How To Jump Like LeBron James

Written by Jack Woodrup for VerticalJumping.com

Unless you have been living under a rock for the last few years, most of us would have heard of the freakishly athletic cat by the name of LeBron James.

Figure 1: LeBron James in action

In case you haven’t seen him in action before have a quick look at this video and see for yourself what an amazing vertical jump he has.

Watching those highlights you might notice something rather interesting. Despite his weight of about 260+ pounds, LeBron is almost a purely single leg jumper. Watch it again. All of those amazing dunks (and lets face it, some of them are just ridiculous) were performed after taking off without breaking stride.

So with his recent MVP win in mind, I thought I might take a moment to offer up a few of my favourite exercises to help you improve your running single leg jump and see if you can’t get a little bit of LeBron James type elevation into your own game.

IMPORTANT NOTE ABOUT DUNK TRAINING

Now before I start with the list, I want to point out that without any doubt the single most effective exercise for increasing your running vertical jump, especially with dunking in mind, is to actually go out and practice with maximum effort your running vertical jump. Put simply, if you want to dunk, go out and try dunking.

It is 100% specific to your goal which means it is vital that you include plenty of it in your vertical jump program. If you need to know more about this topic have a read of this article: The Best Vertical Jump Exercise Ever

With that said it is time to get into it. So without further ado, here, in no particular order, are my top 7 exercises for improving your single leg running jump.

TRAVELLING LUNGES

While split squats and step ups are both good exercises, as far as developing strength for single leg jumping goes, the travelling lunge might just be the best choice you can make.

It targets the hamstrings and glutes, it is a unilateral movement, it requires good core strength, and on top off all that, it is pretty easy to learn.

To replay the video just click and drag the time bar back to the start.

You can use sand bags, barbells, weight vests, medicine balls or a combination of those things to add resistance. Another option is to hold dumbbells but I have found that when using heavier loads grip strength can give out before the set is finished.

One of my favourite ways to perform this exercise is uphill. Be warned though, this is truly brutal the first few times you do this and you may have trouble sitting down for a few days.

123 DRILL WITH A POWER JUMPER

The 123 drill is an excellent exercise for single leg jumping because it simulates not just the last few steps, but also the plant and takeoff of a running jump. As such it is a highly specific exercise choice. It is great for developing reactive strength, ankle strength, and movement efficiency.

The addition of the Lifeline power jumper is a nice and simple way to get more out of this exercise by helping to overload the eccentric, and providing a bit of accommodating resistance on the concentric. All this is done without adding weight or changing your jumping motion.

To replay the video just click and drag the time bar back to the start.

POWER SKIPPING WITH THE POWER JUMPER

Power skipping is another single leg jumping drill that is pretty specific to single leg jumping. It also helps develop reactive strength, ankle strength, and each skip is quite similar to a take off motion of a jump.

Again the addition of the power jumper is a nice and easy way to get more out of the drill by adding both accommodating resistance and some overload to the eccentric without adding weight.

To replay the video just click and drag the time bar back to the start.

Now I just want add a quick note about these two exercises and the power jumper. As much as I like the Lifeline USA power jumper (And I do like it a lot. I genuinely believe that at about $50, it is definitely one of the better value training aids you can buy), I want to also add that both of these exercises are terrific in their own right.

If you don’t own a power jumper and have no intention of getting one, that is cool. These exercises can both still be used very, very effectively to help your single leg jumping.

PAUSED SINGLE LEG FROG JUMP

While running and jumping off one leg is highly influenced by your reactive (eccentric) strength, it certainly doesn’t hurt to also be able to generate plenty of concentric power. The paused single leg frog jump is one of my favourite exercises for achieving this.

This exercise can also be performed wearing a light weight vest, a power jumper, or holding a small amount of weight such as a medicine ball but quite honestly there is no need to get too carried away with adding resistance as it is pretty hard as it is.

To replay the video just click and drag the time bar back to the start.

One thing to be careful of when performing this exercise is to drop back down to the bottom position slowly and under control so that you don’t put too much stress on your knees. Certainly when you are jumping, give it your all and explode up with as much force and power as you can, just take it easy on the way down.

SINGLE LEG TUCK JUMP

The single leg tuck jump is a terrific exercise for single leg jumping because it is a quick jump. It requires you to rapidly absorb the landing forces and then apply your own force back into the ground in order to get back up again. It develops reactive strength and ankle strength. As a side note, tuck jumps are also great to use for fat loss due to their high intensity.

To replay the video just click and drag the time bar back to the start.

BAND RESISTED SPRINTS AND JUMPS

Unless you have experienced short burst sprints and jumps with bands it is hard to imagine just how well this exercise works. After doing even a few sets of band resisted jumps you will notice and immediate and often quite large improvement in your running vertical.

In fact if I had to choose just one exercise to increase my single leg running jump – band resisted jumps would be it. It is very effective, and due to the large potentiation effect, it is also highly motivating and fun to do. Also, bands resisted sprints will help give you a lightning fast first step.

To replay the video just click and drag the time bar back to the start.

And in an article devoted to learning to dunk like LeBron it is fitting then to show you a video of LeBron himself working out. See if anything looks familiar.

The only downside to this exercise is that you need the bands and the long heavy strength bands required are not that cheap. Still, if you can afford them, this is an absolutely awesome exercise.

Before I get inundated with emails the best place to buy the bands I have found online is from KETTLEBELLS AUSTRALIA. They have a special 2 meter long agility band which is perfect for this drill. You will need 2-3 of them looped together to get enough length for a decent run up.

There are other places around that sell these bands but if you do decide to order some from Kettlebells Australia feel free to tell them that Jack from VerticalJumping.com recommended them. I don’t earn a commission, but I know the guys in there well and their stuff is extremely good quality.

CONCLUSION

While this list certainly isn’t exhaustive, they are the ones I like the most. If you were to base your vertical jump training around them, throw in some full blown running vertical jumps here and there, and perhaps add in another strength exercise such as trap bar deadlifts or a squat of some sort and you would have the makings of a program even LeBron James could be proud of.

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