Here are a few exercises that when done properly will definitely increase your leg strength, quickness and vertical leap. Being able to jump higher should just be a nice by-product. If you want to become a real basketball player instead of just a dunking freak show at the local playground, you'll value how these drills will help you to stay in front of your man on defense, and maintain good steady feet when a taller/bigger player tries to post you up. Not to mention just having great overall conditioning.
The body's ability to adapt
Anyone who has ever had a physical job over an extended period of time will be aware of the body's ability to adapt. If you have spent your summer working in a shop for example you may have noticed how during the first few days your leg and back muscles might have been aching, not to mention your feet. Or maybe you worked on a construction site for 3 months and all of a sudden found you needed to spend half of your hard earned money on a new wardrobe because your old clothes didn't fit anymore. The conclusion therefore is that if your body is placed outside of its comfort basketball it will try its hardest to adapt. Now to the drills:
If it was good enough for Rocky...
Do some light skipping for 10 minutes just to get warmed up. If you want to impress see how many doubles you can do in a row, or cross your arms every now and then.
First things first
Stretching. Do it. I'm not going to go into it. But do it.
Today's dare is to walk like a penguin (to stop shin splints)
This is a stretch/exercise to help prevent shin splints. Some people are more susceptible to them than others. Shin splints are caused by a muscle imbalance in your calf. This exercise can help prevent them from occurring. basketball spend a few minutes every couple of hours walking around on your heals as demonstrated in picture 1.1. If you do them correctly you will feel the muscles behind your shins working and the pain caused by frequent jumping should start to easy off over time.
Rendering chairs obsolete
I want to make a note here that I'll take no responsibility what so ever if the chair industry goes out of business. The drill is simple enough. Sit against a wall as displayed in picture 1.2 with your legs bent at a near 90 angle. Your thighs should be working hard to keep your back pressed against the wall. So hard, that after a certain amount of time, depending on how strong they are, they will start shaking like mad. If you are new to this exercise don't overdo it the first time. Gradually find out where your limit is. Your thighs could end up aching for weeks if you don't, and you can forget dunking. Just walking up stairs alone will become a challenge. Also make sure to keep your back straight. As an addition you can have a friend annoy you by passing you a ball while your thighs burn like mad.
Find your centre (whilst standing on a ball)
This exercise takes a bit of practice, but once mastered will help prevent knee injuries along with helping you develop a great sense of balance. It specifically targets small little used and therefore underdeveloped muscle groups within your knees. Which in turn affects your explosiveness. The exercise itself is easy enough. Just stand on a ball. You might want to do it in front of a wall at first, so you can balance yourself properly and gain a feel for it. Over time no wall should be necessary. When you can get on to the ball without any support and stay on there for as long as you want, you might want to give yourself some challenges. Like passing another ball around your body in a ring motion.
Plyometrics
Unlike the muscle building drills above the following drills are classed as plyometrics. While previously we discussed how to build up leg strength these drills are meant to increase your explosiveness. Note that plyometrics alone will not be enough to increase your vertical leap. Ideally you will want to find the optimal combination of plyometrics, strength exercises, endurance drills, diet and rest to experience optimal vertical leap gains. For further details on how plyometrics work see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plyometrics.
Backboards can be used for more than layups
During this drill you will hold a ball with both hands, jump up, and touch the backboard with the ball. In this version the ball never leaves your hands. Try to complete twenty reps with a one-minute brake before the next set. If you cannot reach the backboard, or do not have one available, try using a marked wall instead. Also, instead of increasing the number of reps, try to increase the height of the point that the ball is making contact with.
Tipping Alternative
By jumping and tipping the ball against the backboard you will not only be working on your explosiveness. You might be confronted with a situation during a game where you can't get to a rebound but can keep the ball alive by tipping it against the backboard. With a bit of practice you should be able to control that tip to the extent where you can tip it so it comes down in a location where you can grab the rebound, or if on offence, can tip the ball into the basket.
Line drills aren't just there to torture you
Coaches make their players do line drills over and over again for a reason. If you do them regularly you will find a huge increase in the speed of your first step and sprinting ability. This will naturally also help your vertical leap. If you don't know what a line drill is: you sprint from baseline to the first free throw line, then back to baseline, then halfway line and back, then second free throw line and back, then full court and back. If you are doing this alone, get someone to time you and work towards setting up a personal best. Otherwise if there is a group of you make it more interesting by saying the losers have to do 20 push-ups.
Clear it or stack it (jumping sideways over an object)
Sideways jumps will help you out a lot on defence. Set up an obstacle, like a cone or a few books. Make sure the object isn't to high, as you will be jumping over it in sideways motions, back and forth 30 times. Jumping again as soon as your feet make contact with the ground. Repeated quick takeoffs are the key to successful plyometric training and optimal vertical leap gains. See picture 1.3.
Tired of falling over your own feet? (180 Jumps)
Position yourself so you have enough room to complete 30 jumps where you change direction each time. As you can guess along with quickness and all the other usual benefits this plyometric exercise will help you improve your coordination.
Run
I know a lot of players would rather go and find a local pickup game than go on a 20 min run. Lets face reality: the pickup game is the more enjoyable choice. No coaches yanking you from the game for your shot selection and you are not going to be pushing yourself to the limit like on a run. Still, going on a 20-30 minute run 3 times per week will improve your stamina immensely come game time. Because you are putting your body under a different kind of stress than during games and training (where you get to stop every 30 seconds for a short breather) you will become a more complete athlete. The goal here is not to become a marathon runner though. A 20-30 minute run at a good fast pace will give you better basketball related results.
Diet
Lebron James did not get his body from living on fast food. Repeat: Lebron James did not get his body from living on fast food. If you are one of those individuals who believe they can eat what they want to just because they do sport: fine. It's true. You will burn off calories. That's a fact. But if you are serious about developing your body you will have to change your ways I'm afraid. Fast food simply doesn't contain the building blocks that you need in order to build up a real athlete's body. Let alone a 40 inch vertical leap. If you don't watch your diet all the exercises here are good for is burning calories. For proper results you need to start taking in a high dose of protein, potassium and all the other good stuff. Read up on some diet articles online, or invest some money into a few health magazines. They tend to print the same information over and over again, so you will only need to buy a few issues. Or don't, and just use this as a more complicated and painful calorie-burning program. Your choice.
A great investment
Have you guessed it yet? It is, drum roles: a gym membership. No, not only meatheads and Madonna go to the gym. Basketball players are allowed there too. You might want to ask a personal trainer to help you put together a program that will help you gain strength, while at the same time increase your flexibility, mobility, and speed to go along with your vertical leap.
Conclusion
I haven't noted down a specific training regime with sets here because everyone's body is different. Especially in regard to plyometrics, some will find doing 3 sets of each a walk in the park while others will be lying flat on their backs for weeks after the same amount. You will have to judge your own limits. Make sure you get enough rest between sets though. If you don't give your body enough time to heal, you will be doing it a lot more damage than good. This is another reason why a good diet is vital. It will speed up your recovery time. This will also mean that you should try to group these exercises together as much as possible. Having 3 intensive workouts per week, and loads of rest in between will give you better results that sporadically doing drills twice per day.
For a more detailed look as to how professional athletes use plyometrics, and how to schedule your training sessions around your basketball season for optimal results go to:
http://www.sportgorilla.com/plyometrics.php
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