I once dreamed I could fly. I am not talking about being in a plane or even flying in a plane. Nope. Like a lot of children of the mid-70's to mid-80's time-frame, I cut my sports teeth watching the likes of Micheal Jordan, Dominique Wilkins, and the great "Dr. J" Julius Erving.
I played the sport they played and I want to dominate like they dominated: above the rim exploding and dunking that ball harshly through the hoop. The problem was I wasn't the athlete those guys were. The other problem was as I aged, I was leaving the years I considered to be my best in the rear view mirror.
The dream never died which lead me to actively search out ways to maybe still make it happen. As we all know, the internet is extremely valuable as an information resource. Even more important in my view, the internet connects us with people who have turned the answer "no" into a "yes" and met goals that were widely considered not possible. You can find them. You can become friends with them. They can share their path and secrets to getting where you want to go.
All in all, this holds very powerful possibilities. Still, the internet alone won't keep you from harm or failure. That's mostly a trial and error process. My goal in this article is to give you a window into the potential pitfalls of the specific goal of training for maximum vertical explosion in a compressed period of time.
Why People Fail At Meeting Their Jump Higher Goals
There are basically 4 main reasons why I failed multiple times trying to increase my vertical leap to actually dunk. You won't see age, weight, athletic ability, race, gender, or genes on this list. The reason is those things don't matter in meeting this goal.
1. People might workout with just the correct amount of effort, but they don't get proper rest. For vertical jump training, you want a minimum of 2 days off, and preferably 3 per week. This is hard for many athletes to comprehend because they feel deep down rest is for wimps. Rest is for people who want to hit their goals.
2. They don't work out correctly. You cannot jump significantly higher faster if you don't train at your maximum intensity for the jump act. The trick here is that exploding for a jump in a sport like volleyball or basketball takes a level of stress which you must recreate in your training. Slow cardio or endurance training won't get you there.
3. They don't eat right. Maximum vertical leap training is really the culmination of a process of breaking down your muscles and building them back up in a way that supports your goals. Eating is the way to properly rebuild them. If you fail to eat right, your training will suffer and your muscles won't rebuild properly.
4. They don't know which exercise to do when. This is probably the number one reason for failure. It is vital when training to jump your highest that you do things in a cognizable scientifically grounded order. Working hard for the sake of working hard is only inviting loss of time, possible injury, and the draining of hope.
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