Posts Tagged ‘improve vertical jump’

Exercises That Help You Leap Higher

Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010

People playing athletics, particularly basketball, football, volleyball, and soccer, are often interested in finding a way to increase their vertical jump. There are many drills and programs available that are specially designed for improving a person’s vertical leap. Before starting any of these programs though, an athlete should at least be in good general physical condition. Here we list a few exercises that you could begin with before starting a vertical leap program. These will help get you started.

Warm Ups
Prior to starting any exercises, you should warm up your muscles. Jog around for ten minutes or run up and down the stairs for a while. It is also a good idea to stretch your muscles prior to beginning your exercises. Warming up prior to doing exercises helps you improve muscle fibers that are utilized for jumping.

Skipping Rope
Jumping rope is an exercise that should not be overlooked, as it will contribute to increasing the strength of your legs. Moreover, it helps maintain excellent overall physical condition. Perform this exercise for fifteen to 30 minutes regularly.

Knee Raises
Hold an overhead bar securely, with your arms about shoulder-width apart. Hang from the overhead bar, with your arms fully extended and knees bent slightly. Holding this position, slowly pull your knees up to your chest. Concentrate on contracting your stomach muscles while doing this. Maintain this position for several seconds, before lowering your legs back down. Repeat the process five times.

Knee Bends
One of the best exercises to improve the strength of your legs is with knee bends (also know as squats). Stand in an upright position – straight, with chest out and with your back straight. Now, bend your knees slowly, maintaining a straight back. Crouch, in a slow action, as far down as possible. Repeat this process 20 times.

Toe Touches
Stand upright. Bend at the waist while keeping your legs straight. Lower yourself down as far as you can go while trying to touch your toes with your fingers. Sustain this stance for a couple seconds. Do this exercise slowly and do not “bounce” while trying to touch your toes. Repeat this thirty times.

Sit-Ups
Sit-ups can help improve your vertical jump. Begin with with your back flat on the floor, with your knees bent, and your feet flat on the floor. Place you hands behind your head. Now, curl your shoulders off the floor, in a slow movement. Continue to sit up. Do not “pull” on the back of your head with your hands. Concentrate on your stomach doing the work. Exercises for your waist are crucial for all physical activity as it is the “core” area of your body. Repeat this exercise 10-20 times.

To get the most out of your vertical jumping exercises, you should consider a vertical jump training program. Check out these Vertical Jump Program Reviews to see which are rated the best and to get more information on How To Improve Your Vertical.

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Top five List – What You Require In A Vertical Jump Program

Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010

If you’re looking for a way to improve your basketball skills and want to jump higher or even dunk, vertical leap programs can help you out. Which jump programs really deliver on what they promise though? There are quite a few different programs out there, and several of them make claims that sound outstanding. If adding over 10 inches to your vertical jump was really as easy as a few of the products make you think, wouldn’t everyone be able to dunk by now? So how can you find a truly first-rate vertical program?

Here are the 5 things to look for when reviewing vertical jump programs.

1. Uncomplicated information
It’s important that you be able to grasp what the inventor of the program is discussing. It shouldn’t matter if you’re a beginner or a professional, the program should be easy for anybody to use without a glossary of complicated words.

2. Plyometrics and weighlifting workout routines
Programs that have plyo and weight workouts are more beneficial. If a product doesn’t have these things, there is no way it can help you get the optimal results. Plyometrics is all about explosive movements, which is something you will need when you try and dunk.

3. Workouts you can customize
All athletes needs are different, and what may work for you probably wouldn’t work for someone else. This is the reason it is extremely important that a vertical jump program has sufficient variation – for beginners, intermediate and advanced players. That way, if you’re really good at plyometrics workouts, but in your life], you can alter you workout to the precise programs that are most needed.

4. Improves overall strength and speed
The program should not only help you improve your vertical jump, it ought to enable you to become stronger and faster as well. So, if your vertical jump only improves by a couple inches, the workout system you have is most likely not improving your strength or quickness.

5. Be Reasonably priced
You shouldn’t have to spend an arm and a leg just to jump high! (After all, how high can you jump with just one leg (ha ha)? Some workouts are worth more money, but none of them should cost five times what the others charge.

If you can find all 5 of these things in a vertical jump program, it is most likely a good one, and one that should be worth it.

To get the most out of your vertical jumping exercises, you ought to think about a vertical jump training program. Check out these Vertical Jump Program Reviews to check which are rated the best and to find more information on How To Improve Your Vertical.

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You Can Jump Higher By Training Less

Sunday, January 31st, 2010

Are you serious about your vertical leap training?

Correct training to improve your vertical leap is very COUNTER INTUITIVE.

The vertical jump is an explosion caused by the sudden tightening of fast twitch muscle fibers.  Because of this, training to improve jumping should be “anaerobic.”  All too often athletes are training in a way that endurance].

How should the training be different?

Basketball players have been told that running cross country would increase their vertical. This is big misconception. Running long distances like that can make your vertical jump to shrink.

Sprinting, like jumping is a more anerobic exercise.  sprinters] distance running to train for sprinting? NEVER! Then why so often do vertical jump programs make us PACING ourselves during our vertical leap training workouts?

NEVER NEVER NEVER PACE YOURSELF DURING YOUR VERTICAL JUMP TRAINING!

We have all seen it before. Athletes “running the stairs” or out of breath from doing speed ladder drills. Or maybe get done jumping rope for 20 minutes and you are worn out.. you are going to say to yourself, “Now that was tough, surely that will increase my vertical.”

These are not examples of training explosively, so they are NOT going to see results in explosive moves. I assure you, they will not be satisfied. You have to train explosively and not endurance to improve your vertical leap.

“Explosive” training will not feel right to start with.  You don’t end up with the same burn as training for endurance.  In a few ways training explosion is easier, it just requires much more focus and short term effort.

reading this right now] will benefit incredibly soley by decreasing repetition and increasing intensity.

Doesn’t doing less to get more outcome sound like a winning combination?

To get the most out of your vertical jumping exercises, you ought to consider a vertical jump training program. Check out these Vertical Jump Program Reviews to see which are rated the best and to get more information on How To Improve Your Vertical.

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3 Basic Exercises to Improve Your Vertical Jump

Monday, December 28th, 2009

Do you need to know which exercises to start with that will help your vertical leap? There are more than a few out there. These will offer you a good foundation to start from. Make certain that you follow the movements properly. You can perform the correct exercises, but if you don’t do them correctly, you won’t get the results you want. 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 erroneously think that it is only the leg muscles that need to be developed to increase your vertical jump. The muscles in the back and waist are also especially significant. Many of the back muscles are heavily involved and require strengthening as well. Vertical jumping exercises should include working on this area. So let’s get started with our first exercise.

Dead Lifts

Dead lifts are great. Remembering to strive to keep you back as vertical as possible, bend your knees and reach down and grab the barbell. Come to an upright position while holding the bar. Slowly return the barbell back to the initial position on the floor. The first 3 sets of 6-8 reps should be done swiftly but steadily to avoid injury. Take a brief rest after these first 3 sets. Then do the next set, but this time take your time and be aware of the full range of your muscles.

Leg Presses

An additional high-quality exercise is leg presses. Set the weight on the machine to a weight suitable for you. Spread your feet away from each other. Drop the weight until your thighs almost contact your chest. Then push the weight back up in an explosive manner. You don’t leap in slow motion, so you don’t want to practice in slow motion. Your muscles act explosively when you are jumping, so you have to train them that way in your exercises as well. Repeat this exercise six times – and execute five sets. Allow muscles to relax between sets.

Medicine Ball

Lastly, utilize a heavy medicine ball in place of a basketball. Imagine you are going to slam dunk, but don’t actually throw the ball! Embellish the actions and reach for the rim. Doing this exercise will enhance all the muscles that you will use when you in fact are able to dunk. Remember to push yourself to the max.

These three exercises are just three of several that can help improve your vertical jump and learn how to jump higher. Start with these and as soon as you can do them well, you can progress to additional exercises. Make certain you do them properly, though.

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