There are various exercises that will help you to jump higher, but using a combination of them is the key to your vertical jump.
On this page will be explaining the different factors that will impact your vertical jump, as well as the 13 best exercises you can incorporate to increase your vertical as fast as possible.
Here are the four groups of factors that we recommend that you consider to increase your vertical jump:
STRENGTH
PLYOMETRICS
FLEXIBILITY
BALANCE
Now, let’s go over each in detail:
STRENGTH
You might be asking yourself, why is strength so important?
Well there’s a simple answer:
Jumping is about pushing off of the ground as far from it as possible.
Now, I’m not saying that you need to be bench-pressing or squatting tons of weight. However, your leg and core strength are two main areas that need a solid foundation of strength before you are able to jump high.
Of course if all you do is practice jumping without any type of training, you will get better at it over time. But, the speed of your improvement will be much slower if you do not also incorporate strength training exercises.
Although jumping may just seem like a dynamic movement, there is a lot of explosiveness from your core strength that is heavily involved into the motion as well.
These are some exercises with weights that can really help your strength for the purpose of jumping:
- 1) The Squat [use a weight that you are comfortable doing 8 to 10 repetitions with]
- 2) The Deadlift [use a weight that you are comfortable doing 8 to 10 repetitions with]
Some body-weight exercises that can also be effective are:
- 3) The Plank [set you goal to holding this position for at least 1 minute]
- 4) Push Ups; and
- 5) Sit Ups
Now, these exercises are very helpful, but doing strictly these will not have a significant of an effect on your jump by themselves.
You should always incorporate these WITH jump training exercises as you will build muscle and strength that are important in jumping higher.
When completing these workouts, try to follow a routine where you start from a number of repetitions or weight that is comfortable for you, and try to beat that your next workout every time. This is called progressive overload.
For example, let’s say that you can squat 135 lbs for 8 repetitions. During your next leg day, try to do 10 reps. Then try 8 repetitions with 145 lbs the following workout, and so on.
Do this until you are at least able to squat your own body weight 10-12 times comfortably. At that point, this would be a good starting point for building better jumping ability.
The incorporation these exercises into your workouts will help you see a much bigger difference in your hamstrings, glutes, and core strength which are important for jumping higher.
PLYOMETRIC
What are plyometrics? What is this fancy word that a lot of jump trainers tend to throw around?
Well, it’s actually not that fancy.
In contrast to the exercises mentioned above which are important for building a solid foundation of strength, plyometric exercises are movements that allow you to PRACTICE your ability to explode off the ground.
Of course having strength is important, but is it useful if you’ve never actually practiced jumping with that developed strength?
Plyometrics are meant for fast-twitch muscle fibre development as well as development of maximum effort of your jump. Fast-twitch muscle fibres are most important for quickly and explosive athletic movements such as sprinting, agility, and jumping.
This is very similar to progressive overload, which I briefly mentioned above. Over time, it will increase your body’s maximum ability to jump as you do it over and over again everyday.
For plyometrics to help you most effectively, you need to put your full effort every time you each set. You will see yourself get very fatigued while doing these exercises, but this means that your body will get used to that level of intensity and will ultimately get easier for you to do.
Here are some GREAT plyometric exercises we recommend:
- 7) The Box Jump [8 to 10 repetitions]
- 8) The Tuck Jump [8 to 10 repetitions]
- 9) The Split Jump [8 to 10 repetitions]
- 10) The Depth Jump [8 to 10 repetitions]
These exercises are great for developing explosiveness, and are plyometric exercises that many trainers and vertical jump programs recommend even for professional athletes.
FLEXIBILITY
For this section, we do not have a specific set of exercises we recommend, because we recommend you to stretch ALL of your muscles. Do as much stretching as possible (obviously without hurting yourself).
Why is this important?
Well, one of the most important things for your body be able to perform at its best is to be flexible.
Stiff muscles will limit the movement of the muscles.
When the muscles are very loose, it will allow for much wider range of motion in the muscles and allow the body to move to its potential.
This is one of the reasons why professional athletes and coaches stress the importance of stretching.
It’s also important for longevity.
To be able to continually jump high and play sports at a high level for many years ahead, you need to stretch, keep your muscles loose, and take care of your body as much as possible.
This will significantly decrease muscle and ligament-related injuries, tendonitis, as well as arthritis pains in the long future.
If you have read about great athletes such as Kobe Bryant and Lebron James, these guys take stretching very seriously. If you invest in your body, your body will give you the results!
BALANCE
Another key factor in how to jump higher is balance. Balance is important for pretty much all sports for both performance and safety.
Many of the core and strength exercises that were mentioned previously are examples of balance training.
Your body’s ability to adjust to changes in the centre of gravity are crucial to jumping high.
This is because you won’t be only jumping straight up. Often times, you’ll be jumping off of a run, especially if you’re doing to improve at a sport.
In addition to this, balance exercises will improve the support that your ligaments provide your muscles which will ultimately lead to less risk for injury as well as better performance potential.
Here are some helpful exercises to improve your balance:
- 11) Standing yoga exercises
- 12) 1-legged squat (non-weighted)
- 13) 1-legged squat on stability ball
Balance exercises should be incorporated into your workout regimen. Maybe doing a yoga session every week or two, or even including a balance ball exercises into some of your leg workout days.
Well there you go guys…
These are 13 simple but effective exercises you can do on a regular basis to develop your jump.
Make sure you stretch thoroughly before AND after you do these workouts, and provide your body with enough rest every day.
As always, if you have any questions, check out my Contact page and shoot me an email.