Jumping or leaping ability is a skill that comes in handy across the boards when it comes to sports. Football, baseball, volleyball, soccer, basketball and tennis are all examples of these. If you play any of these sports and you want to jump higher, or if you never played a sport in your life and you want to jump higher, you can do it by following several steps.
Step 1
Add resistance to your body. When you get up in the morning, put on either a weighted vest, weighted shorts, ankle weights or any combination of all three. This gets your body used to extra resistance. Wear this excess weight to the mall, to class, to the grocery store and any other location you go for your daily activities.
Step 2
Work your leg muscles. To increase your jumping ability, you also need to increase your leg strength. Perform leg exercises like barbell squats, leg presses, lunges, hamstring curls and step-ups. Do 10 to 12 reps with the heaviest weight you can handle and perform three of four sets of each exercise.
Step 3
Jump rope. Jumping rope is a type of plyometric exercise that involves short, quick muscle contractions. Not only is this a good cardiovascular exercise, but it also strengthens your calves which are heavily recruited when you jumping. Perform 10 sets of 100 jumps.
Step 4
Increase your flexibility with yoga. If muscles are tight, they are more prone to strains and your range of motion will be limited. To increase your jumping abilities, perform flexibility exercises that target your whole body. The best way to do this is by attending yoga classes. Or, you can get a DVD for home use.
Step 5
Strengthen your core for more drive. When you are jumping, a lot of the power is being generated from your core. To jump higher, do ab exercises like leg raises, reverse crunches, back extensions, side bends, bicycle crunches and stability ball crunches. Do 15 to 20 reps and three or four sets of each exercise.
Step 6
Perform more intense explosive movements. Jumping rope is a mild form of plyometric training. To help improve your jump even more, perform higher intensity plyometric exercises like squat jumps, tuck jumps, lateral box jumps, stair hops and split lunge jumps. Do 12 to 15 reps and three or four sets of each. If you want to turn up the intensity, wear your weighted vest when you do these exercises.
Things You'll Need
- Weighted vest
- Weighted shorts
- Ankle weights
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