To learn how to increase vertical jump means to learn how to build power in your body. To be able to show the highest degree of power which is speed coupled with strength, so that you can be like Superman on the court by leaping over tall players in a single bound, or running down court as if your shorts were on fire, then you need to increase your speed and build up your strength. To take care of increasing these two attributes in abundance, you are going to put all of your training eggs into three strength baskets.

The first of these strengths is your limit strength. This basically means how much work, or force, that your muscles can handle, regardless of how fast you are, or how long it takes you to do something. Lifting as much weight as you can, like doing a one rep max in the bench press or squat, will let you know and be able to test your limit strength capacity.

You need to improve the capacity of your limit strength in muscle groups such as the quadriceps, glutes, hamstrings and lower back. These are the muscles you use mainly for sprinting and jumping. So, if you want to know how to increase your vertical jump, this would be the core area to develop to begin improving those qualities of your athleticism. Pay especially close attention to your glutes, hamstrings, and lower back, also known as your hip extensor muscles, because if any athlete is going to be weak in his performance on the court or field, it will be because they didn't work up the limit strength in these muscles.

Following limit strength, the next best way to learn how to increase vertical jump, is you are going after your explosive strength. This is the ability to "turn it on," that is, explode out of the starting gate, at the drop of a hat, or the firing of a starter pistol. We're talking massive power exploding from within, all in the first three-tenths of a second that you begin moving.

To take care of this strength attribute, the ability to fire off all cylinders in very little time, then you need to develop a way to tap into an internal reservoir of raw strength at a moment's notice. But this is why Limit strength has been mentioned first. It is the foundation for explosive strength. To try accessing explosive strength without first learning to obtain or improve your limit strength, is like flying in a rocket with a 5 HP engine. Do you think with an engine that size that you will be going anywhere soon? Or fast? Quickly applying strength on force is meaningless without being able to apply the maximum weight of your limit strength behind it to get it to move.

This brings us at last, to basket of strength number three, which is called your reactive strength. This can be illustrated by picturing in your mind a rubber band stretched to capacity. It has all kinds of energy stored inside it, waiting to be set free. Once you let go of the rubber band, it explodes back to its natural state. Your muscles (and the tendons they are attached to) work the same way, you stretch the muscles and tendons, they want to explode back into a state of rest. Another word for reactive strength in action whenever you are watching a professional basketball game on television, you see the players bend down just before executing a slam dunk. By bending down first, the player is stretching his muscles prior to lift-off, to give him that added strength he needs to let fly in the same majestic way his airness did back in the day. Remember, you are recoiling like a rubber band, which when stretched quickly gathers energy behind it for the snap.

By learning these three strengths you will learn how to increase vertical jump, and become a better basketball player.

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