Vertical Jump Power Mighty Awesomeness (Part 1 of 2)

The brothers in Harrisburg always picked me up.

When the 6'1" white guy warmed up with a few dunks at Reservoir- or Cole- or Brightbill Park, the reality of his basketball skill didn't matter.

Because dude can dunk.

I wasn't showboating. I was trying to get some court time. Even the young bulls in Harrisburg know that size, skin color, shoes, and other attire are pretty horrible indicators of basketball proficiency. And dunkability is a pretty valid measure when you're trying to quickly pull together a 5-man squad and winners stay on.

Well that, and I was showboating.

Who doesn't want to increase their vert? Creating space between ground and feet is unquestionably the all-time greatest display of total body power, net worth as an athlete, and absolute value as a human being.

But seriously, vertical jump and jump variations have been shown to correlate with just about every facet of sports like football and baseball/softball and tennis and lacrosse and volleyball and on and on in sports that other people actually pay to watch. There's a reason for that, and it's because acceleration tasks are fun and powerful and poetic and freakin' awesome.

You want to know who can throw a baseball hard or has the potential to throw hard? To hell with the bench press and mile run and sit and reach and rotator cuff strength. You find out who has powerhouse lightening legs to generate enormous launchitudinal force from dead earth.

So if you or a loved one would like to overcome gravity for about .88 seconds rather than your typical .54, pay heed to the ten points to come. 



These ten pointers are not listed in order of importance or effectiveness. But they ARE listed in time investment. For example, you can expect that attending to point number one will translate to an instantaneous inch or three on the vert whereas the payoff from later points will come with months of due diligence.

But they're all important if you want to get ups, white boy.

1. Form 

2. Warm-up

3. Practice

4. Plyometric training

5. Corrective exercise

6. Strength training

7. Would you stop with the overkill already

8. Body composition

9. Something something (by law, no list has 9 points.)

10. Genetics