| Let's be blunt about it: if you play basketball, there's | | | | Powerful calves can easily add another couple of |
| two leagues of people - those who can dunk, and | | | | inches that you may be missing for a resounding |
| those who cannot. Although you might think it's just | | | | dunk. The basic calf exercise is toe raises: stand |
| a question of height, this is not at all the case. Of | | | | upright, raise on your toes, go down, and repeat it |
| course, being tall helps, but even average height | | | | 50-100 times. When your calves feel hot and burning, |
| people - 5ft 9 or 5ft 10 - can learn to perform | | | | it's time to make a break. A somewhat better |
| amazing dunks. How? It's obvious - by improving their | | | | variation is: stand on some stable horizontal ledge only |
| vertical jump. Now, there is a lot of ways to skin the | | | | with your toes and front part of the foot. Hold |
| jumping cat, but not all are equally effective (and | | | | yourself at something with your hand. Go down with |
| some can actually be rather dangerous). I've put | | | | your heels about 30-45 degrees below the ledge, |
| together a collection of tips and tricks that helped | | | | then push up until you are on your toes. Repeat as |
| me improve my vertical jump from near nothing | | | | many times as you need to tire your calves. Again, |
| (after knee surgery on my jump leg and | | | | key is slow and steady. Don't pump up and down. It |
| rehabilitation) to over 30 inches within 9 months. | | | | may be easier, but the effect is nowhere near the |
| Tip 10) Always warm up before exercise. Trying to | | | | same. |
| push your muscles to the max without warming up | | | | Tip 4) Don't overwork your leg muscles. Our muscles |
| appropriately before (with light exercises such as | | | | grow best when subjected to a cycle-wise load: a |
| running up or down stairs, or jumping with a | | | | heavy workout, then a day of rest or just light |
| jumprope) is a bad idea and can easily lead to strains | | | | exercise. To push your maximum jumping ability, you |
| and other problems. | | | | need the large leg muscles to perform at their peak |
| Tip 9) A basic jumping exercise is the squat with | | | | (and beyond). When overworked, they are unable to |
| weight. While standing, slowly bend your knees with | | | | deliver that performance, and your jump does not |
| your back straight. Go down pretty low (you | | | | improve despite exercising. A sign of overworking is |
| shouldn't feel any pain or be uncomfortable), then | | | | when your leg muscles ache or burn. |
| slowly go back up. Doing this slow is key for building | | | | Tip 3) Don't just jump. Focus on jumping completely. |
| up quad muscle volume and power. Start without | | | | With every jump, aim to leap as high as you can. |
| weights and increase difficulty by gradually raising the | | | | Scientific tests have shown that persistent focus on |
| number of repetitions. People with major jumping | | | | a physical activity improves the results by 10-20% on |
| power can easily do 100+ such squats. If you hold a | | | | average. |
| weight such a dumbbell or barbell, hold it behind your | | | | Tip 2) Don't expect results too soon, and never give |
| head, in one vertical line with your spine. | | | | up. I know several guys who bought expensive |
| Tip 8) Separate weight training days from speed | | | | plyometric programs or jumpsoles expecting some |
| plyometric days. Medical studies have shown that | | | | kind of miracle within a few days. There's no such |
| mixing these different types of exercises is actually | | | | thing though, so once they didn't see the quick |
| bad for the results. | | | | results, their determination sizzled away and their |
| Tip 7) Use jumping rope. Although sometimes | | | | jumpsoles would sit gathering dust. Although there |
| shunned as "uncool", it is the basic plyometric | | | | are good programs around, there's no miracles. The |
| exercise and one of the best ways to improve the | | | | only thing that will radically improve your vertical is |
| explosiveness and power of your legs. | | | | tenacity. Exercise a lot. Regularly. Make it your habit. |
| Tip 6) Never relax and let go during your waking | | | | Do it for months. Then - and only then - the |
| time. During my rehab, I was hell-bent on getting my | | | | reallyimpressive results will come. |
| leg back to the same power level as before, and | | | | Tip 1) Plyometric exercise. You may have heard the |
| beyond that. I didn't just exercise every day - I did it | | | | word. Basically it stands for making a muscle contract |
| nearly permanently. Of course, you can't do heavy | | | | immediately following relaxation, and repeating it |
| squats or plyometrics all the time because your legs | | | | many times. Applied to jumping in a basic case, it |
| can just do so much until they tire. However, even | | | | means that you jump, go down in the knees when |
| little things like walking toe-heel style instead of | | | | you land relaxing your muscles, and immediately jump |
| flat-footed, standing on half-bent legs while doing | | | | up again from the crouched position. This is tiring as |
| household stuff, or playing with your quads and | | | | hell, and for a reason - it puts the maximum stress |
| calves while sitting, are very effective when done | | | | on the large leg muscles. If you are not used to it, |
| regularly over a long period of time. | | | | your legs will probably ache after a few dozen |
| Tip 5) Calf exercise. It's not only the big upper leg | | | | repetitions. However, nothing beats this kind of |
| muscle groups that determine your total jump height. | | | | exercise if you want to improve your jump quickly. |