This is the most common question I tend to get. There is a simple answer, and a complicated answer, so let’s start with the simple answer: The best way to jump higher is to perform maximal jumps often Second to this, it is important to be performing a variety of explosive, fast movements, namely sprinting to compliment the explosive force of jumping. Finally, athletes must be able to support maximal jumping and sprinting with coordination and dynamic joint stabilization, which is a function of their sporting background (being well-rounded and generally athletic will ultimately generate God like athleticism.

This is a touchy subject in many circles, as the answer depends on a few factors, but in the vast majority of cases, yes, lifting weights will help you jump higher. The thing to remember is that lifting weights is only a means to an end which means that just because your jump may have increased 4 inches after 8 weeks of a resistance training program (which it often will) doesn’t mean that it will keep increasing if you keep striving to increase your maximal strength, thinking that a magic number in a lift will also yield a subsequent improvement in jumping (or sprinting) ability.

I heard “so and so” said I have to lift heavy to jump higher.

Heavy weightlifting is a very helpful tool to many athletes, but it is the cherry on the top of a solid training program that incorporates all ends of the “speed-strength” spectrum.

Heavy strength training, which is lifting weights, such as squatting and deadlifting above 80% of one’s maximal ability, helps athletes largely through something known as potentiation, which is the reduced firing threshold of the nervous system. Basically, heavy weightlifting makes the associated muscles of jumping “quicker on the trigger”, and allows more explosive and effortless movement in the window afterwards, so long as it is performed correctly.

Well, if I told you that mine was the best, you’d understand I’m biased, and perhaps not believe me. What I can tell you is that the “best jump training program” is the one that educates you on how to keep improving once the training program has ended. No career is made in a 12-week period of time, and many gains from jump programs reverse themselves slowly after the program is over.

The highest an athlete can jump is not attained through a program, but through a knowledge and understanding of the best practices in training for that individual athlete over a period of time (this is also why, at a point, most athletes should consider training using a customized regimen designed by an experienced coach).

Know that first of all, jumping and sprinting are the top two things that should constitute your training program. Every other training method is secondary, and regardless of how much “X-Athlete” does a particular lift or drill, it isn’t why that athlete can jump so high. “X-Athlete” can jump high because of their genetic talent, epigenetics (training environment, etc.), their athletic baseline (how many sports did they play growing up, and how early were they exposed to sports and play requiring maximal sprinting and jumping) and the amount of dedicated specific training they have been doing. No training program has ever been built on one or two exercises outside of actually jumping and sprinting, although a properly performed depth jump may come close.

When I try change my technique, I can’t jump as high, what’s wrong? Understand that the majority of changes to jump technique will cause a chain of events in the body that lead to a slower, more mechanical jump. Whenever you jump, you are unleashing a chain of sub-conscious processes in the body that are fairly “hard-wired” into your body.

Every time you make a change, expect there to be a period of time where this change will be mechanical, and forebrain oriented, and there will be a good chance that this decreases your jump for some time.

The best way to improve speed is to practice sprinting as fast as possible when in as fresh of a state as possible, and do this as frequently as possible.

Since the way that muscles operate at high speeds (which is reactively) is much different then how muscles operate in the weight room (concentrically), or even when doing sprint drills (limited vertical force requirement due to low speeds of movement), it is really critical that coaches and athletes don’t shy away from a hearty dose of regularly training fast.

As a primary method of building speed and agility, the answer is no. The speed ladder is a closer skill to dancing then it is playing a sport. It can, however, be a helpful warmup tool, as well as a fun method for teaching young athletes footwork and low-intensity plyometric activities. A good coach may use the agility ladder to help build and maintain coordination and ankle stiffness at the tail end of a warmup, or as a “cooldown” at the end of a workout.