Before you get started on the actual exercises keep in mind that you can’t improve what you can’t measure. So the first step on your journey to increase your Vertical jump is to get a starting point of where you’re currently at so that you can track your progress. You can do this by measuring your vertical jump. The ability of vertical jumping is a measurement of leg power, it tells coaches and scouts how much lower body power and explosiveness you have.

Measuring vertical jump at home

The simplest and easiest way to measure your vertical leap. It requires no measuring device or equipment.

Step 1

Stand with your side to a wall.

Step 2

With your feet flat on the ground, Reach the arm closest to the wall as high as possible.

Step 3

Mark the highest spot you can reach. Either put chalk on your fingertips or have a friend mark it with tape.

Step 4

From the same standing position, jump and hit the wall at the highest point of your jump. Mark the spot the same way you did earlier.

Step 5

Try three to five jumps and use your highest one.

Step 6

Subtract your standing reach from your jumping reach to get your vertical jump.

Jump as high as you can. If you reach 20 inches then you have a rookie jump, at 22 inches you got a pro jump, and at 25 inches you have reach an All-star jump!

VERT Wearable Jump Monitor

Is a wearable device that measures your vertical jump and logs data on your smartphone.

You have complete freedom of where you can test your jump. You can do it everywhere, at home, on the court in the park. Vert jump monitor has a phone app that takes the hassle out of recording test results and presents your jump data.

The accuracy is good. It is within 0.5 inches of your vertical jump.

Force Plate Analysis

Force Plates analysis works by measuring the ground reaction forces generated by athletes running, jumping or doing other athletic movements across them. Force plates work through the use of piezoelectric transducers which accurately detect the amount of force being applied to the plate during take-off and landing

They are mainly used for scientific research purposes as this level of test accuracy is not typically necessary, they can easily cost thousands of dollars, but there are also cheaper alternatives like the Just Jump System. The Just Jump System records how long you are in the air for. Since gravity is a constant, from this information it is able to work out your vertical jump.

Using a Vertec Device

Is used to measure the vertical jump of NFL combine and NBA draft, it measures to the nearest 0.5 inches. A vertic device is a giant pole with a lot of horizontal vanes attaches, these vanes are gripped by in a way that they can rotate around the main pole. The athlete first has to push aside as many vanes as possible and the highest swivel vane that is displaced by the test subject is used to calculate their vertical jump

It’s quite large so it is not an ideal choice for home testing.

 Important Consideration

1. Swing with both arms. Swinging with both arms during the upward jump motion has been found to produce a more powerful jump as you can take advantage of extra momentum. At a professional level, in order to ensure fairness, test subjects are often told to either swing with both arms or only use one arm.
2. What clothes you’re wearing. Making sure you have comfortable clothes that are lightweight helps you jump better.
3. Use shoes that fit tight and are lightweight. Certain shoes are heavier than others while others are more conducive to jumping. Runners are very well aware of how much the weight of your shoes can affect performance.
4. Know if you jump better with cushioned shoes or ones that have less cushioning. Some people like cushioned shoes while others like “feel the ground” to take off better.
5. Do you wear shoes or not. Aside from affecting the standing reach, jumping with or without shoes makes a difference. Some people jump better without them while others do better with them on.
6. Warm-up before testing. Testing yourself straight away will underestimate results as your body will not be functioning optimally. It will also reduce any risk of injury. To warm-up, perform some dynamic leg stretching and some warm-up jumps.
7. Do some warm-up jumps, but not too much. From experience, we’ve seen that usually the 3rd or 4th jumps are where the best jumps start coming out.

Your Vertical Jump Can Be Trained

Plenty of athletes have a powerful vertical jump without ever specifically training for their vertical jump. Training in and playing certain sports like football or volleyball will inadvertently train up your jump. However, the best way to rapidly improve your vertical leap is through specialized jump training.

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