When talking about improving the vertical jump it's imperative that we first understand the force-velocity curve. The force-velocity curve showcases the different points at which force and velocity intersect and interact across various types of movements. When the goal is improving raw athletic capacity, whether that be running faster or jumping higher, it is imperative that one work every physical quality along the curve in order to create continual progress and the greatest long term improvements.

First and foremost, you need to build stronger legs to jump higher. The vertical jump is a function of rapid force production. The more force your legs can produce before your feet leave the ground then the higher you will jump.

But your legs cannot produce impressive levels of force quickly if they cannot produce impressive levels of force AT ALL. Therefore, we need to make maximal force production a primary focal point of our vertical jump training by following a tried and true strength training program and building our squatting prowess to impressive levels.

The stronger your legs, i.e. the more force they can produce independent of time constraints, then the higher your ceiling will become with your more vertical jump specific training. But never forget that getting stronger is just STEP 1 in the process.

If you are squatting to improve your vertical jump then I recommend that for the majority of your training you focus on squatting deep, through a full range of motion, and using variations that bias equal amounts of hip and knee, such as the high bar squat and front squat. More hip dominant sqautting styles, such as the low bar squat, will likely do very little for improving jump performance.

Moving along the curve a little bit and now we get to the Olympic lifts! Much has been said about the necessity (or lack thereof) of these lifts over the years. I don't really care about it one way or the other as I prefer to simply speak from experience, and in my own, the Olympic lifts have played an integral role in improving my vertical jumping prowess. They have simply created a degree of explosiveness off the ground that nothing else has been able to match. Years ago I added 50lbs to my clean and my snatch and I went from grabbing nothing but air to easily getting the full length of my fingers around the rim over and over again at just 5'6. 

And what bolsters performance of the Olympic lifts? Heavy squats. So first we squat heavy to build leg strength, then we begin the process of translating that strength into power - moving along the curve and building the first steps of our bridge with the Olympic lifts.

Now, these lifts don't have to be super complicated. I have talked at length about performing truncated versions of them where you remove the trickiest and most technical aspects of the lifts to drastically reduce the learning curve.

• Pulling from the high hang instead of the floor avoids the difficult transition over the knees and often allows for a more consistent and explosive second pull.

• Catching the weight in a quarter squat as high as possible instead of in a deep squat decreases the mobility demands and makes the lifts more accessible overall.

You don't have to do the truncated versions I describe here. You can do whatever versions you like. But if jumping performance is a primary goal of yours then you do need to get comfortable and proficient with some form of these lifts, hit them consistently and explosively, and build an impressive level of strength on them.

The goal with depth jumps should always be to jump as high as possible on every rep that you do, and you should use the highest box that allows you to achieve the highest vertical jump. So for example, if jumping off of a 10 inch box allows you to achieve a 20 inch jump and jumping off of a 16 inch box allows to achieve a 24 inch jump, but jumping off of a 13 inch box allows you to achieve a 26 inch jump then you would start your depth jump cycle by jumping off of a 13 inch box as that is where you are achieving the highest jumps.

When depth jumping for vertical jumping performance you should strive to get off of the ground as quickly as possible, but not at the expense of jumping height.

• If lingering on the ground for one or two tenths of a second longer allows you to coil up better and gather more energy for a higher jump then that is what you should do.

• If springing immediately off of the ground gives you the highest jump then that is what you should do.

I personally find that allowing my knees and hips to bend a little bit deeper and lingering on the ground a little bit longer allows me to absorb more energy and spit that energy back out for a higher jump. Find the method that works best for you and stick with it.

The goal during your depth jump peaking cycle should be to gradually increase the height of the drops while maintaining or improving jumping performance. Adding 1 to 2 in to the drop height every other week is a reasonable goal, but it should only be done if jumping performance can be maintained or improved at the increased drop height.

In general, depth jumps should be performed two times per week, for a total of roughly 20 to 30 ground contacts per session. The training cycle of depth jumping should last a minimum of 4 weeks, but no longer than 8 weeks.

Remember this is called shock training for a reason. The gains will come on very rapidly at first and they will abate just as rapidly. There's no reason to continue with the depth jumping once the gains have stopped as you are simply desensitizing your system to the stimulus. As such, I recommend performing no more than one to two depth jump training cycles per year to give your body plenty of time to be re-sensitized to this potent stimulus so that you can receive a huge boost from it each time you perform it.

Vertical jump gains of four to six inches are not unreasonable from a properly performed cycle of shock training, but remember this is a peaking method and not all of these gains will stick around once you have stopped doing the depth jumps. Either way, this is a fantastic tool for creating a huge boost in jumping performance when you need it most.

So there ya have it! 4 exercises guaranteed to blow up your vertical jump. You just need to hit them hard, hit them consistently, and focus on high quality work with achieving a high level of performance each training session always being your primary goal.

 I hope you found this article helpful! If you did please be sure to share it with someone you know who is also looking to fly through he sky by building a massive vertical jump. Keep training hard and I will catch you guys next time!