Every athlete nowadays wants to be able to jump and dunk. Or at least just have the jump ability to be capable of dunking. It’s probably the most fun and fulfilling way of expressing vertical power. The hype athletes feel when they’re able to throw down an impressive dunk is unmatched. I remember for the longest time, my goal was to be able to dunk. I wanted to be an explosive athlete that could really jump. The only problem was I didn’t train like an explosive athlete.

When I began training for football, everything I learned was about lifting heavy, getting strong as I could, and putting on as much muscle mass as possible. The issue was none of this translated to explosiveness. I was big and awkward and not very athletic at all. My ability to jump just flat out sucked and I was extremely slow. This is a problem a lot of young athletes face when they start training even today. They spend too much time lifting like bodybuilders and not enough time jumping and training like athletes. Doesn’t matter what sport they play.

When I finished playing football, my training goal was immediately to slim down and improve my vertical jump. I performed multiple vertical programs, like OTA Flight System, and really started digging into how to increase my vertical jump. I managed to improve my vertical jump from around 27-28 inches to 36 inches over about a year. At the age of 29, I was able to do my first dunk ever.

Vertical Jump is King

With Overtime Athletes, we believe vertical jump is king. If we could focus on one metric to improve to make an athlete better all around, it would be their vertical power. So vertical training is something we really specialize in and take pride in improving. It’s the athlete’s ability to generate force up from the ground and transfer it to whatever action they’re performing. I’ve worked with golfers online who’s swing speed, power, and drive distance all improved immensely when I got them to improve their vertical power. I’ve had baseball players who’s swing power and throw velocity increases when their vertical jump increased. A Muay Thai fighter whose striking power increased when I improved their vertical jump.

You get the picture. Vertical power is king and is something every athlete should work on improving. Even if your goal isn’t to dunk, increasing vertical power carries over and improves athletic performance overall. I’ve seen it practically over and over again with many athletes from many different sports over the years. 

There’s no limit to the amount of jump variations and exercises for training vertical, but the most important thing is performing these exercises with maximal intent. Whether doing regular plyos, resisted jumps, or other explosive movements, the athlete MUST perform them with maximal effort every time. You can’t increase power just going through the motions and performing exercises with little effort.

Here are my 3 favorite exercises for training vertical power that I think every athlete should include in their programming if they are serious about increasing their vertical:

1. Dumbbell Squat Jump Drop to Box Jump

This is an exercise I learned from an OG strength coach Joe Defranco. The intent of the exercise is to overload the body eccentrically and produce more speed concentrically. This is done by jumping and landing with the dumbbells before dropping the weights and going immediately into the box jump. 

The athlete starts the exercise by performing a powerful weighted squat jump, but as they land, they need to quickly drop the weight before immediately exploding into the box jump. This trains them to absorb the energy from the extra weight before producing more force and speed into the second jump without the weight. This creates a potentiation effect that can enhance the second jump. Joe explained this is essentially “tricking” the body into producing a higher amount of force against the perceived extra weight, causing the muscles to contract with more power in the second jump once the weights are dropped.

To perform this, you only need 10-15 pound dumbbells. It needs to be performed fast and explosively. Don’t do a lackluster squat jump. It’s a max effort squat jump followed by a quick drop on the landing and immediately transition into the box jump. It requires speed and timing. The athletes need to drop the weights at the bottom of their landing just before immediately exploding vertically to the box.

2. Rebound Underhand Vertical Toss

This is probably my favorite exercise for vertical power. Mostly just because I love med ball throws for really building explosiveness. Here we’re combining a depth jump into a vertical toss. So similar to the previous exercise, the athlete drops from a box or bench, around 12 to 24 inches off the ground, while holding the med ball. The goal is to absorb on the landing with the resistance and quickly reverse the energy directly into the vertical throw with as much speed as possible. You want the athlete to fully extend their body and still jump high as they can through the toss. They should be extending their legs fully off the ground and releasing the ball at the highest point. 

What I love about med ball throws is that they help the athlete produce maximum power output through the full range of the exercise. Most weighted movements and jumps have a stopping point where the athlete has to prepare to finish the movement. With med ball tosses and throws like this, the athlete is able to express max power and move the weight with speed through the entire range of the exercise. 

3. Approach Box Jumps/Hurdle Jumps

Nothing technical about this really at all. Just get the athletes to compete (with themselves or others) and jump with max effort and intensity. I know some question whether high box jumps count or transfer because a lot of times you see athletes who just have great hip mobility able to “cheat” their way onto a higher box. I used to be one of those. Regardless, the point is the performance of the jump with maximal intent and output. Getting athletes to jump with more intensity than they normally do. Performing max box jumps definitely has a place for training vertical power.

Hurdle jumps are similar. You’re giving the athlete a visual height to push for. They’re just a bit more difficult as there is a landing component to it where the athlete as to be able to land effectively once clearing the hurdle. So, it does add a little more risk, but most athletes absolutely loving doing these and will really push themselves. 

So, these are my 3 favorite exercises that I like to use in my athletes vertical programming. No matter what you program, if you want to increase your athletes’ explosiveness you have to get them to perform with maximal effort and intensity. Plyometrics, weighted jumps or throws, or even Olympic lifts all must be done progressively and at high intensity for max output. You must increase the demand on the athlete to produce more and more force.

Improving vertical is hard, but the payoff is huge!

Let me know your thoughts and please share! If you have any questions of online coaching or training, please email me at jordon@overtimeathletes.com. I’d be happy to help you out!


Jordon Haslem
Jordon Haslem

Jordon is one of our coaches here at OTA. He specializes in football athletes but loves to help athletes from all sports. If you want to learn more about Jordon check below.