There are a few sports that can help develop the strength, power, speed, stamina, and endurance to perform very well in the high jump.
If you play the sport for a season of 6-12 weeks prior to the athletics season, you should develop a strong physical base that will help you jump higher in the high jump.
In some cases, you can also continue playing other sports during the athletics season. However, you will need to do your best to avoid injury in the sport that you are playing, any risk of soreness from the intensity of the sport and the frequency of the sports activity, and balancing recovery.
Which sports should you consider playing to help you with high jump?
Basketball
Basketball is fantastic because it will condition your body in a few great ways for high jump.
Quick reaction time off the ground & vertical leaping ability
Basketball will force the athlete to move quickly with pivoting and jumping. Full vertical explosion through the toes is required during the game. And the athlete will rely heavily on their explosive power in their ankle dorsiflexion.
The athlete will become more powerful in their legs, and will improve their vertical jumping ability by the end of the season.
Endurance and stamina
When playing basketball, you will be running around everywhere with short sprinting bursts, backpedaling, and then vertical leaping to grab the ball or score when you either rebounding, laying up the ball, or preparing to dunk the ball in the hoop.
You will develop more stamina and endurance by playing full-court basketball compared to half-court or to the three-point line.
Feel free to play casually, but aim for at least 1 full game of full-court basketball per week. (40-60 minutes)
Fat loss
Because the game is so intense, the athlete will lose a lot of body fat and potentially muscle if they are unable to fuel their body fast enough. The good thing is the athlete will be able to become lean and light in preparation for the season.
Football/Soccer in the midfield or striker positions
The fast-twitch muscles that’s required to develop speed, power, and explosiveness will be activated with the athletes hip flexors, hamstrings, quads, and glutes. Combine this with explosive bounding, weight training, and plyometrics and the athlete is guaranteed to develop power and speed endurance laterally.
Because of the intensity with the short sprints and backpedaling, the athlete will also develop their stamina and endurance.
This will allow the athlete to hold their leg positions and form for longer, which will make it easier for them to hold their knee drive to clear higher heights.
Touch rugby
This sport is guaranteed to build speed endurance quickly as long as the athlete commits to staying on the field for as long as possible. Play in the centre and focus on sprinting with the ball and backpedaling.
You will find that your core and legs will develop a lot of stamina, which will help you perform more intensely when doing the high jump.
The sport will also condition the body with fat loss, making the athlete lean for the athletics season.
Volleyball
Being one of the hitters in volleyball is great because you will always be forced to do vertical jumping during the game. Combine the volleyball jumps with vertical jump training off one and two feet to maximize your vertical power. Aim to develop a vertical jump of 20-45 inches.
If you are serious about jumping higher in the high jump, it’s best to continue doing your high jump training while you are playing these sports so that you start the athletics season in excellent condition.
If you want to improve your high jump performance, I would recommend getting the high jump drills ebook.
If you’re interested in jumping higher, you can purchase my high jump training program that I used to jump over 2m. It’s available for $4.99. Click here to order it and I will send it to you within 24h. I had been playing soccer whilst doing this training program at the same time, and was consistently clearing 2m+ at every competition.
Featured image credit
Photo by Larry George II on Unsplash
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