Before I knew how to jump higher for basketball my vertical was about 28 inches. Pretty poor considering I was a small forward and I needed a good jump in order to out-jump the opponents' blockers. Therefore because of this I often got overlooked in favour of other forwards who had a better vertical.
I must have spent hundreds of dollars buying products that claimed they knew how to jump higher for basketball. I, rather naively, invested in air alerts as I saw an ad on TV of a guy dunking in style whilst wearing them. Obviously I didn't magically gain inches to my height and I was left equally frustrated!
However I am glad I did buy them and got burned because it led me into the science behind jumping. I began to learn that in order to increase your vertical jump and finally be able to dunk, I needed to work on my actual take off and overall technique, rather than buying a new pair of sneakers.
I started a workout routine that was completely specific to developing my muscles to induce fast twitch muscle fiber growth. It's these fast twitch fibers that gives you the explosive potential to increase your vertical height very quickly. My workout was of high intensity and also under an hour, in order to build muscle rather than burn it.
I also started to find out how to jump higher and dunk in basketball was all about the technique as well. For instance, by correcting my form and stability I was able to add 4 inches within days! Often, technique is overlooked in favor of building up leg muscle. Well technique is just as, if not even more important.
Therefore if you want to learn how to jump higher for basketball then I recommend you focus on two main principles; improving your diet and building muscle in your legs. The more fast twitch muscle fibers in your legs, the more explosive potential you have to jump. Squats are great for improving leg strength. To perform an effective squat, you'll want to lift heavy weight and only do a few reps.
The reason for this is simple; the more intense your workout, the more fast twitch muscle fibers you will build. I advise you to spend no longer than one hour in the gym, but make it a very intense workout. This should lead to quick muscle gains and an improvement in your jump.
