The trick to gaining more distance in your jumps is training your muscles to have the ability to release a burst of energy. This means that while strength is incredibly important it is a different kind of strength, an “explosive” strength if you will. Think about a sprinter as opposed to a long distance runner, the sprinter has the ability to explode out of the gate but can only maintain his pace for a short period of time, this is the principal you should apply to your jumping and a vertical workout is the best way for you to practice this.

Be careful when choosing your vertical workout as many programs do not understand this key principal of energy and can actually end up doing more harm than good in the long run. If you start on a program and it insists upon a series of many repetitions this should be an immediate red flag. Excessive repetitions can actually do more harm than good when it comes to your jumping potential and you should definitely focus on other areas of exercise. The thing with excessive repetitions is that while you may see an early gain in your jumps due to the initial building of muscle you get with excessive reps, this gain will be short lived because you are actually training the wrong muscles. It is true that you do need to build muscle in order to have the power needed for the jump but it needs to be the right type of muscle!!

What you should be striving for with any vertical workout is to add lots of flexibility along with good old muscle power. By concentrating on flexibility over pure repetition you are training those muscle fibers that will be most able to help with your jumping and burst energy over time. Muscles that have a good deal of flexibility will contract more quickly and provide you with a much more explosive jump which in turn means more inches!

I would highly recommend that you find a personal trainer who specializes in this sort of thing to help make sure you are doing the best vertical workout that is suitable to you. But if this is not feasible than doing some focused research online and coming up with a well balanced program is definitely the next best thing! Just be careful to make sure that you are visiting reputable websites and always try to find multiple sources to confirm your information! It is completely normal for a driven, motivated individual to see early gains of at least an inch or two and with the right work ethic you may be surprised at the results you can achieve! Good luck in your search to find the best vertical workout!

Jeff R. Kent is an avid basketball player and even though being 6’4″ still likes to learn new ways to get a little more hieght in his jumps! He obtained 5 more inches to his jumps with these simple tips at http://www.becomeafreak.com/

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