Kneeling Jumps: Unlock Elite Explosiveness
This advanced plyometric drill is essential for players serious about increasing their vertical leap and developing a lightning-quick first step. By starting from the ground, you eliminate momentum, forcing your body to generate 100% of its power from a dead stop—simulating the raw strength needed for standing dunks and battling in the paint. This drill fits squarely into your agility and conditioning work, focusing on hip extension and pure power production.
How to Perform This Drill
- Setup: Kneel on a soft surface (yoga mat or padded floor) with your torso upright. You can choose to have your shoelaces flat against the floor (advanced) or toes tucked under (intermediate).
- Load: Sit your hips back toward your heels while simultaneously swinging your arms back behind you to create potential energy.
- Explode: Violently extend your hips forward ("snap the hips") and swing your arms upward to launch your body off the ground, pulling your feet rapidly underneath you.
- Land: Catch yourself in a low, athletic squat position with feet shoulder-width apart. Ensure your landing is soft, balanced, and quiet.
- React: Once you master the landing, immediately explode into a secondary move—a maximum vertical jump, a broad jump for distance, or a defensive lateral slide.
Why This Drill Works
In a game, you don't always get a running start before you need to explode; often, you are in a crowded lane and need to go up immediately. This drill targets Rate of Force Development (RFD) by removing the "stretch-shortening cycle"—the elastic energy you usually get from dipping down before jumping. By forcing your glutes and hamstrings to fire from a static position, you build the raw horsepower necessary to finish through contact and secure rebounds outside your area.
Pro Tips
- Engage the Core: Keep your core tight throughout the movement. A loose core leaks energy, while a tight core transfers force from your hips to the floor efficiently.
- Be Violent with Arms: Your arms are your accelerators. Throw them upward aggressively; the harder you swing your arms, the more lift you generate from the hips.
- Minimize Ground Contact: When adding the secondary jump, treat the floor like hot lava. As soon as your feet hit the ground from the kneeling jump, spring immediately into your next action to train reactivity.
- Quality Over Quantity: This is a high-output power drill. Perform 4 sets of 4-5 reps with full rest (1-2 minutes) in between to ensure every rep is performed at maximum intensity.
