Improve Your Vertical Jump in Basketball

I'm here to show you how you can improve your vertical jump in basketball greatly by following a few simple exercises that professional athletes haves been using for years. I used to think that all those great basketball players just had these amazing genetics to jump higher. The truth is that they don't. Many have the advantage of just being tall, but most of them had to work daily doing exercises just to add a few inches to their jump. When it comes to this sport and there is money on the line, the best training the methods end up with the athletes and the average Joe misses out. I'm going to expose how the athletes out there train to increase their vertical jump.

The first exercise to help improve your vertical jump in basketball is the squat. It's just an important part of strengthening those muscles required to push you off the ground. Most people think that the squat works the upper area of the legs, which won't help you in your jump, but it does work your entire leg and strengths all the right muscles.

The problem many people have is that they just do strength training and that isn't the only basketball Having strong muscles isn't the only part of jumping higher. It's similar to the idea of someone putting up 50lbs of muscle to run faster. You also need that springy elastic and explosive push off. If you can't achieve that you're not going to get the best of your strength. This is why I suggest that you should basketball around on the tips of your toes for 30 minutes a few times a week. It sounds a lot easier than it really is. Try it and you should get some good results.

Act now and get the proper Jump Higher Exercises.

The Effect of Ankle Injuries on Your March Madness Office Pool

There are two things for which March is known: green beer and basketball. This week, Americans are enjoying both. Whether you are a twelve year old boy or a grandma involved in the nursing home pool, it seems like everyone is talking about March madness. But did you basketball that just the last week there were five foot or ankle injuries among the players competing in the NCAA tournament. Before you turn in your bracket, you may want to take some of these injuries into consideration.

Robert Sacre, Gonzaga Bulldogs; Liam mcMorrow, Marquette Golden Eagles; Ty Lawson, North Carolina Tar Heels; Teondre Williams, Oregon Ducks; and Jonnie West, West Virginia Mountaineers have all had foot or ankle injuries within the last week and all of their teams have advanced into the tournament. Whether or not these injuries will affect the teams is questionable, but what we should be asking is why these injuries are happening so late in the season. At this point, the athletes should be at their prime strength, so why are the falling apart?

Basketball, like all sports, puts significant stress on your body especially your foot. Running causes an increase in forces on your foot and ankle three to six times your body weight. When a forward goes up for a rebound, they come down to contact the ground with a forces six times their body weight. Our body is designed to compromise and adjust for these forces, but if we do them too fast, we can cause damage to our body. This is why athletes go through training. Even with the best training, such as that provided to college athletes, your body can still get injured!

Ankle sprains are the injury seen most often on the court. Once an athlete has one ankle sprain, they are much more likely to have another one because the ligaments are weekend. Ligaments are small fibrous bands of tissue that connect bones to other bones. This along with muscles allows the skeletal system to have a considerable amount of stability. If a ligament gets stretched or injured, it will never recover to have the same amount of strength that it did before the injury. Therefore, once you have an ankle injury, you are much more prone to have one in the future.

So why aren't athletes spraining their ankles every day.

Physical Therapy helps your body regain as much strength and function as possible. Since muscles also contribute to stability, a physical therapist will adjust the patient's exercises to strengthen the muscles in the areas prone to injury. This type of therapy is the most beneficial and is why your podiatrist often suggests physical therapy for most types of injuries. Basketball shoes are quite a bit different than the cross trainers or running shoes we all have stashed away in our closets. Basketball shoes or high tops come up higher to give your ankle more support. You basketball a lot of stress on your body jarring back and forth, running up and down the court and jumping up for the rebound. Simply changing your shoe gear can do wonders to reducing injuries on the court. In addition, some people are more prone to ankle sprains due to biomechanical weaknesses, or simply put, the way their foot and ankle moves when they walk or run. This can innate weakness can be eliminated with a properly made custom orthotic that controls excessive foot motion.

Though the NCAA offers some of the best training and resources to their athletes, some injuries are inevitable. If you ever roll your ankle, take a stumble, or hear a POP, make sure to contact your podiatric physician as soon as possible. The earlier you seek medical attention by a highly trained doctor in the foot and ankle or a podiatrist, the better the outcome of your injury will be.

Dr. Peter Wishnie is a podiatrist who specializes in foot and ankle surgery. His office is in Piscataway/Hillsborough, NJ. His goals are to educate the public on the care of their feet and ankles and to get them functioning as quickly as possible. For more foot health tips on foot pain, get a Free copy of their book, "Got Feet," by visiting their website: http://www.stopfootpainfast.com

3 Mistakes Basketball Players Make and How You Can Avoid Them

As a personal trainer basketball sports performance coach here in Singapore, basketball athletes are a large portion of my clients. But basketball is a sport where there are long standing traditions that hurt athletes from performing their best.

Mistake number one is a lack of strength training. There are some coaches that think physical preparation is limited to playing the game, doing practice drills and going for some long distance runs. But strength training under the care of a knowledgeable personal trainer or sports performance specialist will boost a players speed, basketball power, agility and resistance to injury. There is no validity to the old wives tale about bigger muscles hurting shooting technique. As long as the athletes keep practicing their shooting while getting stronger their bodies will adapt.

Mistake number two is a lack of a proper warm up. Usually I see teams warm up by doing some jogging followed by some static stretching (Hold different positions for 30-60 seconds each). This is not a good way to warm up for training or games. It actually results in turning off your brain when you actually want to get it ready for peak performance. A good stretching program will include movements that are likely to be used in the game, as well as activation exercises to wake up muscles that are going to be used.

The third mistake is using too many wraps and guards especially where there is nothing wrong with you just for "insurance". Guards may be of use when recovering from an injury but they force joints to be stiffer than they should be. This lack of movement will be compensated for in other joints causing problems. For example, ankle guards and tapes can cause problems with the knee because it now has to take over for the movement that the ankle lacks.

Coach Jonathan Wong, is a sought after Singapore personal trainer and performance expert who has helped hundreds of clients in Singapore from regular folk to national level athletes achieve their fitness, fat loss and sports performance goals regardless of starting age, fitness level or experience.

He Is also a fitness author and a member of Singapore Men's Health Advisory Panel. Visit his website for a free 1500 page e-book, blog, newsletter and constant updates. http://www.coachjon.com

2 Girl's Basketball Camp Tips

In reality, basketball season does not end after tournament time. There are actually 3 seasons of basketball, pre-season, the-season and post-season. Post-season basketball used to work basketball individual skills and development. Pre-season is used to work on team conditioning and development. And the infamous "the-season" is the time to show off what you have done during the post-season and pre-season. Girls basketball camps are generally held during the post-season and to get the most out of attending camps follow these tips.

Be serious and Pay attention

Playing basketball is fun. Being at a basketball camp with friends and teammates, along with meeting new people, is an awesome experience. However, attending a basketball camp is also a learning experience. If you want to elevate your game, take attending a girls basketball camp seriously. Pay attention to the little nuggets and information that you receive at the camp. There may be one small thing that you learn that can be the difference from you being a starter compared to a role player. It can be the different from you averaging single digits to double digits in scoring. It can be different from you getting off the bench.

Build relationships with staff and players.

Depending on the type of basketball camp that you attend use it to network and build relationships. If you are attending a college basketball camp, the camp is located on the college campus and it will feature the coaching staff and players of the school. This is a great opportunity to experience being on a college campus and playing in their facility or gym.

It's also an opportunity to hang out with college coaches and players. Feel free to ask them questions about your game, college life and college basketball. You will not get a better change to actually be face-to-face with a college coach or player than at their camp. Take advantage of it. You never know if that coach or player will be a future coach of yours.

I always like to stress that basketball should be fun first. However, the more you continue to play and grow as a player, the more serious and competitive it becomes. Use basketball camps wisely to develop as a player and to also build relationships.

Visit http://www.girlsbasketballtips.com to get your copy of the 6 Girls Basketball Tips that will Explode Your Game!!!