Beginning Exercises to Help Your Vertical Jump

This post was written by steve on December 14, 2009
Posted Under: How To Jump Higher Articles

Do you need to know which exercises to start with that will improve your vertical jump? There are many to pick from. There are a few in particular that can increase your ability to jump higher. You must make sure that you follow them closely. You can carry out the right exercises, but if you don’t do them correctly, you won’t get the results you would like. Add these three exercises to your vertical training and you will be well on your way to adding major inches to your vertical.

Many people erroneously suppose that it is only the leg muscles that need to be developed to increase your vertical jump. Your lower back and erector muscles need to be strong too. The erector muscles are the strongest muscles in the back and take on the most work. Your program should consist of exercises for the back and waist areas as well. Which brings us to our first exercise.

Dead Lifts

A good exercise to start with is the dead lift. Arch your back, bend your knees while holding the weighted bar. Bring the barbell up until you are standing upright with the barbell hanging across your thighs. Slowly lower the weight back down. Perform three sets of 6-8 repetitions. To steer clear of injury, do not yank the bar, but carry out the exercise quickly and steadily. Take a rest. Do one last set in a much slower fashion this time.

Leg Presses

A second exercise that can help advance your vertical leap is leg presses. Load a leg press machine with weights. Place your feet high and away from you. Lower the weight until your thighs almost touch your chest. Then shove the weight back up in an explosive method. You don’t leap in slow motion, so you don’t want to train in slow motion. Your muscles act explosively when you are jumping, so you have to train them that way in your exercises as well. Do 5 sets of 6 reps. Permit muscles to have a rest between sets.

Medicine Ball

For our very last exercise we will utilize a medicine ball instead of a basketball. Pretending that you are doing a dunk, grasp the medicine ball and jump up as high as you can. Embellish the movements and reach for the rim. This will help improve all the muscles you will be using when you slam dunk for real. Remember to push yourself to the max.

While these are merely three exercises, they can be a good beginning to improving your vertical jump. Combine these with additional jumping exercises. Don’t forget to use the correct form while performing these exercises. It can help you avoid injury.

Best Program to Help Increase Your Vertical Jump: Jump Manual

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