Vertical leap training is one of the most important aspects of any sport that requires you to jump at any time in the sport. The 2 most obvious sports in which you would greatly benefit from being able to jump higher would be basketball and volleyball. But training to jump higher is not the same as your standard weight training to improve your strength or look better with bigger muscles.

Why do the best jumpers in the world not have huge muscular legs? And why can’t all bodybuilders dunk a basketball? These are questions that many people have and knowing the answers to them will open your eyes to the proper way to increase jumping ability.

A good vertical jump program will focus on doing equal amounts of plyometric workouts and strength gaining workouts for your legs.

Plyometric exercises are not usually seen being done in any gym. They are designed to train the fast twitch muscle fibers and improve the effectiveness with which your golgi tendon reflex fires. When you bend your leg you are stretching the patellar tendon and this stretch is like stretching a rubber band, when you let go of the band it will react quickly by going back to it’s normal length. The same thing happens with the muscles in our bodies. When you stretch the patellar tendon it wants to return back to it’s regular length and it will do so automatically because of the golgi tendon reflex. This is what happens when a doctor taps your knee with that little rubber mallet. The mallet stretches the tendon and the golgi tendon reacts by straightening your leg.

Plyometrics are designed to make all the muscles fire at the exact same time and with all the force possible. Plyos do not increase the speed at which this reaction takes place because it happens at a fast enough rate and you can’t control the speed of the reaction but you can train your muscle fibers to all fire at the same time and this will produce more power in the movement which will result in you jumping higher.

Power is a result of strength and speed, so the plyometric training works on speed and working out with weights will improve your leg strength.

This jump program is a perfect example of how you should train to increase your vertical leap properly.