Prerequisites For Any Vertical Jump Training Program
October 25th 2009 -
In order to enhance your vertical jump training and learn how to jump higher, you must know what you are doing and do the right exercises. Until you have achieved a certain fitness level, you should not engage into an intense jump training program.
An athlete with adequate muscular strength, cardiovascular endurance, good nutritious diet, muscle endurance, along with flexibility will be ready for starting some intense vertical jump training exercises. You will increase your fitness level by overloading your body with more intense exercises, but the overloading must be appropriate to your current fitness condition.
mprove Your Fitness Level With These Exercises
1) Cardiovascular (or Aerobic) Exercises
You can achieve cardiovascular endurance 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, rope jumping, basketball and swimming.
2) Increase 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) Increase Muscle Endurance
Muscle endurance improves in conjunction with muscle strength. Muscle endurance is the ability of the muscle to repeat that movement over a period of time. With regular exercise, your muscles burn energy more efficiently and endure overloading for longer time. Rope jumping, and long distance running, are some examples for building endurance
4) Increase Joint 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
A healthy diet means faster recovery time. Your body needs a chance to repair itself after going through the workouts. Therefore, avoid junk food and eat nutritiously. Drink plenty of water and good carbohydrates such as fruit and vegetables. Protein found in meats or whey protein shakes are important in building and repairing your muscles.
6) Reduce Your Body Fat
If your body fat index is less than 10%, you can increase your potential in jumping higher. You need to concentrate on building muscle and limit your caloric intake. A nutritionalist will be able to design the proper diet that makes sense for you specific needs. Vigorous exercises like running will also help you to lose those extra pounds and condition your lungs.
Remember, obtaining a good fitness level is the start of your jumping higher program. After that, you can begin to do exercises to increase your vertical explosion. Plyometric exercises, along with the previous steps, will help you jump higher. Plyometric training develop quick twitch muscle fibers needed to increase your vertical. Many athletes omit these exercises, resulting in them not drastically increasing their vertical jump.
October 26th, 2009 at 9:58 pm
You covered all the points with your list. We see quite a few people talking about how to improve your vertical, but so many miss out on joint flexibility and nutrition. Without a full range of motion in your joints you are limiting yourself which is where the flexibility comes in and without proper nutrition your body never achieves the full potential it could.