How to Increase Your Vertical Jump

An increased vertical jump can help improve your performance in certain sports such as football, basketball or volleyball. In addition to this, it also provides secondary benefits such as enhanced, neuromuscular coordination, leg strength and power.
Improving your vertical jumps is not as easy as it sounds. Sometimes, you may even feel frustrated because your jump does not increase despite your extreme effort to train. There are many reasons why you’re not jumping higher, first, you may not be aware of the principles of vertical jumping, second, you may have insufficient knowledge regarding the right practices and techniques to improve your jump, third, you may not be physically fit to train, and finally, you may not be disciplined enough to follow the correct principles.

So, how can you improve your vertical jump? You can follow these steps to achieve success with your training!

How to increase your vertical jump    

Workout your Quads

Training to achieve quad strength is a great way to improve your jump. Squat exercises require movements that are almost similar to vertical jumping. Hence, you can exercise using a squat machine to increase glute activation, which targets the large muscles that help create a forceful leap.

You can also further your vertical jump training by performing single-leg squats. This exercise typically uses one leg and is more movement-specific. So, doing it can aid you to build more strength and increase your chances of developing higher jumps.
Note that the most effective way to produce results with squatting is by performing it 1.5 times or two times your body weight (find out which rep & load combination is best for you here). You also need to push up faster right after you lower yourself to exercise the fast-twitch muscles, which aids in the upward phase of the jump.

Improve your calf strength

Your calf muscles play a vital role on your final propulsion when you perform a vertical jumping. Therefore, you need to enhance your calf strength in order to increase the range of motion of your muscles and develop maximum power which you will need when you leap off the ground.

You can perform calf raises while holding a barbell or set of dumbbells to work your calf muscles, you can do at least 3-4 sets of 15-25 reps when you workout.

Learn how to be Flexible!

Your flexibility matters if you aim to increase your vertical jump. Developing flexibility in your muscles, tendons and ligaments will increase your ability to jump higher. The quads, hip flexors, hamstrings, and calves are the areas in the body where you might want to focus on. Focus on stretching your lower limb muscles regularly in order to maintain a good level of flexibility.

Develop your jumping skills

Finally, after you’re done working out the important muscles in your body, you need to focus on your jumping skills. Like what they always say, “practice makes perfect” you need to perform different jumps until you achieve your goal. Make sure that you do not mix the exercises for strength-training and jumping skills training to avoid your energy from draining. You can perform the jumping skills training 2-3 times a week. With repeated practice, you will naturally improve the skill of vertical jumping.