Vertical Jump Thread to end all Vertical Jump Threads - Get your Jumping help here

[straightballing]

Lately there has been tons of vertical jump threads. I thought I'd make one to end all this and help everyone out. I'd really appreciate if people could add their experiences and knowledge.

I want to keep the science as simple as possible for people. Vertical is basically power.

And Power = Speed x Strength.

So you need to improve either your strength or speed at which you release the strength to improve your vertical. That doesn't mean you should be working out with sissy weights doing tons of fast reps but you shouldn't being doing slow reps to feel the burn either.

Strength:
Most people are in need of more strength to improve their vertical. This is what you are going to focus on the most because it easier to improve your strength than your speed.

You should be working out with about 80%-100%. You should be doing strength routines not size like bodybuilders might do.

Strength training programs are generally in the 5 rep range. Most vertical jump programs I've seen will have reps under 10 and sets of 3.

You should be rested in between sets for 3-5min. You want to be lifting heavy and dont want to be burning out your muscles.

The main exercises you should be doing are squats and deadlifts. These lifts are very important and make sure you learn proper form. A leg press is not as good as a squat but it is better than nothing.

Other exercises would be lunges, calf raises, glute-ham raises etc.

Either find a good vertical jump or strength training routine to do for legs or try to make one up on your own using those principles. Workout about twice a week with squats and deadlifts on opposite days.

Speed:
Speed training will be done by plyometrics. Plyometrics will benefit you best after you have more strength.

Plyometrics Wikipedia definition:

Plyometrics is a type of exercise that uses explosive movements to develop muscular power, the ability to generate a large amount of force quickly. It may be used, for example, to improve the effectiveness of a boxer's punch, or to quicken the throwing ability of a baseball pitcher. Plyometric training acts on both the musculotendinous and neurological levels to increase an athlete's power output without necessarily increasing their maximum strength output.

Basically plyometrics are gonna be exercises without weights that will be pretty much different types of explosive jumps and you are going to want to use all your energy when doing these.

An example of plyometric exercise would be a jump squat. You go down into a squat and jump as high as you can. You could do 3 sets of 10 of that exercise. With 3-5minutes of rest in between each set. Do each rep immediately after the one before it.

Plyometrics should be done once or twice a week. Find a good routine or find out other exercises to do and create your own. Do not over do them or it will damage your joints. Do not do them on a hard surface it will be best to do them on grass.

Strength to bodyweight ratio:

Once you get strong and fast you might have lots of power but you still have to apply against the ground to lift your weight off the ground so the more strength you have compared to your bodyweight the higher you will jump.

That means lose excess fat if you are not 10% bodyfat then your fat is holding you back. And weight training should be focused on strength and not size but remember that doesnt mean you should be scrawny for every pound of muscle you gain you should gain 30% more strength if you are training properly. Most sprinters are pretty big and around 190 pounds.(Sprinting is closely related to jumping)


Important muscles in Vertical Jump:
The main muscles in your vertical will be your quadriceps, hamstring and glutes. Calfs and some upperbody strength from your shoulders when you swing your arms up as you jump.

Jumping TechniqueFrom what I learned playing basketball)

Some people are better at two foot and some one foot. Two foot is more quadricep dominant and one foot hamstring and such.

Two foot is usually more strength dominant and one foot is more reactive.

More recent dunk competions are dominated by two foot jumpers they say its because more of the athletes strength train with weights to improve their vertical and two foot benefits more from it.

I personally think two foot is better to get higher and you have more control. But I still practice my one foot jump because it feels so relaxed and its cool to be out of control when you dunk.

The main problem I've found with two foot jumpers is how hard it is to do a running takeoff. You gotta try to do it as fast as possible and make sure you dont do a hopstep to bring your feet together. It will take some work try watching some vince carter tapes. I've practiced but I still dont have it down. So your runner might not be much better than your standstill jump until you get better techique and a fast runup and fast jump stop and get more reactive. I know a two foot jumper and he can get way higher than his standstill and he has awesome techique just like carter.

And to get better at your one foot jump. It should be relaxed and just boost off the foot opposite you kick with when you want to jump. Try not too take too long strides when you do this jump. You should be able to get used to it eventually it may never be better than your two foot runner though. And dont expect it to be way higher than your standstill. Natural one foot jumpers usually just dont have very high standstill verticals. But once you get good techique for your one foot jump it should be higher than your standstill vertical.



Please everyone else help out with your personal experinces and what else you know. Reviews on different programs would help alot too and links to some good programs or strength training routines. I'll try to add more later too.

A good link on nurtition and how to lose fat would be helpful as well.

[straightballing]

Wow that toke forever. More writing than I've done in english class all year.

But I've learned a lot on this site and now it's time I give back a lot of what I learned to anyone new trying to learn.

[RavensFan2k3]

*grabs snack*

Thanks for the read, I'm about to get started

[HenryHill]

Great post, hopefully this will reduce the number of threads about verticals. I hate to nit-pick, but I wanted to comment about this statement.

A leg press is not as good as a squat but it is better than nothing.

While a leg press is better than nothing, there's almost no excuse to not squat. If your gym has a leg press machine but not a squat rack then get a membership to another gym ASAP. Squats are a much, much, much better exercise. I'd also say throw in some powercleans to your workout, but good form is key. Make sure you have the form down first.

[RavensFan2k3]

Good post man, reps to you

I never thought about the differences between one food and two foot jumping. I always just thought two foot jumping for height, one foot jumping for distance. I'm pretty good at both. I'm a really good dunker(known for my hops). Depending on the dunk I'm doing determines whether or not I jump off one or two feet. I'll start playing attention to it more and post back in this thread.

Oh and one thing you should mention is olympic lifting to develop the speed aspect of that power equation.

[straightballing]

Yup I think squats are awesome you can really feel it tire out your whole body. But I also think a huge problem is getting people started thats why I said leg presses are better than nothing. But there are different kinds of squats to do and lunges etc. If you have access to a leg press you should definately have access to other weights so maybe there is never a need for leg press.

I forgot about bodyweight routines if you dont have weights. The vertical jump development bible has a good one and if anyone else knows any that would be good. Umm we should discuss genetics and long tendons as well.


Ya and if anyone else has anything you dont agree with tell me what change and if enough people I agree I'll edit as needed.

[straightballing]

Good post man, reps to you

I never thought about the differences between one food and two foot jumping. I always just thought two foot jumping for height, one foot jumping for distance. I'm pretty good at both. I'm a really good dunker(known for my hops). Depending on the dunk I'm doing determines whether or not I jump off one or two feet. I'll start playing attention to it more and post back in this thread.

Oh true.. I forgot about the distance for one foot and its better if you need to jump quickly on a fast breakup with someone right behind you.

Ya different types of dunks too.

[Footballstar_rb]

yup i just found this....If you want more FREE PROGRAMS check this site NOW!!!!!!!!! http://highflyerz5.bravehost.com/VerticalLeap.html

[Vicom]

yup i just found this....If you want more FREE PROGRAMS check this site NOW!!!!!!!!! http://highflyerz5.bravehost.com/VerticalLeap.html

Most of the programs listed on that site suck.

[sillz10]

yup i just found this....If you want more FREE PROGRAMS check this site NOW!!!!!!!!! http://highflyerz5.bravehost.com/VerticalLeap.html

take that link off, its stealing


and looks like this thread starter has read VJB ;P (well some of it)

[straightballing]

Those programs on that website arent very good.

[straightballing]

take that link off, its stealing


and looks like this thread starter has read VJB ;P (well some of it)

Ya I like the VJB. I didn't really take anything from the book I just wrote everything off the top of my head and I guess it some of it would sound like some parts in the VJB probably because the VJB has the most accurate information :P

[Footballstar_rb]

Its not stealing...im not stealing

[straightballing]

Its not stealing...im not stealing

Selling those garbage programs is stealing.

[happygolucky2443]

Good original post, both brief and informative.

[sillz10]

Ya I like the VJB. I didn't really take anything from the book I just wrote everything off the top of my head and I guess it some of it would sound like some parts in the VJB probably because the VJB has the most accurate information :P

im just glad you didn't get your information from people on these forums and exercises and reps from air alert :P

[Zenkei18]

That means lose excess fat if you are not 10% bodyfat then your fat is holding you back. And weight training should be focused on strength and not size but remember that doesnt mean you should be scrawny for every pound of muscle you gain you should gain 30% more strength if you are training properly.

That's an awfully huge strength gain for such a small mass gain, wouldn't you say? That would mean something like my bench should go from 180-240 max if I gain a lb of muscle?

[Robb_P]

First of all, great post.

Zenkei: Probably this is very individual. Those with a very good CNS may well be able to make those sort of strength gains.

[straightballing]

That's an awfully huge strength gain for such a small mass gain, wouldn't you say? That would mean something like my bench should go from 180-240 max if I gain a lb of muscle?

Well I don't think that's exactly what is meant by the 30%. I'll look it up again maybe I said it wrong. But I'm just saying that because some people think muscle weight gains will make them slow but it won't if they train their CNS properly.

[Ibanez]

Like stated the olympic lifts develop tremendous power and speed. Read the athetic ability paragraph here: http://www.owresource.com/lifts/benefits.php
There is a reason why SHW(105+kg) weightlifters have high 30 and low 40 verticals.

Plus most people do not know that the olympic lifts themselves are plyometric in nature.

You also need to train the muscles surrounding the hips and of course, train in an explosive manner.

[watchandsee23]

I thought it was something like 10% muscle gain equals 30% strength.

[troy54]

Wow good post... I jump with 2 foot and squats have worked wonders for me. I went from not being able to touch rim to easily hang on rim. My next goal is to dunk. Power cleans don't really help me because i mainly feel it in my upper back and arms but not my legs. I think it's because i have bad form? Should I start doing more power cleans or just stick to doing squats?

[Tyro]

This can be found enwhere on the net if you search jsut a tiny bit harder. Just lift heavy do some pylos and you will be fine. I did it worked for me

[RavensFan2k3]

Wow good post... I jump with 2 foot and squats have worked wonders for me. I went from not being able to touch rim to easily hang on rim. My next goal is to dunk. Power cleans don't really help me because i mainly feel it in my upper back and arms but not my legs. I think it's because i have bad form? Should I start doing more power cleans or just stick to doing squats?

You know you can do both right?

[Ibanez]

Wow good post... I jump with 2 foot and squats have worked wonders for me. I went from not being able to touch rim to easily hang on rim. My next goal is to dunk. Power cleans don't really help me because i mainly feel it in my upper back and arms but not my legs. I think it's because i have bad form? Should I start doing more power cleans or just stick to doing squats?

Do both. As for your powercleans. You should feel them in the middle and lower traps, but not the arms. The arms are kept relatively straight to transfer the energy and power, there's a little saying that goes like "Arms bend, power ends."

Many people peform what would be considered deadlift upright rows and that's how not to perform the movement.

[Firepower]

damn that was a lot to read...but good post

[Zenkei18]

I thought it was something like 10% muscle gain equals 30% strength.

This would sound a lot more believable.

[mr.marcus]

Here is a little tip that makes a huge difference. Especially those who are predominantly 2 foot jumpers.
Spend some time (even between sets) walking only on your heels. Don't let your toes touch the ground. You may look like an idiot, so do it at home if you're worried about that. This stregnthens the front muscles located right next to your shins (hockey players have huge ones) Your calf muscles in the back cannot grow inproportionate to these muscles.
For the purpose of jumping it would stregnthen the very first part (first few milliseconds) of any jump, but mostly 2 foot jumpers.

[Ibanez]

Here is a little tip that makes a huge difference. Especially those who are predominantly 2 foot jumpers.
Spend some time (even between sets) walking only on your heels. Don't let your toes touch the ground. You may look like an idiot, so do it at home if you're worried about that. This stregnthens the front muscles located right next to your shins (hockey players have huge ones) Your calf muscles in the back cannot grow inproportionate to these muscles.
For the purpose of jumping it would stregnthen the very first part (first few milliseconds) of any jump, but mostly 2 foot jumpers.

You mean the anterior tibialis. The AT helps hold the arch, it flexes the foot upward. Important muscle, but much more goes into jumping then just the calves and muscles around the ankle/feet.

[Robb_P]

You mean the anterior tibialis. The AT helps hold the arch, it flexes the foot upward. Important muscle, but much more goes into jumping then just the calves and muscles around the ankle/feet.

Good point but just for interest, apparently training the flexor hallucis longus(sp?), or the muscle under your big toe, can lead to increases of 1-2 inch on your vert.