How To Increase Your Vertical Jump

The ability to jump high relates strongly to your overall athleticism. Many sports and activities involve this vertical movement. You can specifically train this area of athleticism to improve it. In this article, we go over multiple training aspects that will significantly increase your vertical jump and do so fast!

Build Explosive Power

One of the most important factors in being able to jump high is building explosive power, especially from the lower half of your body. That being said, the upper body does play a significant role by increasing momentum through the swing of the arms and also due to the core engagement. By building this explosive power, we train the muscle fibers to fire more efficiently and at optimal output. So, the more we can train our CNS to fire these muscles, the more explosive we make ourselves and the more that output will be maximized. Also, since we’re trying to jump as high as possible, the more efficiently we can push ourselves off the ground, the higher we will actually go. Explosive exercises are ones that train aspects of strength and speed. So in simple terms, get stronger and get faster.

Power is a result of force and velocity. Beginners will benefit most from the strength gains at first and as you get more experienced the speed aspect will become much more significant. This is training the fast twitch muscle fibers which require a greater stimulus for the body to activate efficiently. The more efficient these fibers fire, the higher power output we create. A higher power output significantly improves overall athleticism and will translate over to a more explosive higher vertical jump.

Do Depth Jumps

Depth jumps are when you step off a box then get back down and as soon as your feet land on the floor you immediately explode back up. This is a form of shock training which trains reaction time. Your body absorbs a shock when landing on the ground and by exploding immediately back up, your train the lower body to have greater muscle activation. This improves CNS stimulation resulting in the body becoming more adapted to firing upward. There is a neurogenic effect between the time of the lengthening and shortening of the muscle and by quickening this and anticipating the shock from and off the ground, this will result in a more efficient jump. You are training the lower body muscles to lengthen and shorten as fast as possible and when doing this along with your established explosive power, you will fly off the ground. Depth jumps themselves will also contribute to increasing explosiveness.

Roll Out The Legs

Knots restrict the amount your muscles are able to lengthen, which results in making them weaker. The more we can lengthen the muscle, the more power we’ll have as we transfer back to shortening it. Foam rolling slowly over muscle knots will help relieve them. It may not be the most pleasant feeling, but it is essential and incredibly important when referring to jumping as high as possible as well as increasing our mobility. If you don’t get these knots out, you won’t be able to activate the muscles as efficiently so less explosive power and the benefits of the quickening neurogenic effect from the depth jumps won’t be utilized. This means you can’t train as optimally and you won’t jump as high as you truly could. It’s a rather simple method, but will go a long way with helping to increase your vertical jump.

Establish A Point Of Progression

As we try to jump higher, we have to monitor our progression. Whether it’s a reaching point or getting your feet up to a certain level, you have to know where you are and then recognize improvement. Just like any other form of training, results obviously matter physically but they also play a huge role mentally.

Knowing you are getting better is extremely motivating. And this will help increase your vertical jump because you are able to keep upping the intensity and by intensity, I mean the actual height you are jumping. Say you’re trying to dunk and right now you can only get net, you can’t expect to all of a sudden be getting rim. You have to progress to that point and by consistently increasing your height level, you will be closer and closer every time. So by establishing this point of progression, you will not only be able to recognize result but you will actually be increasing your vertical jump by upping the intensity or height you actually are getting to.

Strengthen The Calves

Calves are the last muscle group to leave the ground when executing a jump. They give you that extra push to get you that extra inch. We use our calves daily to walk around, so when training them you have to put an overload, so more than bodyweight, on them to increase calf strength. The calves may be a smaller muscle group, but since we are literally activating them daily and constantly, they are actually one of the most explosive muscle groups in the body. They aren’t as large as other muscle groups so they can’t pack on as much explosive power, but by strengthening them they will contribute to your body’s overall explosiveness.

The reason I find it important to mention specific calf training in this video is because there are a lot of people who say calf training is a waste of time so don’t bother. I completely disagree. Same with forearms. Yes, there are exercises that recruit the calves, but by putting a specific focus on them, you will see more optimal improvement. And when referring to the vertical jump, every inch matters. So to give yourself an extra edge, train your calves, and make them stronger.

Conclusion

Don’t neglect vertical movements from your training. The ability to train your body to move in multiple angles and directions is vital for overall athleticism. Apply these 5 specific principles to get you from where you are now, to being able to jump significantly higher!