As a basketball player, one aspect of your game that is also very important aside from fitness, endurance and quickness is the vertical jump.Most basketball athletes aspire to have a very high vertical jump for obvious reasons. This game is a game of explosive quickness and one aspect where quickness can manifest itself is in the jump. An explosive jump will mean either an awesome rebound or a block or a powerful slam dunk. Every basketball player wants to dunk that ball.
However, not all athletes were born equal. Some are more gifted than others. The same is true with jumping skills. Some have it easier when it comes to making those high vertical jumps but most have to work hard for it.
Yes, it is possible to work for a higher vertical jump. Yes, the type that could give you some of that hang time that to make those exciting alley hoops!
But how exactly does it work? Training of course.
All athletes know that this is a fact of life. To become top caliber, to become a professional, you need to train like a professional.
How does one exactly train to increase his or her vertical jump?
There are bunch you need to do.
First, you need to come up with a training regimen that will not only improve your one aspect of your game but many that can factor into your whole athletic personality.
The recommended training usually involve a multi-faceted approach that try to train the whole package. For example, to train yourself on how to jump higher, you'd think that you will only need to work out your leg muscles. Yes, you do need to train the leg muscles (particularly the fast twitch muscle fiber), but that is not all there is to it.
You will also need to condition your core muscles because you get a lot of stability from that area when you do those vertical jumps while playing basketball. Good core conditioning also increases your body's capability to prevent injuries.
You will need to learn how to do the vertical jump drills, workouts and exercises the right way. It's easy to learn just any exercise but you also need to learn to implement them correctly. Plyometric exercises will be one of your jump workouts. These are high velocity exercises that build speed and power so theoretically, there's also higher chances of injury. Proper execution is of utmost importance when it comes to plyometrics.
You will need to learn about proper nutrition and discipline. A good nutrition will help your muscles recover very quickly which would maximize your chances of reaching your jump height goal. This aspect is often overlooked unfortunately. Discipline will help you achieve your goals at the shortest possible time. Without discipline, you will quickly forget your motivation for your training and you will start to slack off. You may need to hire a jump trainer to help you in this area.
Learning to increase your vertical jump is not a walk in the park. You need a lot of training which can take time. If you're motivated enough, and if you execute the vertical jump training regimen religiously and stick to the right training principles, coupled with inspiration and nutrition, you might see some positive results within just weeks!
In future posts I will discuss more in detail the aspects of a higher jump training to help you in increasing your vertical jump.
Aim and jump high!
Photo Credit: Kishba
Posts
