Add inches to your vertical in 8 weeks

Everybody wants a higher vertical, and most people go about it by jumping as many times as possible until their knees hurt. That's not how it works. Your vertical comes from power, which is your ability to move force quickly. This article has a 8 week plan to build that safely, in about 20 minutes, twice a week, around a normal school and practice schedule.

Why you jump higher

A jump is one quick push into the ground. How high you go depends on two things: how much force you can produce and how fast you can produce it. Strength training builds the force. Plyometrics teach your body to use that force in a fraction of a second. You need both, which is why this plan pairs jump work with lifting instead of replacing it.

The other piece nobody talks about is your tendons. Your Achilles and patellar tendons act like springs, storing and releasing energy every time you land and take off. Those tendons adapt slower than muscle, which is exactly why the first few weeks of this plan are short. That's on purpose.

The rules before you start

• Quality over quantity. Every rep should be max effort. If reps start looking slow or sloppy stop doing the exercise, even if you were supposed to do more reps.
• Full rest between sets. You should take at least a 60 to 90 seconds rest in between sets. This is power training, not conditioning. Being out of breath ruins the point.
• Land soft and quiet. Try to land as quietly as possible. If you can hear yourself landing loudly then you're doing it wrong.
• Do it fresh. Do plyometrics at the start of a workout session after your warm-up, not at the end when you're already fried.
• Pick a softer surface. Grass, track, or yoga mat works perfectly. Try to avoid doing it on concrete.
• Two sessions a week, never back to back. Tuesday and Friday works well.

Warm up first, every time. The running warm-up on the Recovery page is exactly what you want here.

The 8 week plan

Each phase is two weeks. Do both sessions each week, and don't skip ahead just because a phase feels easy. Easy is the point early on.

1. Weeks 1 to 2 · Build the Foundation

   Pogo hops 3 × 20, ankle hops in place 3 × 15, squat jumps 3 × 8, and a wall sit 3 × 30 seconds. Everything is low to the ground. You're teaching your ankles and tendons to be stiff and springy before you ask them to absorb anything big.

2. Weeks 3 to 4 · Learn to land

   Pogo hops 3 × 20, broad jump with a stuck landing 3 × 5, box jumps stepping down 3 × 5, and reverse lunge to knee-up jump 3 × 10 per side. Stick every single landing for a full second. If you wobble or take an extra step, that rep didn't count.

3. Weeks 5 to 6 · Add speed

   Pogo hops 3 × 20, continuous broad jumps 3 × 5, single-leg bounds 3 × 8 per side, and depth drops from a low box 3 × 5. Now you're minimizing ground contact time. Think of the floor as hot lava, get off it fast.

4. Weeks 7 to 8 · Put it together

   Pogo hops 3 × 20, approach jumps to a target 4 × 3, depth jump to immediate jump 3 × 5, and single-leg bounds 3 × 8 per side. This phase is the closest to your actual sport, jumping off a run-up and reaching for something real.

Keep lifting through all of it

Plyometrics teach your body to use force fast, but you still have to build the force. Keep lifting two or three times a week alongside this plan, focusing on squats, hinges, and single-leg work. A stronger squat is one of the most reliable ways to raise your ceiling for jumping. If you're new to the weight room, start with the first month plan and run it at the same time as Phase 1.

Just don't stack a heavy leg day and a jump session on the same day if you can help it. Give your legs a day between.

The mistakes that stall people

• Too much volume. More jumps does not mean more inches. It means sore knees and no progress. If you're jumping 200 times a session, that's conditioning, not power.
• Jumping every day. Your tendons adapt during the days off. Two sessions a week is the sweet spot for a teen athlete who also has practice.
• Skipping the boring phase. Everyone wants to start with depth jumps. Weeks 1 and 2 are what make weeks 7 and 8 safe.
• Doing it tired. Plyos at the end of a hard practice decreases your progress.
• Underfueling. Explosive work is expensive. If you're not eating enough carbs, your jumps get flat and your recovery drags.

How to know it's working

Test once before you start and once at the end of week 8, not every week. Stand next to a wall, reach up as high as you can and mark it, then jump and touch as high as you can. The difference between those two marks is your vertical. Measure it the same way, same shoes, same time of day, both times.

A realistic gain over 8 weeks for a teen athlete who is new to this is 2 to 4 inches. If you're also getting stronger in the weight room and eating and sleeping well, you can beat that. Anyone promising you 10 inches in a month is selling lies though.

If something hurts

Sore muscles the day after are normal. Sharp knee pain, heel pain, or shin pain is not. If your experiencing pain decrease the volume, take a couple of rest days, and if it sticks around, talk to your athletic trainer or a doctor. Jumping through pain is how a small problem turns into a serious injury.