Verticle Jump
You may have watched Superbowl 50 last night. It was a long, defensive game that came down to the last six or so minutes. You may have also seen some players leaping incredibly high at points during the game. Many NFL players have incredible leaping ability which comes from powerful legs.
The great news is that you can develop your vertical jump just as they have. I was fortunate enough to be apart of a study years ago which was being conducted by a graduate student at the university I attended. He was doing his thesis on two different types of vertical jump training and trying to determine which of them was better. Those two types were body weight plyometrics and resistance training.
I was apart of the group that trained with resistance. After a twelve week program my group increased our vertical jump by several inches each, while the group that did only body weight plyometrics saw very little results from their training. I personally put on nine pounds of muscle (we were put in a "bodpod" to check our body fat % before and after the twelve weeks) and increased my vertical jump by THREE INCHES. That's insane! The increase was also after I missed the last two weeks of vertical jump training due to a sprained ankle.
For the training, we focused mainly on three exercises though we did do others as well. We were in the gym twice a week for the vertical jump training. I was lifting on my own aside from those sessions, but only upper body so as not to throw off the results of the study too much.
Weighted squats were the first exercise we did after warming up. A set of 12 reps would start it off at a lower weight. The weight was then increased and the reps lowered to 10for the second set, 8 for the 3rd, and then we'd do a 3 rep max to finish out.
The second exercise was jump squatswith a belt around your waist which has bands attached which are anchored to the ground. This is a plyomentric movement with resistance. This training can be very difficult at first so the use of easier bands is necessary at first. It's important to remember that resistant exercises which use short burst of power shouldn't be performed for long periods of time. A few sets of the band-resisted jump squats will be adequate work for a day.
Straight arm lat pull-downs with bands are the third exercise. This movement is done explosively pulling the band handles down towards your hips while simultaneously sinking your hips as though you are squatting and about to jump. This technique trains your body to lower with power and resistance. When you do the jump without resistance you have that much more explosiveness that has been developed to improve your results.
If you perform these activities, gradually increasing the amount of weight and tension, you will see increases in your vertical jump within 8-12 weeks. I was able to get another 3 inches off the ground from a standstill.
How high do you think you can get your vertical jump?
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