretch them properly before and after your athletic events.
Weight Training/Bodyweight Training
Train to be explosive, not to bulk up. You’re not in the body-building business, you’re a basketball player. You don’t need any excessive bulk, you just need to build explosive power.
Exercises that will benefit you with increasing your vertical jump include, squats, dead-lifts, lunges, power cleans, pull-ups, push-ups, one-legged squats, and leg presses, to name a few. Those are just a few of many exercises you can use to increase your vertical leap.
No excuses if you can’t get in the gym, just do bodyweight exercises, stretching, and plyometric exercises. Don’t look for excuses as to why you can’t increase your vertical leap, all you need is your body and a great work ethic.
Plyometric Exercises
If you want to become an explosive vertical leaping machine, you need to start doing plyometric exercises.
Plyometric exercises are designed to train your mind and your body to be disciplined to move and jump explosively. Your body doesn’t want to be athletically explosive because that obviously takes more energy, so that is why you have to do plyometric exercises to train your body to be explosive on a daily basis.
Exercises include, jump squats, depth jumps, maximum height jumps, and one-legged jumps. Those are just a few of the many plyometric exercises you can use to increase your vertical jump.
Make sure to combine stretching, strength training, and vertical jump training together to create the ultimate vertical jump workout plan.
