Vertical Jump Help

Yeah, there is a lot contact, and its especially hard being a 6’3 185 forward, going against other forwards who are at least 6’6 220lbs, they workout in the gym only in the offseason, but they are adults so they are stronger than me. I don’t know how to correct my jumping form…

jumping form–coach. BUT you could try a few jumping experiments: jump with hinge emphasis, jump with squat emphasis, faster pre jump descent, slower pre jump descent… things like that.

And finally stretch the hell out of your hip flexors: I’m a fan of doing a ft split on a wood floor while wearing socks, putting as much weight as possible on the rear foot.

I’m stretching my hip flexors alot, I read some Defrancos article where he talks about it. I will try those experiments, but all of that is for 2 leg jump, single leg is more important to me

good point–1 leg would be more important. you can apply those things to single leg as well. but that brings up a good point. it might be worth doing some single leg strength training eh? pistols, single leg deads (I like the barbell kind) …

Hey man you need to incorporate front squats and some Olympic lifts into your program. With the front squats the angle that it places your shins in is more specific to athletics ex. sprinting jumping etc. With back squats you wont see a great gain in power you will see more of a strength gain, also you need to recruit more type 2 fibers to achieve more explosive gains in you all around game.

jeez, just squat twice a week, and jump 3 to 4 times a week. Perform a glute exercise for structural balance, and you’re all set. Want to be a one legger? Practice one legged jumps, why make stuff so complicated?

[quote]cubuff2028 wrote:
jumping form–coach. BUT you could try a few jumping experiments: jump with hinge emphasis, jump with squat emphasis, faster pre jump descent, slower pre jump descent… things like that.

And finally stretch the hell out of your hip flexors: I’m a fan of doing a ft split on a wood floor while wearing socks, putting as much weight as possible on the rear foot. [/quote]

Can you describe jumping with hinge emphasis vs. squat emphasis?

I don’t think so that front squat is better to increase vertical jump. In front squat weakest link is upper body, in back squat legs and back. I see more progress with traning back squat (yes, I try front’s for couple of months).
BenWallace add jump squat (30% max), jump shrug, depth jumps. And of course add lbs to your back squat.

To improve single leg take off try lunges, step ups and single leg plyo like bounding, single leg hops, single legs hurdle hops.

It is all about the shin angle when it comes to explosive movements like jumps and sprints, unless you are doing high bar back squat. But if you are doing low bar the angle that it puts your shins and legs in much different angle than that of a sprint or jump. That is just my advice I am a D-1 athlete who has increased my vert and 40 of the past few year by doing theses exact movements as a athlete remember the key is power not strength.

I already do pylometrics… Once a week maybe… And I am doing high bar back squats, but I started doing them parallel, not atg anymore, because I belive that it has more carryover to my vertical. When i jump I never go that low

Lose weight.

Squats with bands to build explosiveness.

Jump squats.

I also take a box, hold dumb bells and jump onto it, most gyms have boxes at various heights.

No offense, but if you can’t get at least 36" off the ground you probably shouldn’t be giving jumping advice. The best advice given so far is jump a few times a week, get your squat up and keep bf% in check. All those things lead to increased horsepower.

[quote]jakejohnson540 wrote:
It is all about the shin angle when it comes to explosive movements like jumps and sprints, unless you are doing high bar back squat. But if you are doing low bar the angle that it puts your shins and legs in much different angle than that of a sprint or jump. That is just my advice I am a D-1 athlete who has increased my vert and 40 of the past few year by doing theses exact movements as a athlete remember the key is power not strength.[/quote]

Explosiveness and power leads to increased strength.

I understand that but the key is to focus on the power and the strength will come not the other way around when it comes to athletics. When you can run a 4.4 and jump a 39 then I will respect that but I am just giving the advice to a young athlete who needs a starting point

[quote]jakejohnson540 wrote:
I understand that but the key is to focus on the power and the strength will come not the other way around when it comes to athletics. When you can run a 4.4 and jump a 39 then I will respect that but I am just giving the advice to a young athlete who needs a starting point[/quote]

Never measured my vert or 40 times so I can’t comment. I do run the 100m and 200m dash for training.

I also play ball and can dunk so that’s my relevance here. Jumping is something I’ve worked on.


And post some stats that are more believable 4.4 40 sure. Hand timed? Maybe. Electronically yeah right. Go post you top 10 NFL combine 40 time somewhere where people will believe you…Or get a video to make me shut my mouth.

[quote]austin_bicep wrote:

[quote]jakejohnson540 wrote:
I understand that but the key is to focus on the power and the strength will come not the other way around when it comes to athletics. When you can run a 4.4 and jump a 39 then I will respect that but I am just giving the advice to a young athlete who needs a starting point[/quote]

Never measured my vert or 40 times so I can’t comment. I do run the 100m and 200m dash for training.

I also play ball and can dunk so that’s my relevance here. Jumping is something I’ve worked on.


And post some stats that are more believable 4.4 40 sure. Hand timed? Maybe. Electronically yeah right. Go post you top 10 NFL combine 40 time somewhere where people will believe you…Or get a video to make me shut my mouth.[/quote]

How tall are you? Dunking the ball if you’re 6’2" or over is not impressive, unless it’s 360’s, windmills, etc. Dunking the ball at 5’10" or under is.

[quote]WhiteFlash wrote:

[quote]austin_bicep wrote:

[quote]jakejohnson540 wrote:
I understand that but the key is to focus on the power and the strength will come not the other way around when it comes to athletics. When you can run a 4.4 and jump a 39 then I will respect that but I am just giving the advice to a young athlete who needs a starting point[/quote]

Never measured my vert or 40 times so I can’t comment. I do run the 100m and 200m dash for training.

I also play ball and can dunk so that’s my relevance here. Jumping is something I’ve worked on.


And post some stats that are more believable 4.4 40 sure. Hand timed? Maybe. Electronically yeah right. Go post you top 10 NFL combine 40 time somewhere where people will believe you…Or get a video to make me shut my mouth.[/quote]

How tall are you? Dunking the ball if you’re 6’2" or over is not impressive, unless it’s 360’s, windmills, etc. Dunking the ball at 5’10" or under is.[/quote]

Just a hair under 6’2 and I am sitting around 218-220 in the AM.

Definitely not saying it’s very impressive but I have good ups and I train my vert. When I get it tested I’ll post the results. Explosive training is a staple of mine. Some people are strong from brute power, other people are more explosive lifters and lift heavy weights due to that…I’m the latter.

Anyways carry on.

hey brotha, I am a 22 year old basketball player but my real interest has always been in vertical jump development i am 511 and have a 37 inch standing vert and 42 with run up and most importantly am a great dunker for my height two hands one hand tomahawks 360s windmills alley oops and have always taken a deep interest in vj development. so hope i can be of some help… first off 8-10 basketball practices a week and 5/3/1 sounds like you are doing way to much. you need to eliminate all practices and limit basketball playing to strictly light shooting while working to increase your vertical jump or i guarantee you wont gain anything. and 5/3/1 is not geared towards VJ development i believe is a intermediate to advanced program geared towards those who already have a solid base of strength in place and are looking to keep getting progressively stronger. i would check out kelley baggets website and purchase the vertical jump development bible i believe number 2 is coming out soon as well. as well as devour the articles on his website and purchase something liked the amped warm up dvd or assess and correct. also i know at 6 feet 3 185 your probably skinny as shit and eat like a bird and i imagine the foods you do eat are not the best of choices???. i would try and eat as much as possible clean up the diet a bit and look into the resources i suggested and put the other advice i gave into practice. but before you do any of that take a week or two off completely yes i know it will be hard then go into a good gym with good wood floors and warm up and i guarantee you’ll have gained some vert. especially with everything you’ve been doing.

This is me at 5’9" and 30 years old with two MAJOR knee injuries under my belt. On a good day I can still get a lob 2-hand 360, and can dunk 2-hands off the drop step fairly easily. I plan on getting back to dunking from a standstill with 2 hands again as well, like I could before the injuries. What I’m saying is: I know jumping and dunking. There are a lot of ways to skin a cat, but jumping a few times a week [not even necessarily plyos, just playing/jumping and getting comfortable jumping], getting your squat up/getting stronger overall and getting/staying lean are your best bets to increase hops. Trust me.