Get Some Ups! Learn to Jump Higher to Dunk

It's every boy's dream on the playground. That one amazing day when you jump and find your hand above the rim as you throw the rock down over the rest of the kids. Unfortunately for most of us that just didn't happen. As much as we wished for it, and dreamt about it, we just didn't develop those skills as we slept. The good news is that if you can touch the net, you can develop the strength needed to jump higher to dunk the basketball.

If you've been struggling to increase your vertical leap you are probably falling prey to three of the most common mistakes people make when training to jump higher.

Mistake 1: Not training all of the muscles involved in jumping.

Did you know that you use more than just your quads, hamstrings, and calves to jump? Think about if for a second. What muscles do you actually use when you jump? Did you come up with gluts? Many people overlook their gluts but your gluts are responsible for a large portion of the force needed to accelerate your body into the air. This is where most people stop. These are the major muscles. However, your abs, lower back, and even your arms are used to generate momentum. If you overlook these minor muscle groups you are robbing yourself of inches from your jump height.

Mistake 2: Training muscles incorrectly.

It's really hard to change our thought process about training, but if we're going to get our hand above the rim, that is just what we need to do. When we don't achieve the results we want our first reaction is to work harder. If that doesn't work, we work harder. Training harder isn't always the answer. Sometimes we juts need to train smarter.

I recently read Andre Agassi's biography, I know we're talking about basketball, not tennis but hear me out. Early in Agassi's career he was having a hard time having energy to finish his matches. He knew he needed to build endurance. He worked with his trainer at the time and started running long distances and doing hill workouts. The result was that even after all of the hours of training he still just didn't have enough in the tank to finish long matches. It was only when he started working with a different trainer that started him training for short sprints, because that is what you do in tennis that he was finally able to really go the distance in matches.

The same concept holds true if you want to jump higher to dunk. You can do all the squats and leg lifts you want but that isn't going to add inches to your jump. You need to train for explosion. You need to build your fast twitch muscles, not your endurance muscles.

Mistake 3: Only focusing on one type of training.

Ok, we've established that we need to train properly for our sport. While weight lifting alone will not give us the results we want, it is necessary to build strength. At the same time we must not neglect plyometrics, and jumping exercises. Most people focus on just jumping or weight lifting. For best results incorporate all three. Avoid these mistakes and you will see improvement in your vertical jump.

If you are constantly coming up short even after all of your hard work in the gym and on the court, maybe you should stop going at it alone. If you want to jump higher to dunk [http://jumphighertodunk.info] we're here to help you reach your goal. I'm telling you now, if you can touch the net, you can dunk. Want to find out how? Go to JumpHigherToDunk.info [http://jumphighertodunk.info].