HOW TO JUMP HIGHER

I recently came across this question on msn’s LIVE Q&A

How do athletes like basketball players learn to jump higher?
http://qna.live.com/ShowQuestion.aspx?qid=69731D0A537F415690A76F4A793DE62B

I quickly typed up a response, but unfortunately once so many days pass, the question closes. Here’s my response nevertheless..

Jumping higher and increasing vertical leap is one of the hardest things one can train for, hence the confusion & misconceptions all over the place. The learning aspect is true in some sense, as once you learn what is needed your set to start training your way to the stars.

Occasionally something will randomly help a kid jump higher, so he starts bragging about it and the testimonials come rolling in. But why do some things work for others and don’t do anything at all? To understand this let’s take a look at what exactly determines how high one can jump….

Vertical leap, like everything on earth, boils down to some simple physics. The greater force you can apply downwards onto the ground, the higher you will jump. The good things about this is, that force can always be increased! Wether you’re changing your workout, altering your recovery program, getting more rest, eating better…there is always room for improvement and you can always manage to jump higher.

So now we know basically what determines how high an athlete can jump, lets disect some more. There are two major components of the vertical leap. Strength power and Reactive power. Most times a player will have one or the other, but to have an outstanding vertical leap, you must focus on both aspects.

To explain things better, it’s a good idea to imagine our muscles as rubber bands. The strength aspect we must work on relates to the thickness of the rubber band, where the reactive (or plyometric) side of things has to do with the amount of stretch & return that can be put into the rubber band.

These two aspects is exactly the reason why some kids get random gains, and others don’t gain at all. To continually improve your vertical leap and avoid plateaus it is vital to focus on what aspect your body is lacking! Only by finding your weakest link, and training for that can your gains be guaranteed. Training any other way is just training blind.

Yes, there are tests you can undertake to determine what your vertical leap is lacking, and I’ll talk about where you can go to find out a tad later. Measuring your vertical leap and recording your gains is also an important factor of training. This way when you do come across something that is working great, you can look back on what was working and replicate exactly what you did in order to get the maximum possible gains from it.

Let’s take a quick look at the answers to the jumping higher question thus far.

Joel says:

“to jump higher you must bend you legs and then push up” ….was anyone attempting to jump higher without bending there legs? :s

Joels on the right track with doing weights which can help your vertical leap….if done currectly!! The majority of people will get in the weights room, 3 sets of 10…and blow there chances of increasing there vertical leap. Remember vertical leap is a power movement, executed in just seconds, and we must train accordingly. Low reps!

Scone says: “i put sand weights on my leg’s”

I’d highly suggest against doing this, as if it’s anything similar to wearing ankle weights, they have been proven to do more harm than good. They pull on your tendons and can do some major damage.

Finally, Bart says: “Remember that the higher you jump, the most difficult to get it even higher”

This is true on two levels, the second has to do with some complex physics (complex for me anyway) so we’ll just look at the first reason why this is true. When it comes to training we have what I like to call ‘noob gains’, where kids can initially gain well from virtually any training program, as it’s a vast change to their normal routine of sitting on the couch. These gains of course come to a staggering halt, so it is important to get yourself on a sound vertical leap program to keep the gains coming.

Note: Most programs out there won’t train both aspects of vertical leap, and they surely won’t customize themselves to focus on your individual needs and the areas your lacking. To be honest, the vast majority of programs out there will wage war with your knees, create muscle imbalances and simply do more damage than good.

There are however two programs (Vertical Bible & Vertical Project) which stand above the rest. People are having great results from them, and I’m hearing some awesome feedback everyday. The difference with these programs is, they are written by two of the greatest vertical leap trainers of all time, who actually understand what is needed to keep those gains coming. Like I talked about above, they have inbuilt systems of measuring your skills, determining your weak points and customizing/moulding the workouts to the individual.

To find out more about these programs or to simply read more about the ‘How do athletes like basketball players learn to jump higher?’ question I’ve tried to answer today, i’d suggest you check out: http://jumphigherguide.com

Good luck, I hope this helped