I don’t have a gym membership and cause I actually only want to jump higher on the uni. 
I used to be a volleyballer, and if you train your jumping with ankle weights then take them off, you feel like you are amazing once they are off! ps. I am now happy with my hopping on my 27.5. I just don’t hop with any height on it though right now.
I guarantee you, your high jump is not limited by your strength at all. Strength really only comes into play above 75cm-ish (on a 19" uni) , it’s pretty much all technique up to that.
Don’t mix the skill training and the strength training, doesn’t matter if someones cousins neighbours hairdresser swears by it, it’s not a great idea. Do some off the unicycle plyometrics if you think your strength is what is holding you back - you can wear a weightvest for that.
Muscles/strength is only one of the ingredients for jumping with your unicycle. It’s a complicated movement, that involves balance, compressing your tyre, and a coordinated, well-timed movement of your body.
If you want a distinct exercise, I’d recommend straight jumps, upward jumps and especially tuck jumps.
Agree. It’s not my strength that’s the limiting factor at this point in time, but it’s more balance and technique on the uni. I possibly have to shift weight better and work on the preparation for the hop.
And going to a gym doesn’t help that.
Reckon a weighted vest might help get more tyre compression though 
And gravity it will cancel it in the upward motion
Anyways: this thread is 2 yaers old and the OP was online for just one day…
The best type of unicycle for muscular exercise that I have owned would have to be a 24" Torker DX from the late 90s. Who needs free weights when you have a 40 lb uni? 
Do you ever get to a point where climbing while out of the saddle isn’t arduous? Despite being overweight, I’m usually pretty active and have pretty good endurance, but I find that climbing while riding out of the saddle simply kicks my butt even over short distances. Climbs that would barely raise my heart rate on a bike have me gasping for breath on a unicycle.
I’m wondering how much of this is due to technique. Does climbing while standing up on a unicycle ever get to be as easy as on a bike? Since it weighs less you would think so, but there’s something about getting it past those 6/12 dead spots that is way more difficult.
Very curious! I never imagined that unicycle could be considered a sport. It’s funny! Like, we see those munis at a circus, where clowns ride them very quickly, and it looks pretty amusing. Where can I practice? Is there a club or group that does this activity together? It will be so strange if I ride it in a park, haha. I would instead do flutter quits, Russian twists, abdominal crunches than cycling. And if I add the universal nutrition animal pak 44plicuri, my workout is successful, as I have more strength and resistance.
Make unicycling part of a healthy lifestyle that includes other forms of exercise and diet. You will see results. The fitter you get the better your unicycling will get.
One of the reasons I got a unicycle is that I read that a 24" unicycle is similar effort and speed to jogging (on UDC’s website). My knees sometimes bother me with jogging from the impact, So I thought uncycling would be a lot more fun and an easier on my knees knees way to go running. Unfortunately I still can’t ride very far and it’s very tiring so it’s more like a 200 m Sprint then a jog, but it is fun and is great exercise so I’m still happy.
Welcome and have fun!
I’ve been riding on an almost daily basis for ten months now and I still find it to be that way. I’ll do a short but steep climb and I am tired afterwards and I’m not in bad shape these days. My resting heart rate after two cups of coffee this morning was 47 bpm.
For me, unicycling seems to be much more akin to doing wind sprints than to marathon running. Of course that might be because I like to ride muni and I attempt climbs repeatedly when I can’t do them the first time. Even when I’m not climbing though I still get winded after 1/2 kilometer or so of single-track.
10 months is not long. And single track riding will get easier with experience. I was like that too the first few times. I have a track right near home. I found it extremely taxing for my cardio the first few times I unicycled it, now its not.
My problem right now though is up hills offroad. I can try using a longer crank setting, but that will completely change my riding experience. But I think I should do it though, because atm I dismount and walk up the hills too frequently.
I ride single-track most days and I push myself. I’m sure my cardio can still be improved and I think I can lose another 25 lbs before I start losing muscle, but I also think a lot of it is just that hill climbing out of the saddle is strenuous activity and that the trails just keep getting tougher as I get better. The stuff that used to wear me out six months ago is easy now, but I rarely ride it anymore.
Pilates is a helpful exercise routine, especially for unicycling. One of the best exercise within Pilates for me was learning to tilt my sit-bone, it gives more options on the saddle when your bum is getting sore.
I found a good cardio routine using my 19 inch uni. I draw a circle about 2.5 feet in diameter and jump around to stay in it for as long as possible.