LeBron James Does These Workouts to Jump Higher – Do You?

 Conditioning your body to improve your basketball skills can be the most difficult part in any athlete’s training.  Strength and quickness training can help improve your 3 point shooting, dribbling and passing, but the easiest aspect of your game to improve, is your jump height.  Here are a few workouts that all of the pros use to increase their vertical leap height.  

1.  Hill Sprints!  Find a hill around where you live that has a steady incline.  The steeper the better for this workout.  Start at the bottom and simply sprint as hard and as fast as to can.  Keep the sprints limited to about 70 yards.  Remember, with this workout, you are workout on quickness, not endurance.  Do 6-8 hill sprints a day.

2.  Core Workouts!  Don’t forget that your abs play a tremendous role in balance and overall explosive power.  every morning when you wake up, do sit up, crunches, and v-ups.  These 3 workouts combined will strengthen both your upper and lower abs.  This is also important for cutting fat!  If you had to hold a 10 pound dumbbell when you jumped, you wouldn’t get as high as if you weren’t holding it.  Core workouts will help you strip away that extra weight.

3.  Bulgarian Split Dead-Lift!  The name is complicated, the workout is simple!  Get a pair of dumbbells at a weight that feels comfortable to you  (I started with 25 lb each but within 3 weeks I had moved up to 95 lb dumbbells).  Put a bench about 2 feet behind you.  Stand with the dumbbells hanging to your sides.  Step back with 1 foot ad place the top of your foot on the bench with the sole of your shoe toward the sky.  Now you are ready to begin.  Squat down on the 1 leg until your knee is at a 90 degree angle and press yourself back up.  Do 10 Reps of this workout for each leg. Try to do at least 5 sets.