Vertical Jump Training Basketball skills Blog

This simple tip may seem like the opposite of what you think you should be doing when you plant and start your jumping motion, but it really works. Relax. What I mean by relax is this – Just before you plant your feet to start your upward momentum make sure you are relaxed and lose. It’s common knowledge that the more force you put into the ground the higher you are going to jump so the tendency is to automatically tense up in an effort to use more strength to deliver more power into the ground as you plant and start the jumping motion. This is a big mistake.

Lets look at some other examples of how relaxing and staying lose produces a lot more force.

Golf – It’s a well known fact that if you relax your swing you will hit the ball much further than if you try to muscle or kill the ball.

Sprinting – The best sprinters run in a very relaxed posture and not all clinched up trying to muscle their way to faster times.

Tennis – If you’re going to hit as serve 140 MPH like the pros you can’t do it with arm strength. You have to relax your entire body during the serving motion.

The reason for this is simple – Speed.

It takes speed to deliver more power. When your body is in a relaxed state you can produce a lot more speed.

By relaxing your muscles just before jump take off, you are able to apply your strength much faster against the ground. This results in more force and a higher jump.

All great jumpers do this naturally. If you are not, below are some drills you can use to practice this relax and explode technique until it becomes natural for you.

2 step walk & explode –
Stand In a relaxed comfortable position.
Take two relaxed step forward.
When your second foot hits the ground immediately explode into your jump!
Don’t be concerned with how high you jump – Focus on the speed of the change from relaxed to upward explosion.

Slow jog & explode – 1 or 2 legged jump
Jog for 6 to 8 steps in a slow relaxed manor.
When you feel it’s time to jump explode up.
Don’t be concerned with how high you jump – Focus on the speed of the change from relaxed to upward explosion.

Do these drills until the relax and explode method feels like second nature and your vertical will go much higher, naturally.

Work Hard – Train Hard!  
Scott Bias
BallinUSA.com

How Important is Rest or Sleep for Basketball Players?
by Brian Schofield

When I was playing basketball as a young player I was constantly in pain. I had a growing issue called ‘osgood schlatters’ that affects a lot of young players, right below the knee. This makes it difficult to play 2 games in the same day with a break in-between. Basically if we were to play 2 games on a Saturday I needed to have them be back to back. If I had an hour break between the two games then I knew that 2nd game would be near impossible because of the pain of what was going on. When I went to the doctor he simply stressed to me how important it was to get rest and that I was going to have to adapt to the pain for the time being. The ailment lasted until I stopped growing (age 16) but towards the end I learned how to keep the pain down and preserve my body. I wish so badly I would have known at age 13, 14 and 15 what I finally learned by the time I was 16. I could have saved myself a lot of pain and could have been a better player because I would have been able t o train harder.

The remedy for my condition was sleep. I noticed later on that if I made sure I regularly got at least 8 hours of sleep every night, my legs & knees didn’t hurt as bad. I know that some people might be turned off by how simple of a concept that is but the fact of the matter is, it’s real. Your body needs sleep and if you deprive it when you are growing and playing lots of basketball, you’ll pay the consequences. It’s the best medicine you can give your body at a young age when you are putting so much wear and tear on it.

Today is a different era than we have ever seen before. YouTube has videos of thousands of players. People are getting filmed without even the knowledge of it taking place. A couple years ago a video was leaked with Lebron getting dunked on by a college player that would’ve never happened when I was playing. I mention this because coaches are watching things now that they never had the chance to see before and that ends up being good and bad. It used to be that coaches only got to see highlight videos or clips that we put together ourselves where now that simply isn’t true.

One poor decision can be the difference between a scholarship or not. One poor decision can make the difference between playing time and not playing so why not take it serious. The “soap box” I’m on today is the importance of properly resting during the season and off-season.

I’ve said it 100 times but kids that spend their summers staying up late playing video games and waking up at noon or 1 the next day are not the kids that I want to vouch for when I talk to colleges about players. I want to push players who get to bed at a proper time and get up early. I back kids who get a solid 8-10 hours of sleep a night and know how to treat their bodies. Let’s look at a situation:

* Game just got over and you have the option to go out with some friends to a party or take care of your body by resting and icing what needs to be iced?

It sounds funny and nerdy but the best choice is to give your body the best chance to recover. Ice it and then get some sleep. I know you’ll be riled up after the game but the best way to cool down is by icing up your knees or ankles and getting well. Sleep. You’ll have plenty of time to attend parties or do social events during your lifetime but basketball won’t last forever.

When I was a senior in high school I turned my ankle during a big game for us. I went in at halftime and got it wrapped and went out and played the 2nd half. I scored 24 points after halftime and played a great game. When the game ended my ankle felt great so I took a hot shower and by the time I got out of the shower my ankle had started to swell up but still didn’t hurt yet. I went out with some friends after the game and within an hour I could barely walk. I missed our next game and it really cost our team all because I didn’t immediately take care of my body like I needed to. Had I immediately put ice on it and went home and got some sleep, I’m very confident I wouldn’t have had to sit out the next game. That’s how much of a difference it can make.

Understand that it isn’t just about you but other players on your team. It is about who you represent and respect for others. Treat yourself well by getting proper rest so you can be the best player you can.

HoopSkills.com is home of the ‘Train Your Game’ weekly ezine with 12,000+ subscribers. If you’re ready to get on board and receive FREE basketball training & coaching tips on a regular basis visit www.hoopskills.com.

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Have you ever seen those advertisements stating that you can increase your vertical jump by several inches instantly?

The first time I saw one of these I laughed and figured it was just a cheap marketing gimmick until a friend let me check out a free program called How To Jump Higher In 45 Minutes by Jacob Hiller. What I found out was if you aren’t using proper form during your jump approach, plant and takeoff, you are literally robbing yourself of as much as 4 to 6 inches. In addition to form there are actually simple things you can do in warm up that can also make a big difference in your ability to get off the ground.

The so called natural jumpers that seem to effortlessly rise into the air may not necessarily be genetically gifted as much as they simply learned how to jump properly somewhere along the way. maybe it was just instinctive or they were lucky enough to have someone show them the way. In any case I guarantee that proper jumping technique can make the single biggest difference in your vertical on any given day.

When jumping, the only two things that determine how high you get off the ground are -

1. How much force you are able to deliver into the ground.
2. How efficiently you deliver that force.

The amount of force you can deliver will take serious training with weights and plyometrics but how effectively you deliver that force can be greatly improved in a matter of minutes by using proper approach mechanics, good form during takeoff and proper warm up techniques. Interestingly, all great jumpers seem to share several common characteristics when you slow down the film and analyze what they are doing and how they do it.

Below are a few things you see in all great jumpers.

Pace of the approach.
Angle of knee bend at takeoff.
Correct posture into and out of the jump.
Efficient upper body movement.

1) Lengthen your second to last step. Also
known as the “penultimate” step. This “loads”
the body by lowering the center of gravity
before you explode upward. It gives you more
room to gain speed before lift off.

2) Shorten the last step. This step is
designed to elevate the center of gravity and
is used to “collect” your momentum and direct
or explode it upward.

3) DO NOT reach your lead leg forward right
before take off. Step naturally, using your
built in momentum. (Just follow your center
of gravity, that’ll feel natural).

So it turns out that promises of instant vertical gains aren’t as far fetched as they might sound when they are backed by real techniques. You’re not actually GAINING vertical as much as you are no longer wasting the vertical potential you already have but the difference is you jump a lot higher.

Scott Bias

If you’re training hard in the weight room or during plyometrics then I have no doubt you’ve felt it.

D.O.M.S.
Delayed onset muscle soreness. And it usually seems to get worse before it gets better, sometimes taking 3 to 4 days to go away.

What happens is when you put the muscle fiber under tremendous strain repeated times, the fibers begin to microfracture.
The result of this usually causes swelling 24 to 48 hours later when the D.O.M.S. sets in. We all have probably been guilty of actually LOVING that feeling and even bragging about it thinking if you are that sore you MUST be making progress in your training right? The problem is if you have to take 2, 3 or even 4 days off to recover then you are losing valuable time waiting for the next workout.

Is there a way to minimize or even eliminate D.O.M.S. so you can get back in the gym sooner?

Yes there is!

The first trick that will dramatically reduce the delayed swelling is take an ice bath right after working out. Nothing fancy here. Fill up the bath tub with cold
water, throw a bag of ice in and sit there for 10 minutes, freezing your you know whats off. Don’t want to buy and store bags of ice? no problem. A few ice trays
from the freezer, though not as effective still works well. This can literally take days off your recovery time which is why the pros use it almost religiously.

The second trick is to get a deep tissue massage on every muscle group worked.
What? No personal trainer or ma souse on your staff? No worries.
Say hello to what I think is the greatest training advance in modern times, the foam roller. To help speed the recovery process you need to flush out lactic acid,
toxins and get oxygen rich blood flowing to the muscle fiber. Simply get on a foam roller (about $20) and roll around on the areas you worked for a few minutes and the pressure from the roller will act as a deep tissue massage increasing blood flow to the muscle fiber. I love this tip so much I use a foam roller before, in between sets and post workout as well as on recovery days.

The last thing you need to do is stretch. This has only minimal effects for reducing D.O.M.S. but it must be done so that your muscles and tendons
don’t shorten and tighten up. Over time this can lead to motion range impairment. If you are not stretching after games or training sessions you are
taking weeks, months or even years off your playing career. Eventually it will catch up with you, so take the time to static stretch all muscle groups after
every game or training session.

Work hard, train hard.

Peace!

Scott Bias
BallinUSA.com

If you are like most athletes out there trying to improve your vertical jumping ability chances are you have been in the weight room doing heavy squats and deadlifts. As I’m sure you already know these are some of the best exercises for improving lower body strength and are recommended by every jump trainer alive as the best way to train your vertical. One problem with this approach is that strength isn’t the main component in getting your body high into the air, power is.

What’s the difference?

Power is the combination of strength AND speed at the point of takeoff. Have you ever wondered why the guy that squats 800lbs can’t really jump that high and at the same time we all know that skinny guy, Kadour Zianni (53″ vert)  for example that looks like he couldn’t lift his own wallet but seems to effortlessly rise so far into the air that the FAA wants him to file a flight plan? A guy like that has explosive power. The ability to convert his strength into force very quickly. Does the slow motion of lifting heavy weight near your max produce power? Not really, it produces strebgth. It actually makes you stronger AND SLOWER. That’s right. You will have to do some plyometric work to retrain your muscle fibers and central nervous system to apply your strength quickly enough to get you airborne.

If you feel like you are gaining strength but not gaining vertical here is one way to change up your lifting routine to start converting some of that strength into explosive power.

The next time you do squats go through the normal warm up and when you get to the heavy lift stage ie… 85% of your 1 rep max do one set only. Next you will lower the weight to a level where you can do about 1 rep per second. Try to get as many reps as possible in a 30 second period. After 2 to 3 sets of these go back to the haevy set and start over.

A good time to stop is when your power output (reps per 30 seconds) drops off by 10% or more.

Work hard, train hard.

Peace!

Scott Bias

BallinUSA.com