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.
Improve Your Fitness Level With These Exercises
1) Aerobic (or Cardiovascular) 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) 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) Boost 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) Improve Joint and Muscle Flexibility
Joint flexibility refers to the range of motions (ROM) 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 leap height.
5) Proper Nutritious Diet
First, you need to have a good diet and avoid junk food. Get plenty of protein; whey protein drinks are my favorite. Chicken or turkey is a good substitute. Also, get plenty of water and don’t cut out carbohydrates. They’re good for energy. Take a multivitamins and a supplement to protect your joints. A healthy diet means faster recovery time. Your body needs a chance to repair itself after going through the workouts.
6) Remove 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, these steps is only the beginning for your vertical jump program. After you have reached a good fitness level, you can increase your vertical explosion by doing plyometric exercises. 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.
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September 7, 2009
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