I need some hints to help me jump higher for volleyball.?

Question

I would like some realistic tips and things I can do at home by myself to help me jump higher. I already jump rope and run every other day. I also stretch twice a day. I need some more ideas on things I can do by myself. I'm about 5'5 or so. So I need to jump high in order to be able to hit the ball over the net. My tryouts are in about a month. All the help will be very appreciated!! Thanks!

Answer 1

okay when you do your approach you usually go left right left, but if yours is different sorry, but okay this is what you do go left, then get low and swing your arms back to add momentum, do your last two steps and put your arms into pos. to swing, but i doubt you will play front row since you are short, so i would just work at passing, best of luck

Answer 2

do ballieh I probly spelt that wrong it sounds stupied but helps

Answer 3

My daughter's team used one of those small 3' diameter exercise trampolines.  It conditions the muscles to remember to leap at a certain point.  It's also beneficial to do your drills with ankle weights on.

Answer 4

Hi - There are two areas that you need to work on - strength and technique.

Strength is a little easier.  In college we used plyometrics http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plyometrics  The drill was to stand on a 2' box, step off and then spring up once you hit the floor.  This helps you learn how to take your approach energy and convert it into an upwards jump.  Another drill which would be good for your condition is to practice jumping in a pool.  You may look a little weird, but the water will add resistance while cushoning the landing.

Technique is also really important.  At the 88 Olympics they compared Steve Timmons (volleyball) jump to David Robinsons (basketball) by analyzing their techniches.  Timmons had a 36" vertical compared to Robinsons 30" - because he had better technique.  So when you approach to hit, use a 3 step approach with the last step having a crouch and arm swing.  The plyometrics will help convert the approach into jump.  The arm swing will help generate momentum as well.  This is hard to describe in e-mail so you can ask a coach or watch some videos of good jumpers to see how they do it.

Answer 5

okay my mom wouldnt let me do this....but if you have a wall in your room or house that you can hang a ruller from. what you do is you glue it to the wall where your fingers end if you were just sttanding next to the wall with your left arm up as high and then glue it above your talllest finger. then practice running up//do your blocking or spiking approach and then jump up and each time you do it record it so that each time you do it you can see how u improve. it really works for me because i am really competitive and i really like winning or beating records. so if you are that type of person that would really help. i have learned to jjump 17 inches. which is pretty good?! GOOD LUCK

Answer 6

The jump roping is really good. You need to build up your strength in your legs, and the best way to do this is to do several sets of about 10-15 repetitions of different jumping exercises. Here are a few places to look:

http://www.erinhoops.ca/JumpingExercises...

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

http://www.strengthcats.com/JDfabulous15...

Answer 7

do the jumping exercise (squat down and jump up keeping your hands in the air) everyday and jump rope for at least 3x a week

Hope that helps

Answer 8

This may sound a little goofy, but I've always tried to jump up and hit the ceiling or wood frame in a doorway.  It's easy and really does test your muscles.  You could walk through any hallway, do your approach and try to hit the 7 foot door frame.  Try it!

Answer 9

when your walking in your walway take an approach

practice jumping swing your arms back touch the entry waysin all of the rooms in your house.

good luck with your knee

Answer 10

put you right foot forward and go left right left while swinging your arms... my trick is to jump off BOTH feet instead of just one. good luck

Answer 11

You haven't given any background on your age or experience in training, so I'm assuming you are young and have little weight training experience.  If this is so, you should have someone experienced help you with the weight training exercises as you can become hurt if you do not do them right.

Anyway, my high school had an amazing strength and conditioning coach.  I increased my vertical by 6 inches from 26 to 32 inches at the end of volleyball season (weight training, plyometrics, JO).  This is not a normal progression. i just happened to have the right body build and genetics.  What is really important is how close you have pushed yourself to *your* max--not how you compare to other people.  

There are four main things you can concentrate on to increase your vertical.

1.) Strength: weight room exercises like squat, power clean (expert lift--do not do without LOTS of training) and leg presses will increase both the strength and power of your legs.  I know an old vb monthly issue from around '95 did a break down of how your muscles contribute to your vertical and your quads generate around 60-75% of your jumping power.  So even if you strengthen your calves by double doing jump rope you are only increaseing your vertical by maybe 10%.  

If you are new to the weight room, i would suggest doing the legpress or hacksquat machines after you get proper instruction in their usage.  You should vary the sets between 12-15 and 8-10.  (please research weight training and get some actual instruction first)

2. Jump kinaesthetics - your jumping form.  Almost no one jumps with perfect form.  There are a number of techniques for getting maximum height from your jump--from how you plant your feet, how fast your approach, to making sure you swing both arms to full extention over your head as  you jump.

3. Plyometrics as someone else mentioned.  Plyometrics helps with functional training.  It helps train your muscles to have good jump kinaesthetics through muscle memory and it also helps tie everything together regarding neurological efficiency (how your neurons fire your muscle fibers), your muscles, and the elasticity of your connective tissue (which acts as a rubber band to help you jump).  The box jumps someone else mentioned

4. Body weight: the less your body weighs the stronger your  muscles have to be.  You should not concern yourself with body weight unless you are actually overweight.  Most people that try to lose weight end up losing more muscle than fat, so it's more important to build muscle than try to lose fat.  More then likely you will need to eat more calories when you start training or you won't get the results you want.  Building muscle requires calories and good nutrition.  Don't forget that the more muscle you have the more calories you'll burn during the day--so you can burn fat by weight training.  (however, you might gain weight since muscle is heavier then fat--this is ok! muscle weight is fine)

And finally, make sure you your knees checked out and healed up.  Even after that you might have to ice your knees after hard workouts and games because you will probably get tendonitis if your knees are bad.  Don't skimp on the ice if your doctor recommends it because it will make you heal faster.

Oh, and if you are running, you should look into HITS--high intensity training.  You don't want to train your legs for endurance.  You want to train your fast twitch muscles not your slow twitch muscles.  Jumping is a fast twitch exercise.  HITS basically is a program of sprints separated by walking or jogging in between them.  Sprinting is much more useful for a volleyball player.

Answer 12

my gf has a 28 in vertical, i have/had a 24 inch vert.  she played vball at a DI school and squats, jump rope, if you dont have any big blocks to use, try stepping on and off of your bed with some weights in your hand.  calf raises are also very good for you.  Just keep jumping and staying on your toes.

Answer 13

Doing lots of raises and squat jumps/block jumps will really help. But overall, these will not help you jump more than an inch of what you can already do. So, you could always try out as a setter or libero if you can't jump as high as you would like.

Answer 14

I also am working to increase the height of my jump. Do you have a basketball net? If you do, lower it to a height you can jump to. Each time you hit the net, heighten it a little and aim for the new height each time untill you get to a distance you can reach. Daily, work untill you can jump to the new height and re-adjust the height again.