Three Steps to Develop Mad Hops

I love to jump, but I was not always a good jumper.  It was really my senior year of college when I began to jump high.  At that time, I developed a simple little formula to improve jumping ability.  Since then, I have used this formula many times, and it always works.  I only learned later that this formula is completely supported by exercise science.  I initially just stumbled across it. 

1. Increase Maximal Lower Body Strength 

This might be the most overlooked aspect of jumping ability.  In my experience, building maximal strength is the foundation for good jumping.  Maximal strength is typically determined by squat or deadlift 1 rep max. 

Maximal strength is built by using pretty heavy weights at low reps.  If your workout is always sets of 12, you are not actually training maximal strength.  In order to train maximal strength, you need to mix in some workout days of heavier weights and less reps.  The general “rep rule” for strength sets is 4 reps or less. 

I see lots of young athletes doing lots of “functional training”.  The best way for a young athlete to improve power is simply to get stronger. Period.  Since most young athletes will see dramatic strength increases for a couple years of lifting, my strong recommendation is to “keep it simple” and stick with basic lifts. Getting stronger is usually the best way for a young athlete to increase vertical jump.

Please note maximal strength training requires a thorough warm-up, proper instruction on how to perform the lifts, and an overall healthy condition.  If you have serious joint issues, you might be better off not training maximal strength. 

2. Train Velocity 

In the end, jumping is power.  When you lay the foundation with maximal strength training, you can increase your power production by adding velocity training. 

Velocity can be trained through lifting weights fast but with good form (speed deadlifts, for example), Olympic lifts, body weight moves like vertical jumps, hopping, and even rapid skipping.  Move fast and your body’s power capacity will increase.  When training velocity, the traditional rule has been to drop the weights to around 40% of your 1 rep max.  So if you can 1RM 300 lbs in a deadlift, your velocity training weight should be about 120 lbs.  The 40% is not a clear consensus of all research, but I find it to be effective. 

Lower rep. sets are generally better since the lifts tend to slow with the fatigue accompanying more reps. I tend to do 8 sets of 3 reps when training velocity. I would never do more than 6 reps for a velocity set. 

Back when I was in college, no one really trained power specifically.  But some of my friends and I used to go to this college bar that had an indoor basketball court INSIDE the bar. Now that was cool! The wall ran right below the basket.

We would run up to the wall, jump and push off the wall behind the basket and try and dunk the ball.  I did this a couple of nights per week for most of the summer.  My vertical jump increased dramatically at this time.  This is when I first started to understand about velocity training and plyometric training.  I already developed very strong legs from squatting for football (see point #1 above), but I had never trained velocity specifically.  

Note most people in a commercial gym never train velocity.  In fact, you can usually look around and count on seeing NO ONE doing velocity training.  However, it is crucial for jumping and other issues like balance. 

I still do velocity training mostly because it is so much FUN!  I am also trying to dunk a basketball so that goal keeps velocity training in the mix. 

3. Get Lean 

Vertical jumping is actually a sub-category of power that we call relative power.  To give a simple example, if a 200 lb. person and a 180 lb. person produce the same power in the lower body, the 180 lb. person will always be able to jump higher.  That is because the power is always relative to the weight of the jumper.  Lower the body weight and the power will produce a higher jump. 

If you ever watch a basketball game, you will notice the highest jumpers are almost always very lean.  Once again, I discovered this during college.  I had already followed steps 1 and 2 as I explained above, but during my senior year in college I decided to lose a few pounds after football season.  After I lost just a few, I noticed I was getting up higher in my jumps.  After I lost ten, I gained about 5 inches on my vertical jump. 

I am not recommending starving yourself or doing anything dramatic.  Just lose a pound or so per week for 6-10 weeks and your jump will increase.  It is almost an absolute certainty. 

So get stronger, train speed, drop a few lbs. and you are sure to see your “hops” rise!

Posted Dec 18, 2009 by Jeff Blair.
This entry is filed under vertical jump, power production, athlete power, Los Angeles personal trainer, Los Angeles performance, Los Angeles athlete, and .