Friday, October 17, 2008

Learn How to Increase Your Vertical Leap - See Improvement Fast

Are you in basketball, gymnastics or any sport where a good vertical leap is important? Are you ready to learn how to increase your vertical leap? As any athlete knows, it takes time and work to get improvement on the field, but learning how to increase your vertical leap can be surprisingly easy if you get the right kind of program.

If you want to understand how to increase your vertical leap, the first step is to understand how the vertical leap works. A vertical leap begins with a standing start not a running start. It uses quads, and muscles of the p-chain (hamstrings, glutes, etc.) to provide sudden, explosive power to lift the body vertically off the floor. A vertical leap therefore requires muscles to be both strong and fast. Fast, because all the strength of the muscles has to be applied in a fraction of a second, or most of it is wasted. Learning how to increase your vertical leap, therefore, consists of both strength and speed training for the muscles involved.

A big mistake some people make is spending an enormous amount of time working on their quads, and neglecting the other muscles involved. This makes really powerful quads, but does not do anything to improve the vertical jump. That is because all the muscles need to work together at the same time in any jump and even if one muscle is much stronger then the others, it will not be able to use all its power. If a stronger muscle does use all its power, the other muscles will be injured.

Another mistake to avoid when learning how to increase your vertical leap is over work. Constant work will damage muscles rather then improving them. This is because muscle strength and speed actually increase between workouts, rather then during the training. If you do not have enough downtime (usually 24 hours) between major workouts, your muscles never have a chance to recover and improve.

And do not forget to maintain a good diet as well. Some athletes have seen significant increases in performance just by changing their diet, and making sure to get enough vitamins and minerals each day.



Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=John_K_Wilson

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