If you have read about vertical jump training, then you have probably come across the terms RFD and reactivity. If not, even then it is very important that you understand these terms because these two factors are very important when it comes to improving your vertical jump.

RFD stands for Rate of force development. This means how fast your muscles can produce the force that is required to jumping higher. When you jump higher during a game, you don’t have enough time to bend down and gather all your strength and then jump up. Besides, the longer you take to jump the less effective your jumping will be. In jumping it is very important that you have a high RFD, which means your muscles are able to produce your strength very quickly.

Reactivity (or reactive strength) on the other hand how fast you can complete your jumping motion (going up and coming down) without losing anything in your performance. What this means is when you land from a jump, you should be able to absorb all the force quickly, take control of yourself and then again be able to jump back as high as you as you can. Reactivity is very important and plays a very important factor in many games. Any dunker who can perform insane dunks has a very high reactivity. It plays a very important role in jumping higher.

These two terms, even though they might sound two scientific, are extremely important in vertical jump training. You should definitely include the exercises which help improve RFD and reactivity in your training routine.

Any exercises which trains you for quickness is essentially training you to increase your RFD. Plyometrics when done with your entire strength and ability, train your RFD to improve along with strength and speed. Reactivity can be drastically improved by depth jumps. Training for reactivity improves the strength of your joints and ligaments. So when you jump higher you joints will be ready for the impact when you land and this will minimize any injuries that you are prone to in jumping higher.

Vertical jump training includes many aspects of jumping higher. These two factors are only a small portion of aspects that you should be working on. To gain the most of your vertical jump training, you should concentrate on every aspect of vertical jumping, which will create synergistic effect and will increase your jump within weeks.