As a volleyball player, I have to regularly practice my jump. I like to do muscle jumps and squat hops as well. Try to set a target and aim for it like the rim on a basketball net. How high is ur jump currently and how talll r u?
rope jumping really helps by increasing the strength of ur calf muscles...especially double-jumping, gets u used to the kinetics of jumping
Weights would help Doing lower body weight training would help a lot (squats, lunges, leg presses, leg extensions, etc.). However, I would advise getting the proper technique/training and doctor's clearance first if you have not lifted weights before - - you may injure yourself (specially the knee) if weight training is not done with the right technique. For more explosiveness, lower reps with heavy weights is required.
air alert is a basketball training program to increase your vertical leap. if anybody here follows the NBA, baron davis and many other players use this program. i've heard stories from people that they increased their vertical leap up to 40 inches.
Plyometrics Look into plyometric leg exercises. This type of exercise is used by volleyball players for higher jumps, sprinters for faster starts and other athletes looking for explosive movement. Plyometrics develops power, which is defined as speed strength (which is exactly what is needed for higher jumping). While standard strength training usually focuses on type I (slow-twitch) and type IIa (semi-fast-twitch) muscle fibers, plyometrics (& olympic-style power-lifting) develops the more explosive type IIb (fast-twitch) fibers. Some suggest that there is also a type IIIc fiber that can be trained to perform as either slow- or fast-twitch fibers... it depends on the type of (muscle) training that is predominant.
More on plyometrics The Air Alert exercise program may include plyometric techniques... I don't really know enuff abt Air Alert to say for sure. One place to find some plyometric leg exercises: http://www.netfit.co.uk/plyometrics-web.htm Try your own search, I'm sure that you'll find some good pages on the subject.
increase vertical jump by 40 inches? If you started with a jump of only 12 inches that would put your vertical jump at 52 inches, thats 4 ft 4 ins or over 130 cms!!!! Consider that a basketball hoop is I think 10 feet off the ground, a six foot tall man would only need to jump just over 24 inches to reach the rim with his hand, so a vertical jump of 50 inches would be massive! Perhaps you mean a 40 cm increase?
But how high do you need to jump to slam dunk? I don't watch basketball, but, Basketball jumps are like the high jump, in that you are travelling horizontally before jumping, so some of the horizontal speed can be converted into upwards movement. Are all the really high jumps in basketball done with one footed take-offs?
Neil, I take your point regarding the run up in bball, I'd be interested to see records for vertical jump for athletes. I can't believe anyone would add 40 inches with any program. I'd be happy to jump 40 inches!
PLYOMETRICS try here: this site has a plyometric workout click on training programmes to the left of the page and then plyometrics.
