Increased Vertical Jump and Long Jump Improves Power and Speed

Train to improve your vertical jump height and long jump distance before your football, basketball or baseball combine camp. You could improve your chances of getting a scholarship to play at the college level. The fastest runners in the 40-yard dash typically have the highest vertical jumps and longest broad jumps. Both jumps show how much explosive leg power you have.

Vertical Jump

Here are 4 things you can do now to improve your vertical jump:

1. Improve your total body strength, especially leg strength. Overall strength training (including core training) is needed to stabilize joints, build muscle, correct postural problems and improve flexibility.

A male should be able to squat his body weight 8-10 times and a female should be able to squat about 75% of her body weight 8-10 times. If you are not able to squat, then you should be able to leg press about 1.5 times your body weight 8-10 times.

Powerful athletic movements initiate with or transfer through your core area. Translation: a weak core will severely hurt your power output and vertical jump.

2. Explosive weight lifting will improve your power and set you apart from your athletic competitors. Make your total body more explosive.

Just as you can do medicine ball exercises, plyometric exercises and light dumbbell exercises explosively, you can also lift heavier weights explosively.

Lifting weights explosively is an advanced form of exercise and shouldn't be done by beginners or youngsters. Your body should have the needed stabilization and strength before beginning explosive lifts.

It doesn't help you improve as an athlete to continually get stronger if power development is not there also. Power, or speed strength (how fast your muscles can produce force) is one of the best physical predictors of success in sports.

Research has proven that only lifting heavy weights at a moderate or slow pace will not improve your explosive power.

3. Do plyometrics, upper and lower body. Plyometric exercises help you to increase leg power and arm power. Exercises like squat jumps, medicine ball throws and side-to-side hops are good examples.

A high level of eccentric strength is needed during the landing phase of a plyometric jump. Inadequate strength will result in a slow rate of stretch and less activation of the stretch reflex. The amortization phase, the time on the ground, is the most important part of a plyometric exercise.

It represents the time between the landing and the take off and is critical for power development. If the amortization phase is too long, the stretch reflex is lost and there is no plyometric effect. The take off is the concentric contraction that follows the landing. During this phase the stored elastic energy is used to increase jump height and explosive power.

Plyometrics represent high intensity training, placing great stress on the bones, joints, and connective tissue. While plyometrics can improve your speed, power, and performance, they also place you at greater risk of injury than less intense training exercises.

It is important to perform the exercises correctly before implementation of full-speed exercises. Jumping and landing techniques should be mastered by you. Exercises should also be performed on safe surfaces such as rubber mats, sprung floors, grass or sand. Concrete or other similar hard surfaces expose you to injury.

4. Do deep knee bends and deep knee bend jumps at the end of your workout. Deep knee bends will strengthen your knees and ligaments supporting them. Having strong, stable knee structures will influence how high you can jump.

For deep knee bends, make sure that your back is straight when you are bending your knees. Squat down as low as possible and rise back in a slow motion. Repeat this exercise for 10-15 repetitions. You can add dumbbells to this exercise as you progress.

Deep knee bend jumps are like deep knee bends. When you reach the lowest point of the squat, leap vertically and explosively as high as you can. When you land, squat back down and jump again. Do 10-15 repetitions.

A vertical jump of:

30-32 inches - Good

33-36 inches - Very Good

37-40 inches - Excellent

Above 40 inches - Elite

Long Jump

The standing long jump (or broad jump) should be a regular part of your sports training workouts.



Use a soft athletic surface such as grass, astro-play or rubber floor to perform the long jump.

1. Stand behind a marked line.

2. Swing your arms back and bend your knees to propel your take-off.

3. Use a 2-footed take-off and landing. Jump as far as you can and land without falling backwards.

Your jump is measured from the take-off line to the nearest point of contact which is the back of the heels.

A long jump of:

7 ft. to 8 ft. - Good

8.5 ft. to 10 ft. - Very Good

10.5 ft. to 11 ft. - Excellent

Above 11 ft. - Elite

Include standing long jumps and vertical jump exercises in your training to improve your leg power and running speed.

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Mark Dilworth, BA, PES
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