One of the most incredible things about watching excellent basketballers is seeing the jumps they make, and many other athletes also need the skill of jumping to participate in sport. If you enjoy solo or team sports, at some point it’s likely that the science of jumping higher will be something you want to crack. We have some tips and tricks to help you to build on your jump, and have you making like a kangaroo in no time.
What Muscles Improve My Ability To Jump Higher?
Essentially to improve your jumps, there are two major components, which are the overall core strength and strengthening of the calf muscles and hamstrings, as well as the quads. These are all the muscles in your legs, and as such devising a safe workout for the leg muscles is a contributing factor into being able to jump higher.
Safety Is The Key To How To Jump Higher
Preparing for any exercises by performing warm up stretches is part of the safety and care involved in any significant strength exercise. You must always put your safety first, since failing to do so can cause you to sustain injuries. A planned warm up and cool down will help muscles to heal quicker, and gain strength rapidly.
Can I Eat Certain Food To Help Me Jump Higher?
To further strengthen your core and your muscles, then the dietary key is protein, and lots of it. Minerals such as calcium and iron promote bone strengthening, and are often found in protein rich foods. For example milk, cheese and yogurt all contain heaps of the stuff. Also sources are found in leafy greens of any kind and oily fish, as well nuts like almonds.
Overall eating a balanced diet, with a low-carb leaning, and eliminating processed foods will help you to strengthen bones and keep your body strong and healthy.
Tips To Improve Vertical Jumping
Leg curls and stretches will help you to achieve a higher jump, as well as some carefully sequenced exercises, which specifically work the muscle groups needed. The most obvious of these is to do squats, as they work the hamstrings and quads. These are a great exercise for building leg and core strength; the combination of which gives you a leg up into a higher jumping. Yes, that pun was intended. The aim is to lift around 50% of your body weight, as you squat down, putting weight on the calves and quads, and then the hamstrings as you come back up. IF you’ve never done them before, look for a training video or ask for help at the gym.
You can also benefit from doing calf raises. There is a machine at the gym built especially to help with this, and this exercise is aimed at impact as opposed to strength building.
Some Disadvantages Of Being Unable To Jump Higher
Any serious competitor in all sport, not just basketball, can benefit from the strengthening and exercising of core muscles and leg muscle groups. Whether you’re training for marital arts, soccer, track and field or basketball, increasing your vertical reach will improve your performance. Inability to jump high could result in failure of military and work based physical assessments, or reduce chances of making the team.
An incredibly successful and highly popular package to help you achieve the results and jump higher is The Jump Manual by Jacob Hiller. Multi-disciplinary in its approach, this package contains detailed scientific food analysis to help you eat the correct diet, and multiple training videos which ensure that you get the necessary training to safely perform the relevant exercises.
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