basketball help

[triathlonrunner]

hey guys. i am 5'10 130lbs. i am a junior and start on my schools varsity basketball team. obviously we are playing right now but my vertical is only like 14", which is pitiful. are there any things i can do in season to increase my vertical jump without wearing my self out too much? and also, will just basic heavy leg work with mixed in plyometrics in the offseason help?


thanks

[young..arnold]

i had the same problem but i started using ankle weights when practicing basketball by myself and i got alot fast and was able to jump higher

[triathlonrunner]

thanks......

[DaHurst]

well in the off-season I suggest you squat and work on calves. Will make you faster and jump higher. Also do plyometrics, jumping, etc.

[whitee]

Try the Air Alert program My coach really likes it. Just google Air Alert III and look for a site called austinhoops or something like that and it will have a printable version of it. It will supposedly add like 10 inches the first time you try it.

[triathlonrunner]

i looked into that air alert 3 stuff......that's some high rep stuff huh?

[rjdumas]

Hey man some thing that worked great for me were stairs. Run up stairs and jump up stairs and when you have nothing left in the tank jump some more then do lunges across the gym. It will suck and also squats on the wall for 30sec or how ever long you want then jump 30 times.

Just make sure you eat good and sleep lots. and you should be golden good luck with your season.

[triathlonrunner]

thanks rjdumas

[The_LB_43]

dont work your calves for jumping, calves play a very minimal part in that
like other ppl said, wallsquats and stair jumping
but you cant/shouldnt rele try 2 improve inseason...thats why there an off and a pre seasons

[triathlonrunner]

thanks....i am a beast at wall sits.....

[The_LB_43]

^^um...sarcistic?
how long can u hold a parellal squat on a wall?

[neonwars]

^^um...sarcistic?
how long can u hold a parellal squat on a wall?i cant wall site werth crap i have no endurance strenght in my legs

[Vermonta]

In season you can do plyos and squat a bit. I would be doing this during your season anyways:

Squat 4x5
Bench 4x5
Bent Over Rows 4x5

Lift to maintain during the season i.e. DON'T ADD WEIGHT. If anything take weight off the bar if it effects your performance or stop all together.

Twice a week lift and twice a week do plyos, but not on the same day.

For Plyos you could do something like this:
Box Jumps
Split Jumps
Long Jump
Box Drop

That should be good enough for in season. Your offseason is where you really excell and make gains looking to be better prepared than your opponents for next season. I believe games are not won in practice or on the drawing board, but in the many months between seasons.

[bucktown21]

Strength Shoes, a Stair-Stepper, Plyometrics is good as well, or just try walking around on your tip-toes for a few minutes at a time. I know the s**t sounds silly, but it helped me out a little bit when I played ball in High School. I couldn't afford the Strength Shoes, so I did what I could. Besides, all these things you can do when you're not in the gym, so it's not like it's taking away from your workout.

[giftedman]

The best way to increase your vertical jump is to get you full Olympic squat up relative to your body weight. Period!

A big squat relative to your body and fairly good movement efficiency should lead to big vert.

Also you can gain a fair amount of strength in-season because high school basketball isn't as hard on your body as for ex. football. Just don't over do it. Lifting once or twice a week should do the trick. Especially if you're fairly new to heavy lifting.

Don't do plyo's during the season though because you're probably already getting a fair amount of jumping from practice and games. But in the off-season you should definitely add them to your training.

hope this helps,

giftedman

[triathlonrunner]

uh wall squats....let's see my freshman year....at pe.....we had to do them for as long as we could...i did about 17 minutes.....holding a book straight out in each hand....and all the big badass football players barely lasted.....

[The_LB_43]

haha thats cuz they dont need 2 do wall squats, they just do free weight squats =)

[Metal_Fingers]

Might I suggest you reading this article.

http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/sports_body_training_performance/leap_tall_buildings_and_build_traps_of_steel

Developing a big squat doesn't really help you. I got my squat up to 315x2 and I have noticed that my knees have stiffened up a bit and I cant jump as high as during the summer. During the summer I could touch the top of the box above the rim, but I have lost a good 4" off of that.

You should work on exercises that assist in your explosion.


I did Air Alert III during the summer. Got 8 weeks in and had to give up. It killed my knees, then again I was doing that ontop of Bill Starr's 5x5. But during the summer I put a good 8" on my jump.

[giftedman]

Might I suggest you reading this article.

http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/sports_body_training_performance/leap_tall_buildings_and_build_traps_of_steel

Developing a big squat doesn't really help you. I got my squat up to 315x2 and I have noticed that my knees have stiffened up a bit and I cant jump as high as during the summer. During the summer I could touch the top of the box above the rim, but I have lost a good 4" off of that.

You should work on exercises that assist in your explosion.
http://forum.bodybuilding.com/newreply.php?do=newreply&p=247519421

I did Air Alert III during the summer. Got 8 weeks in and had to give up. It killed my knees, then again I was doing that ontop of Bill Starr's 5x5. But during the summer I put a good 8" on my jump.

I said a big full, oly squat relative to your body weight. 315 x 2 for some one your size(245lbs) isn't really a big squat.

Anyways, check out my boy CoolColj Vert calculator. http://www.higher-faster-sports.com/verticaljumpcalculator.html It should give an you idea of where your numbers should be to get your desired vertical leap.

p.s This might not be accurate for you Metal_Fingers. You're too damn tall lol

Also I'll cosign on Thib's article on T-Nation: Leap Tall Buildings and Build Traps of Steel. Its definitely a good read.

[Detroit78]

dumbell lunges, wall squats, a few calf raises, run stairs, and jump rope, jump rope, jump rope, jump rope

[giftedman]

dumbell lunges, wall squats, a few calf raises, run stairs, and jump rope, jump rope, jump rope, jump rope

joy rd

[Detroit78]

I went to lessenger

[Metal_Fingers]

I said a big full, oly squat relative to your body weight. 315 x 2 for some one your size(245lbs) isn't really a big squat.

Anyways, check out my boy CoolColj Vert calculator. http://www.higher-faster-sports.com/verticaljumpcalculator.html It should give an you idea of where your numbers should be to get your desired vertical leap.

p.s This might not be accurate for you Metal_Fingers. You're too damn tall lol

Also I'll cosign on Thib's article on T-Nation: Leap Tall Buildings and Build Traps of Steel. Its definitely a good read.

Without a doubt, 315 isn't huge compaired to my weight, but it something I have accomplished and am proud of. But yeah, squat is important, although I haven't really seen any corilation between squat and explosiveness (for me personally).

I tried the vert tester, I dont think it is too accurate. With that prediction and my arm length(including hands) it says I can touch 10'4". But when jump to the net (standing) I can get an inch or two below my wrist to hit the rim. But whatever.

Probably works for average people though.

[giftedman]

Without a doubt, 315 isn't huge compaired to my weight, but it something I have accomplished and am proud of. But yeah, squat is important, although I haven't really seen any corilation between squat and explosiveness (for me personally).

I tried the vert tester, I dont think it is too accurate. With that prediction and my arm length(including hands) it says I can touch 10'4". But when jump to the net (standing) I can get an inch or two below my wrist to hit the rim. But whatever.

Probably works for average people though.

He bro, in no way am I trying to down play ur accomplishments. Squatting a 6'7" is tough in itself I bet. But yeah, i think the calculator works best for people from 5'6" to 6'0" tall.

[WannaBeAthlete]

I think Air Alert sucks there are so many better programs out there.

Deep squats + plyometrics + rest = vertical improvements.

I prefer low bar over olympic because of the posterior chain emphasis. With that said...yeah, you'll get far better gains in the offseason.

Considering you're 16 and have a vertical that you claim is 14 inches...I believe you can make some noticeable improvements in season. That is a very low vertical for a varsity basketball athlete. What is your lifting history like?

[triathlonrunner]

well i play at a 1a school(200 kids) and i guess i'm alright. last night had a game against a 3a school and help their leading scorer(post) to about 12 points. (we played zone but he was mainly working the ball on my side). that vertical i had posted is just an at home test kind of deal...it might be a little more than that....uh i have been working out for about a year and a half....my squat max is just under 200 lbs...

[tkxii]

well i play at a 1a school(200 kids) and i guess i'm alright. last night had a game against a 3a school and help their leading scorer(post) to about 12 points. (we played zone but he was mainly working the ball on my side). that vertical i had posted is just an at home test kind of deal...it might be a little more than that....uh i have been working out for about a year and a half....my squat max is just under 200 lbs...

you weigh 130, and squat 200? i'm pretty sure you can jump higher than 14 inches, 14 inches is really really really really ****ty, that's how high i jumped in 6th grade when i was 5'0 and 120 lbs. I think you didn't calculate it properly.

I've researched VJ for about 4 months now, i long jump for track, and improving my VJ was my #1 priority.
First, i strength trainined, because I was strength deficient. I don't know if you are strength deficient, i don't think so, 200 is goood. i would move into jump squats, more explosive exercises, while keeping the strength up, so occasionally, do a few sets of heavy squatting, otherwise your vert could go down.
i'd recommend plyometrics, because you have a good squat, and perhaps your're just slow, so improving your reactivity would be a good step. start with 40 foot contacts, then increase to aobut 80-100 range. Stay there for at least 2 months. Find different exercises to do, like the drop jump (jump off a high ledge and stick the landing). and take nearly full recovery, if your form breaks down, you won't improve.

so jump squats, power cleans, and plyos (rim grabs, jumping over a line as fast as possible repeatedly, etc.)

And all the reviews i've read on air alert suck. I don't know if the third version isbetter though, but i'd rather figure out my own ways to increase vert.

and the guy who said he raised his vert 8 inches one summer .. . what did you do?? i increased mine 7, just by doing deadlifts because my strength was so bad.

[triathlonrunner]

yeah i just redid it or what ever by jumping next to a wall and comparing to your hand straight up touching the wall....and my VJ is about 20 inches....if that makes a big difference....

[tkxii]

i dno, 200 squat, weigh 130, 20 inches sounds kinda low.
hmm. when you jump off a stair and then jump as high as possible,(depth jump) can you jump higher? or can you jump higher by just standing 2 footed? Because, generall, people can jump higher when doing depth jumps, than a standing vertical jump, this is due to the reactivity. If it's not much higher, then it means you need to work on your reactivity.
look up some plyometric drills, and read aritcles here http://www.higher-faster-sports.com/articles.html
but if you don't know what plyos are, this is the idea:
you produce greater force when the eccentric load of the muscles is greater. When you jump, first your muscles lengthen (the eccentric contraction), and then they tighten (concentric). the change from eccentric to concentric is the amortization phase. The faster this is, the better your 'reactivty, or speed is. and the higher you can jump. The highest jumpers jump the fastest. So in a depth jump for example, jumpin off of a stair or two makes you absorb more shock, which goes to your muscles, which are lengthening, then it transfers that extra shock into a more powerful concentric contraction. k hope that helped

Since you have a 20 inch vert, i'm guessing you can touch about halfway up the net, is that correct?

[The_LB_43]

200 squat at 130 isent that great your supposed 2 be doing 2wice your bodyweight...
but i dont squat twice mine either
so i cant rele talk...i was just sayin

[neonwars]

200 squat at 130 isent that great your supposed 2 be doing 2wice your bodyweight...
but i dont squat twice mine either
so i cant rele talk...i was just sayin
dude ive dropped in squat (tested at with weights last night)

[triathlonrunner]

yes thats about right tkxii....i can touch right below halfway up the net....

[triathlonrunner]

btw....that almost 200 lb squat MAX is just past a bench....so just about parallel but my legs are so long that parallel isn't really a** to calves for me....should i start doing ATG after basketball season or stick with pretty much just parallel? if ATG how much weight? when i stopped working out a few weeks ago, i was doing sets of 8 and such with 185lbs.....

[The_LB_43]

^ who u talken 2 brah?

[triathlonrunner]

anyone.....?

[oaukland]

I used to play basketball and had quite a good vertical jump, could do 360's, tomahawks, catch alleys and so on..

What worked best for me in increasing my jump was to do leg presses, squats and deadlifts. This strengthens up your legs quite a bit, and especially your core, which is extremely important in basketball. With a strong core you will be better at landing and then quickly jumping up again without losing the power in ur legs..

But whats important for basketball, is that you do all the movement very explosive to emulate a jump. Also for a general sports related program u should have a lot of sessions where u do several reps. The reason being that in basketball you want to be able to jump up and down ****loads of times during a game or practice, so its nice to train ur muscles to be able to do this.

[oaukland]

Regarding Air Alert, I am not a big fan at all. Most people I know who did this program got swelling in their knees or some ****ed up chins. You need the base strength and power in your legs and core to get a real nice jump.

[The_LB_43]

triathlon, i would do squats at just 1" below parelal

[triathlonrunner]

thanks....

[giftedman]

Go all the way down! Full ROM

[CelticTheTruth]

The best way to increase your vertical jump is to get you full Olympic squat up relative to your body weight. Period!

A big squat relative to your body and fairly good movement efficiency should lead to big vert.

Also you can gain a fair amount of strength in-season because high school basketball isn't as hard on your body as for ex. football. Just don't over do it. Lifting once or twice a week should do the trick. Especially if you're fairly new to heavy lifting.

Don't do plyo's during the season though because you're probably already getting a fair amount of jumping from practice and games. But in the off-season you should definitely add them to your training.

hope this helps,

giftedman

that's pretty much it!
Also you should try clean & jerk ,power cleans.
deadlift is pretty good too.
Squat +Squat+Squat! :)