How To Improve My Vertical Leap.....FAST!

I know, I know, you want the exercises...but we need to learn the basics before we get started. The more we understand HOW we should train and WHY we are training this way, the faster and better our results will be.

When it comes down to it, I was able to improve my vertical jump by focusing on two things. Improving my POWER and EXPLOSION.

So what is power exactly? Power can simply be defined as your STRENGTH X SPEED. When jumping, you can think of power as the amount of force you apply to the ground to propel you into the air. The more power you apply with respect to your body weight, the higher you are going to travel. Of course your jumping technique plays a role in that as well but that let's save that discussion for another time :)

In order to get the optimum results I had to use a combination of strength training and plyometrics.

80 percent of your vertical leaping power is generated from two major muscle groups.....the quads and hamstrings. Since this is where most of our power comes from it just makes sense to focus most of our training on improving their function.

Most people think that the calves play the biggest part in your vertical jump, but they are wrong. What?....You don't believe me?........ Then test it out for yourself.

Stand completely flat footed and without bending you knees jump up as high as possible. Hmmm...you didn't jump very high did you? That's because you are only using your calve muscles. Now do the same thing with a deep knee bend and you will jump much higher because you are using much larger muscle groups.

Ok, now that I have proved my point and you understand the basics let's get started.

Ok, now for the good part. So which exercises are the best to increase your vertical leap? Remember there is not a magic pill that will instantly make you jump higher. Improving your vertical jump can only be done with CONSISTENCY and HARD WORK! Which exercises you should do also depends on what your weaknesses are. If you have very strong quads and can squat 600 pounds then performing heavy squats probably won't increase your vertical jump. Instead this person should focus on:

REACTIVE STRENGTH EXERCISES

- Depth Jumps
- Ankle Jumps
- Sprints
- Jump Rope

However, for most people the first thing I would recommend is training...

HEAVY STRENGTH EXERCISES

- Squats
- Deadlifts
- Good Mornings
- Hamstring Raises

If you can't squat at least twice your body weight start here (which is where most people start). Otherwise focus most of your workouts on the reactive strength exercises.

When doing these exercises we want to make sure we are lifting as heavy weight as possible and do no more than 3 sets of 8 reps. Try to train with 80-85% of your one rep max. This will insure that you are recuiting all of your muscle fibers and motor units.

I obviously can't tell you everything you need to know about how I was able to improve my vertical leap on a small one page site on Squidoo. So, I recommend heading over to www.40inchvertical.net and check out The Jump Manual. If you stick to the workout program and hit it HARD, I GUARANTEE you that you will improve your vertical by AT LEAST 10 inches!

The Jump Manual is the best vertical jump training program I have ever come across. It is the only product that effectively targets every aspect of vertical explosion. Jacob Hillar has trained college, NBA and Olympic athletes and has consistently gotten them to 40+ inch verticals. So check it out at www.40inchvertical.net

You won't be disappointed.