I’ve been playing basketball for around 10 years now and there’s one thing everyone wants to do better and that’s to jump higher and dunk over someone. Nothing better than going for that fast break and dunking it or getting that sweet alleyoop. I’m a relatively short guy but I will give you some tips on what I did to increase my vertical leap from when I could only just touch the backboard, I can now get a full hand over the top of the basket, just working on my hand strength now to palm the ball no point if u can get above the rim but loose the ball in mid air.
Tip 1# Jumping is a whole body movement Everyone believes the key to jump higher is to have good leg strength and explosiveness its true this is needed but its not the only thing. You need a good strong upper body to help you swing up and reach for that damn basket. So remember train that whole body.
Tip 2 # Train for Explosiveness The key to getting that ring is to make those fast twitch muscle fibers shoot off in an explosive manner. You will get no where training for slow jumps when you are practicing your dunk or just trying to touch the ring put 100% effort into it that’s the only way you will get better and closer to that ring.
Tip 3 # Make it 2nd Nature Most important of all train regularly and train hard, get your body used the movement of going in for the lay up or the dunk until it becomes second nature. The best way to improve anything of your game is to keep doing it and practice. Practice makes perfect ( yeas everyone says that :P )
Specific Exercises –
Tips Squat – Squats are amazing for building strong lower body muscles it will pretty much cover every muscle below your waist. When doing your squats remember to do them fast to hit those fast twitch muscle fibers ( they are the muscles that give you explosive strength )
A very popular way to jump higher is something called a 50 squat routine it pretty much revolves around doing your squats really fast with or without weight. I do them in this manner
- do the first 15 on the tip of your toes
- the next 20 with your heels to the floor
- the last 15 on your toes
Many people use this and claim to be able to increase there vertical leap in a few days (this can be maintained from regular squatting, remember to give your muscles 24 -48 hours rest)
Skipping – Another great exercise for the legs as well as the shoulders is skipping. When I do skipping I will start with around 50 and then take a rest and then I will try to beat that 50 and keep going until I can’t beat my previous anymore. Lunges are also a great leg exercise.
Air alert and similar systems
Just to let you know I have tried the air alert system supposedly meant to increase your vertical jump dramatically and I found it alright but nothing as incredible as they say . Its main idea behind it is a whole lot of repetitive plyometric exercises like jumping on your toes explosively for 100 reps or squat jumps things like that. I ended up getting quite sore knee’s while on this system and to me it seems like overloading your muscles into growth and I believe it’s a good short term solution but it can leave more damage than good.
So basically to jump higher stay fit , work out , and most importantly get out there with the ball and try and dunk it and know you will get there eventually and remember only reason those top NBA guys even the small ones can dunk so well is that they have such hectic training schedules and have built up amazing full body strength
good luck all.
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