An athlete's vertical jump is a stone in his sports career; in sports like basketball and volleyball, the player with the highest jump is the most scared score winner and defender of all. For Generations, people have been trying to figure out ways of enhancing the explosive power of a person's vertical jump. Aside from the great bout on unlocking the limits, it has also been a problem measuring the accurate progress of a person's vertical jump during his training.
Wall Nut
The most basic way of measuring the height of a person's vertical leap is by standing within a wall while raising one of your hands as high as possible, feet lying flat on the ground; afterwards, put a line or marker on the tip of your finger . This is known as the "standing reach". Put oil or powder at the tip of your fingers then jump several times and touch the wall so marks would be left behind to indicate your highest reach upon jumping. Measure the distance between your standing reach and the highest point you have made. This is the height of your vertical jump.
Kinematics
Some people use a more scientific and accurate way of measuring the vertical jump, by using a pressure pad, laser beams and kinematic equations. This is measured by taking note of the time an athlete can complete a jump before he falls back to the ground. The equation for this is h = g * t2 / 8, where (h) is for height, (g) is for the pull of gravity which is equal to 9.81 m / s2 or 32.2 ft / s2 and (t2 / 8) for the time an athlete can complete the jump from the ground and back to the ground in milliseconds. This equation if usually calculated by a software installed to a computer where the pressure pad and laser beams are connected.
Infrared Laser
This is also an accurate way of measuring the vertical leap of a player, where it is required to stand and jump in between two infrared laser planes facing each other. How does it work? Well, not as complicated as computing kinematic equations; in fact, it just works like jumping next a wall and subtracting your standing reach off your maximum jump reach. The only difference is that first, it is using infrared laser beams and second, it is a way lot more expensive than the regular jump and reach beside the wall.
Whatever method it is you are using, as long as you are sure that your vertical is gaining more and more power and you can feel that there really is progress in what you are doing, you are certainly getting somewhere. Question is, are you? If you are not pretty sure that there is ascension in your vertical jump training, I would advise you to seek help from vertical jump professionals.