Athletes call it the ‘vertical’ and it is a measure of how high they jump. The power to jump high is critical in all sports so it only makes sense to work on exercises, to do regular workouts to jump higher. The only aim of jump higher exercises is to increase the athletes’ vertical. Here are three very effective workouts to jump higher

The low squat ankle jump – This was developed out of basketball pros’ need to jump as high as possible every time. It begins in the low down squat position but staying on your toes. Avoid putting any weight on your heels because this reduces the effectiveness of the exercise. Now rhythmically bounce up and down on the balls of your feet. Don’t bounce as high as a straight leg position; rather keep your legs close to your chest. Do as many repetitions as you can.

Power rope skipping – This high-energy rapid jump higher exercise is just the grown up version of the childhood game. Give yourself plenty of track length to skip and move forward and back at the same time as you skip. Begin at one end and push off hard from one foot while stretching the other leg up and out. Bring your knee close to your chest. Skip the whole length of gym and return again. The aim is to push the boundaries of your vertical rather than speed of each lap. It is good to get into a rhythm. Jump off from one foot with your other leg in the air, land back on first foot, step forward onto the alternate foot, and jump off with the other leg in the air and so on down the length of the gym. Work the jumping foot with all of your energy. Do as many repetitions as you can and record it in your log to monitor your progress.

Box workout aka the “4-star” drill – this is an excellent way to increase your vertical. You will need space for this workout since it is based on a two-foot square drawn or imagined on the ground.

Begin by standing on point number one and jump two footed onto number two. Ensure you keep your feet together. Separating your feet dissipates most of the energy that should go into your foot muscles. Then jump sideways to land on number three, facing all the time in the same direction. Then you must jump backwards to corner number four, then left and back onto the starting point. Repeat the exercise but in the reverse direction this time. Do as many repetitions as you can, remembering all the time to keep your feet together. A good variation on this action is to do it on one foot but remember to do an equal number of movements on each.

These are by no means the only workouts to jump higher but they are amongst the most effective that you can perform. Get coaching help to make sure that you execute all of the drills correctly. Push yourself a little further with each exercise routine.

If you want to jump higher within two weeks, click on the link below and find out what some basketball players do to improve their jumping technique.