13 Basketball Jumping Drills
to Help you Jump Higher

Improve your vertical jump with 13 youth basketball jumping drills which will strengthen your legs and increase your power and explosiveness. These exercises are guaranteed to help you jump higher!

Regardless of your size or the position you play, you've got to be able to get off the floor and get some air between your feet and the ground.

Being able to jump higher than your opponent comes in really handy when you're battling over the rebound, and jumping drills give you the leg strength you need to go up for a jump shot, power up for a post move or steal a cross-court pass.

In each of these situations, having strong legs with explosive power gives you a competitive edge.

If you will make these basketball exercises a part of your regular youth basketball training routine, I guarantee you will love the results!

Want to take your basketball jumping ability to the next level?

Here's a simple program you can do at home to help you improve your basketball jumping.

I've listed 13 basketball jumping drills below, which should provide a good variety to keep your workout from getting boring.

I recommend rotating through them, picking about 5 at a time to work on. Perform them every other day for a week. At the end of the week, select another group of 5. Your basketball jumping workout shouldn't last more than about 20 minutes.

For an added challenge, perform these drills wearing Jumpsoles.

Basketball Jumping Drills

1. Backboard Touches

• Jump up and try to touch the backboard or rim.
  (If you can't, don't worry about it. Just jump as high as you can.)
• Jump 8 times in a row repeatedly without stopping in between.
  
• Once you land on both feet, explode back up immediately.
  
• Rest 10-15 seconds and repeat.
  
• Rest, repeat, etc.
  
• Then try to take one step and jump off both feet.

2. Bench Jumps

• Find a low bench (or lay a board across a couple of bricks.)
  
• Adjust the height as necessary, making it higher as you get better.

• Stand sideways next to the bench and jump over and back sideways 10 times, landing on both feet on each side.
  
• Each time you go over the bench counts as one jump.
  
• Try to do it continuously without stopping in between jumps. (This may be hard at first with a higher bench.)
  
• Rest 10-15 seconds and repeat.

In high school, we used to have to see how many bench jumps we could make in 60 minutes. You talk about a workout!

3. Rope Jumping

• Keep your arms at your sides near your hips, using as little arm movement as possible.
• If you know different jump roping steps, mix it up to keep it interesting.
• Start with 50 jumps on your right foot, 50 jumps on your left, and 50 jumps on both.
• When that becomes too easy, increase to 100 and work your way up to until you can do 500-1,000.

4. Toe Raises

• Face a wall or chair and put your hands on it for support.
  
• Lift one leg up, and bend it behind you while raising yourself up as high as you can on your toes.
  
• Do this 25 times for each leg.
• For an extra challenge, do this basketball jumping exercise on a book or step that's raised a few inches off the ground. Stand with the balls of your feet on the step and your heels touching the ground. Raise up to your toes and lower all the way down.
  

5. Partner Jumps

• With a partner holding your shoulders and applying resistance, jump up and try to tuck your knees to your chest.
  
• Jump 10 times.
  
• Rest 10-15 seconds and repeat.
• You can also get the the same type of resistance with a basketball jumping aid like the one shown here.
  

6. Double Tap

• Jump up and try to touch the backboard or rim twice before coming down.
  
• If that's too high for you, find a spot on a wall, fence, or something else and try to hit it instead.

7. Wall Sit

• Put your back against the wall and sit with your knees in a 90-degree angle like you are sitting in a chair.
  
• Do this for 15 seconds and rest.
  
• Try to work your way up 60 seconds at a time, or longer.
• This probably won't be the most fun drill you'll ever do, but you'll like the results when you see how strong it makes your quads.
  

8. One-Man Drill

• Jump up and touch the backboard or rim or as high as possible 10 times.
  
• Jump up and tip the ball off the right side of the backboard 10 times, using your right hand only.
  (If you can't do this, tip it off a wall instead, jumping as high as you can.)
• Jump up and tip the ball off the left side of the backboard 10 times, using your left hand only.
  
• While standing on one side of the basket, pass the ball up high on the backboard with both hands so that it comes down on the other side.
  
• Move quickly over to the other side, jump, and rebound the ball.
  
• Repeat by tossing it off the backboard to the other side.
  
• Repeat 10 times.

9. Two-Man Drill

• One player stands on each side of the basket.
  
• Player with the ball jumps up and passes the ball high off of the backboard to player on the other side.
  (If this is too hard with a basket, pass it off of a wall instead.)
• Rebounder jumps up as high as possible to grab the ball, comes down, jumps back up and passes the ball back off the backboard to the other side.
  
• Repeat 10 times and then switch sides of the basket to do it again.

• This time, when you rebound the ball, don't bring it down.
  
• Try to jump, catch, and pass the ball back over before your feet hit the floor.
  
• This takes some strength and some practice!

10. One-Leg Jump

• Jump as high as you can 10 times on your right leg and rest for 15 seconds.
  
• Jump 10 times on your left leg and rest for 15 seconds.
  
• Jump 30 times on your right leg and rest.
  
• Jump 30 times on your left leg and rest.
  
• Work you way up until you can repeat this drill 10 times.
  
• Then work your way up to 3 sets of 10.

11. Kangaroo Jump

• Take one step with your right leg, jump as high up as you can, and come down using your right leg only.
  
• With your right leg still on the floor, step with your left leg and jump straight up, coming down on your left leg only.
  
• Build up to doing this drill 10 times and then 3 sets of 10.
  
• This is a great drill to work on the footwork for shooting a lay-up.

12. Step-Over Jump

• Move to your right, stepping over your right leg with your left.
  
• Bring your feet together and jump up as high as you can.
  
• As soon as you land, move to your left by stepping over your left foot with your right.
  
• Bring your feet together and jump up with both legs.
  
• Build up to 10 repetitions and then 3 sets of 10.
  
• This is a great drill to work on the footwork used in a jump shot.
  
• When you step over make sure you square your hips around like you are squaring up to the basket to take a shot.

13. Power Move Jump

• Face the backboard and stand about one foot away from it.
  
• Jump up with both feet and try to touch the backboard with both hands.
  
• As soon as you land, slide over to the other side of the basket.
  
• Bring your feet together and jump up with both feet and try to touch the backboard with both hands.
  
• Build up to 10 repetitions and then 3 sets of 10.
  
• This is a great drill for working on the footwork for your post moves.

Along with these basketball jumping drills, you need to try out some other great conditioning drills.

Check out some more fun basketball exercises to improve other areas of your game!

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