Vertical Jump?

Question

I NEED TO LEARN HOW TO JUMP HIGHER!!!! i know like working out calf muscle and stuff helps but why do some people natually jump high. im 5'9'' and can touch 9'7'' and my friend who is 5'8'' can touch 10'2''... WHYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Answer 1

Your height is not the major factor, its the distance of your hips off the ground. After that it is technique then muscle comes into play. It is not just strength but type of muscle tissue - fast twitch verse slow twitch (white meat or dark meat.) For jumping you want fast twitch you want a muscle explosion! (Like a sprinter). After that, you must also consider your body weight.

There are a lot of variables with jumping. Also, when you are measuring the height of a jump, don't look at absoult value of the height jumped, look at the difference between standing reach and height reached in jump.

A person a bit shorter than you with longer legs will jump higher than you, all other factors equal. A shorter person with longer arms will seem to jump higher than you in your measure due to reach.