Your vertical jump is basically your ability to jump as high as possible off the ground. The height from the bottom of your feet to the ground is calculated as your vertical jump height. Most of the time it’s measured in inches but may be centimeters too. Having a high vertical jump is important in sports, particularly basketball, volleyball, even athletic events such as high jumping. Being able to jump high is often a pre-requisite for certain professional athletes but can also increase the pleasure of even the most casual of sports men and women.

Stretching your leg muscles is important as well as building up strength and power too. One way to test how high you can jump is to approach a wall and with a piece of chalk in hand to jump as high as you can and make a horizontal line on the wall. As you begin specific exercises to increase your vertical jump, you can guage your progress simply by jumping against the same wall and marking a line to see if you’re vertical jump has increased.

It’s important to remember that once you begin training on increasing your vertical jump that you probably won’t see progress overnight. Training and exercising specific muscles over the course of as little as two weeks can dramatically increase your ability to jump high. Having a good manual or program is vital to knowing which muscles to strengthen so make sure you have the right training before commencing exercises.

At home you can jump rope or do jump squats where you bend down and jump as high as you can. Stand on a step with the balls of your feet and your heel hanging off in the back yard and do calf raises. Over time, you can hold a dumb bell or add some sort of resistence to help strengthen your calf muscles.

In the gym you can perform squats and other leg strengthening exercises with free weigths and machines. It’s a good idea to always stretch before and after exercises as you want to keep your muscles flexible as often as possible.

Increasing your vertical jump does take work and dedication but there are specific routines you can use to help you jump higher than before.