Posts Tagged ‘increase vertical’

3 Fundamental Exercises to Improve Your Vertical Jump

Friday, November 13th, 2009

So you want to learn a few good vertical jumping exercises? There are several to choose from. There are a few in particular that can improve your capacity and help you learn how to jump higher. These will provide you a good foundation to start from. You need to make sure that you follow them exactly. You can carry out the right exercises, but if you don’t do them in the proper manner, you won’t obtain the results you wish for. Add these three exercises to your vertical training and you will be well on your way to adding major inches to your vertical.

A lot of people incorrectly think that it is only the leg muscles that need to be developed to improve your vertical leap. The muscles in the back and waist are also especially important. 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 initial exercise.

Dead Lifts

A good exercise to start with is the dead lift. To begin the exercise, grasp the barbell, bend your knees, and arch your back. Come to an erect position while holding the bar. Slowly return the barbell back to the initial location on the floor. The first 3 sets of 6-8 reps should be done quickly but steadily to avoid injury. {Take a rest.|Take a brief rest after these first 3 sets.} Then do the next set, but this time take your time and sense the full range of your muscles.

Leg Presses

A subsequent exercise that can help advance your vertical leap is leg presses. Set the weight on the machine to a weight suitable for you. Spread your feet apart. Allow the weight to come down as far as you can and then, pretending like you are jumping, push the weight back up rapidly. It’s not about the slow and steady here. Your muscles perform explosively when you are jumping, so you have to train them that way in your exercises as well. Do 5 sets of 6 reps. Take a brief pause between each set.

Medicine Ball

For our final exercise we will utilize a medicine ball instead of a basketball. Acting like you are trying to dunk the ball, jump with the medicine ball in the direction of the rim. Exaggerate the actions and reach for the rim. Doing this exercise will enhance all the muscles that you will use when you in reality are able to dunk. Doing this exercise as hard as you can will have a big effect on your vertical leap.

While these are simply three exercises, they can be a good start to increasing your vertical jump. Combine these with more jumping exercises. Keep in mind that correct form is just as essential as the weight and the quantity of reps.

Share and Enjoy:
  • Digg
  • del.icio.us
  • Facebook
  • NewsVine
  • Reddit
  • StumbleUpon
  • Google Bookmarks
  • Yahoo! Buzz
  • Twitter
  • Technorati
  • Live
  • LinkedIn
  • MySpace