How can I increase my vertical leap without using weights
rawnicle
Question:
Asked by rawnicle - 4 answers - 45 weeks 6 days ago
How can I increase my vertical leap without using weights
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Here's an article from the site: Increase Vertical Leap and Improve Jumping Ability with Plyometrics
And another, Dynamic stretching exercises increase jumping ability
We also sell a book called How to Improve Your Vertical Jump check it out here.
More info from our community:
http://www.pponline.co.uk/answer/basketball-vertical-leap-38663
http://www.pponline.co.uk/answer/increase-your-vertical-leap-for-basketball-39617
Hope this helps,
M.
Some answers from our Facebook group:
Neil replies, 'Try body-weight squat jumps, if you haven't completed a strength programme it is unlikely you will need any extra weight to hold while completing the jumps. 3 times 8 reps.'
Malachy adds, ' Improve your balance and control by working on an unstable base of support, such as a wobble cushion, bosu, swiss ball or slackline.
This increases the muscular innervation, allowing you to fire more muscle fibres at once.'
and this advice from Jeremy, 'Plyometrics is the key."Jumping into Plyometrics" by Donald Chu is a great book, you can get it on Amazon. Using plyo boxes really helps, you can make them yourself. You can use stadium steps to jump up. Single leg work is really important, if you think about it in sport when we run and jump we are only using one leg at a time. Concentrate on good technique when doing plyometric work to get maximum benefit.'
Click here for Peak Performance on Facebook.
I think one of the most common mistakes that people make when doing plyometric type training is that they end up improving their jumping endurance and not their jumping ability. Jumping over something that is the same height over and over is the same as running the same speed over and over - it just cements ones ability to perform at the same level for as long as it is practised for.
You haven't said if you want to improve your 2-legged vertical jump, or your one-legged vertical jump, but the following exercise can be easily altered to suit:
Find a ceiling, or a tree branch (or simply something that is above you but with plenty of space around) that you can just about touch with your chosen vertical jump (with a one legged jump I suggest a one or two step run-up). Take a dumbell in one hand and then see if you can touch the ceiling with your free hand. If you can manage to make contact with 5 consecutive jumps, then the next time you train, use a slightly heavier dumbbell, and progress from there. Swap the dumbbell to the other hand between jumps. Your body will adapt to the extra demand of the steadily increasing weight and should start to produce more power as long as you stay focused on reaching the required height, so after a while your 'un-handicapped' vertical jump will improve. You only need to do a few sets of this - with a couple of minutes rest in between - on subsequent sets you may need to use a lighter dumbbell. If you cannot managem, say, two successful jumps then reduce the weight of the dumbbell.
The idea is that you look to fatigue on no more than 5 jumps. If you can manage say, 20 in a row then the target is clearly too low for you, and as I said before, you're probably only working your jumping endurance.
Hope that helps
Excellent answer, thanks Paul.