Vertical Jump Workouts: Get Max Results
Vertical jump workout are a colossal waste of time if you don’t focus on two main muscles, and two really key areas of training. To start with, to gain height, you must concentrate on your calves and quads. Sure, you’d make some minor gains with strength training the rest of your legs, but focus on these two to get max results.
You have a bunch of choices with exercise, jump training, stretches, etc. to develop these 2 main muscles. The two key areas that you’ll want to be making the most gains in are speed and power, so get that: the quads and calves, and speed and power. If your muscles get too bulked up, you’ll lose speed and inches in your jump. Keep in mind the balance of speed training and muscle-building as well as vertical jump workouts.
There are some great vertical jump workouts that you should really focus on to make maximum gains in these muscles. The traditional squat works great—always has. So do lunges. If getting to a gym is an issue, try this: wall sits. Wall sits are simply keeping your back pressed on a wall, and lowering yourself until your legs are at 90-degrees to the floor. Hold! Then: burn! The burn means, “Your jump will make a kangaroo jealous.” Keep that in mind as you press on.
Calf raises are a particular brand of punishment for those calf muscles. If you have weights, adding extra pounds as you stand on your toes will maximize results. Slowly lift yourself to the tips of your toes, then hold, and slowly lower. No gym? Then look around. See a staircase anywhere? Drape the back of your feet off the stair, face the staircase, and slowly raise—hold!—then lower yourself. Repeat.
So much for the strengthening, once you have gained some mass in the key muscles, you need to concentrate on speed. What follows are some of the ways to increase speed and focus on your calves and quadriceps.
Sprinting the 40 is the historical way to speed train. This is, or should be, about an 8-second sprint (thereabouts), making you like greased lightning. Add to this ladder training. Get an agility ladder and perform different drills with it: side stepping it, running through it. Be safe and don’t injure yourself, but focus on speed.
To top off the list (or bottom out, as the case may be), box jumps are where it’s at. Get yourself a platform of some kind, about 2-3 feet to begin training. Jump onto the box, landing safely, then back down. Soon as you land, jump back on as swiftly as you can, and your vertical leap will make maximum gains!
Keep your focus where it counts: your quadriceps and calves, and your speed and strength. Gain muscle mass where it counts while improving your speed will guarantee that you’ll get the maximum gains in your vertical jump workouts.
