How to Jump Higher Without Jumping

Whether you’re dealing with an injury, you’ve hit a vertical jump plateau, or you just want to get more bounce the (semi) easy way, it might help to learn how to jump higher, without your feet leaving the ground.

A few years back, I made it my goal to jump 42 inches from a standstill. I ended up getting 44 inches. During the time of testing, experimenting, and studying, I learned various methods to stimulate the body to jump higher.

Yes, some of them includedย plyometrics, but many of these methods I learned increased my vertical without my feet leaving the ground. And these methods wereย incredibly effective.

Below, I’m going to share these methods with you so that you can add them to your workout program, or teach them to other athletes.

Here we go:

Jump Higher by Stretching?

This is a subject I’ve already touched on, but in an article about jumping higherย without jumping,ย  it needs to be included.

Most coaches, and even athletes, avoid stretching like a child with measles because they don’t understand how to use the tool properly. When it’s used correctly, stretching becomes a tool that can restore range of motion, resulting in more explosiveness and power in that muscle.

Just think of a rubber band. The more you pull it back, the more range of motion, the more powerful the contraction, right?

Same way with the muscles, within reason. If there’s a chronically tonic muscle such as the hip flexors, lower abdominals, or even the groin, that limits an athletes range of motion, you can stretch it to add inches to your vertical.

However, if you stretch a phasic muscle (a muscle that’s loose), it will inhibit your performance.

Mobilize, Mobilize, Mobilize

This goes hand in hand with stretching. Mobility, something that more coaches accept, is another way to instantly jump higher. Mobilizing works in the same way that stretching does, by restoring range of motion to inhibited joints.

The hips are the biggest problem area for most athletes, and I take several measures to mobilize the hips of my athletes before each workout.

One of my favorite movements to mobilize the hips is fire hydrant hip circles. I’ll show you how to perform this mobility drill below.

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Five Out to The Side

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Five Backward

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Five Forward

Turn ‘Em On

Due to gravity, and our modern, luxurious lifestyle, we have some muscles that are subject to over-activation, and others which are under-activated.

One muscle group that is usually under-activated, especially in young athletes, is the glutes. The gluteus medius, gluteus maximus, and gluteus minimus actually serve as a power center for athletes. Running, jumping, leaping, bounding, cutting, almost every athletic feat heavily incorporates the glutes.

To be a better athlete, and to jump higher, you need to turn them on.

There are several movements that activate, and build strength, in the glutes.

One of my favorites is the monster walk. Both the forward/backward monster walk and the lateral monster walk challenge almost every athlete that walks into my gym. And when athletes perform them, they usually experience an immediate increase in their jumping ability, and even sprinting speed.

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Another good movement is a single legged glute bridge with the non-working leg tucked up by the chest. This minimizes lower back extension, and maximizes the stimulus on the glutes.

How to Strength Train for a Higher Vertical Jump

In a future post, I’m going to go over how to strength train for more bounce. When I finish the post, I’ll link it here.

Until then, I’ve already laid out my strength training strategy, as far as jumping goes, inside my FREE Advanced Vertical Series.

This is a series of videos that not only shares my strength training secrets for jumping,

But also, how you can avoid the pitfalls of other coaches and athletes, and create a cohesive vertical jump program.

All for free.

All you have to do is go to the link below:

Click Here to Discover My Strength Training Strategy for More Bounce (For FREE)


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