The calves are a key muscle in jumping. Workouts for calves are an important part of a basketball conditioning program to build your vertical jump. There are many different forms of gym workouts, including the in-vogue plyometrics. “Old school” strengthening is still an effective way to increase your vertical jump, and this workout will improve your calf size and strength.
Calf raises are the classic workout for calves, so we won’t be reinventing the wheel. Readers familiar with powerlifting may have heard of strip sets. Strip sets fatigue a muscle. I find calves, more than any muscle in the body, respond well to this sort of exercise. Weighted calf raises are best (a machine where you stand on a step with your toes on the step with your heels hanging off, with weights on your shoulders) but a leg press machine can be used if one is unavailable – have just the front of your foot on the leg press, keep your knees very slightly bent so that they don’t lock back and move your ankle up and down.
An important point is to work your muscle through its entire range, so make sure you are bending your ankles all the way up and pushing all the way through the movement.
To perform the strip set, find a weight at which you can do 20 reps to a moderate fatigue. The muscle should be sore, but you could do another few reps if you needed to.
Take the weight down a notch, then immediately do 20 more.
Take a weight down a notch, then do 20 more.
Repeat until you reach a weight that is too easy, or you are physically unable to complete a full push down with your foot.
There are many differing opinions on basketball conditioning, but give this one a try and let me know what you think. For beginners to basketball workouts, have a read of this post which is a decent summary of why a variety of exercises are important.