Saturday, October 10, 2009

Are You Ready To Take Your Vertical Jumping To The Next Level?

By Amit Rosman

If you want to increase your vertical jumping height, you need to practice and do exercises. But which exercises are the most effective? Is there a best way to exercise to generate the maximum results? How can you work to improve without getting burned out? Here are some tips that will help you increase your vertical jumping the right way.

Do Your Warm Ups. Rather than jumping right into your exercise routine, you should always do some stretches to warm up your legs first. Many of the warm up stretches swimmers do are also perfect for jumpers. You can also run up and down stairs or jump rope for several minutes to get your muscles warmed up. These are also useful for inclusion in your regular training regime.

Strengthen Your Legs. To build strength, you want to focus on performing appropriate exercises slowly and methodically. You should plan for each rep of a particular leg exercise to take about nine seconds from start to completion. For instance, slow toe raises and deep knee bends help strengthen your leg muscles and can be performed either with or without added weights.

Optimize muscle. While you don't need to be a body builder or Mr. Olympics to be a great vertical jumper, you do need a fit, toned, well-shaped body to power your jumps. You will want to have a speedy metabolism, low body fat, and strong bones and muscles. When you have more muscle, you also burn more calories when you exercise. When you burn more calories, you have the energy to fire your vertical jumps and reach new heights.

There are a few rather routine exercises that can really increase your vertical jumping height. These are perfect additions to your vertical jumping training program. Many are quite simple and you can do them each day to build your strength and endurance in addition to training for higher jumps.

Spend Time Jumping Rope. Most of us learn to jump rope as kids, so this isn't difficult. But it can make a lot of difference in your vertical jumping training. Use good, tall posture and start out jumping rope on both feet. After a while, alternate feet. This is an easy exercise that requires little concentration, so you can often do this while watching television. Start out with 10-minute burst workouts with the jump rope and gradually increase the intensity of the routine, focusing on height, not speed.

Deep knee bends. Start out in a normal standing position with a nice straight back. Slowly bend your knees to lower your body down, maintaining that straight back. Stop short of getting deep far enough to where you would be in a relaxed low position so there is still tension on your leg muscles and then slowly raise your body back up again to resume the original standing position. Go down slowly and come up slowly, counting approximately four seconds on the way down and another four seconds on the way up. Do 15 reps like this each day and gradually increase the number of reps after a week or so of practice. In addition to building power and muscle in your legs, this exercise also tones your thighs.

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