GAIN AN INCH ON YOUR VERTICAL JUMP

Posted on August 17, 2015August 19, 2015 by rmnilson5

How do you increase your vertical? The answer is surprisingly simple: Jump! If you want to become a better shooter, get up a lot of shots. If you want to improve your dribbling, spend time handling the rock. And if you want to jump higher, commit to a vertical jump program. This week’s blog post shows a jump exercise that will increase your coordination and get you another inch above the rim.

A basketball jump program should mirror the movements that you do on the court. You elevate forward to finish at the rim. You jump laterally when rebounding. You rotate when shooting a turn-around jumper. Each one of these movements requires coordination and must be practiced.

Here’s a quick video of the Box Jump Matrix with Single Leg Balance. As you can see, it includes all three planes of motion. Special thanks to professional basketball player, Ira Brown, for letting us use his big-time hops for the demo.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BevwHTncGvU

Here are a few tips that will help you get the most out of your jumps:

Jump as high as you can. There’s a difference between endurance and power. If you want to become better conditioned, doing a lot of reps at sub-maximal effort will help. But if you want to jump HIGHER, you must jump as high as you can on every rep.

Quick and Quiet. Vertical jump expert, Chad Chambers @UDJumpAcademy, teaches his athletes to get quick off the ground and land quietly. This improves how high you can jump on your second attempt and also saves your joints from excessive pounding.

Progress your program. If this is your first time doing a jump program, start with limiting your total jumps in a workout to 50 (10 forward, 10 left lateral, 10 right lateral, 10 left rotation, 10 right rotation). As your body gets stronger, you can increase the total number of jumps to 100+.

If you want to see more basketball-specific jumping videos, check out our YOUTUBE channel.

Do you have any tips that have helped increase your vertical jump? I’d love to hear about it! Please leave a comment below.

WHAT YOU MEASURE IMPROVES

Posted on June 15, 2015June 22, 2015 by rmnilson5

How bad do you want to reach your goal? Bad enough to it write down and place it where you’ll see it day and night? Bad enough to work towards it’s attainment every week, regardless of whether you’re sick, tired or injured? If so, I can almost guarantee it’s going to happen.

GOAL MAPPING

Here’s my three-step process for creating and tracking your path to success. It involves goal mapping and reading an Affirmation every day. I not only use it with my players, but my kids and I also have Goal Maps hanging in our rooms. It might seem a little crazy, but it works!

STEP 1: TEST

When you’re following a map, it’s important to know your starting point. If you want to dunk a basketball, you need to know how high you can touch. If you want to improve your free throws, you have to know your current shooting percentage.

Do some research and select a test that will measure what you want to improve. Then test yourself so you can find out your starting point for Goal Mapping. My son Carter tests his vertical every month on a Vertec and we post the results on his bedroom wall.

STEP 2: CREATE

Now that you know where you’re starting from, you can create the path to where you want to go. I suggest Goal Mapping to track your monthly progress and writing an Affirmation to read every morning and night.

Here’s a picture of my son Carter’s Goal Map that hangs on the wall in his room. You can change the measurements and timeline to match your goal.

Click the link to download a Goal Mapping pdf:

B4B Goal Mapping

In addition to goal mapping, you need to write an Affirmation Statement that will move your goal from your conscious brain to your subconscious mind.

Words are powerful and what you repeatedly say to yourself creates your reality. Make sure you’re building yourself up and reinforcing a positive attitude.

Here’s a sample Affirmation that I use with my players who want to dunk. You can change the highlighted areas to match your goal.

AFFIRMATION

“By November 15, 2016, I will dunk on a 10-foot hoop. To accomplish this goal, I will do my jumping program every week.

I believe with all my heart that I will dunk a basketball. My faith is so strong that I can already feel the ball in the net with my hands on the rim.

I have a written training plan to increase my vertical and will follow it every week until I’m playing above the rim.”

Write your Affirmation with a pen and paper and post it above your Goal Map. Read the Affirmation while you’re brushing your teeth in the morning and before you go to bed.

STEP 3: WORK

Dreams only come true when you wake up and go to work. Follow your written plan every week and then test yourself at the end of the month to track your progress.

Depending on your goal, you might not see improvements every month. Expect that this will happen and continue to track your progress. Remember, what you measure improves!

You build self-confidence by continually setting goals and accomplishing them. It’s the kind of unshakable confidence that can only be earned through hard work.

Good luck with your Goal Mapping and Affirmations. I’d love to see them when you’re finished. Take a picture, post it on Instagram or Facebook and tag me so I can see the finished product.

HOW TO INCREASE VERTICAL JUMP BEFORE BEDTIME

Posted on March 12, 2015March 12, 2015 by rmnilson5

My all-time favorite athletes are my three children: Carter, Ella and Memphis. I’ve been thinking of ways to use my passion for basketball strength and conditioning to help them enjoy their athletic careers, and came up with a fun game to help them increase their vertical jump. Beware: Although this is a great way to increase vertical, it’s also a clever way for kids to delay brushing their teeth.

INCREASE VERTICAL JUMP

The picture below is the doorframe to Carter’s room. Each numbered piece of paper is a quarter inch higher than the next. Every time he touches a piece of paper, I take it off the frame and we celebrate. I remember the first time I touched the door frame of my room, the ceiling in my house, the foam on the backboard, the rim, and eventually the top of the square. Each benchmark was a big deal because I’ve always dreamt of flying like Michael Jordan. I don’t have any expectations that Carter will be able to dunk from the free throw line, but I know from training thousands of athletes that the best way to increase vertical leap is to jump as high as you can, and do it often. If you want to jump higher, you have to practice jumping high. We have a couple other athletic related bedtime routines that we’ve implemented and it’s been amazing to see how fast kids improve. I love this challenge because it’s based off of the principles of success and progression. We started touching strips that were almost easy for him in order to build up his confidence. He must have told me ten times, “Dad… this is easy!” As I took off the lower numbered pieces of paper, the challenge grew only slightly because the next piece of paper is just a tad higher than the one he just touched. Here is a short video of Carter touching #7 for the first time:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Km4RT5HG4rg

THE RESULTS

In the four weeks we’ve been doing this drill, Carter has gone from touching #5 to touching number #12. This means he’s increased his vertical jump almost two inches!

I’m excited to see him discover how to jump off one foot and learn how to use his arms for power. You can already see in the video how he throws his hands back to put his front core on stretch. These are things I might have to coach him a little on, but for the most part, all I have to do is present him with a challenge and his body will figure out the rest.

If you’d like to see more basketball-specific exercises to increase vertical jump, visit our YOUTUBE channel.

Do you have any fun ideas to help kids become more athletic and increase vertical? Leave a comment below and tell me about it!

Category Archives: jump HIGHER