Whisonant 1

Nick Whisonant

Mrs. Miller

English 12

14 February 2023

How to Jump Higher and Become a Better Basketball Player

I. Introduction

A. What if I told you there are exercises that could heavily increase your vertical jump?

B. Plyometrics are workouts that are used solely to improve speed/jumping ability

C. Beginner plyometric exercises

D. Advanced plyometric exercises

E. Effects of plyometrics

II. Why is vertical so important in sports?

A. Improving vertical improves other parts of your body as well

1. It can strengthen your knees, ankles, and hips.

2. Can increase the weight you can handle as well.

B. There are numerous exercises that improve vertical jumps

1. Power squats, deadlifts, and power cleans are great exercises.

2. It is recommended to do 75%-80% of your 1 rep max for all (reps for each exercise vary).

C. How to perform each exercise

1. For power squat, set the pins to hold the bar at a height where you can be under the bar in

a pre-jump position, and explode up as fast as possible.

2. For deadlift, set the bar on the ground and grab it from the ground shoulder length apart,

then pull the bar up using only your hips, and shoulders, while your knees are

straightened out.
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3. To power clean, set it up the same way as deadlifts, but when going up past your knees,

snatch the bar up using your legs and arms, and hold the bar at your shoulders when done.

To not end up injured, rotate your elbows, and extend your elbows when moving the bar

up (Claps 1).

III. What are plyometrics?

A. Plyometrics are exercises specifically designed to improve speed and vertical jump

1. Plyometric exercises do not include weights.

2. All plyometrics can be done at home for free

B. Examples of plyometrics

1. Box jumps, and depth jumps are great exercises

2. Box jumps are simply where you start from the ground and land with two feet onto a box,

and depth jumps are where you start on top of something and land on the ground,

immediately jumping as high as you can off the ground.

C. Important things to note about plyometrics

1. It is important to not do plyometrics every day, only a couple times a week is okay.

2. Overdoing plyometrics can cause overly taxed joints, and result in the opposite effect

desired: lowering speed/vertical (Premium Official News).

IV. Advanced Plyometric Workouts

A. How to begin a workout

1. Begin by warming up/stretching to prevent injury

2. Some warmups include oscillating air squats, in-step lunges to stretch your hamstrings,

hip hinges, sideways ankle hops, and high knees

B. Different advanced workouts

1. After warming up, the first exercise is drop jumps. To perform one, you can first start by

standing on a surface, like a bench, then dropping off the ledge landing on the ground.

Right after landing, jump straight up as high as possible, 3 sets of 8 reps.

2. The next exercise is tuck jumps, where you jump up as high as possible, and try to tuck

your knees into your chest, 3 sets of 8 reps.

C. Additional advanced workouts

1. Next one is 180 degree rotational jumps, where you quickly jump doing a 180 degree

turn, 3 sets of 8 reps to each side.

2. Some additional exercises include: skip jumps, where you just skip jump in place, skate

squats, where you hold a squat with one leg (the other leg behind you in the air) and stay

in a squat position for 20 seconds, 3 times each leg (Youtube).

V. The real effects of plyometrics

A. A total of 32 studies have been found including 818 total players that had proven small to large

effects.

1. This indicates improvements on muscle power, linear sprint speed, change-of-direction

speed, balance, and muscle strength in basketball players.

2. These studies show benefits independent of sex, age, or other variables.

B. Studies showed great improvements than more than just young people

1. Greatest improvements in these 32 studies actually showed more improvement in older

people than younger.

2. This more than proves the benefits of plyometrics.

C. Studies show improvements in other areas as well

1. Studies showed great improvement in older players in linear sprint time for >10 meters.

2. There were also improvements in 40 meter sprints as well. This all proves that

plyometrics work no matter independent of all variables (Ramirez-Campillo 1).