Are You Ready For Vertical Jump Training Program?

Before you engage in any vertical jump training program, it is recommended for athletes to achieve a basic fitness level. You can increase your vertical jump drastically only if you do the right exercises and know what you are doing.

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

Aerobic exercise (which is repetitive movement of large muscle groups over an extended period of time) will produce cardiovascular endurance. Examples of aerobic exercises include swimming, rope jumping, jogging, and playing basketball.

2) Enhance Muscle Strength

Muscle strength is improved by applying resistance to a muscle group. Lifting weights is a good way of improving muscle strength. Calf exercises, squats, lunges, are some examples in increasing strength for jumping higher.

3) Increase Muscle Endurance

Muscle endurance is the ability of the muscle to repeat that movement over a period of time. Muscle endurance improves in conjunction with muscle strength. With regular exercise, your muscles burn energy more efficiently and endure overloading for longer time. Rope jumping, running long distance or for a long time, are some examples for building endurance.

4) Improve Joint and Muscle Flexibility

Joint flexibility refers to how much 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 give dramatic increases in vertical jump.

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, this is the start of your jumping higher program. After you have reached a good fitness level, you can begin to do exercises to increase your vertical explosion. Those exercises are called plyometrics. Plyometric training will develop quick twitch muscle fibers needed to increase your vertical. Many athletes omit these exercises, resulting in them not drastically increasing their vertical jump.