Improving your standing vertical jump has so many benefits.
More blocks, more rebounds and maybe even dunks if you get good enough.
With practice, the tips and advice given here will help you boost your standing jump.
Standing jump technique
Here are three tips to help improve your standing jump.
REMEMBER, the goal is not for you to cram all of these tips into your head when you do a standing jump.
Doing this may help some people a bit, but will limit your success in the long run.
The goal is to practice the technique so that these tips become a part of your natural technique.
Tip #1: ARM SWING
Fully swinging your arms back will help you increase the height on your standing vertical jump, by using momentum to your advantage.
Swing your arms back (so your hands are at least at shoulder level) as you are lowering into the jump.
Then, swing your arms upwards as you explode out of the jump.
Even with the ball in your hands, using your arms will help.
Although you won’t be able to swing your arms back, you can still aggressively bring the ball up as you explode upwards,.
This will give you some extra height on your jump.
Tip #2: ATTACK THE FLOOR
I know this might sound weird, so let me explain…
A lot of the time, when performing a standing jump, people will let gravity lower them down first and then just push off the floor.
However, for a better leap you should actively lower yourself first (“attack the floor”).
Then, push off to take advantage of the elastic nature of your muscles.
NOTE: This elastic property of the muscles must be trained and practiced., so your standing jump might get worse at first when you do this.
BUT, with practice, this elastic property will develop and you’ll figure out how aggressively to lower yourself.
In the long term, this will increase the height on your jump.
Tip #3: TRIPLE EXTENSION
“What’s triple extension and how’s that gonna help?”, I hear you ask.
Well, triple extension means fully extending at the three joints in your leg:
- Full extension at the ankle joint, by squeezing your calf muscle
- Full extension at the knee, by squeezing your quadriceps
- Full extension at the hip, by squeezing your glutes
By doing this, you’ll maximise your standing jump by fully exploding through the jump as you push off the floor.
Strength training for your standing jump
Unlike with a one-foot jump or a two-foot jump, a standing jump leaves no room to take advantage of an approach/run-up.
Due to this, pure leg strength is a much more significant factor than usual, even though the muscle speed is still important of course.
When trying to better your standing jump, the squat can be your best friend as an exercise.
Make sure you are squatting with good technique, and exploding upwards from the squat on balance and with control of the weight.
Mobility training
Mobility training will also help you to improve your standing vertical jump.
As you lower yourself into the ground, if you lack mobility, your body will be in a less stable position.
Stability is a key priority for your body in all movements, to keep you safe.
Therefore, a lack of it will hold back your power output into the jump.
This mobility is essential in the hip and ankle joints.
So, doing some active stretches and slowly moving your leg around these joints will help you progress.
The importance of mobility and how to improve it is explained more here.
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Remember that your jump will improve over time with consistent training.
Your first attempt will look nothing like your jump after a month’s training, so be patient and enjoy the process.
Even though there are tips to improving technique immediately, trust that your jump will also naturally improve over time with practice.
To say thanks for reading to the end, here’s the FREE Hooper Boost jump technique poster.
It summarises the key points for one