Plyometric Workouts for Your Jump Training
Being able to jump higher is one of the best things that can happen to an athlete. This is true especially if you are into basketball, volleyball or football. Vertical jump is one of the skills that are essential to become a good player of either of the three. Being able to dunk a basketball over your opponent, spike the volleyball hard into the opponents’ court or make that amazing leap into the football field’s end zone, is always exciting and a welcome spice to any such spectator sport.
The good news is that even if you are naturally gifted with above average jumping ability, you can reach that level through proper training. One method used to increase vertical jump explosion is a method known as plyometrics.
Plyometrics is a system that incorporates exercises that use speed and power in short bursts to stimulate or train the muscles to become quicker and more powerful in short periods of time. It involves contracting, loading and releasing of muscular energy at very fast rates to help athletes sprint faster, punch stronger, or jump higher. Power and speed is the key to plyometrics training. It is not something you do to build endurance because it specifically targets the fast twitch muscle fibers which are the type of muscles that contract and release large amounts of energy in very short periods of time and can tire out easily. Endurance training works out slow twitch muscle fibers which are muscles that are not as powerful but do not tire out easily.
Most plyometric exercise regimens aimed at increasing vertical jump height are high intensity programs that increase the risks of injury to the trainee. Hence, it is usually advised that you first consult a professional trainer before you undergo such training. Never go into plyometrics if you are clueless as to what it actually entails. You might injure yourself and end you stellar athletic career even before you begin. As with any sports training, safety first.
How to Jump Higher for Sports
Sports require a lot of physical fitness on the part of the players involved. Beach volleyball, indoor volleyball and basketball are the 3 most important sports that involve jumping. If you want to learn how to jump higher in basketball you have to be able to follow a good jump training program. The same holds true for learning how to jump higher in volleyball.
Volleyball jump training is a bit different from basketball training because you only jump from 2 feet in volleyball, whereas in basketball you often jump off of one foot and most of the time you are jumping while holding a ball. The form you have when jumping plays a big role in how high you will be able to jump. For this reason you need to focus on how to use your arms to increase your vertical jump. If you can master arm movement you can get 12% higher on your jump. This is easier to do when playing volleyball because you don’t have to hold onto a ball like you do in basketball. So you can focus 100% of your efforts on jumping and that is why you will see volleyball players jumping much higher than basketball players. Most Americans think that basketball players have the best vertical jumps in the world but it is actually beach volleyball players that are the best jumpers in the world. Jumping out of sand is the hardest thing to do because sand is such an un-stable surface. So you have to expend more energy to get out of the sand.
No matter your sport, you can benefit of training with plyometrics because it will increase your overall speed. There are specific workouts that you can do to train for more lateral speed as in running sprints or vertical speed for jumping higher.