Exercises To Increase Your Vertical Jump

Key takeaway: Improving your vertical leap through targeted exercises can enhance performance in basketball, football, and soccer by increasing muscle strength and speed. Incorporating exercises like Bulgarian split squats, jumping rope, depth jumps, toe raises, and drop jumps can significantly boost your vertical jump and overall athletic abilities.


An important part of a basketball training is to improve your vertical leap. A breath-taking vertical jump is one such attribute that is beneficial for some huge impact sports such as football and soccer other than basketball. If you are an athlete, you need to incorporate exercise in your basketball drills as well as fitness training’s that will be focusing to increase your muscle strength along with leg speed.

Learning ways of working the suitable muscle on regular basis will be going a long way to improve your vertical altogether. If you emphasize some muscles in the legs, you will be able to train the body for the much needed force to jump high. Once your vertical jump is increased it will be improving your rebounds, blocks, steals and also let you dunk making you a better basketball player as well as increasing the confidence and enthusiasm of your team.

How should you measure vertical jump?

Are you wondering that whether it is possible to increase your vertical jump? Then be relaxed and know that with regular training it can be definitely improved. So the initial step for increasing your vertical jump will be to track the progress. So ask a friend for help, get hold of a ladder, a chalk or permanent marker. Then follow these steps.

  • Search for a wall or may be a pole that is tall enough so that when you start to jump you are unable to touch the top.
  • You need to stand almost next to the wall or a pole and then stretch the arm as high as possible above the head. It will be your standing stretch. Let your friend label each of the standing stretch out with a chalk or permanent marker.
  • After that from one standing start, try to jump as well as touch as high up that wall or the pole as you are able to possibly. Your friend needs to observe and also see where you are touching in order to create no confusion. Allow your friend to use the ladder for climbing and marking where you reached on the wall or pole.
  • Then measure well correctly the distance between your standing outstretch and your jumping outstretch. It will be your present vertical jump.

5 Exercises To Increase Your Vertical Jump

Never think that your regular gym training sessions will be lifting you to completely new heights. In order to be able to jump like one elite athlete, all you require is get trained like one. Here are the 5 exercises to increase your vertical jump.

1. Bulgarian split squats

Exercises To Increase Your Vertical Jump

You get the power of jumping higher with the help of your legs. This exercise will be aiding you in building strength as well as improving your overall balance. To do Bulgarian split squats, you must stand few steps away from your bench and then put your other leg on it. Let the top of your foot stay on the bench.

Take a dumbbell in both hands and stand straight keeping the chest up. Come down until the back knee almost touches the surface. Make use of your lead foot’s heel and keep on pushing yourself back up into a standing position. Keep on repeating it.

Always do 3 sets of 8 repeats on each of your leg during any lower-body exercise day.

2. Jumping rope

Exercises To Increase Your Vertical Jump

 It will be a convenient as well as an easy way of breaking yourself into proper shape. You can make use of jumping rope anytime as well as anywhere such as while watching a football match, waiting for any phone call or listening music.

It will involve holding the rope with both your hands and then swinging it around the body repeatedly. Always ensure that you bounce on the toes by making use of them explode up and then landing them too.

Remember to use the rest of the feet as little as you can. Additionally it will be improving your cardio too. Thus you will be able to still dunk or even grab the rebound, even if gets late in the 4th quarter. Even if you are not having a skipping rope you can jump up and down on one spot and do not bend too much in the knees. It will help you to achieve the same result.

3. Depth jump

Exercises To Increase Your Vertical Jump

It is usually performed by moving off one box and exploding immediately after you land on the floor. Depth jump will be teaching reaction time as well as aiding the muscles in your lower body to get activated when you require to catch air.

So start on one box which is almost 6-8 inches off the surface. Then step off. Once you touch the surface, jump as high as possible and reach the arm overhead. Softly land in a decent athletic position. Take few seconds for recovering, then move back to the box, get ready and repeat.

4. Toe raises

Exercises To Increase Your Vertical Jump

 It will be building up the calf muscles that generate much force needed for any vertical jump. You need to stand keeping the width of your feet and shoulder apart. Then rise up onto your toes’ tips by keeping your lower back down. Stay in this position for few seconds and after that lower yourself slowly back to the standing position. Never rock up or down, always remember to do it slowly and steadily.

It can be improved if you use stairs once you get access to any. After you feel that you are able to strengthen these muscles, repeat it and also hold dumbbells at the sides for increasing your resistance.

5. Drop jump

This exercise will be preparing your legs for any explosive force needed to increase your vertical jump. It is also popular Shock Jump as the knees are concern to many potential unfavorable force. So always wear shock absorbing shoes while performing it.

To begin you will require a box or any platform that can be used to perform the exercise. Stand on the box’s top. Then put a step forward off it to the floor. After that land on your feet’s balls and do not let the heels touch the surface. Never bend the knees a lot while landing and the legs must absorb all force from your jump. The aim is reversing the downward force as fast as possible.

Exercises To Increase Your Vertical Jump: Final Words

So if you wish to increase your vertical jump, mix these exercises to increase your vertical jump in your regular training regimen and let your vertical jump take some positive returns much closer to the edge. It will be aiding every aspect of your game and even push you above the edge for throwing down one dunk someday.

Spread the love