How Can I Increase My Vertical Jump?

Q12-How can I train players to increase their vertical jump?

Johan Witters Belgium

Coach Witters,

This is a very commonly asked question so I have chosen your question to give some ideas to reach a broad number of coaches. Like almost any attempt to develop physical ability the answer has several components.

First, vertical jump is directly related to the power a player can generate. It is no different than a rocket trying to lift off from the earth's gravity. The gravity has the same effect on the rocket as a player. If you have a player with a lot of physical strength, and not too much weight they are going to be able to jump higher than a player with average strength and a lot of body weight.

Critical to successful basketball performance is the ability to generate power. Power is equal to Force x Distance/Time. The more force over a constant distance in a minimal time results in the greatest amount of power. The goal then in all of your training will be to increase the force a player can generate (which we will discuss momentarily), over a constant distance (for example one step to the basket), and decrease the time for that movement.

Greg Brittenham Athletic Development Coach for the New York Knicks in his book Complete Conditioning for Basketball does a very good job of describing the key components to increasing power and athleticism. He states that the "process of developing power for basketball should be focused on the development of improved speed, strength, and mechanics." I whole-heartedly agree.

In coaching my teams in the past we attempted to improve all of these areas in order to become better runners and jumpers. I would encourage you to get either a very good track and field coach (called Leichtathletik Trainers in Europe), or read several good books on running technique. The secret is to do a sequence of drills over a one or two year period of time which will enhance a power stride length while maintaining a quick stride frequency (quick feet as basketball coaches call it). The keys to improving stride length are increasing muscular power (which can be done through box jumping or plyometrics., hurdle jumping where the distance between the hurdles is gradually increased as the strength of the player improves), improving body joint flexibility involved in all the joints of the movements, and improve the mechanics of the movement (in this case developing excellent running technique). Without these an improvement in these three components you will not be able to significantly improve vertical jump.

To improve speed, your players should not be carrying excess body fat. It is important for you to develop a realistic fat loss program in combination with a comprehensive strength training program designed specially for the muscle groups prominent in running and jumping to build lean muscle tissue. Less fat and great muscle tissue will improve your players ability to explode off the floor.

To improve strength, you can use methods such as medicine ball drills, running harnesses, step running, and hill running to name a few. On the court itself drills that include back-pedaling, sprinting, and lateral footwork can all create an overload on the muscles involved in jumping and help develop jumping strength.

Finally, the more efficiently a movement is executed the higher percentage of a players power will be utilized. I am a firm believer in teaching basketball players running technique at a very early age. This is much more common in International teams than in the United States. Many of the players in the U.S. are blessed with some very natural ability, however even the best athletes can improve their technique and over jumping ability. I will attempt in the future months to have a knowledgeable colleague in the area of track and field discuss running technique and drills for developing jumping ability. In the brief amount of space I have here, the first steps are to teach proper arm and leg motion, and to extend the full range of this motion to utilize the body's full power. The second steps would involve using this improving technique over a series of hurdles, and through a series of slalom obstacles. These hurdles and obstacles won't be very useful with poor running technique. They must go together. Finally this program should be overseen by a qualified running coach who can work with the basketball coach to gage the physical load that is being placed upon the players. Ideally you might have running/jumping practice for 45 minutes three times per week during the season, but for 99 percent of the teams this isn't practical. If you could do this you'd definitely see results.

My professional team in Germany had a very good track coach who worked in our Championship season 3 times a week with us. This also required the players to be totally committed to this type of program. Most players want to shoot. What you have to convince them is that is will improve their overall stamina and strength, and they will notice a significant improvement in their ability to maintain their skills late in a game, when other teams tire, and their passing and shooting percentages will be as much as 5 or 10 percent higher for a season if they accept this type of program. I know this doesn't provide as much detail as you would like, however I hope it helps you to focus your energy in the right direction. Your question is simple but very important and useful.

Thanks for asking the Coach. The Coach