Powering Up Your Dunks: How to Jump Higher in Basketball

If you want to improve as a basketball player, the trick could be all in your jump. While this isn’t the only skill that you need to play basketball better, this is an important skill to master. So then, how do you jump higher in basketball?

The most effective way to gain jump height is to target training around skills that will help in building explosiveness and power. When you jump you have a half second of contact with the ground, you must deliver that power in a short time to maximize your jump height.

A lot of the techniques required to jump hire can also improve your stamina and agility if you work hard enough. You can jump higher in basketball, if you do enough training with a program like Vert Shock and other practice methods to get better.

Methods to Jump Higher in Basketball?

There are several approaches that you can take that will help you jump higher in basketball. The first approach is to work on strengthening your leg muscles.

You have several options as to how to do this. You can start by using a jump rope, which is actually an excellent exercise that can strengthen your calves.

What’s great about jump roping is that not only is it an excellent exercise for your calves, it’s also a great way to build up your endurance.

Another exercise that can be incredibly effective in helping you jump higher in basketball is barbell deadlifts. This is an exercise that you want to learn all about in order to perform it effectively.

It’s important that you use the right form when doing a deadlift, otherwise you can end up getting hurt. You need to ensure that your back stays straight while you bend at the knees and hips to pick up the barbell. Then, push up with your legs while you thrust your hips forward.

Calf raises are another important exercise to improve your jump. One of the great things about this exercise is that you can really do it anywhere at any time.

You can do this as many times as you’re able to, or at least 10 reps.

It only really requires you to stand while raising your heels, ensuring that your weight goes to the balls of your feet. Then, you stay in this position for between 1 and 3 seconds, slowly lowering yourself back down as after you are finished.

What Is Vertical Leap?

Something that is important to understand is the difference between a basketball jump and vertical leap. Also known as a “vertical jump”, this is a person’s ability to jump straight up from a standing position while they have both feet on the ground.

There isn’t any forward momentum when it comes to a vertical leap nor is there any fancy footwork. This is just someone doing a vertical jump.

That’s the key difference between these two terms. Vertical jump doesn’t have any movement aside from the vertical jump. However, when you’re playing basketball you aren’t often able to just jump up without having to worry about moving in any direction or getting any momentum first.

While a higher vertical leap doesn’t necessarily always translate to a better basketball jump, it can be very helpful.

There are very simple workouts that you can do that will dramatically improve your vertical jump. One simple workout is to start in a standing position with your feet shoulder-distance apart, raising your arms over your head.

Your hips should be lowered and you will start by bending your knees. Swing your arms in a forward motion, then try jumping as high as you possibly can.

You need to remember that you can’t move your body forward or gain any momentum. You just jump up. Try doing this at least 10 times in a row.

Power skips are a great exercise that can both improve your leg strength and the height of your jumps. These should only be done on a smooth, flat surface otherwise you do run the risk of injuring yourself.

To do a power skip, you start off in a standing position then you start skipping forward by pushing down on your left foot while lifting your right knee to your waist. Jump as high as possible when you do this, alternating your feet.

Finally, jump squats are excellent for working out your leg muscles to get a better vertical jump. These are very similar to the squats that you are probably used to.

However, as you get as low to the ground as you can while squatting, you jump up as high as possible. Do this in 1-2 sets, performing 5 or 6 reps per set. If you want to add extra difficulty to this exercise after you feel as though you’ve mastered it, you can use weights as you jump for added strength.

These are just a few exercises that can have a great impact on your vertical jump skills. These can also help develop stronger legs to be able to run faster and jump higher when you play basketball.

What Are Some Important Things to Understand About Jumping in Basketball?

There are some key concepts that are behind getting the perfect vertical jump. Power refers to the force (maximum strength) and velocity (maximum speed).

As you increase both of these concepts at the same ratio to your body weight, you will get a higher vertical jump. The next part of this is strength. Strength is how much weight you can lift in comparison to your body weight.

As you increase your strength, this can also dramatically increase your vertical jump. Velocity is how fast you can jump. Since vertical jumps are fast jumps, increasing your speed will improve your jump.

Lastly, there is flexibility. This is important because you need to be flexible to get into the right position to make your vertical jump. Combined, all of these concepts are important to maximize to get the best jump possible.

What Is Dynamic Training?

Dynamic training that you get from your traditional strength training are some of the best ways to improve your jumps. One training is seated box jumps, which is where you sit on a bench or box so that your knees are at a 90 degree angle.

Once seated, don’t use any momentum and jump up with as much force as possible onto a box that’s in front of them.

Hurdle jumps are the next training you can do, though there are a few different approaches that you can use to do this. Essentially, you need to jump over obstacles. These could be farther apart of closer together, depending on your skill level.

A final form of dynamic training that you can do will be a single leg box jump. These are great because they will strengthen their smaller and those more specific muscles hips and calves.

These muscles are crucial to stabilizing the body when you are jumping. As these get stronger, you can jump higher. These muscles can also help you have more coordination when jumping on a single leg.

How Do You Improve On Your Jumping Technique?

After you have improved your vertical jump, you can start improving your technique to be better at basketball. You will want to start running and them jumping to practice things like layups and dunks.

However, it’s important to remain in control of your body so that you don’t run too fast otherwise this can hurt your momentum when jumping. Before you take your jump while running around, you will want to lower your body while you are moving forward.

This can make it easier for you to take your momentum and velocity and turn it into a much higher jump. It can also help to raise your arms up as you jump to get even higher up.

Final Thoughts on How to Jump Higher in Basketball

Taking time to build up your strength and endurance is a key to increasing your ability to jump higher, I am very happy to have found programs like Vert Shock as they specifically are targeted to help you gain a vertical.

While you can focus on trying to read on the internet to figure out the best way to gain a vertical the tools provided inside a program gets results, this like working out randomly at home versus a program like P90X are night and day!