You know you need to exercise and practice to increase your vertical jumping. But do you know which exercises make a difference? Do you know how to exercise smarter so that you actually see results? Do you know how not to get burned out, or at least not too soon? Read on for some helpful tips on how to do vertical jumping exercises correctly.
Don’t forget to warm up. Before you begin jumping or exercising, you need to stretch to warm up your legs. Many of the routines created for swimmers to stretch out are ideal for jumpers, as well. It’s also a excellent idea to spend several minutes jumping rope or running stairs. This may also be included as a part of your exercise routine, but you should always begin with exercises like this to get warmed up before moving on to other more intense exercises.
Do some leg strength training. Some exercises need to be done slowly, each rep taking about nine counts. Deep knee bends, jumps and toe raises with and without weights definitely have more effect on your vertical jumping if done slowly. This helps build muscles, too.
Optimize muscle. While you don’t need to be a body builder or Mr. Olympics to be a great vertical jumper, you do need a fit, toned, well-shaped body to power your jumps. You will want to have a speedy metabolism, low body fat, and strong bones and muscles. When you have more muscle, you also burn more calories when you exercise. When you burn more calories, you have the energy to fire your vertical jumps and reach new heights.
Looking for some specific, but easy exercises to include in your vertical jumping program? Here are a couple simple but effective ones to try.
Jump rope. Jumping rope with a simple inexpensive jump rope is a very effective exercise to improve vertical jump heights. Get a rope that is easy to swing comfortably and start out jumping on both feet, then alternating jumping on each foot individually. This is a great exercise to do while watching television. Start out by jumping rope for 10-minute bursts of time and gradually increase the level of intensity of your jump roping workout. Remember, though, speed is not the goal here-higher jumps is-so make sure you are focusing on that.
Deep knee bends. Start out in a normal standing position with a nice straight back. Slowly bend your knees to lower your body down, maintaining that straight back. Stop short of getting deep far enough to where you would be in a relaxed low position so there is still tension on your leg muscles and then slowly raise your body back up again to resume the original standing position. Go down slowly and come up slowly, counting approximately four seconds on the way down and another four seconds on the way up. Do 15 reps like this each day and gradually increase the number of reps after a week or so of practice. In addition to building power and muscle in your legs, this exercise also tones your thighs.
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