Have you ever wished you could jump a few inches higher so you could finally start throwing down slam dunks during basketball games? Well you’re not alone! Athletes from all sports, from basketball to volleyball, all are constantly looking for ways to jump higher. Some athletes try special shoes, some try ‘super jumping pills’, and still others drink special protein shakes that are supposed to give your jumping ability a quick boost. These ways are almost always guaranteed to fail and not help athletes at all. If you really want to help increase your vertical jump, there are three very effective types of exercises you can do.

Plyometrics

This type of exercise is designed perfectly for any sport that involves jumping. Plyometrics helps athletes increase their ‘explosiveness’, which could be anything from sprinting really fast across the basketball court to quickly jumping to spike a volleyball. Here’s an example of an easy plyometric exercise you could do at home. Find a sturdy bench, or find any kind of step. Now use as much energy as you can to jump up on top of the step, then quickly jump back down. If you don’t feel like it’s effective, then you probably need to move faster or the step is too low. This is a very basic exercise, but it’s also very effective too.

Improving Your Jumping Technique

Many athletes, even if they can dunk or jump over a volleyball net, don’t have perfect jumping technique. By working on improving your technique, you could easily add anywhere from 1-4 inches to your vertical jump within a week. To see whether your technique is right or not, you should record yourself before, during, and after you jump. You should look for things like which foot you’re jumping off of, the angle of your knees and body when you jump, and how tensed up your muscles are during your motion (tense muscles take away from your vertical jump). The more you work on improving your vertical jump technique, the higher you’ll be able to jump.

Stretching The Right Muscles

You use a lot of different muscles when you try to jump as high as you possibly can, so it’s important to be as limber as possible. You don’t want to go up for a dunk and end up pulling your quadriceps because you weren’t in good shape. Make sure to always stretch your back and legs in order to prevent injury and also to make your jump more effective.

These three exercises all can help your vertical jump in different ways, but if you do them consistently, you will definitely be able to jump higher then you ever have before.