I want to share with you the vertical jump exercises in my Jump Manual review that I feel made the biggest difference on how to increase your vertical fast.
My three favorite vertical jump workouts consist of explosive calf raises, weighted vertical jumps, and the lying down squat machine. Of the three, the explosive calf raises will surely increase vertical jump fast. However, the other two are important to maintain your foundation.
Explosive Calf Raises
This is a very simple exercise that will give you tremendous results. The form is crucial on this exercise. You basically go to the edge of a stair, balance yourself with your hand on the wall, and on one of the balls of your feet explode up and down quickly. You are basically doing a calf raise but you want to do it for speed and quickness so that your muscles will adapt. As soon as you finish with one leg you move on to the next and after you finish the first set you can move right into the next set because you’re only working one leg at a time. To start out I was doing 4 sets of 75 reps daily and then moving into about 7 sets of 100 reps. This might seem like a lot but it moves quick and really only takes a max of 5 minutes.
Weighted Vertical Jumps
This was one of the unique vertical jump exercises that Jacob Hiller has you do. You basically take a couple approach steps as if you are going to jump up and dunk the basketball, but instead of a basketball you have a weighted medicine ball. I worked my way up to using a 25lb plate, which probably wasn't the safest thing seeing as how I could have easily dropped it on my head, but I made it work. I liked this workout because it wasn't just a routine in the gym workout. It was a very sports related vertical jump workout that you would use in basketball or volleyball.
Lying Down Squat Machine
An important part of how to increase your vertical is not only explosiveness, but your leg strength. This part of the vertical jump training really helps you increase your leg strength to propel your body up towards the rim. You do 5 sets and you’ll do an explosive set then mix it in with a slow tempo set to really increase your leg strength. The explosive set is extremely important to mix in with the other sets because when you jump it is an explosive movement. So if you are always training at a slow pace then your body will be used to that slow pace and you won’t see the same results. This is why it is so important to mix the different workouts together.
Key to your Success
I’m not even joking about this section. I have been put down more times than I want to even think of from this one thing and I don’t want you to have to go through the same thing I have with other vertical jump programs. Shin splints! Follow the Jump Manual to a tee and don’t do too much too soon. Shin splints will take weeks and even months to recover from and you don’t want to experience that pain or setback. If you really want the most out of this vertical jump program then rest when you’re supposed to and stretch a good amount each day to avoid shin splints. Jacob Hiller goes more in depth on how to avoid shin splints in the Jump Manual but I just wanted to warn you so you don’t overdo it too soon.