In volleyball, how do you get a better vertical?

Question

I am about 5'9 and I wish to be able to jump higher, what muscle groups do I need to work? I only weigh about 140 so my fat doesn't srag me down that much.

Answer 1

Great question! The main muscle group you'll want to work most is your quadracepts (front of your legs). However, the act of jumping also involves coordinated movements including swing your arms upward reaching the apex at the point of liftoff. All of this takes practice. Also, when working your quads, you want to improve strength, but also endurance to get that explosive power and keep it throughout the game.
Without going too much into anatomy and physiology, there are two types of muscle fibers (fast twitch vs. slow twitch). Developing power will help you lift heavy weights but may not give you the explosive speed to jump high. This is why you need to do both high weigh, low repetition on some days AND low weight, high repetition on other days. Also incorporate exercise that develop the coordinated movements of jumping and swinging your arms.
For example, stand under a basketball rim with both feet planted and practice jumping up trying to grab the rim. Then do it from a run and notice how you'll jump off of your strong leg and lift the opposite leg upwards to achieve greater height.
In short, work on leg strength and endurance and concentrate on coordinated body movements in the mechanics of the jump.

Answer 2

Hey man, I play volleyball and i had the same problem all the way through jr year of high school. Then the summer between jr. and senior year i increased my vertical 9 inches and now have a 36" vertical. there are lots of things you can do but here are a few...if you have access to a tredmill with incline, set it to like 5-6 mph give it some incline, maybe a level 10 incline and run backwards on the tredmill for about 5 minutes. try to do that as close to everyday as possible. Also try calf raises i did 3 sets of 70 on the stairs morning and night taking one day off in the middle of the week to let my muscles recover. Do lots of abs such as crunches and finally Jump rope, i do 1000 jumps per day taking one day off for recovery. In creasing vertical jump is not easy work but in volleyball, every inch matters. im bouncing the ball easy now and i way almost 200 lbs. so work hard and it will pay off..hope i was of some help.

Answer 3

Hi. If you have the opportunity to get to a weight room, start doing squats. Start with some lighter weights, say, 135 pounds (that's one 45 pound plate on each side). HAVE SOMEONE show you how to squat properly. The first week, do only 2 sets of 10 every other day, that way it gives the muscles time to repair themselves.

If you're running and have access to hills, run hills like crazy. That helps the fast twitch muscle grow as well.

If you do not have access to a weight room, you can buy some 10 pound dumb bells and do lunges each day.

Those are a couple of ways to get your vertical increased. Squats are the best but they're all effective! Have fun!

Answer 4

Professional Grade Vertical Jump Training - http://JumpHigher.NaturallyGo.com

Answer 5

I play volleyball too!! All I can say is lift weights and make yourself faster. The faster you can work, the more air your lungs have to last you longer on the court. As to lifting weights, when you can move faster, it helps to have strong muscles to keep you moving faster. If you search, there is a specific volleyball workout for a weight room: things like benchpress and cleans....etc. But i would say, consistently run and get used to running, also do that volleyball work out as much as possible with weights, it will help you move faster and jump higher while playing.

Answer 6

okay to get a better vertical you need to focus on your legs
doing squats increasing reps & weight at a consistency will build muscle mass for your legs.
also flexibily increases your vertical tremendously everymorning when you wake up just take about 10 minutes to stretch and before you go to bed before and after practice
( trust me, i'm about 5 - 5'1 and my vertical is huge making me able to give good consistent blocks hahaha. and im extrememly flexible)

and one drill you can do is
face a wall about one feet in between you and the wall
squat down to where you are fully loaded put hands up with elbows bent at a right angle stay loaded then jump up as high as you can and bring your arms up and try and reach like a block of course.
make a line at where how high you want to jump to and just keep doing it in reps until you reach the line and when you do just keep moving it.

make sure you do this slowly though. if you go to fast itll wear you out and wont help on your vertical.


goodluck!

Answer 7

well im 5.8 and this is what i do in order ok 1- streach 2- run 3-warm up with a friend or a wall with bumping hitting and setting 4- start witha friend steeing or throwing you the ball and then you hit it 5- stretch again you want to streach and make you back and arm stronger with routens liek mine i hope i helped you and the vertical way would be the way you hit the ball sp say you are middle the you vertical way would eb facing the net and say out side hitter on teh right you would be facing the right and the left outside would be facing the left

Answer 8

i'm 5'6 and i have a consistent vertical of 12'2. i do my approach a lot of times every day in my volleyball stuff, so i get practice. give yourself targets to touch, like a beam in your house or a tree branch outside. as you can jump higher, make your targets higher. i do the same thing for blocking, only without an approach (duh). i do 250 approaches per day (not all at once), 150 blocks per day (not all at once) and 150 jump sets three times per day. i also run a lot to keep my leg muscles in shape. try doing a warmup jog before you jump, it helps me jump higher. i hope i helped you!!

Answer 9

Get a book or search the internet for plyometric exercises. I posted a link below to help you get started. I am 6'6", 240, with a 34" vertical leap. Before I started doing plyometrics, I could barely touch a basketball rim. At my height, that is sad. But with doing the right exercises, it really helped. Good luck!

http://www.sport-fitness-advisor.com/plyometrics.html

http://www.weightsnet.com/Docs/plyometrics.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plyometrics

Answer 10

the best way to work your verticle is just constant jumping, your calves are a large part of your vert as well as thighs and hamstrinfs, if you want a real workout thar helps this try squating using little weight but lots of reps, or jump with ankle weights