How to Increase Your Vertical Leap

Video Transcript

"Hi I'm Les Whitley I'd like to talk to you right now about improving your vertical leap. The vertical leap is you propelling your body upward through space by putting force into the ground to overcome gravity. Ideally, the stronger you are the more force you're able to put into the ground. But you've got to be able to do that and make that transfer as quick as you possibly can. So it's maximum force and minimal time to produce a lot of power. Exercise such as a squat to build a good strength base to make the legs nice and strong. But then other exercises in transition such as the power cleave or the overhead snatch so that you're using that power and moving an object through space using minimal time so that the bar is traveling as fast as possible. In the vertical leap again you're putting maximal force trying to travel as quickly as you possibly can in an explosive movement upward. Measuring your vertical leap to start using an apparatus such as the vertex here will give you a true indicator of where you are. That way when your training you're able to track you progress. So that you know if you're vertical starts out at twenty inches and you improve by four inches you have a great way to have good validity to your movements to tracking your progress. Technique wise start foot stance about hips width, nice upright body position, swinging the arms quickly down to engage that stress reflex of the lower body so that those muscles react and are stimulated to quickly produce force coming upward to the sky, starting with the arms forcefully coming down, rebound, reaching up to the sky."