Workouts That Increase Your Vertical Leap

A high vertical leap shows your ability to quickly generate muscular force in your legs, and a high vertical leap can help you perform in various sports. To increase your vertical leap, you need to increase you muscular strength and use that strength quickly to generate maximum power. The American Council on Exercise suggests including plyometric exercises to help increase your vertical leap.

Strength Training

A 2008 article in the National Strength and Conditioning Association Performance Training Journal explains that you need to include strength training in your workouts to increase vertical leap. Leg strength workouts should include exercises that target major muscle groups in your legs. Perform a leg strength workout that includes squats, lunges, step-ups and calf raises. To increase strength, perform three sets of eight to 10 repetitions of each exercise.

Plyometrics

Plyometric training, also called jump training, involves exercises that require you to quickly jump or hop with minimal ground contact time, forcing your muscles to exert force over a shorter time period, which increases your power output. A good introductory plyometric workout should include only a few exercises as plyometrics can easily lead to injury if you do too much before your body is properly conditioned, explains the American Council on Exercise. Begin with two sets of 10 reps of squat jumps, 12-inch high box jumps and cone hops. In the squat jumps, you squat down and then jump up as quickly and forcefully as you can. Box jumps are performed by hopping up and down onto a stable box or platform as fast as you can. Do cone hops by placing 10 cones in a line and then jumping through the line. Space them so that you can land between the cones.

Supersets

Certified strength and conditioning coach Kyle Brown also recommends combining strength work and plyometrics to increase your vertical leap. In this workout, you perform one set of a strength exercise and then immediately do a plyometric exercise after it. You can perform squats and squat jumps, walking lunges and single leg forward jumps, and calf raises and side-to-side jumps. Perform three sets of each with 10 rep of the strength exercise and 12 to 15 of the plyometric exercise.