How to Improve Your Jumping Ability

You never know when having hops will save your life. Perhaps you'll be chased by a rottweiler and your jumping ability will get you over a fence. Perhaps you'll need to jump over a biker to avoid a rabid clown. Perhaps you'll have the basketball with 2 seconds left and be faced by a 7' tall giant. Jumping can be a vital skill.

Contrary to popular belief, jumping requires more than just strong leg muscles. Yes, having strong calf muscles helps a lot, but this is not the only requirement. You also should have strong upper body and mid body strength.

Playing sports that require a lot of jumping helps a lot. Basketball, volleyball, and handball are great.

Jumping rope is a great way to build agility and improve your calves.

You don't need to invest a lot of money in order to improve your jumping ability. Climbing stairs is an easy way to work the muscles needed. Biking is great also for improving your leg muscles. One easy exercise to do inside the home or anywhere is calf raises. Stand against a wall and place your open hands against the wall. Raise one foot and wrap it around the other leg's calf muscle. Then tippy-toe all the way up and slowly descend. Repeat 20 times, and then switch feet.

Find a challenging goal for jumping by looking for a ceiling or a tree branch that you can barely touch. If you have a basketball hoop this is easy because you can try dunking on successively higher rim-heights. Then after exercising for a while, see how high you can reach. First try dunking on a certain height with a tennis ball, then perhaps a football, then a small basketball, then a real basketball, then perhaps a bag of onions. Give yourself more challenges by trying to dunk with two hands.

Your weight will influence your jumping ability. It requires more effort to lift up a 200 pound body than a 120 pound body. You may need to slim up in general in order to improve your ups.

Remember to listen to your body at all times. Do not exercise too much and risk straining a muscle. Take pride in your improvements and be patient with yourself if the progress seems slow. Realize that although having jumping ability helps, some people are just naturally better and have a higher potential than others.