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Tips to Improve Vertical Jump for Dunking

Updated: Apr 6, 2020

If you are a basketball fan, you must have dreamed of soaring in the air like your favorite players do or score baskets in-game at your school or college. But it is not as swift and straight forward as it looks on tv. The skill requires tiring pieces of training and practice to master it. Basketball players get vertical jump training to jump adequately high and dunk the ball correctly. Well jumping and dunking the ball are both also two different parts of the same task. First, a player has to get trained to jump high enough to reach the basket and then to dunk the ball.


Basketball jump training is the most crucial part of basketball training camps. Usually, there are vertical jump programs designed for basketball teams and clubs, but if someone other than the team wants to train, they can signup too for these programs or hire a separate jump trainer for this purpose.


In case you can’t get to attend any of these vertical jump programs or get a vertical jump trainer for yourself, you can find help online. This blog will guide you thoroughly about how you can increase your vertical jump and achieve your dream of jumping and dunking that ball into the basket, like your basketball idol.

So here is your virtual jumping trainer. Follow this training program to dunk a basketball quickly.


Measure your highest reaching point:

Before you start working out for improvement in your vertical jump, you must measure the highest point you can reach while jumping. For this, you get near to pole or wall and jump with your full force and mark that point. Then mark a point at the height you want to achieve.


Regular workout:

To achieve a goal, you have to work toward it gradually and regularly. Similarly, the target to increase vertical jump requires the same. There are many workouts that will help you to build endurance in your muscles and increase your strength so you can jump higher and remain in the air for a longer time before you get back to the ground.

Some of these workouts to increase vertical jump are squats, jumping rope, toe raises, and high jumps. These exercises will build your core muscles and increase your ability to hold and dunk the ball more easily while jumping.

So, for this reason, it is necessary to make your own schedule of workout and follow it regularly to master the task.


Stepwise goal setting:

It will be unwisely to think that you can get from point 1 to 10 in a day. So, to increase your vertical jump, it is advisable to break your target height in small, realistic goals and then work toward it. Try to jump a centimeter or two higher every day and practice it continuously for a day and see that your maximum jumping point gets to that level. For measuring this, you can get a vertical jumping tester or built a one by yourself.

Also, to practice dunking, you don't have to start by basketball from day one. Start by a smaller or lighter ball and once you begin dunking it quickly while jumping, then switch to a slightly heavier ball and more prominent in size and gradually get to the targeted height with dunking the basketball.


Proper resting and warm-up:

Your body is like a machine, and if you put too much pressure on it, it will surely not work correctly. So for your muscles to build strength and work effectively, you must give proper rest to your muscles after workouts and practices and do a proper warming up before workouts so as tissues don't get damaged.


Keep updated on the progress:

To keep proper track of your progress, you must maintain a journal in which you record your day to day progress to keep an idea about your progress speed and how much success you have gotten in achieving your set targets. This record will give an idea about when you will be able to achieve your goal and whether or not you are progressing or stuck on the same point so you may make some changes in your workout and practice time.


Getting vertical jump equipment:

Another essential tip for vertical jump training is to get proper equipment like vertical jump shoes, height measurement poles, workout ropes or weights, and balls, etc. for jump training. Jumping shoes are most important of these as if you don't have proper shoes for the purpose, you may hurt your legs or slip and fell.


Proper stretching:

To increase your vertical jumping and to dunk the ball, your muscles must be flexible. If your muscles are stiff, it will be difficult for you to get in a better jumping position and goal a basket. Also, you may get injuries while doing so. Stretching exercises help in making your muscles more flexible, and so you must include some stretching workouts in your daily routine. These will not only make muscle flexible but will also relax your muscles after core or weight training.


Take care of technicalities:

Just like any other skills, vertical jumping has some technical points to be taken care of. So, for better results, pay attention to these details and master this. The three factors that affect vertical jump and dunk are power, strength, and velocity.


Strength is the maximum force by which you can jump vertically and stay up the more strength you achieve, the more time you buy to dunk the ball.


The velocity is your speed of jumping, and if you jump fast you can show your strength and dunk the ball.


The whole force and velocity product are the show of the power of your basketball dunking. If you increase your velocity and intensity with the ratio of your body weight, you get a more powerful jump and dunk.

You can find many workout plans designed for vertical jump training, or you can make your program according to your body type and pace you want to follow to achieve your goal. Hopefully, you find this blog helpful in getting mastery in vertical jumping.



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