Testing Vertical Jump
If you are about to start a vertical jump program or are simply curious about where your vertical jump currently stands, you may want to test your vertical jump. Testing vertical jump is a key part of tracking progress as you go through your vertical jump program and begin increasing your vertical leap. It can be fun to see how well you are progressing throughout the duration of your vertical jump training program, and it can also show you if you are not progressing and signal you that you are doing something wrong. There are many variations that you can use to test your vertical jump (all of which are separately important to many athletes), we will talk about four in this article.
Jump off two feet from stand still
The first vertical jump test would be to jump off of two feet from a stand still position. Once your feet are set they are not allowed to move until you have jumped into the air. Perform your jump and touch the highest point of your vertical jump measurement device or system that you can. Record Results.
Jump off two feet taking one step
This is a very common form of testing vertical jump. From a set standing position take one step and immediately power up into the air. Although we call it a “one step takeoff”, you are actually technically taking two steps. Your steps should be staggered and quick, think *left, right, jump* (or right, left, jump- if you want to step with your right foot first). Your steps should be quick, their only purpose is to add momentum to your movement and help you jump higher.
Jump off two feet, running start
Simple to understand, take as big of a running start as you desire to gain maximum momentum and jump as high as you can with a two-footed takeoff. Touch the highest point you can.
Jump off one foot, running start
Take a running start to gain as much momentum as you need, jump as high as you can off of one foot. Also, consider testing each leg individually. Sometimes people have a significantly weaker leg for one footed jumping, and improvement can increase both you one-footed and two-footed vertical leaps.
Those are the four main types of testing vertical jump in our opinion. We recommend doing a couple of these vertical jump tests (if not all of them) before starting a vertical jump program. Write down you results, and then wait till you finish your jumping program in order to retest and find your final vertical jump gains. Do not make the mistake of testing your vertical jump too often, because this can tire you out and detract from your workouts. If you must check our progress out, try to only do it once every 3-4 weeks and only attempt one of the tests a couple of times. One of the biggest problems with checking vertical jump results too often is that you can easily get discouraged if you do not see the gains you desire. Gaining inches on vertical jump takes time, and you will be a lot more satisfied and impressed with your results if you complete a three month program and only test at the end with a 7 inch gain than if you test every two weeks and notice only an inch of progress during those intervals.
Check out part two of this testing vertical jump article series to read about the proper way to make measurements of both your standing reach and your maximum vertical jump from all of these vertical jump tests.