In your pursuit of an increased vertical, the emphasis should obviously remain on the more traditional jump training methods; those include plyometrics and weight training.
However, while training, there need to be greater awareness on some of the more technical aspects of jumping, your nutritional intake and even your lifestyle. When training to jump higher there needs to be a more balanced and multi pronged approach.
10 Tips To jump higher
1- Eat Food That Is Good For Jumping
Basic nutrition is actually important in every aspect of your daily life. While diets can be sport specific, the principles that will matter most in jump activity are your carbohydrates and protein intake, along with keeping yourself thoroughly hydrated.
The carbs and proteins are important for fuel and recovery for your body, while not being hydrated enough will almost certainly impair your overall performance. The most important thing is striking a balance, which is something a dietician might be useful for, before you embark on this adventurous nutrition campaign.
2- Burn Body Fat Fast
There is compelling evidence to support the notion that body fat has a negative impact on the performance of your vertical jump. There is no escaping that, which is why you should focus a lot of your attention on exercises that will help you burn that fat quickly. Said evidence also points out that this is one of the contributing factors to men generally Jumping Higher than women. They burn body fat a lot easier.
3- Focus More Of Your Training On The Lower Limb Joints
An overwhelming amount of the emphasis in jump training programs is on building and strengthening lower-limb muscles, which is a perfectly rational approach to take. However, that also means too many athletes neglect the role played by the joints during the jump motion.
The joints are critical for flexing and extending your limbs and they are also responsible for absorbing a lot of the impact during jump training and while jumping in a competitive environment. There is strong evidence that stronger joints contribute to a better vertical.
4- Prioritize Plyometrics In Your Jump Training
It has now become impossible to deny that Plyometrics has a profound impact on the increase of your vertical jump. Training programs like Vert Shock place tremendous emphasis on plyometrics training in the pursuit of a higher jump.
This form of training should also include some Upper Body Plyometrics, because you cannot reasonably expect all of that explosive power to be produced by your lower body.
5- Increase Muscle Strength
There is no doubt that Weight Training, especially when incorporated with plyometrics, will increase the height of your vertical jump.
6- Activate Muscles That You Use For Jumping
Activating your muscles will contribute to increased strength, better coordination, more flexibility, lower exposure to injury and ultimately less pain during and after your jump training regimen. All of these factors will help you record a better vertical.
7- Prioritize Form Ahead Of Explosive Power
The vertical jump involves multiple phases and all of them require some level of analysis. For the most part that analysis has to be done on your jumping technique. Your capacity to master the approach, take-off, flight and landing phases of your jump will determine how efficiently and ultimately how high you jump. Among other things, you need to pay close attention to the length of your strides, the speed of your strides, along with the use of your arms and abdominal core while you are airborne.
8- Do Sports Specific And Individualized Training
The most established jump training programs and manuals on the market will likely produce compelling vertical jump results for most of the people who adopt and adhere to them. However, one size does not always fit all. Your individual profile can have a significant impact on the results produced by a jump training program.
Everything from your height, to your weight matters and sometimes drafting the perfect jump training programs requires the intervention of a personal trainer or somebody with a little more experience in this field.
The sport that you are competing in also needs to be a consideration. The physical and training needs of a Volleyball player are not going to be the same as those of a Basketball player. It is not all about jumping higher to Dunk - although there is a lot of that on the web.
9- Strengthen Your Toe Muscles
Most of the jumping that you do involves the transfer of weight and momentum from the heel onto the front half of your foot before taking off into the air.
The most athletic way to jump is off the balls of your feet and that is something already taken into consideration during jump training programmes. However, something you might not be paying enough attention to is increasing the strength and capacity of your toe muscles. There is evidence that this can make the world of difference to your vertical jump.
10- Get Enough Rest
The recommendation from the experts is that anybody performing plyometrics should rest for a period of anything between 48-72 hours between training sessions. Getting enough rest should extend well beyond just jump training and live competition though.
You will be astonished by how little sleep you get in during the course of a week. All those late nights that you spend on social media, gaming or reading a book just aren’t justifiable when the goal is to improve your athletic performance.
All adults, whether athletic or not, should be sleeping at least seven hours a night. When you perform jump training programs at a high intensity and regularly, your body will need time to adequately recover and you not sleeping will hamper all progress in that sphere.
Conclusion
The tips for jumping higher that we have provided you in this blog are suitable for those training at a beginner, intermediate and even advanced level.
In fact, it could be argued that the more experienced athletes reach a point in their training where they start to neglect some of these basic details. It never hurts to remind yourself how you got to the top - and in some cases, why you did not actually make it all the way to the top.
Hey, I’m Aleksandar and I am a Basketball freak! That is why I decided to create this blog. Teaching people How to dunk a basketball and How to Jump Higher in this sport or other related sports that require vertical jumping, is my specialty. If that’s your aim, then you have come to the right place.