For most people, a vertical jump is something they might have to do to reach a tin of soup on the top shelf of their food cupboard. Beyond that, they will have no concept whatsoever of how the vertical jump plays a major role in may sporting activities, and that there are many aspects to it in terms of techniques and the physiology involved in the jump.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In this article, we are going to take an in-depth look at the vertical jump, including its use in sport, the technique of vertical jumping, and most important of all, take you through several ways of how you can improve your vertical jump.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In this post, we'll cover:<\/p>\n
We mentioned in the introduction that most people are unaware of how the vertical jump contributes to many sports. For them, jumping is something they can do, but rarely have to. If you participate in sports and physical exercise then you should know how big a part vertical jumping plays in many sports, and the ability to it better than others can mean the difference between winning and losing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Many ball sports require the ability to jump well, with two of the primary ones being soccer and American football. In soccer, being able to jump higher than an opponent means you have a better chance of heading the ball above them, which can mean either scoring a goal or preventing one if you are a defender. Goalkeepers, in particular, heavily rely on the ability to jump as high as they can when trying to catch a cross ball from the attacking team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
American football might seem a sport that relies mostly on throwing, running and catching, but a player who can jump higher than others has a huge advantage. Think of all the first downs and touchdowns you have seen which happened due to the fact that the receiving player managed to jump high enough to catch a high throw from their quarterback.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Of course, the ball sport which we most associate the ability to vertical jump making a massive difference to a player’s contribution, is basketball. This is a sport where height is an advantage, but even more so is the ability to jump higher than the person next to you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Catching long throws, leaping and dunking the ball in the basket, retrieving rebounds from the backboard, and intercepting high passes from opponents, are just some of the game plays where players\u2019 vertical jumping abilities make the difference between success and failure<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Before we look at the physical aspects of vertical jumping, we first want to touch on the mental ones, and specifically your belief system. Many of you reading this will have had their vertical jump measured, and there may be a figure in your head of this being your absolute maximum. But is it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The thing about improving anything to do with sports and physical activity and achieving something that you haven’t previously is that you first must believe that you can so. In other words, no matter how many exercises, routines, and workouts you do to try and improve, if in your mind you think you have already reached your limit, then the chances of moving forward in any way are severely compromised.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A classic example of this is the four-minute mile. For years, so-called experts, and athletes alike thought that the chance of anyone being able to run a mile in less than four minutes was virtually impossible. That was until Roger Bannister did exactly that on May 6th, 1954 at Oxford University. Now that the myth had been dispelled within 46 days some else ran a sub-4-minute mile, and within a year three runners did it in the same race.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The point here is that there wasn’t some wonder potion that athletes starting drinking in 1954 that enabled their bodies to run a mile in less than 4 minutes. What changed is that instead of believing it couldn’t be done, they started to believe that it could.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
More than that, these individuals believed that they personally could do it, and they proved themselves right when they did. Nowadays a mile run in less than 4 minutes is commonplace with literally thousands having achieved it, and one of the factors being that they believe they could in the first place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So, when it comes to improving your vertical jump, the question you must ask yourself is ‘Have I put a limit on how high I can jump?’ In other words, have you reached a vertical jumping height, and said to yourself that that is high as you can go?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If so, you need to change the narrative in your head and tell yourself that you can jump higher. More than that, you must believe that you can jump higher, because if your mind doesn’t believe you can jump higher, neither will your body.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Before we give you some specific routines and exercises for improving your vertical jump, it will help you understand how they can improve it by looking at the physical aspects of jumping and those which you can affect and those which you can’t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The first is genetics, which as you probably know is down to who your parents are, so there is not a lot you do about that. Unfortunately, this means that if your genetics are not really geared towards jumping high, then you are going to have to put a lot of work into improving the other factors which can improve it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One factor that influences the height you can jump is the velocity which you are able to generate through your center of gravity. Obviously, the more velocity you can create, the higher the chance of you reaching a greater height. This principle applies in other jumping disciplines such as the long jump, whereby an athlete tries to be running as fast as they can at the take-off point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Another factor will be the mass of the person jumping. Obviously, someone who is carrying more weight needs more energy to lift their body to a certain height than someone who weighs less. There are other factors at play here in terms of muscle mass but generally the lighter you are the easier it is for you to jump higher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Finally, there are the core physical aspects which are your muscles and joints. Healthy joints provide the flexibility required for you to bend your knees for example, and to swing your arms for leverage. Strong and powerful muscles give you that impulse and acceleration that being able to jump high requires.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While many of these will rely on your workouts and exercise routine, we must not forget that how nutritious the food you eat is will play a significant role as well. No amount of exercise can undo the harm caused by a diet that is full of unhealthy foods such as burgers and fries. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you would like more information on nutrition that can help your vertical jump, then check out ‘The Jump Manual, ‘<\/a> which has an entire section on this subject, as well as a ton of routines to help you improve your jumps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n