[drk3351Participant]

So today was the first day that i started trying to improve my hops with an exercise suggested by a friend where you go on a ledge and do tip toe. I did 100 of them (33 in morning, 33 in afternoon etc.) So I was just wondering if that’s the best way to improve your hops, should I do more of those a day? Is there a better training method? Just want to get some feedback because if I could improve my hops that would be great.

[Beard13Participant]

plyometrics. I see elite athletes such as Julio Jones and Megatron do this to work on their explosiveness and vertical

[HotSnotParticipant]

Not sure I’d reccomend plyometrics untill I knew what the posters fitness level is. They can be harmful without a proper foundation.

Judging by his calve raise (a wasted exercise btw) remark, he’s not that advanced at the moment.

[Forte IVParticipant]

Ride a bike a lot. I first dunked when i was in 10th grade because I used to do nothing but ride my bike, up hill especially. And keep in mind I’m white and at the time i was 5’9″ and about 125 pounds. Its all about your legs, and really pushing them to the limit is key, well at least for me.

[drk3351Participant]

Yeah I think I will ride my bike more, used to all time on the steets sidewalk but it sloped and hated riding uphill but now I have reason to and can still enjoy downhill

[SubZeroParticipant]

Most importantly, make sure whatever you do is about explosiveness and not endurance. Both are important, but increasing your vert is all about recruiting those fast-twitch muscles and becoming more explosive.

Plyometrics are important, as is regular strength training. Whenever you do squats, calf raises, dead lifts, etc., if you’re focusing on vertical solely and not strength, don’t worry about doing a bunch of weight. Put a good bit of weight on there and focus on getting it up and exploding through it as forcefully as possible. It helps

[MalcolmxParticipant]

When you say do it forcefully and explosively do I mean lifting a weight quickly because I would think that,that is dangerous?

[SubZeroParticipant]

Yes. For instance when you’re doing squats, try not to have so much weight on there that you come up slowly. When you come up, explode like you’re jumping. Stay on the ground, obviously, but go up with it like you’re jumping.

[Snubs15Participant]

Plyometrics are the best way to increase your vertical and like subzero said make sure everything you do is in an explosive manner. Your trying to make your fast twitch muscle fibres work. I would also suggest skipping which Imo is better than the tip toes exercise you were doing. And practicing actually dunking a ball will help as well and is also quite fun… even if you have to lower the rim like myself lol.

[ShekiruBoomParticipant]

god damn why are there so many 5’9” 5’10” people who can dunk?!

[joecheck88Participant]

Honestly, I think it is because people on this site obviously love basketball. It is like anything else in the world. If you practice, it will make you better. I’m 5’8″ and can grab the rim. Standing reach is 7’5″. Math says to grab the rim like I do, I need 33″ that isn’t an insane number. Take these 5’10 guys. They’re a little taller with arms a little longer. Call it 4-5 inches more standing reach. That is a 28″ jump to grab the rim. Not everyone is saying the have 40+ inch verticals. Just guys that can dunk. I don’t think it is far fetched at all to say most of these guys are telling the truth. If I can grab the rim at 5’7, 5’8 on a good day and 190 pounds(definitely not all muscle) most others can achieve it with a bit of work.

[joecheck88Participant]

I always feel like a better jumper when I have been working my core muscles on a regular basis. Also, when I stretch everyday it seems to give me a bit more. Jumping isn’t just your leg muscles. Some thing I would do are sprints, stretching, and core workouts along with your leg workouts. If you do all of those, you should improve your jumping. Also, practice jumping. I asked a guy who could jump how he jumps so high. He told me to stand under the backboard and touch it repeatedly by jumping. Do that 10-15 times a set for a few sets a couple times a week. That is all the advice I have. Good luck.

[JoeWolf1]

A lot of good advice, I’d also like to add that muscle memory is a major component to strength, so if you want to jump higher…jump, all the time. Do box hops, play ball and not only strengthen those muscles, but train your brain to be super efficient carrying out that motion. I’m also a huge advocate of Olympic lifting, to add explosiveness, if you have the facilities and knowledge of those lifts.

[HotSnotParticipant]

I agree with JoeWolf,

If your in decent shape already, go start training Olympic lifts. They are the fastest most efficient way to make anyone a monster athletically.

[GronounoursParticipant]

The first and most important, piece of advice is the following: empty you pockets before trying to dunk. Your keys, your wallet, your smartphone, etc., really compromise your hops. Also, put your rucksack down and drop your dog’s leash.

As for the bike, I’m sure it helps, but I’m also sure bikes aren’t allowed on the court, so forget it.

[GronounoursParticipant]

Something else: as JoeWolf said, it’s also about brain power. If you’re not able to dunk, don’t take it for granted that you’re not athletic enough; maybe you’re just too stupid.

[Lotto StudParticipant]

What helped me out a lot and I believe gave me an extra advantage, was that I weight trained with my football team in the spring. My main focus was to do all the explosive lifts such as dead lifts, push press, box jumps. Jumping rope helps a lot because you are learning how to quick jump off the balls of your feet.

Another thing is I loved to do calf raises, I would do 1,000 a night 100 on left leg 100 on right leg 800 on both. I don’t know what you are capable of doing but up your number when doing calf raises, it may hurt a lot while doing them but it will pay off big time. Ab workouts are very key as well when trying to become more explosive.

When I used to do ab workouts doing 6inches were very good, it’s where you hold your feet up 6inches off the ground while you lay down on your back sitting on your hands and hold it to a slow count of 10. My favorite was the one where someone would stand by your head and you grab their ankles then you lift your legs as high as they can go then the person who stands over you pushes your legs to the ground hard and fast but you have to stop your feet from hitting the ground.

[GronounoursParticipant]

How do ab workouts help?

[JoeWolf1]

A strong core benefits just about all muscle power generated with your limbs, especially jumping.

[GronounoursParticipant]

I still don’t see what action they perform when you jump. I’ve always wondered how these muscle could possibly help in this particular case.

[SubZeroParticipant]

Having a strong core literally helps everything you do. It’s a huge part of jumping

[GronounoursParticipant]

That’s what everyone keeps repeating, but could you explain how exactly?

[SubZeroParticipant]

I honestly don’t know the science behind it, I just know it’s worked for me. When I first heard it, I was skeptical at first too. Just imagine the difference between jumping with a strong, defined core, and jumping with a pot belly. A lot of explosion comes from the core.

[GronounoursParticipant]

Did you only work on your core when you noted the difference?

Loosing your pot belly surely helps, but that’s another question.

[SubZeroParticipant]

I had been doing the Jump Manual for a bit and was seeing improvements, but once I started working on my core more I felt a lot more explosive and saw results faster

[GronounoursParticipant]

What I think is that “enough” core strength is needed to keep you equilibrium when you jump, but unless you somehow fall on your back each time you try to dunk, more core strength won’t help at all.

[MalcolmxParticipant]

The Core helps with stability.

[Shaquille OatmealParticipant]

You should try out the Jump Manual. It costs quite a bit of money (I don’t remember the exact price), but you should be able to find it for free online. I saw huge improvements over a period of a couple of months. I went from being an exclusively one foot jumper who could barely dunk off the run (and I’m 6’6″) to someone who could dunk with two hands off two feet. And I even gained 15 to 20 pounds of muscle just doing the occasional lifting, everyday workouts, and drinking protein shakes. And, even if you don’t actually follow any program explicitly, you need to be doing exercises that emphasize explosion. Practice jumping explosively, don’t practice jumping with stamina. You need to train fast twitch muscles, not do a bunch of reps that only contribute to muscle stamina (which is important, but won’t help you much when it comes to increasing your vertical leap). Doing a lot of reps is actually counterproductive. It will tire out your muscles and not condition them to act explosively.

[Shaquille OatmealParticipant]

And work on your flexibility! That was always the biggest problem for me. I’m extremely inflexible, but stretching on a daily basis has helped a lot.

[HotSnotParticipant]

Since we don’t know the posters fitness level its hard to know where to start. I’ve written quite a few posts on this topic over the years and if you search this site you’ll probably be able to find them and many others from knowlegable posters.

Deadlifts are probably the #1 exercise I could ever reccomend for anyone who is looking to become more explosive. It requires you to recruit the entire body in order to get weight off the ground. From your toes up to your neck, everything is straining hard to lift heavy weight.

When you think about it… if you can deadlift twice your body weight (or more using perfect form), jumping seems almost effortless after that. The range of motion of the deadlift is fairly similar for 2 foot jumpers but it applies very well for 1 foot jumpers aswell. I’d throw in some stiff legged deadlifts too.

Squats are a solid exercise but I find part of the exercise is wasted as it applies to the jump. How often to you squat low when you jump? Even great jumpers don’t go parallel very often. Push with the mid arch and heel and stay off the toes (mostly) on this exercise. Squeeze your butt cheeks :p It works.

Calf raises are ok but no matter how jacked you get your calves, they only account for about 4-7% of the entire jump.

Also, jumping technique is extremely underrated imo. Most people can gain 2-4 inches in a week (their first week) if they learn how to jump correctly.

Personally I’ve found “thrusters” (I use 90 pounds for speed) to be a tremendous exercise as it applies to the vertical jump (2 foot) with a ball in your hands.

Sprints is another essential exercise. Anyone who is blindingly fast can also usually jump pretty high if they can get the “transfer” down. The transfer is the transition between forward momentum and upward thrust.

Core work, as others have mentioned is extremely important. This is Ab’s and Back. This section of your body allows all your limbs to work in unison without losing power. I did 160 situps in 4:18 today (no bracing legs), then the alphabet via leg lifts and then another 60 situps in 1:11. Side planks after that…

Dumbell lunges are excellent for 1 foot jumpers.

Low body fat is another important factor. Just look at every pic currently on the NBA draft home page… do you have a body that looks like that? Losing a pound of body fat is a pound less you need to carry into the air… in fact, movement in general is easier when your carrying less baggage which should allow you to further refine your speed on approach and technique during lift.

There is so much more… I could talk about this stuff all day.

[Lotto StudParticipant]

I found dead lifting to be one of my strengths in the weight room when I was in HS. As a 5’8″ 140lb sophomore I could dead lift 450lbs with the diamond shape bar.

[HotSnotParticipant]

Thats friggin awesome. Quite an incredible lift if you ask me. You musta been dunking, even at 5ft8.

My best deadlift was 405 with a straight bar and straps. I am 6ft1 3/4 and was 178 at the time.

I haven’t trained seriously in a few years, but I weigh 200 now and I still deadlift 400 once a week just to make sure I can still do it. Max is 360×5 without straps.

[Lotto StudParticipant]

Yes I was 5’8″ when I first dunked. I highly doubt I could dead lift 450 on a straight bar though.

[morgan123Participant]

People get stress when they face any problem and then they lose hope. Problems and hurdles are part of life. Don’t feel hopeless. Eat fresh fruits and vegetables, exercise at lease 30 minute in a day, take bath before going to bed. It improves your mood, mental health and improve physical performance. You will feel easy by doing so. Think positively then you will get hopes.

Tacoma personal trainer

[morgan123Participant]

People get stress when they face any problem and then they lose hope. Problems and hurdles are part of life. Don’t feel hopeless. Eat fresh fruits and vegetables, exercise at lease 30 minute in a day, take bath before going to bed. It improves your mood, mental health and improve physical performance. You will feel easy by doing so. Think positively then you will get hopes.

Tacoma personal trainer

[Author]

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