Are You Ready For Vertical Jump Training Program?

Before you engage in any vertical jump training program, it is recommended for athletes to achieve a basic fitness level. You can increase your vertical jump drastically only if you do the right exercises and know what you are doing.

You should have some cardiovascular endurance, muscular strength, muscle endurance, good nutritious diet, along with flexibility. After that, you can now challenge your body with more advanced fitness exercises to improve your vertical. Fitness can only improve if we overload the body. Overloading means pushing your body to do more than it is already doing. However the overload must be appropriate to the person’s fitness level. If you’re reasonably fit, you can overload more than an obese, sedentary person. It all depends on your body. After attaining an adequate fitness level, you will be ready for an intense vertical jump training program.

Improve Your Fitness Level With These Exercises

1) Cardiovascular (or Aerobic) Exercises

Cardiovascular endurance is an achieved thorough regular aerobic exercise, which is a repetitive movement of large muscle groups over an extended period of time. Examples of aerobic exercises include jogging, swimming, rope jumping, and… of course playing basketball.

2) Improve Muscle Strength

You can increase muscle strength by applying resistance to a muscle group. Lifting weights is a good way of boosting muscle strength. Squats, calf exercises, lunges, are some examples in increasing strength for jumping higher.

3) Improve Muscle Endurance

When the muscle repeats movement over a period of time, muscle endurance is created. Muscle endurance increases in conjunction with muscle strength. With regular exercise, your muscles burn energy more efficiently and endure overloading for longer time. Running long distance for a long period of time is an example for building endurance.

4) Improve Joint and Muscle Flexibility

Joint flexibility refers to the range of motions, the joint can undergo as limited by the joint’s structure and surrounding connective tissues. Warming up and then stretching your calves, hamstring and quad muscles are important activity in preventing injuries and increasing your fitness level. Joint flexibility can also increase your vertical jump dramatically.

5) Nutritious Diet

First, you need to have a good diet and avoid junk food. Get plenty of protein; whey protein drinks are my favorite. Chicken or turkey is a good substitute. Also, get plenty of water and don’t cut out carbohydrates. They’re good for energy. Take a multivitamins and a supplement to protect your joints. A healthy diet means faster recovery time. Your body needs a chance to repair itself after going through the workouts

6) Remove Body Fat

If you are overweight, you should concentrate on building muscle and reducing that extra fat. Limiting your caloric intake, eating healthier foods and doing vigorous exercises will assist you in losing that excess weight.

Remember, this is the start of your jumping higher program. After you have reached a good fitness level, you can begin to do exercises to increase your vertical explosion. Those exercises are called plyometrics. Plyometric training will develop quick twitch muscle fibers needed to increase your vertical. Many athletes omit these exercises, resulting in them not drastically increasing their vertical jump.