How to Increase Your Vertical in Basketball

During my playing career and even playing now I will get asked the question, "how can I increase my vertical or how can I dunk better?" Everyone wants to be able to dunk and jump higher. They see players like Blake Griffin almost hitting their head on the rim and how much attention they get, and they want that too.

I am in no way comparing my vertical to Blake because he is an athletic freak, but in college we tested our running vertical jump and mine was at 39 inches. As a player now I believe that I can jump higher then before, but since that was the last time I tested my vertical I will leave it at that. Some of my jumg ability is a gift from God but a lot of it is hard work and training. Hopefully in this article I will be able to give you a few tips on how to increase your vertical Jump.

The first step to becoming a great leaper is to learn the right technique to jumg. Just like with shooting, the best shooters in the world usually have the best form. Think of your body as a coiled spring. The farther you push a spring down, the farther it is going to explode upwards when you let it go. Your body is the same way.

When you load up to jump; you need to bring your arms back, body down, keep your core tight, and then when  you go to jump throw your arms up in the air and explode your body upwards. Standing broad jump is a great way to practice your jumg technique. Once you learn the right jumg technique you need to train your muscles, and the best way to do that is repetition. This is where the jumg training/jumg drills come in.

They not only make your muscles stronger and more explosive but they train your muscle memory on how to jump. When you are doing the drills make sure that you are focusing on jumg the right way every time because this will translate over into how you jump in a  game.

Weight Lifting is another key to being able to jump higher. Not every player that can jump high lifts weights, but from personal experience this has helped me a lot. It is important to lift upper and lower body because everything is connected. You do not want any weak areas on your body. Squats are great exercise because they strengthen your legs, core, and open up your hips.

Power cleans are a little more difficult but they train your muscles to be explosive and really build up your fast twitch muscle fibers. If you are under 15 years of age I would recommend that you only do body weight exercises like push ups, pull ups, and sit ups for your weight training or limit your weight training to lighter weights. The reason for this is because you want to make sure that you are executing the exercise the correct way. The best way would be to have someone show you in person the correct way to do the exercise. If you are unsure of how to start a weight training program checkout  weighttraining.com. You can set up a free account and start lifting today.

Being flexible is something that younger athletes do not take advantage of enough. I can jump higher now then I could ever jump before, and the main reason for that is because of stretching. Early in my playing career I would never stretch, but now that I have seen the benefits of it personally I would recommend it to everyone.

The importance of stretching cannot be emphasized enough. For 20 minutes of your time a day you can add inches to your vertical as well as you quickness, speed, change of direction quickness, etc. Take the time to stretch everyday for about 10-15 minutes and then before and after playing/working out and you will see the difference.

The power of the mind and visualizing can help you improve your vertical. I know what you are thinking, but give me the time to explain myself. If you talk to any body builder about lifting weights they will tell you that majority of the battle is in the mind. It is not the weight that beats them it is their own mind. How may stories have you heard about mothers lifting up a car because their child was trapped underneath? Stories like this happen all the time because the mind is a very powerful tool.

Don't visualize yourself just being able to barely dunk, visualize yourself putting your head on the rim. When I was about 15 my high school coach told me to start trying to dunk everyday. Even if though I couldn't dunk at the time I tried everyday and pushed myself to jump higher each time. I can dunk easily now but I still push myself to jump higher each time and to try crazier dunks each time. If you have put the time in lifting weights and working out, don't let your mind hold you back, or in this case hold you down.

It may never be an option to jump like Blake Griffin but you can still maximize your jumg potential, if you are willing to work at it. Be willing to be patient and put in the work. You are not going to add 6-8 inches to your vertical next week if you start today. However 3-6 months from now you could see great improvement in your vertical. Now that you have the information on how to increase your vertical it is up to you to get in the gym and put in the work.