- Workouts that improve your jump are great for stability, strength, and cardio, personal trainer Chrissy Signore said.
- To jump higher, you need to first build a strong lower body, she said.
- Signore said exercises like the dumbbell squat and plyo reverse lunge jump train for lower body power and explosiveness.
Although I've never played competitively, basketball has always been a way for me to relax and stay active.
Most recently, I've been trying to improve my jump shot and layup, both of which require an athletic jump, which I've never really had.
After reading a Men's Health article about how beginners shouldn't use the box jump to jump higher, I reached out to personal trainer Chrissy Signore, who gave me some tips on how to improve my jump with other exercises instead. She said that to build explosive strength, you need lower body power. Jumping is also a great way to increase stability, strength, and cardio, whether you use it on the basketball court or not, she said.
Signore told Insider that exercises, like variations on the dumbbell squat and the plyo reverse lunge jump, help build lower body strength and explosiveness.
Build lower body power with the dumbbell squat press and the dumbbell jump squat press
Signore, who is the founder of fitness program, Correlation, said that having a strong, stable lower body that works in sync with your upper body is an essential part of jumping. She said the dumbbell squat press is a good starting exercise to build lower body strength, as well as explosive power through your upper body. The exercise can also be modified to be more or less difficult, she said.
To perform the dumbbell squat press, stand with your legs shoulder-width apart with a soft bend in your knees, with weights in both hands resting on your shoulders. Make sure your back is straight and your core is engaged as you sink your weight into your heels, as if you're slowly sitting into a chair. Then squeeze your glutes as you come up from the squat, and use your momentum to press the weights above your head, Signore said.
"Instead of just working on that downward momentum, you're working on starting to power up through, taking that energy from your toes and propelling it upwards," she said.
This exercise will primarily help strengthen your glutes, quads, hamstrings, and shoulders, which she said are all involved in jumping.
Signore said the dumbbell jump squat overhead press is an exercise you can slowly work up to with the squat press, and involves adding a jump as you come up from your squat and pressing overhead in midair. For a slightly less difficult version, she said you can take out the press, which will still build explosive power.
If you want to first work on lower body strength, Signore said to just do a dumbbell squat without the press. Add a little more weight, and keep your arms at your sides for this one, she said.
Train for agility and explosive power with the plyo reverse lunge jump
The plyo reverse lunge jump is a move that Signore said will help build power, as well as agility, by quickly working multiple muscles in your lower body at the same time.
She said you start the exercise by stepping back with one of your legs and dropping down so that both knees are at 90 degrees angles. Signore said to then propel off your front foot into a jump, and bring your opposite knee up before landing and dropping back into the starting position. Perform this exercise on both legs, she said.
Make sure you bend your knees as you land initially, she said, and keep your weight evenly distributed between your legs to prevent injury.
Engage your full body with the linear jump
Signore said that instead of box jumps and tuck jumps, which don't engage the upper body the way you would in a basketball game, she recommends the linear jump.
Sink all of your energy into your heel as you bring your arms behind you, and use a swinging motion to bring all of that energy up from your foot through your body, she said.
She said to start small and work your way up with this exercise by jumping less than you're able to at first, and slowly work up to your max height. Signore said this will help your body warm up and prevent injury. Mark on a wall once you find your max and do 5 reps of that before finishing, she said.