Plyometric jump exercises to build up dynamic power and balance

No matter how proper the training was and how many hours you’ve spent in the gym there is always a need for that extra workout. The game of basketball is one of the most demanding sports on the planet. It demands from the players to be both big and strong but agile and athletic at the same time. From the biomechanics standpoint, this is extremely hard to develop because if we want to get stronger, we need to create more muscles, and that means that we need to lift big weights. Lifting big loads demand a slow and highly controlled motion and this, by all means, is a problem. We are creating a big and slow body for a sport that requires agility and athleticism.

The only way to solve this problem is to do some extra work in the gym or at home by doing some of the drills which will help you develop a new move that is different. Bigger muscles mean more potential, but at the same time, they require much more work to be done. If you want to have explosive muscles, you will need to train them in that same manner and to accomplish that you will need to do some explosive drills. Muscles are really like the man, and they need to be thought something to know something.

Today we are going to talk about jumping, and next set of drills will help you build that dynamic power of your legs:

1.    Squat Jumps

If you want to develop a good vertical jump, the first thing you want to do is to make your legs stronger. While you are jumping the half of the move is a squat, and the rest is you lunching yourself in the air. Squat jumps are getting your quads and calves stronger, while you are teaching your muscles to make you jump. As you are progressing with your workout, the jump is becoming more and more familiar for your muscles, so in time you are going to feel more comfortable with the move, the motion itself will become more balanced and more comfortable to do.

For the people who are just beginning to work out, it is recommended that they do not do a full squat at first, and not to jump as high as one can. Advanced versions of this exercise mean that the squats are more profound and the jumps are more explosive.

2.    Truck jumps

These jumps are the next level squat jumps, with the difference of getting your knees to bump your chest while you are in mid-air. That other knee to chest move will activate both your abs and hips, two muscle groups that are very important in creating an excellent leaping ability. Besides working on your jump, this exercise is a calorie-killer.

3.    Split squat jumps

The first part of this exercise is significant. One leg squat is activating the same muscles as a two-leg version of the drill, but doing it with one leg will increase your overall balance. Split squat jumps are perfect for basketball players because they are mimicking the move that they use in a layup situation.

4.    Ankle Hops

Ankle hops are a drill that will help you develop that next level explosive power in your calf muscles. The exercise should be done in a way that the next repetition starts at the same moment the feet touch the ground. The drill can be performed with a lot of small and fast jumps, or it can be done in a manner where you are trying to jump as high as possible but without bending your knees.

You can also do this drill with a jump rope, which will activate your shoulder as well as the first serratus muscles.

5.    Long jumps

This exercise will put your jump ability to ultimate test. This drill is going to engage 100% of your muscle capacity. As you progress, that 100% maximum is going to get bigger so your maximum jump will get larger. This drill will teach your muscles to use their maximum power every time.

6.    Lateral bounding

These one leg lateral jumps are going to make your East-West movement dynamic and explosive. This exercise is all about muscle memory and finesse. As far as the basketball players are concerned, this exercise will help during the drives towards the basket and getting lose off of the defenders.

7.    Depth drop jumps

Now we are getting serious with our workout. Depth drop jumps are going to test your jumping. By adding the drop from the height, you are adding more fatigue to the simple squat jump. Not only it is harder for the muscles, but it is also really challenging the transition from amortising the weight of the body and the transition to a jump. One leg version of this exercise is another step in progress regarding both strength and agility.

8.    Depth jump over the barrier

Now, we are pushing our body one step further into the training. Now, as we drop from the height, we are going to jump over a barrier. As you progress in jumping, you can put an even more significant barriers to jump over them. In time you can do this drill also with one leg but you must be is shape because the injury can occur very easily.

9.    Depth jump to rim- touch

Put da drop platform in front of the basket, go down and then jump towards the rim. Try to touch it with one arm first, then try to touch it with both hands. After a while, do this exercise with the ball in your hands and go for a dunk. For basketball players, standing in front of the rim will give them a boost of motivation.

10.    Box Jumps

For the final exercise do a box jumps. Let this exercise be the ultimate test of how much progress have you made. As you progress you can add some resistance bands or you can hold a ball in your hands.

This set of drills will help you develop a better vertical component in both quality and quantity. In the first part of your training, you are going to develop stronger muscles and not much of a bigger jump. First feeling about your legs is not going to be positive, instead, you will feel heavy and slow. That is normal! Bigger muscles are slower. After that, you will enter the phase where you will be faster and feel lighter on your legs but the jump won’t change much. In the third stage of the progress, you will finally notice that your jump has increased.

One of the parts of any training development that’s equally, and if not more, important is the rest. Muscles really make progress while they are in recovery mode while the training is just a trigger for improvement.