REVEALED: How to Trick Your Body Into Jumping Higher Instantly
Everybody’s looking for a magic pill that will help them jump higher instantly. Athletes are so focused on the newest shoe that helps you jump higher, or the flashy exercise they saw on Instagram, that they overlook the simple stuff. And this simple stuff can add INCHES to your vertical jump instantly. In the same day.
So, how do you jump higher instantly? There are three ways to instantly jump higher:
- Stretching and Mobilization
- Activation of Phasic Muscles
- Complex Training
Below, I’m going to dive deeper into the mechanisms behind each method, how to perform them, and the parameters by which you should perform them.
Stretching and Mobilization to Jump Higher Instantly
Static stretching gets a bad reputation among athletes. The main reason for this is that there have been studies released that show an acute decrease in power output and strength output after static stretching.
However, some studies suggest that static stretches held for less than 60 seconds have little-to-no affect on performance. Longer static stretch holds (>60s) may have larger negative affects on strength and power output.
That said, there are still massive athletic benefits to be had with static stretching.
Many athletes are plagued by muscle imbalances. Muscles imbalances occur when one muscle becomes overactive and impede the function of the surrounding muscles. This creates altered reciprocal inhibition in which a tight, overactive muscle decreases the activation of the muscle opposite.
An example of this would the hip flexors and the glutes. Many athletes have tight hip flexors that impede the function of the glutes. This results in less hops and slower sprinting speeds.
However, when you stretch the hip flexors, it decreases their excitement and allows for more gluteal recruitment in movements that require it, such as a jump or sprint.
The next step, after releasing the tight, inhibitory muscles, is to increase the range of motion of the joint.
This is where mobility comes in.
Mobility exercises dynamically stretch muscles through a joint’s extended range of motion.
If you think of the muscles as a rubber band, mobilizing makes sense for more explosiveness. The farther you stretch a rubber band, the harder it snaps back into place. It kind of works the same way with your muscles. The more you can put them on stretch, the harder the contraction will be in general.
The next obvious question is, what are the best stretches and mobility exercises to jump higher instantly?
The Best Stretches and Mobility Exercises to Jump Higher Instantly
1. Couch Stretch
The couch stretch targets the hip flexors, which can inhibit the function of the glutes when overactive. The glutes play a large role in hip extension, which is critical for your bounce. You can expect to see a slight increase in your vertical jump when you suppress the activity of the hip flexors.
2. Fire Hydrants
Fire Hydrants mobilize the hip joints, which are the most tight joints in most athletes due to the demands of sport. You should have slightly more range of motion after performing the couch stretch which will help you amplify the effectiveness of your fire hydrants.
Muscle Activation to Jump Higher Instantly
Sometimes, athletes have muscles that just aren’t doing their job. In many athletes, this is caused by altered reciprocal inhibition, which I spoke of above. Something that can help stimulate these muscles, or “turn them on”, is activation.
Activation is simply targeting a muscle with a certain exercise to increase its neural drive.
An example of this is a band pull apart. Many athletes have weak upper backs that cause them to slouch, and their shoulders to round forward. This lack of muscle excitement in the upper back can also cause issues in the weight room.
The band pull apart is an exercise to “turn on” the small muscles of the upper back. This way they’re “turned on” for the training session and can execute their normal function.
So, what are the best activation exercises to jump higher instantly?
The Best Activation Exercises to Jump Higher Instantly
1. Single Leg Glute Bridge
The goal behind the Single Leg Glute Bridge is to activate, but not exhaust, the muscles involved in hip extension. This muscles we’re trying to activate are the gluteals, as they are the major players in hip extension.
In order to perform the single leg glute bridge, you’ll start on your back with both feet flat on the floor. Bring your heels as close to your butt as a you can, then grab one knee with both hands and hug it into your stomach. Drive through the opposite heel and squeeze your butt at the top, then slowly lower back down.
2. Monster Walks
Monster walks are another great movement to activate the hips. The main muscle you’ll activate with monster walks is the gluteus medius. This muscle plays a big role in preventing knee valgus, or a knee collapse when squatting, jumping, etc. Obviously, this is important if you want to jump higher as you’ll generate more power if your knees are in line with the hips and ankles.
In order to perform monster walks, you’ll need a hip circle band. Place the band slightly above the knees and place the knees and ankles just outside of hip width stacked. Sink the butt down slightly and walk ten yards forward in this position, then walk ten yards backwards.
3. Kettlebell Swings
Kettlebell swings are the last movement I like to use to activate my hips if I’m going for a max effort vertical jump, or performing jump training in general. They’re a great movement to get the hips firing in an explosive fashion.
To perform kettlebell swings, grab your kettlebell and start with the feet just outside of hip width. From there, push the hips back and EXPLOSIVELY drive them forward to get the kettlebell up to chin level. Lower back down and repeat.
Complex Training
If you’ve ever grabbed something you thought was heavier than it was, and lifted it way too fast, then you have the gist of complex training.
Complex training is simply performing a weighted movement followed by an explosive movement that is biomechanically similar to the weighted movement. An example of this is a squat followed by a tuck jump.
The idea behind complex training is based on post-activation potentiation. Post-activation potentiation is essentially the increasing of your muscular performance due to the muscle’s contractile history. In other words, the performance of the body is heightened after a near-max effort muscle contraction.
In the case of complex training, the near-max effort muscle contraction comes from the first movement, which is also known as the conditioning contraction. The conditioning contraction in the example I used above is the squat.
The conditioning contraction is what stimulates post-activation potentiation, heightens the nervous system, and enhances explosive performance in the plyometric movement.
A simple way of understanding complex training is to imagine yourself throwing a weighted medicine ball back and forth with a friend. Then, placing down the medicine ball and picking up a basketball. You’d be whipping the ball back and forth because your muscles are still contracting at the degree they were with the medicine ball.
When you understand complex training, you can start to understand how it would help you jump higher instantly. The heightened performance due to the conditioning contraction could, in theory, allow you to propel yourself higher off the ground than you would without heightening the nervous system with the conditioning contraction.
Parameters for Complex Training
As I said above, complex training is, at it’s simplest, a weighted exercise followed by an explosive movement that is biomechanically similar.
That means you’ll want to pair exercises such as:
- A Back Squat and a Box Jump
- A Deadlift and a Broad Jump
- A Back Squat and a Tuck Jump
- A Trap Bar Deadlift and a Triple Broad Jump
You get the idea.
Studies have found that the use of a 10 second voluntary muscle contraction is optimal for enhancing muscular performance and stimulating PAP. That means you want to put the muscles under tension for around 10 seconds to maximize your complex training.
The weight you use for complex training should be greater than 85% of your one rep max, though you don’t want to go so crazy that you exhaust the body.
Speaking of exhausting the body, you’ll want to take around 1 minute of rest in between your conditioning contraction, or weighted exercise, and your explosive movement.
The Bad News
I just shared a bunch of ways to trick your body into jumping higher instantly.
The bad news is, these gains are short-lived. In order to increase your vertical more than five inches, and gain ELITE bounce, you need more than just a few tricks.
I recognize this, and that’s why I want to show you how to maximize your jump training for free.
With my free Advanced Vertical Training.
I’ll show you EXACTLY what I did to achieve my 44 inch standing vertical jump, so you can creep up close to that number as well.
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