5 Keys To Increaseing Your Vertical Jump

With basketball and volleyball right around the corner many athletes are looking to increase their vertical. Many factors lead to top end verticals; flexibility, proper training, proper jump training, jump technique and enough rest is needed to optimally increase the vertical. What we’re going to do is give you the 5 keys or exercises that we use at Athletic Edge that have helped a dozen d1 volleyball players reach their top verticals in camp this year. Over the summer we get a group of volleyball players that have to attain certain goals most of which have to do with jumping and conditioning. We are going to give some of our keys that have helped them reach their personal bests this year. These are in no specific order and should always be done with a certified sports performance coach to ensure proper technique and coaching ques.

1. Flexibility- Flexibility is key in any program for strength and conditioning. This is because the hip flexors are so important for explosion upward. If we are tight in the hips it is very hard to explode through what is called triple extension (ankles, knees and hip alignment). This triple extension is the power behind the vertical. So we need to be properly warmed up using some various methods: foam rolling, active warm up, muscle activation and cns activation. These four concepts will help improve your vertical immensely.

2. Depth jump landing to depth jumps- learning how to properly land is also key to understanding how to jump. To work on depth jump landing simply stand on a box and step down and land. Making sure your feet are shoulder width and you’re in an athletic position. This is important because volleyball and basketball players all use repetitive jumping and making sure you can land and jump again with the same power is important. We must always learn to land before we learn to jump. Depth jumps are simple and one of the most important exercises to do because of the quick response the body needs and how the cns reacts to this type of training. You start off the same on the box, step down, and then jump up as quickly as possible. This is very intensive on the cns and has been used for many years as a training method to increase verts. To make this even more challenging put some hurdles in front of the box and do depth jumps that way.

3. Resisted jumps- there are many ways to do resisted jumping and some of them are; the Vertimax, resisted cords and vests. These are the basis of resisted methods we use at Athletic Edge. The Vertimax is by far one of the best pieces of equipment you can get. It is one of the few if not only piece that resists the athlete from the waist down. This is important again because of the cns intensive training and triple extension. This resistance makes the body work extremely hard to overcome the interia the weight is putting the body through. Repeated use of resistant training gives the body muscle memory thus increasing the vertical.

4. Strength training specifically squats and posterior chain- squatting, whatever type it may be (back squats, front squats, box squats, safety squats and sumo squats) are one of the best things to do for increasing power in the lower body. Depending on your training history and age you can do anything from bodyweight squatting to heavy band squatting the point is you’re squatting. The muscles used to squat are the same muscles used to jump and explode upward. Again we are talking about overcoming inertia and driving the hips, butt and torso upward. The posterior chain, which is the glutes and the hamstrings, are very important not only in jumping but also acl prevention. This is especially true in women as there is a 5x more likely hood that acl tears will happen compared to men. This is due to poor activation of the posterior chain. Some exercises we do are: bridge series, RDL’s and SL RDL’s.

5. Single Leg training- While duel leg training like squatting and jumping are extremely important we must realize one leg is always stronger than the other. Single leg training (SL) is important to do because we need the most power out of each leg possible. Training in this fashion ensures proper acceleration and power when doing 2 legged jumping. Some exercises we do are lunge walks; rear leg elevated squats, pistol squats and SL RDL’s. These exercises are extremely vital to the athlete and give the athlete not only strength but most importantly power through the whole lower body. These types of exercises also help with prevention of ACL problems as many females suffer from over compensation. We also incorporate SL work into all keys of warm up including SL jump roping, agility ladder drills, mini SL jumps forward and lateral and over objects. We also incorporate SL jumps to double leg landing and Double leg jumps to SL landings.

These 5 keys are very important to incorporate into your training. Remember to always warm up properly and consult with a certified strength and conditioning coach to ensure proper program design and conditioning. Here at Athletic Edge Sports Performance, inc. we make sure that all of our athletes are doing some sort of these 5 keys to jumping. Remember there are many variations we use because of how many different age groups we have. If you have any questions or need descriptions of exercise don’t hesitate to ask. We also do offer on line training now at the Edge in speed, agility, strength training and jump training. Again don’t hesitate to ask. We hope this helps and gives description to how important these 5 keys are to increasing your vertical but also helping secure your ACL.

Coach Brad is a certified strength and conditioning coach under the CSCS with a degree in Exercise Science and owner of Athletic Edge Sports Performance, Inc.

He has been training all types of athletes for 7 years including many division 1 baseball, football, volleyball and basketball players. Coach Brad also deals a lot with youth athletes and athletes coming off of injury. Coach Troy is also CSCS certified and has a degree in Physical Education. He has been in the field for 15 years training athletes from grammar school to professional.

Contact Coach Brad or Troy at 773-610-FAST (3278) or email at llmb@prodigy.net check out the website at www.athleticedgesports.net and stay tuned for prevention of ACL and Jump Training videos.

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