Thursday, November 5, 2009

Training For a 40 Inch Vertical - How To Improve Your Vertical Leap

By Brayden Fisher

Do you want a 40 inch vertical leap? That's not something that is going to come easy. If it were then everyone on your block would be dunking like Lebron James. However, YOU CAN increase your vertical leap if you implement the right training routine and combine that with some serious hard work.

I can say this from experience because I personally increased my vertical jump from 31 to 43 inches! Now this didn't happen overnight, in fact it took me 7 months to hit that mark. Unfortunately there is not a magic pill that you can take to help you increase your vertical. (At least that I know of, if you find one please let me know :)

The more we know about our body, the way it works and WHY we are doing certain exercises, the better and faster our results will be. In order to get the most out of our 40 inch vertical training we need to go over some basic principles:


Principle #1 - Focus on Quality Instead of Quantity

One of the biggest mistakes people make is performing a bunch of sets and reps. They spend hours each day doing drills and are dedicated to them. They feel the burning in their legs and calves but get no results. So why is this?

Training in this manner will result in an improvement of your muscle endurance rather than your explosive jumping power. If you are doing this, you may be training hard but you are training WRONG! Instead, try to focus on QUALITY not quantity and INTENSITY over repetitions. These are the proper characteristics of effective explosion training.

Everytime you workout, INTENSITY needs to be your main focus. You will not see the vertical leap gains that you desire if you are pacing yourself during your workout sessions. Do fewer reps and bump up the intensity instead.



Principle # 2 - Overload Your Muscles

The quads, hamstrings and calves are the most important muscles groups involved in the jumping process. Therefore, if we can increase our EXPLOSION and POWER with these muscles we will improve our vertical jump. In order to improve our power the muscles need to become stronger. Working out with EXTEMELY HEAVY weights and performing low reps will increase your strength quickly. This is called "overloading" the muscles. It makes the muscle fibers stronger and enables them to contract with more force. This will increase EXPLOSION, which is just what we want. Knowing this is very important in training for a 40 inch vertical.



Principle #3 - Complex Explosion Training

Complex training is the combination of plyometrics and weight training. There is ABSOLUTELY no other training method that will increase your vertical jump better than the correct implementation of these two techniques. Stop looking for the perfect gadget or gizmo to help you achieve that 40 inch vertical jump that you are looking for they don't exist. Nothing beats hard work.

For suggestions and examples of some of my favorite exercises to help increase your vertical jump check out the links I have below. You can find several exercises that I recommend that are VERY effective at helping you increase your vertical.

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