Vertical Leap Exercises

How to Jump Higher

Don't do jumping exercises 7 days a week. Four or five days per week is enough. If you do it every day, you may give up after a week or two. Also, if necessary, you would want to allow for healing time. The idea is to keep exercising for months, or years, consistently.

WARMING UP:

Before starting the exercises, warm up your muscles. Stretch properly, and jog around for a few minutes.

Push-ups --- Properly done push-ups will help increase your upper body strength; which will, ultimately, increase your leaping abilities. Do them often - perhaps for 50 reps twice a day.

You should jump rope for about 2 minutes during your warm-up. You will do more rope jumping later on during your main routine. Jumping rope definitely helps your conditioning. You can either use this as a quick warm-up or a full exercise.

Running up and down stairs for a while is very useful as a warm-up, or a full exercise. Don't do too much or else you may wear your legs. You can either use this as a quick warm-up or a full exercise.

JUMPING EXERCISES:

Deep Knee Bends --- Be standing. Slowly bend at the knees while keeping your back straight. Slowly crouch down as low as possible (it shouldn't hurt) and slowly rise back up. Do this 15 times. Over time, increase to 20, 30, etc.

Deep Knee Bend Jumps --- Be standing. Crouch down as described above but fairly quickly, almost touching your bottom to the ground, then explode upwards as high as you can. The moment you land, immediately crouch and launch back up again. Do this 15 times, and when you can, increase to 20, 30, etc.

Calf/Toe Raises --- Stand regularly, then raise up onto the tips of your toes; lower back down. Don't just rock up and down, do it slowly (not too slowly) but steadily. Repeat 30-50 times.

Calf/Toe Raises with Weights --- If you have any sort of weights, holding/wearing them while doing these toe raises will help. Use small weights (5 or 10 pounds are fine) and work your way up.

Jumping Rope --- Jumping rope definitely helps your vertical leap. This is the most important exercise you can do to improve your leaping ability. Make it a habit. It’s important that you pace yourself. You will jump rope during warm-up and during your main exercise routine. Also keep in mind that jumping rope, when done correctly, increases your upper body strength, which ultimately, aids in your leaping ability. Begin by jumping for 10 minutes then increase to 15, 20, etc.

In conclusion, just as anything you want to accomplish, increasing your leaping ability requires commitment. The question you will need to ask yourself is, “How committed am I ?”. Also, I’ve seen people who call themselves having a workout yet I never see them sweat. You will get out of this, whatever you put into it. Don’t short yourself.