How to increase vertical jump?

Bigger Stronger Leaner Powerlifting & Strength Sports
41

[quote]Airtruth wrote:

[quote]XArena wrote:

[quote]Airtruth wrote:
Be careful there are plenty of people with high squat numbers and low verticals. If you have a true 25" you should have a higher vertical then 25". You need to make sure you know how to jump to maximize your strength. Plyometrics, and track exercises will help you much faster than squats at the moment. Supposedly one of the best ways is a 8 week strength cycle then a 3 week plyo/jump training.[/quote]

I have a 25" for sure, we measured during our testing in my grade 11 fitness course. Thank you! I have never really done plyometrics, I think I may start implementing some plyometric training after I can squat 350 lbs or so, no particular reason, I just really wanna squat that much lol[/quote]

Typo I meant a true to parallel or lower 245lb squat. It might be a while to 350lb waiting will just put everything on hold. Plyometrics can help your squat as much as squatting can help plyo. [/quote]

My hips are below my knee’s when I squat, I was going to record a video of me squatting yesterday, but I forgot, so on sunday I’m going to record me squatting 245x5. :slight_smile:

42

[quote]ape288 wrote:
the RSR, for someone who isn’t used to squatting with that kind of volume, is going to give you some tired legs. so it would be no surprise that their vertical jump went down. it’s not because the heavy training made them “slower,” it’s because their legs are tired and the nervous system is probably drained. if your squat strength truly increased, then take a few days off and retest the vertical and it will probably be up.

you say do speed training in the 3-6 months after the RSR, and that would probably give you an even bigger increase, but one could also make the argument that it was simply the time off from squatting that allowed the new strength gains to transmute into increased vertical jump performance. just a thought.
[/quote]

Give me a guy who is 150 lbs who squats 250 lbs ass-to-grass. Now let’s clone him. Now we have person A and person B.

For the next two months:

A does the Russian Squat Routine.
B does the speed-focused/agility training I described.

They both take 5 days off at the end.

I guarantee B jumps higher than A every time.

The thing you must understand is the muscle fibers adapt to the stress demanded over a period of time. Person A’s body is used to using their Type I muscle fibers for leg/hip recruitment. Thus they adapt to lift heavy weight slowly.

Person B’s body is used to using their Type II b/x muscle fibers for leg/hip recruitment. Thus they adapt to lifting their body weight extremely fast.

I’ve talked and worked with several people who are/were professional athletes or train professional athletes who have taught me all this.

I have also lived it. But believe what you want.

43

[quote]TurboLykes wrote:

[quote]ape288 wrote:
the RSR, for someone who isn’t used to squatting with that kind of volume, is going to give you some tired legs. so it would be no surprise that their vertical jump went down. it’s not because the heavy training made them “slower,” it’s because their legs are tired and the nervous system is probably drained. if your squat strength truly increased, then take a few days off and retest the vertical and it will probably be up.

you say do speed training in the 3-6 months after the RSR, and that would probably give you an even bigger increase, but one could also make the argument that it was simply the time off from squatting that allowed the new strength gains to transmute into increased vertical jump performance. just a thought.
[/quote]

Give me a guy who is 150 lbs who squats 250 lbs ass-to-grass. Now let’s clone him. Now we have person A and person B.

For the next two months:

A does the Russian Squat Routine.
B does the speed-focused/agility training I described.

They both take 5 days off at the end.

I guarantee B jumps higher than A every time.

The thing you must understand is the muscle fibers adapt to the stress demanded over a period of time. Person A’s body is used to using their Type I muscle fibers for leg/hip recruitment. Thus they adapt to lift heavy weight slowly.

Person B’s body is used to using their Type II b/x muscle fibers for leg/hip recruitment. Thus they adapt to lifting their body weight extremely fast.

I’ve talked and worked with several people who are/were professional athletes or train professional athletes who have taught me all this.

I have also lived it. But believe what you want.[/quote]

Too many flaws with this theory. Why does he have to do a russian squat routine and not westside? 5x5? I bet my dick that following westside, he will gain the most.

EDIT Also, we are not athletes for 2 months, we are athletes for years and 99% of the time, taking a step backwards is essential in order to make 10 more forward afterwards.

44

I posted a 31 or 32 vert @ a body weight of 300

oddly enough the one thing that i can attribute to shooting me past the high 20’s (which I had been at for a few years) into the low 30’s was some serious hip flexor work

myself & a 2 other training buds wore these things called speed trainers (dont even know if they are still made???)

they were like ankle weights for the mid thigh

I was the heaviest of the three, my cousin was a few pounds less than me, our other bro was around 270 & a total FREAK

my cuz & I hit 31 & 32 (I just don’t remember if I did the 32 or he did… whatever)

but Paul… 40 plus( no b.s. - he ended up becoming one of the best bobsled pushers in U.S. history)

anyway - our practical experiment indicated that hip flexor improvement did equal vert gains for us

we could all already squat way over 2X bodyweight, we jumped & ran alot, but the hip flexor work gave us all a boost

-woot woot

45

[quote]LikeWater wrote:
I posted a 31 or 32 vert @ a body weight of 300

oddly enough the one thing that i can attribute to shooting me past the high 20’s (which I had been at for a few years) into the low 30’s was some serious hip flexor work

myself & a 2 other training buds wore these things called speed trainers (dont even know if they are still made???)

they were like ankle weights for the mid thigh

I was the heaviest of the three, my cousin was a few pounds less than me, our other bro was around 270 & a total FREAK

my cuz & I hit 31 & 32 (I just don’t remember if I did the 32 or he did… whatever)

but Paul… 40 plus( no b.s. - he ended up becoming one of the best bobsled pushers in U.S. history)

anyway - our practical experiment indicated that hip flexor improvement did equal vert gains for us

we could all already squat way over 2X bodyweight, we jumped & ran alot, but the hip flexor work gave us all a boost

-woot woot[/quote]

Well, what did you do?

46

[quote]niksamaras wrote:
Too many flaws with this theory. Why does he have to do a russian squat routine and not westside? 5x5? I bet my dick that following westside, he will gain the most.

EDIT Also, we are not athletes for 2 months, we are athletes for years and 99% of the time, taking a step backwards is essential in order to make 10 more forward afterwards.
[/quote]

I’ve never seen Westside. But if it involves significant heavy lifting, I highly doubt they’d win in a short amount of time.

The thing is, college coaches will often get athletes 6-9 months before season. Thus, they don’t have “many years” to build a person up. Sometimes they need results immediately.

And some athletes, for example, transition from football to track. So they have to train accordingly.

47

[quote]TurboLykes wrote:
It depends on when you need results. For example, the UT coaches had Kevin Durant stop squatting because it killed his vertical jump a few months before season started. He lost something like 6-8" when he started squatting relatively heavy.

Sure, if you put a few years into strength training, then put 9-12 months into mostly speed training, you’ll get better results than if you would have never strength trained while doing speed training.

If you’re not pressed for speed results, do a strength-focused training first.

If you’re going to enter a basketball league soon or looking to compete in a speed-dominant sport in the next 6-9 months, it’s best to focus more on speed and agility training.[/quote]

Not sure I’m buying Durant losing 1/2 a foot+ on his vert from getting stronger. Just 'cause someone told you that doesn’t make it so. I do know for a fact that the UT strength coaches had TJ Ford squatting heavy (for him) and his vert increased. I also know that despite having 2 major knee injuries, 1 major knee surgery and a host of other lower body problems I can still dunk a ball with 2 hands off 1 step at 5’9. And while a lot of that is genetics, training hard with 80%+ of my max took
me to that next level.

Edit: the next level being going from being able to dunk with absolutely no training to being able to do 360’s, windmills and the like.

48

[quote]arnoud verschoor wrote:

[quote]LikeWater wrote:
I posted a 31 or 32 vert @ a body weight of 300

oddly enough the one thing that i can attribute to shooting me past the high 20’s (which I had been at for a few years) into the low 30’s was some serious hip flexor work

myself & a 2 other training buds wore these things called speed trainers (dont even know if they are still made???)

they were like ankle weights for the mid thigh

I was the heaviest of the three, my cousin was a few pounds less than me, our other bro was around 270 & a total FREAK

my cuz & I hit 31 & 32 (I just don’t remember if I did the 32 or he did… whatever)

but Paul… 40 plus( no b.s. - he ended up becoming one of the best bobsled pushers in U.S. history)

anyway - our practical experiment indicated that hip flexor improvement did equal vert gains for us

we could all already squat way over 2X bodyweight, we jumped & ran alot, but the hip flexor work gave us all a boost

-woot woot[/quote]

Well, what did you do?[/quote]

good question - we just wore the speed trainers during any running or plyometric work

we did typical speed dynamic drills, march skips, hill sprints, lot’s of 10 & 20 yard sprints, box jumps… we also “taps” @ hanging plastic strips - 10 taps @ 8" below max, 10 taps @ 5" below max… stuff like that

we were already lifting junkies - my cuz squated 804 at age 17, in comp, & he was the weakest one of us - so as far as the lifting part of it - LOT’S

so to simplify the answer

1 - we were already very strong in the squat
2 - we were experienced @ jumping, sprinting & training
3 - we all experienced simlar vert gains by simply adding the “speed trainers” to any sprinting & jumping that we did - we did not always train together or even do the exact exercises when we did, yet we all had similar gains

49

[quote]TurboLykes wrote:
Give me a guy who is 150 lbs who squats 250 lbs ass-to-grass. Now let’s clone him. Now we have person A and person B.

For the next two months:

A does the Russian Squat Routine.
B does the speed-focused/agility training I described.

They both take 5 days off at the end.

I guarantee B jumps higher than A every time.

The thing you must understand is the muscle fibers adapt to the stress demanded over a period of time. Person A’s body is used to using their Type I muscle fibers for leg/hip recruitment. Thus they adapt to lift heavy weight slowly.

Person B’s body is used to using their Type II b/x muscle fibers for leg/hip recruitment. Thus they adapt to lifting their body weight extremely fast.

I’ve talked and worked with several people who are/were professional athletes or train professional athletes who have taught me all this.

I have also lived it. But believe what you want.[/quote]

I understand that muscle fibers adapt to the stresses that are placed on them. But you lose me when you say that heavy squatting only recruits type 1 fibers in the legs/hips. Strength and power are not contradictory goals.

50

[quote]TurboLykes wrote:

[quote]ape288 wrote:
the RSR, for someone who isn’t used to squatting with that kind of volume, is going to give you some tired legs. so it would be no surprise that their vertical jump went down. it’s not because the heavy training made them “slower,” it’s because their legs are tired and the nervous system is probably drained. if your squat strength truly increased, then take a few days off and retest the vertical and it will probably be up.

you say do speed training in the 3-6 months after the RSR, and that would probably give you an even bigger increase, but one could also make the argument that it was simply the time off from squatting that allowed the new strength gains to transmute into increased vertical jump performance. just a thought.
[/quote]

Give me a guy who is 150 lbs who squats 250 lbs ass-to-grass. Now let’s clone him. Now we have person A and person B.

For the next two months:

A does the Russian Squat Routine.
B does the speed-focused/agility training I described.

They both take 5 days off at the end.

I guarantee B jumps higher than A every time.

The thing you must understand is the muscle fibers adapt to the stress demanded over a period of time. Person A’s body is used to using their Type I muscle fibers for leg/hip recruitment. Thus they adapt to lift heavy weight slowly.

Person B’s body is used to using their Type II b/x muscle fibers for leg/hip recruitment. Thus they adapt to lifting their body weight extremely fast.

I’ve talked and worked with several people who are/were professional athletes or train professional athletes who have taught me all this.

I have also lived it. But believe what you want.[/quote]

http://velocity.T-Nation.com/free_online_forum/sports_body_training_performance_bodybuilding_strength/russian_squat_routine_2

Gained 3 inches on his vertical jump after the rsr. Turbolykes, to say that the squat only recuits type 1 muscle fiber is just flawed…

I can see where you are coming from with your training philosophy, but your explaining it in a weird way…

51

[quote]rell816 wrote:
True there are many with high squats with low verts, and from what I’ve seen with any of the athletes I’m around coordination has a lot to do with that. It’s important to train in all ranges of the force velocity curve, but find the part where you are weakest and work that harder. I’ve always found squatting heavy + speed lifts (power snatch, power clean, speed squats w/ weights between 50%-70%) + Jump training mixed well with a program of some sort (I like the way louie simmons organizes his training) the best way to increase jumping ability and explosive power. Oh and yes vertical jumping is more quad/glute dominant but a very strong set of hams makes it much easier to display that strength to jump high you need strong legs all around.[/quote]

Learning to jump properly can not be over stated.

YOU SHOULD BE SPENDING A LOT OF YOUR TIME PRACTICING TO JUMP if you want to jump properly.

BUT you have mentioned your not all that bothered about jumping as it’s a by product of your current programme.

Incerasing your OLift numbers and squats besides learning to jump correctly will incease your vert.

Mine was recorded at 32.xx inches. Bro is 38.

I use to play bball badly back in school but apart from that and about 15 half assed hrs I haven’t jumped in years. My technique seems to be okay for standing but it’s rubbish from a run up as I don’t practice it. I should be getting a lot more out of my run up then I currently do but it won’t happen unless I put down a lot more focused work on it. I don’t as I’m too busy OLifting and I figure I’ll brute force a slam dunk when I’m plenty strong :stuck_out_tongue:

Note I have been OLifting for yrs and my strength is okay. I can out jump guys with bigger OLift numbers (150/190, FS 200kg for 4’s) because they have sh!t coordination.

As long as you can squat about 2x bw back squat that is more then enough strength to work with. If you can barely do 1x hammer it up.

-Being relatively strong is a requirement to have a high vertical jump.
-A one step or run up is HUGELY different to a static vertical jump. It takes a lot of brute strength and power to jump high with no run up.
-Bballers, high jumpers, vollyball guys that use a run to create a jump take advantage of the huge change in direction to create their jump. I read that most high jumpers/ bballers can barely make a legit 30" vertical jump
-Being able to squat 2x bw does not mean you will jump high if you don’t actually practice to jump

Koing

52

To increase vertical you must

  1. Get stronger everywhere
  2. Get more power
  3. Get more reactive
  4. Gain or lose weight
  5. Increase flexibility
  6. Improve Mobility
  7. Practice better form
  8. Visualize success
  9. Recover properly
  10. Work on nutrition and supplementation

http://www.thecourt-king.com

53

kay well I have a 31" vert now, and all I’ve done is work my hamstrings, glutes, and lower back a lot more. Deficit deadlifts, power cleans, RDL’s, speed squats, speed deadlifts. I didn’t practice jumping at all. In september i tested it in my fitness class and got a 25"(or 26 can’t remember, i said it earlier on this thread), all i did was workout normally, then at the end of november i tested again in fitness and got a 31" vertical. next test will be at the end of january.

54

Focus on building power early in a workout (Plyo?s, OL) and going DE on your conventional lifts. We?ve found our kids have all brought their VJ up performing squats and deads for speed (>70% 1RM) as opposed to ME. Contrasting heavier sets with a plyo has been another winner, but its better that gets regulated by a coach.