As hoopers, we all want the ability to sky in the air and slam the ball over our opponent. Luckily for us, some of the best vertical jump exercises can be done in the comfort of our own home with very little equipment needed.
In fact, I would recommend most athletes at the beginning of their training career focus on exercises they can do with just their body weight before even moving on to more advanced exercises with heavier equipment.
In this article, I will be going over the best exercises and drills you can use in the comfort of your own home for the vertical jump and overall power output.
Notes: In this article, I will be providing two specific types of training methods regarding the exercises I recommend in this article.
One type of training method will be plyometrics. Which is a style of working out that aims at increasing athletes' overall speed and fast-twitch muscle fibers.
For more information on plyometrics click on the link here.
The second style of training will be strength training. These are exercises that will promote overall hypertrophy and growth of the muscles.
These types of exercises and styles of training will give you a good base to work with as you advance in your training regarding your vertical Jump.
As complicated as the vertical Jump might seem the basic formula is making sure an athlete produces a high amount of force quickly and becoming stronger and faster will allow you to do so.
Why Start Training With Your Body Weight?
I think it is important to answer this question regarding bodyweight training just so an athlete can understand why they should be starting where they are starting.
An athlete should almost always start training their vertical with their body weight for two main reasons.
One reason is working out at home with nothing but your body weight can reduce injury probability by quite a bit especially if you are a beginning lifter and you're trying to move heavy weights fast, which at times is necessary for the vertical Jump.
The second reason is that starting out with your bodyweight prepares you better for heavier weights. Why start with massive weight when you have not even mastered your own body weight.
For a great video explaining this concept check out the Video Below.
Repetitions And Sets On Exercises
For almost all of these exercises, your reps and sets will change depending on the type of exercise this is. I will put under each exercise what type of exercise each one is and that will give you a good idea of the reps and sets you should do.
Note: With strength and hypertrophy almost all the exercises I mention below will depend on what your goals are and the level of strength you currently have.
For example, if you find yourself doing an exercise where you cannot go past 5 reps you are naturally going to be working in the strength category, then an exercise where you can do 15 reps.
Hypertrophy- For hypertrophy you want to keep your reps between about 6-15 and you want the sets to be about 3-5.
Many athletes stray away from hypertrophy but to be honest the bigger your muscle gets the more force your going to allow your body to produce which in turn will drastically help improve your vertical Jump.
Also not to mention if you are more of a beginner in your training then hypertrophy should be your main focus.
Strength- To work on your strength you're going to want to stay in a rep range of no more than 5 reps with the sets being between 5- 8 sets. Depending on any other exercises you might have that day.
A good indicator to know if you're working on strength or not is having your last rep be a struggle in no more than 5 reps.
Plyometrics/Speed- For plyometrics, you're going to want to have your reps between 1-5 and have a set between 1-10 sets depending on the other workloads you might have for that particular day.
For a quick and easy table describing these training rules look below.
General Workout Rules
Strength | Speed/ Plyometrics | Hypertrophy |
1-5 Reps | 1-5 Reps | 6-15 reps |
5-8 Sets | 3-8 Sets Depending on how many reps you have in workout | 3-5 sets depending on work load for that day |
last reps should be hard | Max Speed on all movements | slower more contracting style of movements |
not to failure but close to | should not feel any muscle fatigue or go to failure at all | Should feel a considerable amount of muscle fatigue especially on last sets. |
longer rest 2-3 minutes | long rest in between sets 2-3 minutes | shorter rest 1-2 minutes |
Sets In The Workout
This can depend drastically depending on an athlete's experience level or overall fitness. But a general rule to live by especially when starting out is to work on each muscle group with 9-21 sets a week.
But like I said this is a general rule and this all comes down to you experimenting and seeing what works best for you and your body. Just make sure to listen to your body and make sure you feel good as time progresses.
Best Exercises
1. Rear Foot Elevated Squat
How To Do It
For the rear foot elevated squat you first need to start by having your back foot slightly elevated on a platform or surface.
You then need to bend your other leg with should be facing forward down and then up complete the squat.
As you advance you might want to try and add some weight, it can be as simple as a backpack or even gallons of water you can hold in each hand.
Why You Should Do It
This exercise is great at promoting muscle growth and hypertrophy. Another reason I love this exercise is that it is a one-leg exercise this allows you to develop strength equally on both sides.
Thirdly single leg exercises like this do a great job at work hip internal rotation which is vital in getting your body loaded and springy when talking about your leaping ability. For a great video explaining this check out the video below.
Type of Exercise
Strength and Hypertrophy
2. Lateral Bounds
Type Of Exercise
Speed/Plyometric
How To Do It
To do a lateral bound you first need to start by jumping laterally to one side and then with your other legs jump to the other side.
When I say jumping I do not mean trying to get as high as you can but rather trying to get distance with each lateral Jump.
Why You Should Do It
This exercise allows you to work on both your jump stiffness as well as your ground contact time which is essential in training your body to rise up quickly for your vertical jump.
3. Depth Jump/Drop Jump
Type Of Exercise
Speed/ Plyometric
How To Do It
For a depth jump, you want to start on a pretty tall surface. As you fall from this surface you then want to jump up as high as you can. Since most of these are done at home you can try using your bed or footrest.
For a drop jump, it is basically the same concept except for this time you will be jumping from a shorter surface.
I recommend athletes start with a drop jump at first since it is much easier on your knees and joints.
Why You Should Do It
This exercise is great at training your muscles and nervous system to fire rapidly and explosively.
4. Sprints
Type Of Exercise
Speed/ Plyometric
How To Do It
To do this exercise you need to run as fast as you can in a short amount of time and distance.
Another variation you can use with this is doing wall sprints. This is basically the same thing except for this time you are using a wall to f balance yourself and you are running in one spot.
Why You Should Do It
Sprinting can help improve your vertical jump because it again trains your body's fast-twitch muscle fibers and ability to move explosively as a whole.
5. Towel Deadlifts
Type Of Exercise
Strength/ Hypertrophy
How To Do It
Why You Should Do It
The towel deadlift is a great exercise you can use to strengthen the posterior chain even with limited equipment.
6. Hip Thrusts
Type Of Exercise
Strength/Hypertrophy
How To Do It
To do a hip thrust start with your back on the ground and your legs at 90 degrees balancing on something. Once you are in this position you then want to push your hips into the air and repeat.
Why You Should Do It
The hip thrust is a great exercise to work on and grow your glutes and quads which are key muscles in the Vertical Jump.
7. Hamstring Bridge
Type Of Exercise
Strength/Hypertrophy
How To Do It
Similar to the hip thrust you're going to want to start on your back with your knees up at a 90-degree angle. After that, you then want to lift each leg up and really work on contracting the hamstring muscle overall.
For another great variation of the hamstring, bridge check out the video below.
Why You Should Do It
Again this is another great exercise at improving your overall strength and muscle growth in the hamstrings which is beneficial in terms of jumping in basketball.
8. Box Jumps
Type Of Exercise
Speed/Plyometric
How To Do It
To do a box jump you need to first find a platform you can safely jump on. After that, you then need to jump on the platform and repeat.
With a box jump, you really have the freedom to mix it up depending on what you like to do. For example, some people like doing it off one leg, while others prefer to do it standing off two legs.
Why You Should Do It
The box jump is a great exercise not only to improve your body's ability to jump but also to give you a good opportunity to just work on your overall jump mechanics in general.
9. Alternating Lunge
Type Of Exercise
Strength/ Hypertrophy
How To Do It
Start in an athletic stance with your feet slightly apart facing forward with your body closer to the ground. You then want to jump in the air and alternate your legs using your other legs' momentum for each jump.
Why You Should Do It
While a standard lunge can be a great exercise an alternating split jump I feel gives your quads and body as a whole bigger metabolic stress given the limited equipment.
10. Jumping
Type Of Exercise
Speed/ Plyometric
How To Do It
It is just as it sounds you jump. I know it might sound simple and it is. But at the end of the day if you're really trying to get a higher vertical then you actually have to practice the skill of jumping because it really is a skill if you think about it.
This can be done anywhere, try jumping and touching something try dunking a basketball, whatever it is practice jumping.
Why You Should Do It
Conclusion
Even if you lack a standard gym or equipment as you can see there are still a lot of great exercises you can use to improve your vertical jump from the comfort of your own home.
For more links and information on the vertical jump and how you can improve it click the link here.
Please comment below on any questions you might have regarding the exercises.
Thank you for reading and as always keep hooping my friends.
