Vertical Jump Training

Why It Is Sometimes Best To Cheat Your Vertical Jump Diet

Rodney — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 10:11:22 +0000

You have been following all of the rules. The experts say you must eat a balanced, protein and nutrient rich diet to get the super vertical jump you always want.

Now you almost dream about treating yourself to a special meal that would spoil your healthy diet and you do not know what to do.

Chances are you have assumed the worst. You believe that your craving of a hearty steak with a loaded potato or a rich, sugary piece of chocolate cake is a sign of your failure.

You wonder if it means that you cannot keep up the healthy diet you have maintained. If you cannot eat right you will not stay trim enough to increase your jump.

Perhaps you wonder if it is some kind of subliminal message of your mind telling your body that it cannot complete the training.

The truth is that none of these beliefs are true. You are not failing yourself nor are you failing at your program. In fact, quite the opposite is true.

This is a sign that your body is getting used to a new healthy lifestyle instead of just dieting. Sometimes, it is not a bad thing to treat yourself.

Punishing yourself for something you believe is a backslide is not how to jump higher. It is the way to lose motivation and quit. Your body is going through changes.

You are working hard. Rewarding yourself for your hard work is essential to keeping up your persistence and commitment.

Re-Feeding

Cheating your diet occasionally is a normal, healthy action that can actually improve your diet success. This is the habit of re-feeding. When you have a cheat meal, you boost the leptin in your body.

Leptin is also referred to as the starvation hormone. This is the hormone that tells your body to start consuming body fat in order to stay fueled.

Additionally, an occasional reefed will boost growth hormone levels to help build the muscles needed for your vertical jump.

It will increase your glycogen levels which helps to produce the proteins needed for new muscle tissue developed during jumping workouts. Building new muscle tissue takes fuel.

Therefore, your body will further consume body fat for energy. Your thyroid hormone levels will be renewed to increase metabolism.

If you are losing at least 2 pounds of body fat each week, you are safe to re-feed. It will increase your fat loss.

It is best if you break it out into two separate meals. You will be adding 100 additional calories of carbohydrates each to two meals. You should do this one day per week.

Since you are treating yourself, practically any source of carbohydrates will do. It may be cereals, ice cream, or your favorite candy. It can be for breakfast or supper, as long as it is any two meals in one day.

Preferably, they should be consecutive meals. It is important that you minimize the fat and meat during these meals because it will negatively impact your digestion and metabolism, counteracting the goal of re-feeding.

Always remember to get back on track after your re-feeding meals. It is perfectly acceptable to reward yourself. However, if you stay slack on your diet for the rest of the day or week your vertical jump is going to suffer because you will gain weight.

People will do better if they allow themselves to cheat their diets from time to time. Rewarding yourself for a job will help you stay motivated. It is okay to cheat.

Do not worry, you can still enjoy an occasional sweet treat and still get the phenomenal vertical jump you have always desired.

Persistence Is a Key to a Better Vertical Leap

Rodney — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 10:03:36 +0000

If you have ever paid attention to baseball, you have probably heard an interesting fact about the baseball legend Babe Ruth.

Of course, Babe Ruth held an amazing record for his ability to hit home runs. However, he also holds a considerable strike out record as well.

Why the contradiction? Why is someone so spectacular and so awful at the same accomplishment? The answer is persistence. You must always persist, persist, persist with the upmost perseverance!

That is the secret to his success and it will be the secret to your success in your jump program. If you keep at it and stay focused, you will have a remarkable vertical leap.

Thomas Edison’s inventions were critical to the society we live in. However, he has hundred of more useless and failed inventions than successful ones. This fact does not make him any less brilliant or essential.

It does not matter goal. Whenever you examine the records and performance of any superstar, you are bound to see more failures than successes.

The players with the best vertical jump have more jumps that fall short to their name than sky high leaps. However, they keep trying and the success they do have is spectacular.

No matter how hard you try at it, you are going to have a failure. The longer you work toward you goal, your number of failures will increase. However, your number of successes will also increase.

This is the law of averages. You can only fail so many times before you will hit the target.

You may not hit the target every time. You will hit the target far more than the person with less time training and with less failures under their belt.

The most successful people will keep at it, no matter how many times they miss their target, and use the law of averages to their advantage.

Vertical jump programs are dependent on persistence. Day in day out, you must maintain your resolve to do all that you can. It is a mental strength that will help you stay on course. This mental strength will virtually guarantee your success.

You are probably saying this is a great philosophy, but what about when you do not see results? It is easy to stay persistent when you see an improvement, but sometimes it may take longer.

This is when you will need perseverance. You will need to address your negative thoughts. Learn to replace them with logical, positive thoughts that include short term and attainable goals.

This is also a good time to visualize yourself in the future. If you keep up your plyometric workouts, think about how advanced you will be.

Possibly right now you are only jumping a few inches higher every 10th time you jump. If you keep up the steady work, can you see yourself jumping 2 inches higher in over 50% of your jumps?

If you persist for 6 months, will you be able to jump 5 inches more in over 75% of your jumps?

This type of visualization can make or break your training program. You have to see yourself jumping higher. You have to envision yourself bursting forth with sudden and powerful energy.

If you can keep up this type of visualization, it will help you persist and meet your goals.

Giving up now is the worst thing you can do. If you give up and convince yourself you will try again in the future, your mind will forever believe it has a way out.

However, if you persist in your commitment you will see your ratio of success begin to increase sharply and so will your vertical jump.

Move the Obstacles in Your Way to a Better Jump

Rodney — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 09:56:40 +0000

If you were driving in your car and came across a roadblock, what would you do? You would pull out a map and find the best detour.

You would not make a u-turn and go home because of one obstacle. You would not let anything keep you from your ultimate destination.

This policy is probably true for many aspects of your life. If you need to meet a deadline but have hit a speed bump, you find alternative ways to accomplish your goal. This is because it is easy to see the rewards of your work.

However, when it comes to something that requires true self-motivation, like a commitment to athletic training, it is highly probable you let obstacles come between you and your goals.

It is too easy to let speed bumps keep you from your training goals. Almost 80% of all people who fail at training failed due to a mental issue and not a physical one.

If you want to increase vertical leap abilities, you have to learn how to get over and move past obstacles quickly.

A great way to face the obstacles in your way is to formally acknowledge them. Take time to think about each issue and write it down on paper.

Then, think about each obstacle. Try to develop a strategy to overcome each one.

It is important that you not dismiss any small obstacle or discredit any significant one. For example, are you spending time with people who discourage you and think you will not meet your goals?

Is a gym or weight room not as accessible as you need it to be? Are you having trouble staying motivated? Is your schedule too busy to allow for the training time needed?

You must ask yourself thorough questions like this to discover your obstacles. Then, it is time to devise a strategy to find a detour around those roadblocks.

For example, if your peers are not supporting your goals it is time to shut them out. You may not need to remove them from your life, but stop talking about your training and giving them the opportunity to bring you down.

If a gym or weight room is not easily accessed, then you need to start thinking out of the box. Any good jump manual should offer you alternatives to an official gym for training.

Many times, homemade or cheap store-bought products are even more effective than their gym alternatives.

If you are having trouble staying motivated, there is a simple solution. A training partner is the best solution to your problem. Find someone else with a similar ability and similar goals.

If you train together, you will be accountable to one another and it will help you stay on track.

Finally, if your schedule is not allowing for your vertical jump commitment, then you may not be as committed as you think. To get a vertical jump gain of several inches you are going to need to spend serious time working out, eating right, and making healthy choices.

If you cannot prioritize those things, then this may not be the time for you to start this kind of training.

However, you should examine your schedule thoroughly before you give up. Are you spending an extra hour watching the morning news when you could be training? Chances are, there is more non-prioritized time in your schedule than you think

There is literally no obstacle that cannot be overcome. You just have to start truly examining the problem and get creative about resolving it. If you can do that, you will start making better progress in your vertical leap training.

Vertical Jump Training Is Whole-Body Training

Rodney — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 05:48:17 +0000

One of the biggest mistakes made by any athlete is only training one body part. They believe that only one body part is used to perform a certain athletic ability. They train and train that body part and never understand why they do not make any progress.

For example, someone who wants to improve vertical jump ability may believe that the movement requires the body to descend into a ¼ squat position.

Therefore, they may believe they only have to perform squats while training. Furthermore, they may believe they do not have to do fully loaded squats with a full range of motion that goes past the required parallel.

The mistake becomes bigger from that point on. They train exclusively using a ¼ squat. However, they pile on a lot more weight than they would if they performed a full, deep squat because a ¼ squat can naturally handle more weight.

This is the biggest pitfall of any athlete while training. If you are using this train of thought you are never going to achieve the full potential height of your vertical jump capability.

The explosive vertical jump requires a body full of strength, not just legs. To get that strength, you need strength training.

The purpose of strength training is to improve the overall strength of all muscles involved in the motion. However, you would be surprised just how many muscles are involved with the movement.

You would also be surprised how training the whole body will make the muscles you need stronger and quicker.

In the example above, a full deep squat is a better way to strengthen all of the muscles involved in the vertical jump even though you may be able to handle more weight doing a ¼ squat.

The full squat activates all of the muscles in your legs, including your quadriceps, hamstrings, glutes, and calves. This builds strength. However, it also keeps the lower portion of your body developmentally balanced.

It also prevents knee injuries and muscle strains throughout your exercises to jump higher.

Simply doing a ¼ squat will not strengthen the muscles of your posterior chain, which are essential to giving your full leg and lower back the support and strength to explode.

It also puts an unusually high amount of strain on the knee tendons and joints. Essentially, you do not end us as strong or as injury-resistant as you would if you trained for a full squat.

There are times when a ¼ squat is useful to help increase a vertical jump. This happens only after you have established a base of strength and you are refining your development.

At that point, short periods of ¼ squats will be useful for strength advancement. This will help you push your jump another inch or so, but only after you have become strong and increased the jump by several inches.

This is only one example of how training your total body is more effective than training your specific muscle groups. The same goes for every part of your body.

Just you’re your lower body, training your total upper body will be far more effective than just getting your biceps and abs.

Do not skip any body part. If your training program spends time focused on body parts you do not feel are pertinent to the vertical jump, do not skip ahead or take them for granted.

Furthermore, if you find a vertical jump technique or training program that does not include full body training, it is not a quality program. If you find a total-body training program, you will have total body success.

Relieving Sore Muscles from Your Vertical Jump Program

Rodney — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 05:41:37 +0000

With any dedication to serious exercise program, there is going to be the occasional muscle soreness. The soreness is most likely to occur in the beginning or any time you advance to a new training intensity.

Feeling sore is the most often used excuse for skipping workouts and even giving up the program altogether. Finding an easy, quick, and reliable method to relieve that soreness will help you stay on track.

Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS) is the most common form of exercise-related soreness. It comes when your body is adjusting to a new level of training.

It typically shows up within 12 hours of your jumping exercises. However, it can show up as late as 48 hours which can make diagnosing the source of the pain more difficult. It is generally worse after two days and then quickly subsides.

The symptoms of DOMS are different than other muscle problems you may have felt. During your workout, you probably felt muscle fatigue that feels like you simply cannot perform another motion.

If you suffer an actual injury, you will feel sharp pain even when you are still. DOMS is more of a constant aching that is relieved by staying still but prevents you from ever getting comfortable.

Relieving that pain will be critical to maintaining your forward progress and momentum. Too long of a delay and your body will not be able to maintain the new training intensity.

It is important to reduce the pain as soon as you can, even before it happens if possible.

Since you have been training naturally, it is important that you mend yourself naturally as well.

You can use medicines, such as anti-inflammatory drugs and pain relievers, but those can put a toll on your liver, kidneys, and overall body functions that should be focused on healing your soreness and building jumping muscles.

Fortunately, there are several great ways to naturally and effectively heal your soreness.

Warm Up - This is your best defense DOMS. It keeps the muscles stretched out thoroughly, open to the new level of activity. If the muscles are not stretched out, they will be more likely to tear and swell. Any good jump bible will teach you how to warm up properly.

Active Recovery - Many people believe this is the absolute best way to improve DOMS once it occurs. Active recovery involves remaining active during the sore period but at a severely reduced intensity.

Keeping the muscles active helps them stay stretched and work out the swelling. It also keeps them capable of maintaining the new intensity once you start full training again.

Sports Massage - A gentle rubbing massage on the sore muscles is very therapeutic. It works out the locked up, tense muscles. Muscular tears which have caused swelling are aided by the increased blood flow stimulated by massage.

It is important to know that massage is better when done by a professional and an amateur can cause more harm than good.

Hydrotherapy - A long soak in a hot bath can do wonders. The hot water causes the muscles to expand and relax. The water gives the muscles gentle pressure to help stimulate blood flow.

Bubbling water, like that in a jacuzzi, adds an additional pressure and massaging motion. This is why every professional sports gym includes a full size jacuzzi.

Fortunately, DOMS is not a long term condition. You should know that it will occur when you first start and as you reach the higher intensity levels at the end of the training.

As long as you are caring for your soreness naturally, DOMS should not prevent you from training to get that ultimate vertical jump.

Women Can Get an Amazing Vertical Jump Too

Rodney — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 13:26:44 +0000

If you have paid attention to any sports media outlet, you are bound to have notice that women’s basketball is taking up more and more of the spotlight.

At the Olympics, the stands are just as full for the women’s finals as the men’s. Colleges worldwide are expanding their athletic programs to include women’s basketball and groom future professional players.

Female players everywhere train to perfect their game, which includes training for an amazing vertical jump.

A fundamental law of how to jump higher in basketball is that all people were created equal. While men generally have more muscle than women, a woman’s muscle is just as efficient.

Women have the same ability to build muscle as a man. They can train to make the same height gains as men.

Training Is Universal

The key to having an amazing vertical jump is to increase the right kind of muscle training. Muscles are essentially composed of fast and slow twitch muscle fibers.

It is the fast twitch muscle fibers that let an athlete get the explosive jump that is essential to excel at basketball and plenty of other sports such as volleyball and softball.

No matter what your gender, you must improve your fast twitch muscles to get the vertical jump you want.

Plyometrics are generally the best way to train and increase fast twitch muscle fibers. The philosophy of a plyometric program is that you can make your muscles more efficient to achieve explosive strength.

Plyometric based jump workouts increase the quantity, strength, and agility of the fast twitch muscle fibers. Additionally, the goal is to retrain the slow twitch fibers to act more quickly like fast twitch fibers.

Typically, this training is accompanied by general fitness and nutrition improvement that support muscle strength.

Woman-Specific Training Tips

Plyometrics can be as effective for women as for men. Both genders can achieve the same proportional gains. However, there may be certain part of the training program which should to be adapted for women.

First, the natural build of a female tends to put excess weight around the abdominal area. It is very natural and healthy for women to have a slightly higher body fat percentage than men. However, this abdominal weight is literally weighing you down.

Your abdominal muscles are an essential part of getting an explosive vertical jump. They help you pull and propel your body upward.

Therefore, it is essential that you add abdominal muscle training to your plyometric workouts. This will help you counteract your body’s natural tendency to store fat in your abdomen.

Secondly, women have a higher probability of suffering a knee injury. The natural bone placement and wider hips of a woman puts the knees at a slight angle when planting the feet before a jump.

Also, the monthly hormone fluxuation that occurs leaves joints weaker at certain times. Finally, women’s shoes, especially high heels, often keep the knee at a slightly hyper-extended angle and the knee must be allowed to rest before attempting training.

It is important that you do all you can to support your knees while you are training and playing. Using knee supportive braces are a start, but they are not the only ways to keep your knees healthy.

Eat a diet that is rich in joint-health nutrients like calcium. Try to limit how often you wear heel elevated shoes. Furthermore, always made sure you have thoroughly warmed up your knees before beginning your training.

Next Steps

These tips will help any woman train more efficiently and safely. Since the principles of plyometrics works the same for both genders, a quality program should deliver the results you want.

Avoid any “miracle” program promising unrealistic gains because it could be safe. Under the advice of a plyometric program you can trust, you will start to see real results.

Why Plyometrics Delivers the Best Vertical Leap

Rodney — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 13:18:54 +0000

Plyometrics is the definitive method of increasing your vertical jump and overall athletic ability. You can read a lot of information online telling you that plyometrics is the answer and how to perform the exercises.

However, unless you truly understand the goal of plyometrics you will not be able to make the most out of your training.

Understanding Plyometric Method

Plyometrics are a relatively new training concept, but this does not mean it is not an effective way to train. Plyometric training is a series of movements that tighten certain muscle tissue.

At the same time, it trains the nerves to deliver a specific pattern of muscle contractions to generate deliver the most strength in the least amount of time.

This muscle contraction is the center of plyometric movement. It is typically broken down into three phases. The first phase, or eccentric phase, is the rapid muscle lengthening movement.

Then, there is a momentary resting period known as the amortization phase where potential energy builds.

Finally, the contraction ends with an explosive muscle shortening during the concentric phase where all the muscles work together to deliver the desired motion.

In plyometrics, you are training your myostatic reflex. This reflex is how the automatic contraction of your muscles occurs when the stretch sensory receptors are engaged.

It is important to note that this does not train the muscle to maximize strength, it trains the muscle to react reflexively with the most strength possible.

Plyometrics also trains the tendons and all other supportive tissue to respond simultaneously with this contraction. In laymen’s terms, you are training the muscle to contract and deliver the most explosive output before you even consciously think about it.

The Physics of The Training

A muscle’s ability is measured by how long it takes your strength to be transformed into speed. People can be very muscular, but they lack athletic power because they cannot convert their strength into speed in a short time.

They may be able to lift 300 pounds for more than a minute, but they cannot do an 11 or 12 second 100 meter sprint.

On the other hand, someone who could never hold 200 pounds for 30 seconds can still get a maximum vertical jump force output that is several inches over their counterpart.

During the concentric phase of the plyometric movement, there is a limit to the amount of force with which the muscle can contact. If the muscle is loaded while it is being lengthened it will increase the storage of potential, elastic energy.

This elastic energy, when released, will produce the powerful “snapping” reaction that is similar to a rubber band that is stretched to its limits and then released.

This elastic energy fades quickly. Therefore the contraction must occur immediately after the eccentric stretch. This movement is called the “stretch shortening cycle” which is an essential of plyometric vertical jumping exercises.

Of course, there is also a “brain training” portion to plyometrics. The stretch shortening cycle involves thousands of nerve reactions that must move the muscles, tendons, and bones.

Reflexes must be quickened both physically and mentally. This is why plyometrics uniquely applies repetitive actions to train reaction time but balances the intensity and volume to prevent too much strength gain.

Now It Is Time to Commit

Now that you know a lot more about the principles and physiques behind plyometrics, you may be able to see why they are so beneficial. There simply is no better method for reaching the explosive power you need.

Once you commit to a plyometric program, you will finally get the vertical jump you have always wanted.

How to Know Your Vertical Jump Training Is Working

Rodney — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 13:12:53 +0000

The vertical jump is perhaps the single most important attribute of any athlete. In the world of sports, from basketball, to track, and even to wrestling, this is the quintessential test of athletic ability.

No matter the sport, the vertical jump is used to measure the athlete’s ability to efficiently and explosively use strength.

This essential skill makes most athletes desperate to improve their ability. This has led to a rise in the popularity of programs and products promising to deliver amazing results.

There are many different options out there, some offering almost “miracle” results that you will never actually see.

Unfortunately, it can be difficult for the average person to determine which vertical jump program is best. Before you waste months or even years on the wrong program, you must learn how to evaluate your progress.

This will help you change and adapt, or even start all over, quickly and efficiently until you find the program that is right for you.

If It Sounds Too Good To Be True, It Is

There is too much misinformation out there about what will deliver results and what will not. It is easy to fall for a gimmick, spending hundreds of dollars, and never seeing the results you want.

The best way to steer clear of this pitfall, always make sure you trust your instincts and use common sense.

First, do not fall for a product that claims you only have to use the product, and make no other changes, to increase vertical jump. You know this is not realistic.

If you did not have to change anything, just take a pill or try a new shoe, then everyone would have an amazing vertical leap.

Next, avoid anything that sounds unsafe. If it does not make sense to you, do not do it. The vertical jump puts a lot of strain on your joints and tendons.

If you are doing it wrong or compromising your body in any other way, you could be risking permanent damage.

Finally, do not fall for the exception and ask around. There is always going to be one person with unique genes or ability that will see some amazing results that no one else does.

This is the exception and not the rule. This is why you need to talk to a lot of real people who have used that method.

If something worked for more than 75% of the people you talk to, you may have the same results. Otherwise, try something else.

Measure Your Results

The only true test of your progress is to measure your results. You should always know what your current vertical jump ability is and how well you are progressing.

While there are a lot of different techniques to do this, the simplest is actually the best.

Stand next to a wall that you will be able to reuse for marking. Stretch your arm and hand as high as you can up the wall while staying flat footed.

Do this several times and use tape to mark the highest point on the wall you were able to touch.

Next, cover your fingertips lightly with a colored chalk. Stand in the same place as before. This time, however, jump as high as you can to touch the wall.

You should see a mark on the wall where your chalk-covered fingers touched. You should repeat the jump several times.

Once you have determined the highest reach, mark that with another piece of tape. The distance between the two marks is your current vertical jump.

Using Your Results

Chances are you have been making some changes to improve your health and fitness. By doing this, you will probably see a gain of a half or whole inch. This happened because you gained strength, not because a miracle product worked.

A quality program to get a higher vertical jump should deliver more than an extra inch. Plyometrics, the most effective training technique, can deliver results of more than four inches.

If you do not see these kinds of results with your current program, it is time to move on to something more effective.

Giving Yourself Enough Recovery to Achieve a Better Jump

Rodney — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 12:48:09 +0000

You know that your vertical jump is one of the ultimate tests of your athletic performance. It is what takes your game to a whole new level. This is why you have been training so hard.

However, if you are not fully recovering from your training you could be losing inches of jump height.

The best vertical jump bible is going to teach you how to recover fully. However, it is still easy to over train and not give your body a long enough recovery period.

It may be that you have not seen the results you wanted and are working double-time to improve. Perhaps you have seen results and are over-eager to see more. Either way, you are doing yourself a disservice.

What Happens When You Don’t Recover Fully

When you are training and playing, both your body and your nervous system are taxed. Weight training and high-speed training is an excellent way to improve your strength and subsequently your vertical jump. However, this training does cause damage.

Usually, your body will repair this damage. In fact, the damage itself is what forces your body to build stronger, healthier tissue. These repairs do not happen while you train, they happen while you rest.

If you are not getting enough rest and recovery you will not be able to make the necessary repairs. Furthermore, when you do train you will be causing more damage than the body can repair.

Your body is going to become overly fatigues. This fatigue will manifest itself first in your high-speed physical performance. Put simply, you are deteriorating your muscle’s ability to jump explosively.

How to Know If You Are Overtraining

You probably already have a method of tracking your progress during your workouts to jump higher. If not, you should get one.

You should repeat your test every two weeks because your vertical jump test is the best barometer of the effectiveness of your training program. If the vertical jump is improving, so are your speed, agility, and strength.

If you are not getting enough recovery, you will see a decrease in your vertical jump. You may not even notice the fatigue, but your vertical jump will be impacted quickly.

If you see as little as a 10% decrease in your vertical jump, this is a sign that you should cut back your volume or intensity.

Optimize Recovery

You do not want to cut back your training too much, or you will lose out on the progress you had been making. Therefore, do not stop training altogether.

If you have seen a 10% decrease in your vertical jump, simply decrease the volume of your training in half and the intensity by 10% for the rest of the training week.

For example, if you have been doing 18 sets of weight lifts with a load of 60%, change that to 9 sets with a load of 50%. Also, make sure you do not train to failure.

Once you see your height go up 10% or more, you will be ready to increase the training. You should up your volume by 20% and the intensity of your training by 5%.

Of course, soreness is also a sign of poor recovery. If you increase your volume and intensity too much, you may begin to feel sore.

If you are sore at anytime, you should decrease your intensity to protect your body and make the most progress.

If you train your body hard and give yourself enough rest, you will reap the reward of a higher vertical jump.

Remember to monitor your progress so you can quickly recognize overtraining and fatigue. As long as you give yourself enough recovery, your training will pay off.

5 Safety Tips While Increasing Vertical Jump

Rodney — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 12:35:35 +0000

Training to increase your vertical jump is the thing that can take your athletic ability to the next level. It not only improves your jumping ability, but it increases your power as an athlete.

Plyometrics is the best was to train if you want to master the vertical jump. Before you begin, here are some tips to help you make the most of your training and stay safe:

1) Always Warm Up - This cannot be stressed enough. The main cause of injuries is failure to warm up properly. Many people use their busy schedules as an excuse and claim they do not have enough time to warm up and train.

The fact is if you cannot make the time to warm up, you probably are not as committed to your training as you should be.

You must thoroughly warm up your entire body before you start your training. Stretch your legs, your arms, your abdomen, your neck, and everything else. Quality training programs, like The Jump Manual will teach you how to stretch out properly.

2) Foot Placement Is Critical - Another leading cause of injuries is incorrect foot placement. Feet should be planted at the beginning of a movement.

Feet should land firmly, landing with your ankles fixed at the end of a movement. You should do this during your training and while you play.

If you do not have the right foot placement, you are risking injury to your legs and back. However, if you are not landing right you will also not be training right.

Your muscles will be training at the incorrect angle and your muscle will not learn to instinctively and explosively move with the correct form.

3) Aim For The Ball Of Your Foot - As you learned earlier, foot placement is critical to training safely and correctly. Your landing during plyometrics is the most important part of foot placement.

Landing on the ball of your foot is the natural way to land a jump. It will help you maintain your balance.

If a ball-footed landing is not possible, you may land flat footed. This is not preferable because it does not give you as much balance control.

However, if you realize a ball-footed landing is not possible as you come down, a flat-footed landing is better than landing with your ankles turned.

4) Always Train On The Correct Surface - This is just as important to safety as stretching and foot placement. Plyometric exercises are quick and powerful. If you are performing them on the wrong surface, you could easily and permanently damage your ankle or knees.

Never workout on a wet or damp surface or you may easily slip while performing high-speed exercises. Sprung floors are ideal. However, you can also train on dry, cut grass or an athletic track.

5) Give 100% But Start At The Beginning - Another common mistake is to start your training at too high a level. Plyometrics takes a 100% commitment. If you get hurt, feel sore, or feel like you are giving too much you will be more likely to give up or not commit fully.

The best way to keep this from happening is to start at the beginning level of your program. No matter how athletic and in shape you already are, you should still start at the beginning to prevent injury.

Also, do not advance yourself to the next level prematurely. If you are using a quality program, you should trust it to advance you accordingly.

These tips will keep you safe. As you progress in your training, you will stay injury free. When you reach the end of your training and have safely increased your vertical jump by several inches, you will be glad you were patient and careful.