Saturday, October 10, 2009

Vertical Jumping Exercise Tips

By Amit Rosman

You know you need to exercise and practice to increase your vertical jumping. But do you know which exercises make a difference? Do you know how to exercise smarter so that you actually see results? Do you know how not to get burned out, or at least not too soon? Read on for some helpful tips on how to do vertical jumping exercises correctly.

Warm up. Yes, warm your legs up. Do some stretching exercises. A routine similar to swimmers stretching their legs is great. Jump rope for a few minutes or run up and down a flight of stairs for a few. Whether you do this as warm up exercises or part of your regular routine, this is a good way to get started.

Strengthen Your Legs. To build strength, you want to focus on performing appropriate exercises slowly and methodically. You should plan for each rep of a particular leg exercise to take about nine seconds from start to completion. For instance, slow toe raises and deep knee bends help strengthen your leg muscles and can be performed either with or without added weights.

Optimize muscle. While you don't need to be a body builder or Mr. Olympics to be a great vertical jumper, you do need a fit, toned, well-shaped body to power your jumps. You will want to have a speedy metabolism, low body fat, and strong bones and muscles. When you have more muscle, you also burn more calories when you exercise. When you burn more calories, you have the energy to fire your vertical jumps and reach new heights.

Looking for some specific, but easy exercises to include in your vertical jumping program? Here are a couple simple but effective ones to try.

Jumping rope. This should not be difficult to do or find. A length that you can comfortably swing around you does the trick. Stand tall and jump on two feet for a few minutes, then hop on each foot alternately. You can do this while watching your favorite program on the telly. Ten-minute bursts are great to begin with. You can increase intensity as you go along. But remember that because you want to increase the height of your vertical jump, your goal is always to jump higher, not jump more often in a stretch of time.

Deep knee bends. Start out in a normal standing position with a nice straight back. Slowly bend your knees to lower your body down, maintaining that straight back. Stop short of getting deep far enough to where you would be in a relaxed low position so there is still tension on your leg muscles and then slowly raise your body back up again to resume the original standing position. Go down slowly and come up slowly, counting approximately four seconds on the way down and another four seconds on the way up. Do 15 reps like this each day and gradually increase the number of reps after a week or so of practice. In addition to building power and muscle in your legs, this exercise also tones your thighs. - 16887

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