The Secret Behind Vertical Jump
Sportspersons and athletes has a dream of jumping high. It is a very important factor in sports like basketball, volleyball, football etc. Through constant practice and effort, you can improve your vertical jump. But many people are unaware of how to properly take a vertical jump training. Many people follow different methods and follow different vertical jump training. But the training has to be perfect. If you do wrong exercises for vertical jump, this will affect your health.
Here are certain right tips that will help you to increase your vertical jump perfectly.
- If you are a beginner athlete, avoid using normal high jump bars because you may get hurt if you land on it. It is better to use a bungee cord or a flexible high jump bar in your practice sessions. There is also another benefit for this. If you were to dislodge the bar, don’t keep replacing every time this happens.
- You have to find the correct takeoff leg from which to jump. You can do this in a simple way by having someone push you from behind. This will help you to immediately adjust your footing to regain your balance. When you adjust your balance, the leg you use will be most likely to be the correct one to high jump from.
- Use between 5-8 strides for your complete approach run. The jumper should start the run slowly then increase the speed steadily towards the takeoff. Make sure that the final 2 strides of the approach should be fast and snappy. Any adjustments in the approach run should be made only once you are completely warmed up.
- The placing of the takeoff leg to the ground has to be from just inside to the nearest standard. It should be about an arm’s distance from the bar. You will get the time to get up and over the bar from this. Make sure that your takeoff foot is pointed toward the far upright.
- Now you must focus on a powerful and quick knee drive. For this, your knee should be driven up and turned slightly inwards. The rotation around the body’s longitudinal axis will be aided from this. You will end up with your back to the bar ready to clear it head first. Make sure that your shoulders and torso should follow the knee.
- The jumper should naturally rotate around the bar if the takeoff has been executed properly. You will achieve the bar clearance by throwing your head back with your chin up just before your buttock is over the bar. By doing this, the shoulder will drop and the hip will rise. If you attempt the bar clearance too soon this will stop you from gaining height. Until you gain maximum height from your leg drive, it is better to delay arching.
- You should tuck your chin into your chest as you clear the bar. It will cause your legs to rise and help them to clear the bar after your hips have passed over. Land as high on your shoulders as possible. Thus you can continue to rotate and do a backward somersault as you land.
The benefit of jumping higher is that it will automatically help you to run faster too. The ability to accelerate quickly and jump high correlate very well with each other. So you can jump high and increase the speed of your running together. Both requires the same qualities of strength to jump high and run fast.
You must understand that different training have different influences on vertical jumping ability. To increase the vertical jump, an athlete to display large amounts of power. Power is the amount of force you put into the ground at toe-off in vertical jump. This power is responsible for the speed at which you leave the ground and the ultimate height of your jump. You will jump higher if you apply more power with respect to your bodyweight.
You must have good levels of strength and speed to display optimal levels of power so that you can jump higher than you ever imagined. You will need limit strength, explosive strength and reactive strength for this. Limit strength is the strength of your muscles when speed of movement is of little consequence. You should pay attention to develop limit strength in the muscles of the quadriceps, glutes, hamstrings and lower back as these are the most important muscle groups for sprinting and jumping. Explosive strength is the ability to develop maximum force in minimal time without the use of the plyometric stretch-reflex. To develop maximal force in minimal time you must have enough raw force or strength to draw from or to tap into quickly. The reactive strength is displayed when your muscle/tendon complex is stretched before contracting. It is also known as plyometric strength, reversal strength, reflexive strength, rebound strength etc.You can take in more force when your reactive ability is good.
Before attempting any of these exercises, stretch thoroughly. While doing training, keep repetitions low. You should remember that it is about building your muscles, and not about how many you can do.
It is not good to focus too much on only plyometric or strength training exercises. You have to work on both equally because your body type should be the best indicator as to which type of exercise should work best for you.
There are many vertical training programs also available that you can make use of to increase your vertical jump. Choose one of the best training programs and start your training as early as possible for better results.