Nathanael: Ladies and gentlemen,
what is going on? And welcome to another video. My name is Nathanael Morton and I
am a sports performance coach who specializes in basketball players. And in today's video,
I'm going to give you three plyometric exercises that you can use to unlock your bounce and get a
higher vertical jump. Nathanael:
Before I get into that, remember as always if you comment jump, J-U-M-P, down below in the
comments section, I will send you a free vertical jump training program. If you want to take your
sports performance beyond that to the next level, my advanced programs are only $20 a month. You get
access to every single program that I offer. My advanced vertical jump programs with weights, my
upper body athlete program, my knee strengthening program, and personalized coaching from me. A link
for that will be in the pinned comment and in the description below, but okay, let's get into it.
Nathanael: Three plyometric exercises that are going to,
cha-ching, unlock your vertical jump. The very first exercise that you can do
to unlock your vertical jump and jump higher are pogo jump variations. Pogo jumps or ankle jumps
are very important and the reason that I put them in here today is because most other plyometrics
that we do and see on a normal basis prioritize the extension of the knee, when pogo jumps
prioritize the extension of the ankle and your reactive speed, reactive strength and
your tendon stiffness in the ankle and achilles tendon as opposed to prioritizing the knee.
Nathanael: The progressions that I normally take my athletes
through for pogo jumps would be in this order. First, we would do double-leg band-assisted pogo
jumps. Then we would do double-leg band-assisted lateral line jumps. Then we would do single-leg
band-assisted pogo jumps followed by single-leg band-assisted lateral line jumps. And all that
this really is is a regression of pogo jumps, which makes it good for beginners and individuals
who have knee pain. Nathanael:
After a few weeks of doing band-assisted work, we would get into what I like to call
baby ankle bounces or we would do some jump rope with some baby hops. Then we would do baby lateral
line jumps or lateral line jumps over a small object that you're not going to land on. So don't
jump over a small object that if you land on it you could roll your ankle or something like that,
so a towel or a T-shirt works really well for this. After a few weeks of the baby ankle jumps
and the baby lateral line jumps, we would get into single-leg, baby ankle jumps and single-leg
lateral line jumps. Nathanael:
And then after all those progressions, you can go ahead and you can start to jump higher with
your pogo jumps and higher with your lateral line jumps. And then if you want to get crazy
at the very end, you can start to use some advantageous or disadvantageous positions
like a rear-foot elevated split squat, where you are practicing your ankle jumps
in that position. So once again if I were you, I would follow these progressions. I like to
do most of my plyometrics with my shoes off, not all of them. But most of my pogo jumps. In fact,
all of my pogo jumps I do with shoes off, but you might want to start with your shoes on at first.
Nathanael: The next plyometric that can unlock your vertical
jump are depth jump or drop jump variations. So I should also include shock jump variations in here
because I actually never allow my athletes to do depth jumps or drop jumps until they can do shock
jumps off of various heights. The first thing that I do with my athletes is shock pause jumps
off a six inch box and then shock pause jumps off a 12 inch box. And then we use an 18 inch box and
then we'll use a 24 inch box. And we don't ever move to depth jumps or drop jumps until they can
successfully do a 24 inch shock pause jump with absolutely no knee pain, no knees caving in,
no improper form, et cetera, et cetera. Nathanael:
Then once you can make it through does progressions, we do depth jumps off of a six inch
box, then depth jumps off of a 12 inch box, then we use an 18 inch box, then we use a 24 inch box
and then a 30 inch box, 36. We don't get too much higher than that, here and there we will.
One thing I want to mention is that we do depth jumps off of a certain height, and then we jump
onto another box of the same height. If you do not have a box of the same height to jump onto,
then you can just drop off of a box or a couch or a bench or whatever you're going
to drop off of and jump into the air if you don't have another box to jump onto.
Nathanael: Depth jumps are going to be really effective
for your reactive speed, your reactive strength, the efficiency of your stretch shortening cycle,
the ability to absorb that force and then produced force rapidly. But depth jumps, unlike pogo jumps,
focus mainly on the knee joint and your hip extension. Pogo jumps was more about the ankle. So
this is why I had to include depth jumps in these top three exercises that will unlock
your vertical jump. After you master your depth jumps, if you're a more advanced athlete or you
want to take this and transfer these depth jumps or drop drops to your vertical jump
into your game, basketball game in general, you can start to do penultimate drop jumps
over a hurdle. Or penultimate drop jumps into the air where you are mimicking your penultimate step,
but this time you do it off of a box so that you get that load in that production of force.
Nathanael: And last but not least,
the third plyometric exercise of this video that you can use to unlock your vertical jump
and jump higher is squat job variations the same way that we used regressions where the pogo jumps,
I would also do that with these squat jumps. I would do band-assisted at first if you are
a beginner or if you have knee pain, go ahead and fix your knee pain first and then get into these.
Don't do any of these exercises if you have knee pain. Fix your knees first,
which if you comment jump down below, you get a free jump program. And in that free jump program,
I have a free knee strengthening program for you. So comment jump down below if you want that.
Nathanael: But I would go ahead and do
band-assisted squat jumps. Then I would do baby squat jumps where you are not jumping that high.
Then I would do normal repeated squat jumps. And then if you get to the point where you are
advanced and you have no knee pain, you can get through all these other regressions of
this exercise. I would go ahead and I would hold dumbbells and do dumbbell repeated squats. And
that's going to be the best bang for your buck and the best bang for your high vertical jump.
Nathanael: All right, guys, that's it. These
are three plyometric exercises that you can use to unlock your bounce and get a higher vertical jump.
Notice that I just didn't give you three normal exercises, right? I gave you regressions. I gave
you progressions. There's not really any best exercises. There's exercises that are really good
at specific times somebody's training career. So take that for what it is. Add these exercises
into your workout plan, start with the regressions and then progressive overload getting harder and
harder and more advanced and more advanced. Nathanael:
Don't do these exercises every single day. Be smart about it. Once you get into the dumbbell
squat jumps and the depth jumps, do these two to three times per week. And make sure you don't do
this if you have any knee pain, start easy, make sure that you're strong before you progress.
Comment jump down below if you want a free program. Get my advanced members programs if you
want to take your sports performance to the next level. And I will see you guys in the next video.
Nathanael: (singing)