Secrets to Increase Vertical Leap

Increasing how high you can jump is important in many sports, not just basketball or track and field. Plyometric exercises, which focus on building explosive power, are recommended by most trainers, but improving your leaping ability is about much more than just leg strength. You can improve quickly by diversifying your training efforts; this way, you can focus on more than just your lower body strength.

  1. Warming Up

    • A proper warmup routine is vital to making any sort of physical improvement. If you put too much stress on "cold" muscles, you may end up straining and tearing those very muscles. Instead, start with a couple of minutes of walking; then do a couple of minutes of general stretches that focus on the hamstrings, hip joints, and knees; and then spend another couple of minutes jogging, broken up with 5- to 10-second sprints at half speed. Just a simple warmup like this can help prevent injury.

    Visualize

    • Imagine how the movements you want to learn will actually feel when you perform them. For example, "feel" the tension build in your legs and hips as you crouch, then explode as you leap as high as possible. By visualizing the movements you intend to make before you actually do them, you can improve your mind and body's ability to perform them more smoothly. Think of it as "programming" your muscles for success. Best of all, you can visualize between practice sessions and still gain benefits from it.

    Remember Your Shins

    • When strengthening your lower body using exercises like jump squats, forward lunges, and toe raises, it is very easy to forget about your tibialis anterior---your shin muscles. These muscles counterbalance your calves, just as your triceps counterbalance your biceps. To increase your calf strength, you must strengthen your shins or you automatically place limits on your lower leg development. One simple exercise is to walk around on your heels, not letting the balls of your feet touch the ground, until you feel a good burn on the front of your shins.

    Strengthen Your Entire Body

    • Jumping requires more than just your leg muscles. Your upper body helps add momentum to your jumps, and your torso muscles provide the linkage that allows the two to multiply your effort. You will make much faster progress if you do some exercises for your entire body and not just your legs. Weightlifting exercises like squats and the "clean and press" (where you lift a barbell from the ground to arm's-length above your head), and ab exercises done on a dipping rack, are good full-body exercises. Do them no more than two or three times a week.

    Add Speed Work

    • The explosive power you need to jump higher is not just about strength. You must unleash that power quickly to get more height. Exercises that increase your speed will also benefit your vertical leap. Jumping rope and mixing some sprints into your workout can help your muscles learn to react faster.

    Vary Your Workouts

    • If you do the same workout every session, your body will gradually adapt to the demands of that session and your improvement will plateau. By mixing up your routines --- performing different combinations of exercises, varying the number of exercises and sets you perform, and changing the ratio of strength-to-speed from one workout to the next --- you will "keep your body guessing," and each workout will provide a good training effect.