Hey, welcome back to our second topic in our 2 part series on how to improve your vertical leap.  In the last post we talked about the importance of flexibility and specifically how to stretch the hip flexors to increase your range of motion in order to create more explosive power for jumping.  If you missed that article or would like to read it again you can find it here .

Alright now it’s time to get down to business and start hitting the weights.  It’s time to learn the best exercises that you can do to help you jump higher.  Jumping is an explosive power movement and how strong you are definitely plays a  vital role in how high you can jump.  The areas you should be targeting in this specific order are quads, glutes, hips, and calves.

Most people are surprised that I have listed calves as the least important out of this group and they are usually very surprised that I put hips in front of them as well.  Well the reason is simple, despite what many people think, the calves do not play that large of a role in your vertical jump.  I know you have seen people in the gym doing calf raises all the time.  If they are doing this to improve their vertical they could be doing another exercise that is much more efficient.

Don’t believe me?  Do this simple test.  Stand straight up and try to jump using only your calves.  You will probably only be able to get about 6 inches off the ground.  Now bend your knees, squat all the way down and jump using the power of your quads.  I am assuming you just jumped about 4 times higher.  That is because most of the power in a jump is derived from the quads.

Best Vertical Jump Exercises

A proper strength training program is going to be your foundation to a higher vertical leap.  Jumping high is simply a matter of physics.  The more force that we can move to the ground the higher we will soar in the air. One exercise that will help us distribute that force is the squat.

1. Your range of motion will be more consistent with the trap bar.  Most people as they do squats will tend to shorten their range of motion when they start to become fatigued.  If you are not going all the way down to parallel, you are doing yourself a disservice because it will completely neglect the posterior chains involvement which play a pivotal role in jumping.

2.  If you are doing your trap bar deadlifts correctly, it will involve the posterior chain of muscles more than a squat and at the same time really giving the hamstrings and glutes a fantastic workout as well.

3.  The trap bar is very easy to learn and not as technically difficult as the squat.  There is less room for bad posture which could lead to an injury.

As an added bonus once you get comfortable with using the trap bar, you can perform the lift on a raised platform to increase the range of motion that much more.

HANG CLEANS – Olympic lifters are very powerful athletes and when it comes to your vertical jump we need EXPLOSIVE power.  That is where the hang clean comes into play.   There a few types of cleans you can do, the power clean which is where the movement is started with the weight on the floor, and hang cleans where the movement begins with the weight just above the knees.

The reason I suggest doing hang cleans is twofold.  First of all, they are easier to learn and much safer.  Secondly, the hang clean mimics the jumping motion much more than the power clean.  You will begin the lift in the “power position” which is the same position you would begin your jump from.

Here is a good demonstration on how to do a hang clean:

You Can Improve Your Vertical Jump By At Least 10 Inches in 12 Weeks GUARANTEED!

Implement these exercises into your workout routine and you are surely going to see a big improvement in your vertical leap.  However, in order to get the best results, I recommend that you invest in a proper vertical jump training program like The Jump Manual.

By using the workouts and techniques in , I was able to increase my vertical leap by 10 1/2″ over a 12 week period.  It is a complete program that targets every faucet of the vertical jump.  It covers the best exercises, workout routines, when to workout, jumping technique, proper nutrition and even the best supplements to take.

I highly recommend it.  Click the banner below to check it out: