Tip #1

Before you go to work out, you should really warm up effectively to start your muscles off right. You really need your muscles to be loose so that you can really work out at your full potential.

Tip #2

You want to move on to the next set of exercises. The next set of exercises are power exercises which are important for working on much needed muscle strength in you legs. Explosive stretching and jumping exercises make up the power exercises to help you increase vertical leap.

Tip #3

Add some cardiovascular exercises to your routine to help increase your jumping skills. Jump rope and jogging are two cardio exercises that you could do. Exercises like those would speed up your results and really show you how to jump higher.

Tip #4

Increasing your stamina for enhanced sprinting is another one of the important tips to help you jump higher. Sprinting will help you jump higher because it is stretching your muscles in different ways. While you are increasing your muscle strength in your legs, the sprinting will give you enhanced flexibility. Eventually, you’ll notice that you’re jumping higher because of the the sprinting. This is one of those benefits that people gain from sprinting.

Tip #5

This is definitely one of the most important tips to help you jump higher. If you really want to know how to jump higher, you have to take your workouts to the next level. You need to raise your training up to higher, and more challenging levels. Elevated Jumps, Explosive Jumps, and Double Jumps will allow you to complete your training.

Those are just a few tips that help you jump higher. If you really want to increase vertical leap, and take your training to a totally new level, there are several vertical jump programs available to you. These programs have workouts that are proven to add inches to your vertical with effective techniques. Hopefully you have an answer for how to jump higher.

Palming the ball. Most of my friends say that you can’t do one-handed dunks without palming the ball unless you are tall enough. Not necessarily! Sure it helps if you can palm the ball. You have better control over the ball and thus you are more confident in your dunks. This is important too.

Dunking tip - Lick you fingertips for better palming.

But instead, you can do it this way. The next time you go for a one-handed dunk, catch the ball with two hands right before you jump. Bring it up as your body goes up after you jump.

As you extend your arms, turn away your left hand (if you are right handed which of course means you dunk with your right hand, if you are left handed turn away your right hand) and as soon as you reach that point slightly above the rim you can dunk the ball. Read that carefully.

For those of you with true passion for this game!

Let’s look at some ways you can do in-your-face-dunks. For doing in-your-face-dunks, it’s far easier if you can palm the ball. That’s for sure. Unless of course you want to dunk with both hands which is little harder to do because of two reasons.

You can’t jump as high. That’s a fact.

If you dunk with both hands the level where the ball is can never be higher than if you dunk with one hand. And..

When you go up with a palmed ball in one hand is very easy to extend your whole body to the MAX and thus hide the ball from the defender.

So if you decide to dunk in someone’s face with one hand you can do it this way. While you are going against the rim and you see that the defender is trying to block you, you simply put the arm that is not holding the ball (with your wrist pointing at the defender) in front of you so that he won’t be able to reject you that easy.

It really helps because this way you are in a better position.

You can even hide the ball by extending the arm that you are holding the ball with even further. And assuming that he is not really 10 inches higher than you and 2 times stronger, you should be able to DUNK IN HIS FACE Let him know who he is dealing with. It will scare him even more the next time he tries to reject you because subconsciously he knows that you’ve already dunked in his face.

Another way you can do it is, if you decide to dunk with two hands. This helps if you are not as tall as your defender but you are little stronger.

If you are somewhat stronger, you can do it because of your body. Your body will dominate in the air and it will push his body away thus getting you closer to the rim.

If you decide to go with two hands you should hide the ball by bringing it behind your head if you have the time to do that (meaning you have a decent vertical leap)

Now, there is another very important factor and that is the positioning. If the defender is ready to reject you (assuming he is as tall as you are, and has about the same vertical leap and is about as strong as you are) then it’s more difficult thing to do as opposed to if he was 2 seconds late, meaning you’ll be in a better position.

Box jumps

Find a stable object, a chair or box for example. Then jump onto the box and immediately back down to the previous position. Then repeat. This completes one rep. Do 15-20. Do 5 sets of 15-20 reps and rest for a minute between sets.

Depth Jumps

Jump from the box then immediately blast off. Repeat that process to complete one rep. Do 10 reps and 3 sets. Rest for aabout 1 minute between sets.

Knee Tuck Jumps

This is one of the hardest exercises you will do, but it is massively effective. Try to do 20 reps and 3 sets with 2 or if you need more than 3 minutes of rest between sets. Again, if this is too difficult for you, work at your own pace.

Squat Jumps

Stand in a squat position for 2 seconds and explosively jump up as high as you can and repeat that process 10 times to complete a set of 10 reps. Do 2 sets with 1 minute break between the two sets.

Squat Hops

The picture is, I think pretty much self-explanatory. Do 5 reps and then blast off on the sixth rep. This completes one set. Do 5 sets with 1 or 2 minutes break, depending on your stamina.

Do the exercises in the order given here. Don’t be forced to finish them all if you sense that you are not “there yet”. Slow down, don’t overtrain. Start small, then gradually build up your muscles.

The following tips will work on your quickness, agility, hand-eye coordination, and physical conditioning:

BASKETBALL CONDITIONING TIP #1: ENHANCING MOVEMENT

The ability to change direction quickly and move laterally or backwards with minimal loss of speed is contingent upon two factors: (1) an athlete´s ability to send a message from brain to the body about how and when to react; and (2) how well an athlete can coordinate upper and lower extremities while maintaining balance and speed of movement. Incorporating agility drills that focus on coordination and reaction time will help in enhancing movement efficiency.

BASKETBALL CONDITIONING TIP #2: 17′S

A 17 is a very common conditioning practice . You start behind one of the sidelines. You run to the other sideline counting as 1 then you run back to count as 2. You do this until you reach 17. (Always ending on the opposite side from which you started). To be in very good basketball shape you should be able to do this in under 1 minute.

BASKETBALL CONDITIONING TIP #3: BALL BOUNCED

Hold the ball in front of you with your legs spread wide. Bounce the ball hard between your legs so that it will come up behind you. Quickly move your hands behind your back to catch the ball. The harder that you bounce the ball, the more quickly you will have to move your hands.

BASKETBALL CONDITIONING TIP #4: BALL JUMPS

Stand next to a basketball with your feet together. Jump back and forth (sideways) over the ball as quickly as possible. Go for thirty seconds, counting the number of times that you return to the starting point. Try to better yourself every day.

BASKETBALL CONDITIONING TIP #5: BENCH JUMPING

Either face a bench that is about one and a half feet high or stand beside it. You can either jump over and back or sideways. Feet should be kept together. Go for thirty seconds and count the number of times that you return to the starting point. Attempt to increase the number every day.

BASKETBALL CONDITIONING TIP #6: CLAP HANDS

Hold the ball behind your knees. Release it, clap your hands in front of your knees, then return your hands behind your knees and catch the ball before it hits the ground.

BASKETBALL CONDITIONING TIP #7: COBRA

When you are practicing with a partner, you can work on your hand quickness with this drill. Both of you stand inside the jump circle in a defensive stance. Try to hit the inside of each other´s knees while remaining inside the circle. Whoever touches the inside of the other´s knees an agreed to number of times is the winner.

BASKETBALL CONDITIONING TIP #8: FOUR SQUARES

Find a place on the floor where two line intersect. These create four areas that are numbered one through four. Jump 1-2-3-4, then 4-3-2-1. Count the number of times you return to square #1 in thirty seconds. Try to better yourself every day.

BASKETBALL CONDITIONING TIP #9: FRONT-BACK-CATCH

Pass the ball from in front of your body to behind it between your legs. Move your hands quickly to behind your body to catch the ball before it hits the ground. Once you have caught it, pass it back to the front of your body through your legs and catch it again.

BASKETBALL CONDITIONING TIP #10: HAND CLAPS

Start holding a basketball. Toss it up, clap your hands twice, then catch the ball. Repeat, clapping twice. Continue to increase the number of times that you clap your hands. See how many times you can clap your hands and still catch the ball.

BASKETBALL CONDITIONING TIP #11: JUMP ROPES

One of the most important pieces of equipment a basketball player can possess is a jump rope. Daily use of a jump rope will develop stamina, leg strength, agilty and coordination, timing, quickness, and hand-eye coordination. All of these are extremely important to becoming a good ball player.

BASKETBALL CONDITIONING TIP #12: LANE SHUFFLE

The lane shuffle is a progressive drill that is outstanding for developing body control and coordination. You shuffle across the foul lane from one line to the other, first touching the line with your outside hand, the second time touching the line with the inside hand forcing a crossover step, then, the third time, touching the line with both hands. The drill can be run for a set time period with players counting the number of times they touch the lines.

BASKETBALL CONDITIONING TIP #13: LINE JUMPS

Stand beside any line on the floor. With your feet together, jump forward and backwards over the line, then sideways back and forth (two separate exercises). Repeat for thirty seconds, counting the number of times that you return to the starting point. Try to better yourself every day.

BASKETBALL CONDITIONING TIP #14: MIMIC MOVES

A basketball player´s quickness and agility program would include drills which emphasize lateral movement, change of direction, and sudden starts and stops (with or without ball) because these movement patterns are specific to the sport of basketball. By implementing these drills, inevitably, a basketball player´s skill acquisition is enhanced.

BASKETBALL CONDITIONING TIP #15: REDUCE GROUND TIME

To develop quicker movements for various drills, a basketball player should strive to reduce the amount of time spent on the ground when performing drills. Whether a player is fresh or fatigued while performing a drill, the goal should be to move the feet quickly and forcefully while constantly spending the least amount of time possible on the ground.

BASKETBALL CONDITIONING TIP #16: SIDE CATCH

Place the ball between your legs with one hand holding it in front of your body and the other behind. Let the ball go and switch the position of your hands, front to back and back to front, and catch the ball before it hits the ground.

BASKETBALL CONDITIONING TIP #17: WALL PASSING

A good way to increase both hand quickness and hand-eye coordination is with wall passes. Stand in front of a wall and pass the ball hard against the wall, catching it upon its return. As you improve your hand coordination, decrease the distance you stand from the wall so that the ball will come back more quickly and you have to react more quickly.

Product Name: Springbak Speedsoles

Price: 5/5

Effectiveness: 7/10

Overall: 12/15

‘Don’t get your hopes up and you won’t be dissapointed.’ This was the wise, if somewhat pessimistic advice that I was following when I tried out Springbak Speedsoles (also known as ‘jumpsoles’ and ’springsoles’), so I was pleasantly suprised to find that these little nippers had at least some positive effects, even if they didn’t quite live up to the marketing hype. And boy is the hype overblown; these simple little insoles that you slip inside your shoe under your current ones are supposed to improve your jumping height, running speed, stamina (not in the bedroom I presume), flexibility and even strength, while meanwhile preventing shin splints and joint problems. About 50% of that is true but we’ll get into that in a minute.
The way these things work is something of a mystery with even the official website coming across slightly muddled but it seems that it essentially boils down to two effects. On the one hand, this thin layer of rubber is supposed to be hyper bouncy - kind of like flubber - which would understandably give you an extra spring in your step while meanwhile cushioning your joints from impact. The magic formula is a combination of ordinary and butadiene rubber (which they have patented for use in footware) and the website claims that this returns up to 80% of energy (so that when a ball bearing is dropped on one of the insoles it will bounce to 80% of its original height). For you that should mean an extra 1-3” on your vertical leap. Good stuff.

But enough idle speculation! Mine came through in the post a couple of days ago and I decided to them through their pieces (literally - hoho!). To that end I brought my trainers into work with me and slipped them on with the insoles installed before setting off for lunch. They fitted in pretty nicely and although they were a little long I managed to fold the end up the back wall of the shoe and I supposed it’s better than them being too short. That was all academics though - I wanted to know about performance enhancement!
I have to admit I was pretty impressed, I honestly felt allot lighter and quicker and the difference was too great to be merely a placaebo effect. I then decided to sprint to Waterstones which is a good 1/4 mile away from the office. Awesomely though I managed to keep up a pretty decent speed the whole way without slowing down. I felt more energetic and found myself leaping over benches, sliding down banisters and dancing round old ladies out of sheer enjoyment (although they didn’t enjoy it). Don’t get the wrong impression - I hadn’t transformed into Sonic the Headehog (I was already Sonic the Headgehog) and the differences were only minor really, perhaps I could jump an extra inch say, but it really did make me feel a whole lot better and for the price and minimum hastle it was definitely worthwhile. Having expected very little I was pleased to find my cynicism misplaced.
So I’d say it’s fair to say that ‘butadiene’ is a cool thing to put in shoes and I hope that Springbak take advantage of their patent and bring out some with the stuff built-in. I’m not so sure however about this ‘vibration frequency’ malarky. I mean, my slippers have got squishy insides (which adapt to the ergonomics of your feet and all), are they improving my frequency? But again I decided to test the theory first before shooting my mouth off so I wore the shoes to the gym. Now according to the website I should have been able to ‘draw more energy’ from my muscles and so improve my bench and lessen exhaustion, a bit like creatine for your feet…
Here though I was not so pleased and I found that if anything I actually had a particularly bad session going down 20kg (that gym is weird and claustrophobic but still). That’s not the fault of the shoes, but they did little to help matters. I tried them again this evening in my flat for my usual calisthenics workout and again found no improvement - I just got my floor muddy.
The first time I wore them I also felt a strange ache in my feet that evening allot like I’d been ice skating (I hate ice skating). It was like I’d been forced to use my tendons to balance more which is actually pretty strange as the soles are so thin. It’s more likely that my feet were perhaps unused to the extended fast running and maybe I’d stretched the tendon a bit. Anyway the problem had dissapeared the second day so I’ve written it off as a one-off.
All in all then Speedsoles are definitely a worthwhile purchase for runners and traceurs but not so much for gym goers. You can’t really go wrong and I imagine they’d be fairly useful for anyone who gets shin-splints or would like to have a slight advantage on the football pitch.

How to dunk a basketball. Well there are a few things one needs to keep in mind when you start dunking a basketball. One is to remember there is a lot more to the game then just the dunk. And not to spend to much time on learning how to dunk. Even though its very fun and can be addicting. But some good things about dunking is when its done during the game and you are the one doing the dunking there are fewer things that will feel as great as that. It gets your fans and teammates into the game and even more important it gets you into the game and can be a big confidence booster and a moral buster for those your playing against.

If your athletic enough and can dunk any which way you want then I doubt you need to read this. But for others it takes time and practice. The best thing to do to become a better dunker is to work your legs. This helps more then just dunking. Running hills and jumping rope helps a lot. There are several different things you can do. I suggest finding out what leg workout works best for you.

Don’t spend to much time working on dunking. About 10 attempts after each workout or practice is about all you need. Its addicting I know. But try to make dunking apart of your game rather then just for showing off while shooting around.

Some like to jump off one leg and others like to jump off two. One leg is better for fast breaks and it helps you use your momentum a lot better. Two legs are better for post players who only take one dribble most of the time. When doing post moves this will help you go to the basket stronger.

When you jump always think ‘JUMP’ and jump as high as you can. Don’t always try to hang on the rim. Just putting it down helps a lot. A lot of dunks are missed because guys try to hang on the rim to show off. Most people who can dunk will do it with one hand. I like the two handed dunk better because I have more control over the ball. This is something that’s really just personal and no real orthodox way of doing it.

To sum it up dunking is not all there is about basketball its just apart of the game and only has been for a short time. It can help your game out and it can make your game worse. But it does help your confidence out to know you can do it whenever you want. Just practice and watch how others might do it. Try to learn from the best. But most of all work on the other parts of your game and just slowing bring dunking into yours.

For a sport such as basketball, where the physical movements of each athlete are performed in confined spaces, pushing and shoving against bigger and quicker players, developing “strong” and “quick” feet offers a decided advantage. When feet are trained for speed, the player enhances balance and reaction on the floor. Think of it like putting the right tires on a Formula One racecar and then achieving maximum power and performance.

But, what does it mean to develop foot “speed”? And is it possible to train and enhance this attribute? Which are the best drills? Are there more specific exercises for a basketball player?

Every basketball coach has his own answer to these questions. Some prefer specific basketball drills, while others employ special drills taken from a variety of sports. I believe there are many drills from different sports that will help enhance foot speed. But to get the best results, especially when working with young basketball players, it is best to follow a specific work sequence.
I will divide my suggestions on enhancing foot speed into four phases, with each varying in intensity based on the age of the athlete and specialization level:

1. Functional
2. Proprioceptive
3. General Coordination
4. Specific Coordination

During the functional phase, each foot is evaluated. It is noted if the foot is flat, arched, pronated, supinated, or has any other particular characteristics. I then evaluate ankle mobility and strength of the main muscles.
The earlier this evaluation is performed, especially when the player is still young, the better the overall results of the training program will be.
Understanding an athlete’s foot morphology is important for the coach because it allows him to understand any difficulties that the athlete might encounter in the future.

The findings of the detailed foot exam will lead to specific foot and ankle exercises, or, if necessary, the recommendation that the athlete use orthotics to improve his foot placement.

Orthotics are special shoe inserts that are intended to correct an abnormal, or irregular, walking pattern. Orthotics perform functions that make standing, walking, and running more comfortable and efficient, by altering slightly the angles at which the foot strikes a walking or running surface.
The next step is to see if there are any restrictions on ankle range-of-motion and eventually, to find out what has caused that limitation.

According to many researchers, the ankle should have:
• Dorsal flexion of approximately 30°
• Plantar flexion of approximately 50°
• Inversion (internal rotation) of approximately 35°
• Eversion (external rotation)  of approximately 15°

These are only some indications and considering the parameters, it’s possible to arrive at some answers regarding the player’s feet. If there are some limitations, it’s important to understand what has created them and then work to overcome them.
In these situations a physiotherapist, podiatrist, osteopath, or orthopedist can help evaluate each movement and alignment of the bones of the foot.

As far as muscle strength goes, it’s important to create maximum muscular tension that can lead to proper mechanical motion. Therefore, it is important to test the strength of the specific muscles involved in foot movement. These include the:
• Gastrocnemius
• Soleus
• Tibia
• Peroneal muscle group

It’s well known that the ankle sprain is the predominant basketball injury and that veteran players will have multiple sprains during the course of their careers. Players often practice and play with ankle braces or with heavily-taped ankles. Even so, they often have instability or poor functional limitation, and this often brings on more ankle problems. Know your players and their feet. If you don’t, you may end up prescribing the wrong drills for them or have them doing drills out of proper sequence.

Proprioception is an automatic sensitivity mechanism in the body that sends messages through the central nervous system (CNS). The CNS then relays information to rest of the body about how to react and with what amount of tension. Basketball players can “train” for proprioception in the quest for efficient everyday movements with their feet. Proprioception is initially an unconscious act, but it can be enhanced with training.

Specialized sensory receptors in the muscles, joints, and connective tissues enable the body to process information from a variety of stimuli, and turn that information into action.

During the proprioceptive phase, athletes should work with muscles that control and stabilize the ankle joint and enhance their capacity to react quickly and correctly to the stimulus sent from the ligaments, tendons, and muscular and capsular receptors.
Drills that can improve proprioceptive control of the joints are usually only suggested when rehabilitation is concerned, but they can play a big role in training for fast feet.

Here’s a work sequence that can improve this capacity:
• Passive feet mobilization and sensitization
• Balance drills on both feet, both static and dynamic
• Balance drills on both feet and different suppor-   bases, in a static and dynamic way
• Balance drills just with one foot
• Balance drills on one foot and different support base,   in a static and dynamic way;
• Balance drills in which the athlete tries to go off balance
• Drills where someone else tries to throw the athlete   off balance
• Balance drills from a dynamic situation

How To Perform
Each drill on the mini-trampoline lasts between 6 and 10 seconds, with a recovery period that is three to four times the working period.
Since drills on this equipment are performed at maximum speed, do not have the athlete perform too many repetitions or he will become overfatigued. Only when the player gets used to performing the exercise and his fitness improves, the number of repetitions can be increased.

These specific drills improve neuromuscular control of the feet, producing better and faster postural control, which then creates the ideal conditions for the quickness drills. Previously, only drills for basic athletic coordination, such as exercises for improving running technique or jumping rope (most boxing-specific drills are excellent), could be suggested.

A special note must be injected here about foot drills using stairs (stairs drills) or simply using a step.
The step height should not be higher than 15-20 cm.

This height is easily attainable by most and permits a short contact time contact between the step and the balls of the feet, just as if the athlete was running. If the step is too high, the athlete will use his knee and hip flexors more than the feet, and that is not recommended.

When working specifically with young players, drills emphasizing running technique will help improve their quickness.
However, when working with much more specialized athletes, drills should be more specific for basketball.

It’s necessary, then, to use drills that are similar to the game and require specific basketball-type coordination. To reach this goal, I usually prefer these following drills:
• Stepping
• Bouncing
• Quickness

When performing the stepping drills, the athlete should repeat them with increasing speed, alternating his steps, while keeping the same sequence. One example could be to overstep a front line, before with the right foot and after with the left one, coming back at the starting position always in the same way.
There are a lot of “stepping” or “line step” drills that can be utilized, with many combinations.

I consider these drills very helpful when beginning a program, when the athlete may not be highly coordinated.
As he learns to do them correctly, his speed will increase and then it’s time to try something else.

Bouncing drills are a stepping evolution. I like to have the athletes land on both feet at the same time.

One specific drill is to have them going from the left side to the right side and back, pushing simultaneously with both feet but close to the floor while maintaining balance.

These drills work the whole body, specifically the muscles that have to stabilize in order for the feet to have dynamic action. Perform each exercise at maximum speed for no longer than 8 to 10 seconds.

While learning stepping and bouncing drills, the athlete can watch his feet or watch in front of a mirror as he goes through the drills.  As soon as drills have been learned, the athlete is no longer allowed to look at his feet. He is to “feel” his feet, understand where they are in relation to the rest of his body without looking down and while increasing the speed of the drill.

This sequence of the drills now follows a logical progression. It’s not necessary to work every athlete with every drill but it’s up to the coach or the conditioning coach to implement what’s needed, depending on the specific needs of their athletes.

Lower Body Plyometric Exercises

Drop Jumping: - This exercise involves the athlete dropping (not jumping) to the ground from a raised platform or box, and then immediately jumping up. The drop down gives the pre-stretch to the leg muscles and the vigorous drive upwards the secondary concentric contraction The exercise will be more effective the shorter the time the feet are in contact with the ground. The loading in this exercise is governed by the height of the drop which should be in the region of 30-80 cm. Drop jumping is a relatively high impact form of plyometric training and would normally be introduced after the athlete had become accustomed to lower impact alternatives, such as two-footed jumping on the spot.

Bounding and hurdling: If forward motion is more the name of your game, try some bounding. This is a form of plyometric training, where over sized strides are used in the running action and extra time spent in the air. Two-legged bounds reduces the impact to be endured, but to increase the intensity one legged bounding, or hopping, can be used. Bounding upstairs is a useful way to work on both the vertical and horizontal aspects of the running action. Multiple jumps over a series of obstacles like hurdles is a valuable drill for athletes training for sprinting or jumping events.

Examples of lower body plyometric exercises with intensity level:

• Standing based jumps performed on the spot (low intensity) - Tuck Jumps, Split Jumps
• Jumps from standing (low-medium intensity) - Standing long jump, Standing hop, standing jump for height
• Multiple jumps from standing (medium intensity) - bounds, bunny hops, double footed jumps over low hurdle, double footed jumps up steps
• Multiple jumps with run in (High intensity) - 11 stride run + 2 hops and a jump into sandpit, 2 stride run in + bounds
• Depth jumping (high-very high intensity) - jumps down and up off box (40-100cm), bounding up hill
• Eccentric drop and hold drills (high-very high intensity) - hop and hold, bound/hop/bound/hop over 30m (athletes stops and holds on each landing before springing into the next move), drop and hold from a height > one metre

Upper Body Plyometric Exercises

A variety of drills can be used to make the upper body more explosive:
Press ups & hand clap: Press-ups with a hand clap in between is a particularly vigorous way to condition the arms and chest. The pre-stretch takes place as the hands arrive back on the ground and the chest sinks, and this is followed quickly by the explosive upwards action. Once again, to get the best training effect keep the time in contact with the ground to a minimum.
Medicine Ball: Another means of increasing upper body strength popular with throwers is to lie on the ground face up. A partner then drops a medicine ball down towards the chest of the athlete, who catches the ball (pre-stretch) and immediately throws it back. This is another high-intensity exercise and should only be used after some basic conditioning.