How to Increase Verticals With Resistance Bands

Doing leg exercises with resistance bands helps increase your vertical.

Strengthening the different muscle groups in your legs increases your lower body and overall leg strength, giving you more push to help you increase your vertical jump. Having a higher vertical will give a sharper competitive edge in many different sports including basketball, volleyball, soccer and track and field events like pole vault, high jump, long jump and triple jump. Using resistance bands to increase strength gives your legs practice in pushing against something which will maximize your vertical.

Instructions

1. Practice a reversed jumping motion. Lie flat on your back and lift both legs straight into the air. Wrap the resistance band around the soles of your feet and hold one handle in each hand. Bend your knees toward your chest and then straighten them slowly, leading with your heels until your legs are completely straight.

2. Focus on your calves. Lie on your back and put one leg straight into the air. Wrap the band around the sole of your foot and hold one handle in each hand. Alternately point your toes and flex your ankle. This exercise and the one above create strength in your legs which will increase your vertical jump by imitating the jumping motion against gravity and using the bands for added resistance.

3. Strengthen your upper legs. The power of the jump comes from the strength of your thighs. Get on your hands and knees, place the band around the sole of one foot and hold one handle in each hand. Lift the leg with the band around it, straightening your knee, until your leg is parallel to the ground. Repeat this multiple times on both legs to make your upper legs stronger and more accustomed to the jumping motion of bending and extending.

4. Practice jumps. Get a long resistance band and tie one end around a base structure such as a light pole and tie the other end around your waist. Starting close to the pole, run a few steps to the end of the band's resistance and jump off one or both feet. With this exercise you can practice one-legged or two-legged jumps with added resistance to increase your overall vertical.

References

• Jump Higher: Use a Resistance Band to Jump Higher
• Vertical Jumping: Band Resisted Jumps
• Idea Marketers: How to Jump Higher