How to Improve Your Vertical Jump‍

For a lot of the athletes who walk into Wilmington Strength, the vertical jump is the number one number they want to improve. Volleyball hitters want more reach. Basketball players want more pop off the floor. But the truth goes much deeper:

‍If your vertical jump goes up, your entire athletic profile improves.
Higher jumps correlate with faster sprint times, better acceleration, quicker change of direction, and stronger overall power output. No matter your sport—football, soccer, baseball, lacrosse—vertical jump is one of the purest tests of athleticism we can measure.

That’s why we treat it as a foundational metric. We track it. We coach it. And we train the exact qualities that make it rise.

How We Measure Vertical Jump at Wilmington Strength‍

Improving your vertical starts with understanding what kind of jumper you are. We use two tests, because each one tells us something different about how your body produces force.

1. Standing Vertical Jump‍

This is your “from zero” power. No steps. No momentum. Just pure lower-body force production from a stationary start.
We measure this once a month to track:

• Raw power output
  
  
• Rate of force development
  
  
• Symmetry between sides
  
  
• Day-to-day consistency in explosive ability

This is the truest measure of pure jump power.

2. Approach Jump

This tells us how well you use speed, rhythm, and elasticity to jump higher.
The approach jump shows:

• Elastic energy storage
  
  
• Lower-body stiffness
  
  
• Coordination through the run-up
  
  
• How efficiently you produce force at speed
  ‍

An athlete with a big difference between standing and approach jump is usually “elastic” and benefits from plyometrics and speed work.
An athlete with smaller differences often needs more strength or power development.

Together, these two numbers tell us exactly what you need to work on—so your training is targeted, not random.

How to Improve Your Vertical Jump‍

Jumping higher isn’t about doing random jump programs or copying internet drills. It’s about improving the three biggest pieces of explosive performance:

1. Elasticity
   
   
2. Power
   
   
3. Strength relative to bodyweight

Here’s how we train all three.‍

1. Plyometrics: Training Elastic Power‍

Plyometrics are the backbone of vertical jump training. These are fast, reactive jumps where you focus on spending as little time on the ground as possible.

At Wilmington Strength, a good plyometric must check two boxes:

‍
Short ground contact + high-quality movement.‍

Over years of testing, data tracking, and coaching hundreds of athletes, we’ve narrowed down the most effective variations:

• Depth Jumps – the king of force absorption and re-acceleration
  
  
• Hurdle Hops – builds rhythm, stiffness, and fast contacts
  
  
• Single-Leg Hop Series – improves ankle stiffness and balance between sides
  
  
• Bounds – builds horizontal power and elastic coordination
  
  
• Multi-Directional Jumps – prepares you for real sport movement
  ‍

These drills improve your ability to absorb force, store it, and release it fast—which is the exact sequence of a vertical jump.

2. Olympic Lifts: Building Explosive Power‍

When people ask why our athletes jump so well, this is one of the biggest reasons.

A clean or snatch is basically a loaded vertical jump:

• Triple extension
  
  
• High bar speed
  
  
• Fast hips
  
  
• Aggressive force production
  ‍

Olympic lifts build the exact qualities athletes need to jump higher:

• Rate of force development (how fast you can create force)
  
  
• Full-body coordination
  
  
• Power through hips, knees, and ankles
  
  
• Explosiveness under load
  ‍

Nothing in the weight room transfers to jumping more directly.

And athletes don’t need advanced technique—just consistent exposure, smart progressions, and loads matched to their ability.

3. Relative Strength: Stronger and Lighter‍

The highest jumpers in the gym usually have two things in common:

1. They’re strong for their bodyweight.
   
   
2. They move that strength quickly.
   ‍

You don’t need to be a powerlifter to jump high, but you do need enough strength to put large amounts of force into the ground.

This includes:

• Squats and split squats
  
  
• Trap bar deadlifts
  
  
• Rear-foot elevated strength work
  
  
• Hamstring strength (Nordics, RDLs, hinge patterns)
  ‍

Improving relative strength raises your ceiling. It gives you the horsepower you need to turn power training into real vertical jump gains.‍

The Hidden Key: Tracking Progress‍

Too many athletes “train hard” without ever checking if they’re improving.

That’s the opposite of how we operate.

We test:

• Standing vertical
  
  
• Approach jump
  
  
• Elasticity gap
  
  
• Jump variability
  
  
• Power output trends across months
  ‍

When an athlete sees their jump go from 20” → 24” → 27”, motivation skyrockets.
It becomes competitive. It becomes fun.
And the data makes it clear what to adjust next.‍

‍Ready to See How High You Can Go?‍

If you want to jump higher, move faster, and perform better in your sport, the process starts with knowing where you are today.‍

Book a free assessment at Wilmington Strength.
We’ll test your vertical jump, identify your strengths and weaknesses, and build the plan that makes your numbers rise—month after month. 🏆

‍

To your success,

Coach Matt & the Wilmington Strength Team