Increasing Vertical Jump

mattyice1989

If you have ever trained to increase your vertical, what are your preferred exercises that you found to be most effective?

6 weeks ago I started a vertical training program (based around an iteration of Air Alert) and have been customizing it over that time period by excluding and adding different exercises. After some solid progress, I eventually aggravated my knee in Week 5 during a set of depth jumps (had minor surgery on this same knee roughly 7 years ago). I have read that programs of the past (like Air Alert) are awful for your knees. My current rotation of exercises is some order of plyometric toe taps, elevated calf raises, Bulgarian split squats, depth jumps, and knee-to-feet jumps.

I would appreciate suggestions for any other exercises to supplement my training.

Packerjohn

Hope you have a quick recover from your knee issue.

As you know depth jumps are a fairly advanced plyometric exercise. You should have a fair amount of strength in the legs (which if your legs match the upper body you're probably doing okay) before doing a jump program. Does the program you're on take you directly to depth jumps? If so, maybe the progression is too fast.

This article talks about progressions to depth jumps:
http://www.strengthofscience.com/articles/practical-application-plyometric-progression-plan/

mattyice1989

@Packerjohn That article is very insightful - thank you for sharing it. I've been squatting for quite some time now so I think the strength is there but, like you said, I think I was moving too quickly into certain exercises like depth jumps. The "program" I'm on is has honestly evolved into something completely customized by my own doing, picking what exercises I researched to be "the best" and then setting what I figured to be a realistic progression of increase in reps or sets week to week over roughly 12 weeks. Ultimately it isn't as structured as it probably should be.

Packerjohn

@mattyice1989 my understanding is the muscle adapts to plyos faster than the connective tissue. This is the reasoning to follow what may seem at first to be too easy of a progression. Your stronger muscles can overtax the ability of the tendons and ligaments to react to the stress, increasing the chance of injury.