How To Jump Higher

How to jump higher has always been a ‘hot topic’ with young athletes, especially basketball players as they all want to have that amazing dunk over an opponent that absolutely awes the crowd. Many athletes stumble upon awful programs like ‘air alert’ after just searching ‘how to jump higher’ into the search engine that produced zero results and more than likely injured you. I was once in that position, but 4 years later and I am now one of the highest jumpers on this planet with a running vertical jump of over 48 inches. I will give you a short and sweet how to guide on actually increasing your vertical jump, more in-depth articles will come later on down the road as this is just serving as a prequel to help gain some basic knowledge.

Increasing your vertical jump takes a high amount of dedication and hard work; there is no ‘magic pill’ or ‘secret weapon’ out there that will get you inches overnight. It requires lots of hard work that with time will pay off greatly.

Steps:



1. Have A Good Conditioning Base

- In order to jump high you must have a decent cardiovascular system that is capable of handling the demands that jumping places upon the body. It is also a definite must if you plan on actually living well into the 80’s and 90’s.

2. Lose Excess Weight

- If you planned on jumping higher with any excess weight that’s holding you down, then I’m sorry to inform you that you are out of your mind. Jumping requires you to thrust your body upwards against gravity, and in order to jump high you want the least amount of excess weight possible. The optimal body fat for athletes varies anywhere between 6% and 12%. Also a good rule of thumb is that for every 5 pounds of fat that you lose, that is another inch or 2 added to your vertical jump.

3. Improve Movement Efficiency

- The vertical jump requires a ton of specific coordination. That applies more so to the running vertical jump than its standing counterpart, but it still plays a large role in both. You have to be proficient in the movements; you will not jump very high if you look like a robot while moving. I recommend that all athletes aiming to increase their vertical jump have a solid foundation of jumping and sprinting, which they already should have in the first place.

4. Increase Strength

- Increasing your strength is by far the most important aspect of increasing your vertical jump. The vertical jump requires a very high amount of strength, especially the standing vertical jump. If you want a point of reference, in order to have a true standing vertical jump of 40” it requires about a 2.5 times bodyweight squat. That leads me to my favorite exercise for athletes aiming to increase their vertical jump; the squat. Squatting is essential for all aspects of athletic training, but especially when training to jump higher. A good goal I like to have athletes shoot for when training to jump higher is as 2-2.3 times bodyweight squat. That should be enough strength in order to truly achieve their jumping goals. Once they have reached that point, strength becomes less of an issue.

5. Plyometrics

- I cannot tell you how many athletes I have seen fail to increase their vertical jump much due to not including plyometrics in their training. Plyometrics are essential for training to jump higher as it increases your reactive ability which leads to being a lot more reactive and explosive athlete. Plyometrics are definitely a must have in your training.

This was a very basic guide that I hope helped give you an idea of what it takes in order to increase your vertical jump. As I said earlier in the article, I will eventually expand on this article and give you more advanced ways on jumping higher. Until then be sure to check out Kelly Bagget’s website and his Vertical Jump Bible (there is a link on the sidebar of this blog) it is an amazing product that will definitely help you jump higher. Also be sure to check out Andrew Darqui’s website for free online athletic training that will unequivocally increase your vertical jump; he has actually played a very large role in making me the athlete that I am today.