Vertical Jump Test - How To Accurately Test Your Jumping Ability

Before learning how to perform a vertical jump test, check out some of these popular vertical jump programs.

This is a pretty short list and this doesn't require any special, expensive gizmos. Here it is:

-Some colored tape/chalk or anything that you can use to mark spots on a wall
-A tall, flat surface. Obviously the top of this surface will need to be higher than your current vertical jump.
-Measuring tape or a ruler
-Possibly a small ladder depending on how high you jump

Alright guys, this is pretty simple. I'll break it down step-by-step

1. Stand with your side against the wall/flat surface and reach straight up as high as possible. Have someone mark this spot (at the tip of your fingers) on the wall with tape or chalk.

2. Next, place some chalk or tape on your fingers as close to the tips as possible.

3. Stand next to the wall the same way you did in step 1 and jump as high as you can. When you feel that you're at your peak, slap your chalk or tape-covered fingers against the wall to leave a mark.

4. Measure the distance from the point that you made in step 1 to the point you made in step 3. This is your vertical jump!

Pretty easy, ehh?!

When you do the initial measurement of your reach, make sure that you are standing up straight. Don't slouch and try to bring your hand lower on the wall. You're not doing this to impress anyone. You're doing this vertical jump test in order to see exactly what your vertical jump is! You can impress people later on when you're throwing down sick jams over your opponents (=

Also, if you tested your vertical jump without warming up first, you should continue to do this every time from then on to get the most accurate results. If you test your vertical jump on monday without warming up and then come back and test it on tuesday after a nice warmup, you'll probably see about a 3-4 inch difference in your results. This can really throw off your ability to keep track of your progress. Moral of the story; be consistent.

And this one is pretty obvious, but make sure you give it your all on every attempt at performing a vertical jump test. When you jump, jump hard! You want to know what your absolute highest jumping ability is and improve from there.

Here is a short list of some ranges of vertical jump test results that will help you gage how much improvement you need.

- 24 inches or less would be considered poor to average. You probably need to focus on strength training with weights first, followed by plyometric drills for explosiveness.

- 24-28 inches is a fair to good range. Chances are you can dunk if you're over 6 foot , and you've got pretty good explosive abilities. However, you're still lacking overall strength. Get in the gym and hit the weights, while at the same time doing light amounts of plyometric exercises.

- 28-32 range is very good. You currently jump higher than the average NBA player, and you're overall strength is very good. You should still hit the gym and focus on weightlifting. This time, increase the amount of plyometric work that you do in order to keep your explosive abilities in check.

- 32 or more is an excellent range. You excel as an overall athlete and probably have a very strong base built to work on. You should still focus on lifting weights to increase maximal strength along with intense plyometric workouts.

Don't be discouraged if you're in the poor to average range. This can be fixed with a little patience and effort...as I discovered. Also, you probably noticed that all of the levels described above require a mix of weight training along with plyometric exercises. The main difference between the levels is the intensity with which you perform the exercises. Each level gets harder through the use of progression, a very important part of any workout if you want to see gains.

I realize that my explanations of what you need to do at each level are a bit vague, but that's because I would have to write a book to explain all the intricacies and different workouts you could use to improve your vertical jump. In fact, a book is exactly what I used to increase my vertical jump by 8 inches in 2 months! Check it out below.