Okay, so Bruce wasn’t exactly known for his writing on how to increase vertical jumps on the court, or even how to nail more hoops, but he had a profound effect on Kareem Abdul-Jabaar. In this 2006 interview with Andrew Kamenetzky, the Captain has this to say about Bruce’s influence:
“Bruce, more or less, backed up what he had learned from John Wooden. It was just an echo of John Wooden, from Hong Kong instead of Indiana. You have to be committed. You have to be prepared. You have to be willing to sacrifice to be fully prepared. To be fit and understand the nature of the competition.”
At seven foot two, Jabaar was blessed with the kind of height most of us can only dream of, but by aiming to reach our personal best in our training and performance on the court, we can still break new boundaries and take our game to the next level.
If you’re serious about increasing vertical jumps, then developing more flexibility and looseness is a great place to start. In addition to reducing the chance of injury after a full warmup, increased flexibility will allow you to unleash the explosive muscle power you’ve built all season. This is what Bruce had to say about it:
“Neural impulses are sent to the working muscle to fire enough fibers at the right time, while impulses to antagonistic muscles are reduced to decrease resistance.”
Which means that if you don’t stretch and loosen up before a game and as part of your training regimen, you’re playing with the brakes on! In the case of an explosive jump shot, your quads will be the working muscle (pushing you up) and your hamstrings will be the antagonist (pulling you down).
There are a lot of great stretching exercises on the net and on YouTube in particular; Stretching your routine as well as your glutes and hamstrings is critical to success; however, when you do so, you must adhere to the following principle of good stretching:
1. Warm up first. A good cardiovascular warm-up will fill your muscles with blood, supply them with oxygen, and make them more flexible and able to stretch.
2. Even, deep breaths work best for a safe, controlled stretch. You will find that your reach extends particularly as you exhale.
3. Hold your stretches and gently increase your range, don’t bounce! Stretching is best done as a gentle, relaxed activity, not an aggressive, ballistic routine.
4. Have some variety in your stretching – reaching a plateau in training and performance is quite natural – improvement in fitness and performance comes from taking your body out of its comfort zone, even when it prefers to stay comfortable.
5. Be flexible in both your thinking and your body. How about a Yoga class or some Martial Arts to mix it up a bit? It worked for Cap. (But don’t expect a movie career to come!)
The process of how to increase vertical jumps can be mastered by anyone who is willing to learn, change, and work smarter and harder. As Bruce said:
“If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or otherwise, it will spill over into your work and your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you shouldn’t stay there, you should go beyond them.”
