Ask the Strength Coach with Mark Philippi, CSCS, Philippi Sports Institute
Can You Really Learn to Jump Higher?
QUESTION: I have been having an argument with a friend of mine over a person’s ability to improve his or her vertical leap. My friend claims that a person is limited by genetics and making an effort is a waste of time. Can you shed some light on this subject? What can a person realistically expect to achieve, and if true improvements can be made what is the best way to go about it?
ANSWER: Your friend is partially correct. You are limited by genetics. Not everyone is capable of a vertical leap of 40 in. I have only trained two or three individuals that could jump that high and one is now in the NBA and the other two are professional football players. The NBA player came to me in college with a vertical of close to 40 inches. He was blessed with great genes. The football players were low to mid 30-inch jumpers that we improved to 40-inch vertical leaps. If you are not blessed with great genes you may never jump 40 inches but you can make substantial gains on the jumping ability you have if you are on the right training program.
The improvements we made on the two football players initially came from setting up a plan designed to make them more explosive athletes. We needed to improve their strength to bodyweight ratio or relative strength. This meant increasing their lower body strength without substantially increasing their weight. This was done with squats and front squats. Nothing improves leg strength like squatting. Now in addition to improving strength we also had to improve explosive strength or rate of force development. This was done using explosive lifts on a platform. Olympic variations like the hang clean and hang snatch. These lifts are designed to improve explosiveness by moving a weight very quickly from the knees to the shoulders or overhead in one quick motion. They are great for improving explosive power. Additionally, a substantial amount of ballistic explosive training was done using a vertimax machine. This is a specially designed piece of equipment used for improving jumping ability for vertical sports like basketball and volleyball. An athlete performs sets of resisted jumps helping the nervous system adapt the ability to quickly apply greater force into the ground.
These carefully planned out techniques were used to drastically improve a solid vertical leap into a great vertical leap. Can everyone make these gains? No. Can everyone improve his or her performance with the right program? Yes. There is a genetic ceiling where performance gains may slow down but most athletes won’t reach that point. I have never seen an athlete that I thought did not need to get stronger, faster or more explosive. You can always improve if you put the time and effort into your training program. That includes vertical jumps.
About the author Mark Philippi, CSCS
Owner of PSI. UNLV Kinesiology Instructor. Lecture’s Nationally. 15 year Head Collegiate Strength Coach-UNLV. 7-Time World’s Strongest Man competitor. World Powerlifting Champion-1996. Call Mark at (702) 731-1774 with any questions.
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