Who Holds the Highest Vertical Jump Record Ever?
If you’ve ever played basketball, ran track & field, or even played football, you may know that you have to have a pretty good vertical for those emergency situations, or to provide a massive offense or defense. When it comes to basketball, people want to slam dunk, and it’s been proven that this is one of the things people love to watch the most. Some NFL players have utilized these same vertical jump skills to pass over the front lines and defensive walls to score massively entertaining touchdowns. Even track and field stars have been able to get some of the most innovative gold medals in the Olympics. But who has the highest vertical jump? If you’re into sports, you have probably wondered this at some point. That’s exactly what we’re going to cover in this article.
The NBA Has Jump Records for Maximum Verticals
Annually, primarily in the summer, a lot of NBA wannabes end up contesting each other so that officials in the industry can find out just how high and far they can jump. These scouts offer prospects to showcase their jumping test as well as perform numerous activities to test their skills. One of them is the vertical jump.
During the vert jump test, the players have to stand and jump as high as possible, and then they do a jump with a run to discover their maximum vertical leap height. So far, there has been one person who stood out above all others, and his name was DJ Stephens. On a miraculous jump from a standstill, he was able to jump 40 inches off of the grown, and his running jump ended up being 46 inches high – that’s almost a four-foot vertical jump!
Other players that were able to achieve great heights and soar were Nate Robinson, Vince Carter, and the great Muggsy Bogues. A lot of NBA players still get up there pretty far, they just don’t realize that during the tests they’ve got to do, so they don’t always pass the tests with as many flying colors! Not only that, but there are plenty of other NBA stars that have had higher verticals. Most of them just haven’t been tested during the Draft Combine that they do today, so they made our list, but didn’t make any official list. Some of them are:
Wilt Chamberlain
Not only was Wilt Chamberlain extremely tall (he’s one of the 7-foot boys of the NBA who is 7 feet tall or higher), he also had numerous records that nobody in the league has ever reached. On top of that, he has one of the highest vertical jumps out there, ranking in at 48 inches. Too bad it couldn’t be recorded and tested officially! He also holds the record for scoring a hundred points in one game, and that record has held strong since 1962.
Michael Jordan
Air Jordan is one of the most reputable names out there, starring in movies, playing baseball, and being literally the spokesperson for the famous shoe brand, Nike. He held a 46-inch vertical jump, and when it came to his airtime, he was able to soar like an eagle (pun intended) and literally glide to the rim with one-handed dunks, tongue hanging out like Nutty the Squirrel from Happy Tree Friends. There isn’t really a person alive today that doesn’t know who Michael Jordan is.
LeBron James
Lebron James is another veteran jumper who holds onto a 44-inch vertical jump. While he has never participated in the national dunking contest, he has made some of the most awesome dunks out there to date, and has been a star athlete since he entered the court.
Zach LaVine
Zach LaVine was the official NBA winner of the Slam Dunk Contest held in both 2015, as well as the following year. He has made some insane dunks, and he holds a 46-inch vertical jump. Using the Vertec, he actually did this jump and had it officially tested with one foot. That’s something a lot of players can’t achieve to this day!
What About the NFL?
The National Football League also has a few people that have achieved insane high jumps too. One such jump was tested by Gerald Sensabaugh – he was able to do a 46 inch high jump when they tested him in 2005. There is no footage of the jump, but it did go into the books as an official test result. Gerald is one of the highest jumpers in the NFL and was able to literally almost match LaVine’s record high jump!
The Olympics Aren’t Out of the Question Either
In Track and Field, the high jumps are no stranger to extremely insane verticals – they practically have an event named for the vertical jump. The current world record was put into the Guinness Book of Records back in 1993 by Javier Sotomayor when he cleared an 8ft high jump with a 2.45m high jump. That’s 96 inches in which he cleared the bar, meaning it was the most technical jump in history to date. Of course, this doesn’t necessarily reflect the vertical jump because jumping over the bar backwards requires finesse and technique to clear it. However, it is deducted with mathematical calculations that Javier’s high jump itself was approximately 49 inches.
The Box Jump Champion
You may hear some people who’ve taught jump training courses that they had a vertical jump above 60 inches. However, this isn’t the same as many other jumps, because the users tuck their feet at the maximum height in order to land on the box. However, by using this technique, they’re able to jump onto boxes at much higher altitudes. Of course, this isn’t the same as a regular vertical jump, but people have been able to jump as high as 73 inches, like Jordan Kilganon.
How Did They Increase Their Verticals So Well?
There are many programs out there on the market that can help train people to jump higher. Unfortunately, there are also a lot scams out there too. Many jump trainer programs out there either use plyometric exercises, while some may utilize leg workouts and core workouts. There are some that are strictly done using weight training. The downside to these programs though is that they don’t always give people the results they want (most of the time they don’t) because they don’t incorporate enough work to help improve your vertical. It actually takes a mixture of all three of these types of training to incorporate the right muscle power, burst of speed and power in jumps, and stamina to increase your vertical jump to maximum heights.
On a Final Note
One of the highest jump programs out there today on the market can truly boost your body so you can achieve dunks like you never dreamed of. It’s called Vert Shock, and it’s a reasonably priced program that isn’t just a marketing ploy. As one of the best jump training programs out there, it uses both jump exercises, core exercises, and includes a good amount of natural bodyweight exercises so you don’t ever have to worry about needing to go to the gym. If you’re wanting to increase performance, you can use weights, and prepare yourself for the full course that will help build your body up, and give you the highest vertical jumps you could ever achieve. The course itself has also been able to provide training for some of the NBA’s top prospects who claim to have used it – something that many other jump programs claim they do (but really don’t).