Do you remember the story of Icarus, the mythical character who took a flying leap with a pair of DIY wax wings he made? Long story short: splat! Because we’re limited in our latent abilities, making progress in anything requires work. A great discipline to get into, if you want your highest vertical jump, is to practice diligently these 5 jumps.
This jump is a bit difficult to do, which means it will take some work. That’s OK. Begin standing, then leap into the air restricting yourself to the use of your heels alone, and as you leave the floor, point your toes as vertically as you can. The real key here is to avoid bending at the knee as you jump and land, or hitting the ground with your heels. When you do land, immediately leap back up quickly, as if you were standing on hot lava: don’t sit there!
This next one is usually referred to as a box jump. If you can, use plyometric boxes to do this. Get a box or platform—or make one—that’s as high as your vertical leap. Begin at the top of the box, jumping down and then landing like a feline. As you land, bend your knees a bit, and you may even squat to do it. Keep raising the starting height, until you can’t land smoothly.
Next up is the vertical jump, go figure. This really helps gain the highest vertical leap you can. Just jump as high as you can and land on something stable, like a box made for this purpose. The real trick will be to jump down and then immediately back up. You’ll want to make sure you land on something stable and adjustable in height or stackable.
Fourth on the list is the step stool jump. This requires more planning, as you’ll need several heights, about 4-5 total will do. Line them up from the little guy to the big one, and simply do the vertical jump at each one, leaping down and then back up as swiftly as you can. Don’t rest between jumps, either, this is supposed to burn.
Finally you have what is actually two working in tandem, the vertical and the box jump. You begin standing on a box as high as your vertical jump now stands. Hop down from it. As soon as you land, reverse course and explode into a vertical jump. This will teach your body to absorb impact, explode into action and then jump as high as you can. Don’t stop when you feel the agonizing burn, you’ll reach your goal!