The Vertical Jump Development Bible

The
Vertical Jump
Development
Bible

I increased my vertical jump by 19 inches- I’m gonna show you how to increase yours
too!

Warning: There is always risk of injury when performing exercise with weight. Before beginning any exercise program,
consult with your physician to ensure that you are in proper health. This program is not meant to provide medical advice; you should
obtain medical advice from your private healthcare practitioner. No liability is assumed by Higher-Faster-Sports for any of the
information contained herein.

If you want to fly, you’ve got 3 options:
1. Buy a plane ticket
2. Sprout feathers and wings
3. Improve your vertical jump
While flying in a plane is nice and all, it’s a bit expensive and way too temporary.
Sprouting feathers and wings ain’t gonna happen! So, unless you’ve got money to burn or
you really believe in evolution, you’re stuck with improving your vertical jump.
A strong vertical jump is at the core of some of the most beautiful and graceful
movements known to man – Kobe Bryant dunking on the fast break, Michelle Kwan
hitting a triple axle, and Barishnikov seemingly floating in air during the ballet. But don’t
get me wrong, the vertical jump is also a measure of pure raw power that is used widely
throughout professional and college athletics as a performance test. An athlete’s vertical
jump can effectively determine how explosive they are and how efficiently they utilize
their strength in athletic movements. In fact, in the NFL, the single biggest predictor of
success isn’t one’s size, speed, or strength, but rather their vertical jump!
Vertical Jump I Know – So Tell Me How I Can Improve It!
Of course the reason you bought this manual was because just like everybody else you’re
wondering, “What is the best routine to give me the hops?" People pursuing the answer
to that question are responsible for millions of dollars of revenue per year for the athletic
performance industry. Unfortunately, a lot of those dollars are wasted. If you’re like
most athletes you’re probably confused as to what exactly you should do. What program
works best? What’s the “magic bullet”? Should I be doing plyometrics, isometrics, jump
rope, sprints, calf raises, 1 million jumps per day, wearing special shoes, weight training,
weighted-vests, stretching, taking special pills, doing special exercises to increase my
height, wearing ankle weights, or meditation? The list goes on and on and on. I’ve been
part of the athletic performance industry for a very long time now and I’ve seen it all.
With so many programs, products, modes, systems, gimmicks, and so much information
(mostly mis-information) floating around out there its no wonder the average athlete is so
confused.
What’s even worse is every program promises the moon but usually does nothing more
then empty your wallet. You may be one of these guys who has a long list of programs,
gadgets, and systems that you either have tried or are going to try. You probably know
plenty of people who’ve had success using one or more of the many programs out there.
You may have had success at some of them yourself. Or maybe you haven’t? You may
have tried other programs without getting anywhere or maybe you’ve just stalled out and
want more. You may have asked the question, “well how come xxxx programs worked
for him but not for me?” Why did xxxxx program put 10 inches on so and so’s vertical
but made me lose 3? Why can so and so jump but I can’t? The truth is, I can’t tell you
what the best program is out there because every program or gadget I’ve seen neglects
solid training principles.
You might wonder what motivated me to write this manual. Well, truthfully, I was
originally motivated because I was angry. I get questions everyday from people who
have been burned by fast-buck artists selling hype without results. I’ve seen a lot of
programs that seem to do no more then extract dollars from unknowing athletes. These
programs are put together without much understanding of how the body works, the
science or reasoning behind how the training methods work, and the reasons why a
system brings gains if in fact it does. So, I decided to do something about this and help do
what I can to spread the knowledge.
Vertical Jump Secrets?
So what exactly is the secret to a great vertical jump? The truth is, there are no secrets or
magical systems. There are, however, solid principles that have been around for ages.
The magic lies in the application of established principles. The information you’ll find
here comes from a variety of resources compiled over the better part of the last century.
The approach I talk about is the same approach used by the best athletes and the best
leapers in the world. This includes track and field athletes, jumpers, throwers, olympic
weightlifters, football players, volleyball players, as well as a few basketball players.
You see, olympic or professional athletes achieve their spectacular leaping ability as a
"side effect" of effective training principles and practices. Their approach is multifaceted
and their vertical jump improves because of effective training designed to improve
various other qualities like strength, speed, and overall explosivness. When these
qualities improve the vertical jump just comes along for the ride.
Rest assured you won't find any professional or olympic athletes out there searching for
the magic jumping cure because there is none. The vertical jump itself is a feat that
coaches from government sponsored programs all over the world have spent over 50
years investigating. The number of readily accessible scientific studies on the VJ is
astounding. In other words, if there was a magic bullet that was really going to put 20
inches on anyone’s vertical in 6 weeks then you can be sure that a sport scientist
would’ve known about it long ago. Fortunately, these same scientists have produced
principles that take the guesswork out of everything. What I’ve done is taken all the
information, tested it, and compiled it into a format that “zeroes in” on the vertical jump.
It’s taken me many years to compile, test, and implement all this information. The
information was out there all along but sorting through it all it has been much like
searching for needles in haystacks! This meant spending endless hours, days, and nights
not only training athletes but also perusing through countless scientific studies and huge
complicated texts in an effort to pull out miscellaneous tidbits of effective information. It
also meant listening to feedback and advice from other coaches and observing thousands
of athletes over the years. I have spent the better part of 10 years researching and
practicing the methods outlined in this book. This has meant using myself, and others, as
a virtual guinea pig for the last 10 years. I have to admit I’ve loved doing it all!
Experimenting, observing, and putting it all into action is the fun part. My only hope is
that this manual will make a substantial difference for you.
When I write, it is in a no-nonsense, straightforward manner. I prefer to talk about
“principles” rather then “secrets”. What I will do is explain the science involved in the
vertical jump and do so in a simplistic manner complete with real-life everyday
examples. My goal is not only to tell you what to do but also to help you understand why
you’re doing it. There’s a saying that goes, “Feed a man a fish, and feed him for a day.”
“Teach him how to fish and feed him for a lifetime.” What I’d like to do is give you
both. I promise when I’m done you’ll have a newfound understanding of this athletic
display and how to improve it. I will explain the various training methods you might be
familiar with and show you how you can easily determine which method of training or
combination of training will work best for you or anyone else at any given time. Then
I’ll give you several complete programs. Along the way, I’ll also answer practically every
question you’ve ever heard on vertical jump development including gadgets, programs,
and just about anything else you can think of.
SHOW ME THE MONEY
Years ago it was thought there wasn't a whole lot if anything we could do to improve
jumping ability because it relied solely on genetics. More and more we now know this is
utter nonsense. The reason why athletes of years past didn't improve is because they:
1. Didn't train at all
or
2.Didn't know how to train correctly.
Fortunately, those days are coming to a close. I will admit the large majority of athletes
and even a lot of coaches still fit into group #2 - They don't know how to train correctly
and a lot of the training they do actually detracts from the qualities necessary to jump
high. Yet, in the coming years this will completely change and you can count on it.
Once a person understands what is needed for spectacular jumping ability as well as
understands the correct training methods and their application - improvement is relatively
easy. In fact, near never ending improvement is possible. Let me tell you right now,
barring injury and old age, permanent plateaus should never occur providing you know
how to correctly train. Regardless of how advanced a person is they can always improve.
Now you're probably saying, "That all sounds well and good but how about specific
improvements - What exactly can you give me that I want and what makes you an
authority?!" For one thing, since everybody is an individual and responds differently, I
won’t promise specific results. I can, however, show you how to progress from wherever
your starting point might be.
I also don't necessarily believe that in order to be a great coach that you have to be a great
athlete. However, I recently heard a top strongman say “If you're gonna coach someone
to an 800 lb. squat than you gotta know what it feels like to bust your butt for years and
work up to an 800 lb. squat yourself”- and I do believe in large part that is true. Science
and theory is great but unless you have experience implementing that information there
remain many lessons to be learned. There are plenty of people who really seem to know
their stuff yet have never practiced what they preach. However, there are also plenty of
naturally gifted athletes who can “walk the walk” yet would have a difficult time
coaching because they don't know what its like to be average and have to struggle for
everything.
In between those 2 extremes there is an optimal balance between knowledge and personal
experience. I don't want to toot my own horn but just so you realize you don't have to be
born with spectacular ability I can tell you that for me personally, over several years and
using a similar but less refined approach than what I'll show you here, my vertical jump
improved from 23 to 42 inches and my forty-yard dash times improved from 5.0 to 4.27
seconds. If you would like to read about my personal story you can read about it later on
in the miscellaneous questions section. However, let me say that I don’t consider what “I”
did all that important. What is important is how much of that experience and
accumulated knowledge I can pass along to develop others like you.
Performance coaches are usually limited in the time they have to work with a specific
athlete because of all the obligations that athletes have to deal with. Therefore, it’s rare
that a performance coach gets to work one on one with an athlete for an extended period
of time without outside interference. Even then you can't control what someone does out
of the gym. Yet even with that I expect most people that I work with to surpass their
previous 2 years performance improvements within 3 months - and that is usually not too
difficult.
If you’ve already decided that you’d like to skip the science and background portion and
would rather get started right away then you can just skip ahead to the INDIVIDUAL
TESTING section and you’re only 5 minutes away!
With that said, let’s get to it! Welcome to Vertical Jump 101!
Vertical Jump 101
To begin, understand that the vertical jump is basically just a measurement of power.
WHAT IS POWER?
Power is a side effect of explosive strength and is determined by a simple equation:
Power = Force x Velocity
To break it down just realize that power and explosive strength simply mean the ability to
apply a lot of force in minimal time. The more force you can put out and the faster you
can apply that force, the higher your power output will be.
In order to understand how to improve power, it helps if we to know how to manipulate
each component of the equation, force and velocity.
When we most often think of force, the word strength comes to mind. In mathematical
terms Force = Mass x Acceleration.
Simply put, if you move a larger or heavier mass or accelerate it more rapidly from point
A to point B, you will increase force and subsequently, power output. For our purposes
however, no need to get overly technical! It’s easier to think of the force part of the
equation as your maximal level of strength.
Velocity- is the speed of movement.
Simply put, the greater the force or velocity, the higher the power output.
It’s really not much more complicated then that. However, before we move on, I’d like
to define some key terms that are all interconnected in the quest to improve power and
jumping ability. You’ll see some of these terms periodically throughout this book.
Limit Strength- is simply the maximum force you can voluntarily apply. Maximum force
is typically measured in the weight room with powerlifting being a classic example of a
sport that measures maximum force. Actually a better name for that sport would be
force-lifting or strength lifting. Because of the slower velocities inherent when lifting a
maximal load, powerlifters actually generate less power then athletes in many other
sports. Other then arm wrestling and maybe tug of war, powerlifting is also about the
only sport where maximum force is measured.
Absolute strength- is the maximum force one is potentially capable of applying. As you
will learn later it is rare to see our strength potentials fully realized.
Relative strength- is the strength per pound of bodyweight
Rate of force development- Is the speed at which you can develop force.
Starting strength- influences rate of force development and is the ability to
instantaneously turn on as many muscle fibers as possible when movement begins to take
place.
Reactive strength- is also known as elastic strength, reversal strength or plyometric
strength. This is the ability to gather and utilize reflexive force during a movement when
switching from an eccentric (negative) contraction to a concentric (positive) contraction.
Now let’s use a real life example to see what the above complicated terms look like in
real life.
WHAT STRENGTH AND SPEED REALLY LOOK LIKE
Bodyweight Maximum force or strength
without time constraint (squat)
Max force put out in the
vertical jump (.2 seconds)
Athlete
A
175 lbs 400 lbs. 200 lbs.
Athlete
B
175 lbs 300 lbs. 225 lbs.
Look at the chart for a moment and try to decide which athlete would have an advantage
in the vertical jump. Assuming both athlete A and B are the same size, you can see how
they have very different strength patterns. Both of them weigh 175 lbs. Now look at the
next row that says “maximum force or strength without time constraint”. In this example
we’re using a maximum squat since it is a slow movement and during a squat we have
ample time to apply max force. What we’re describing here is how much force these
athletes can put out regardless of how long it takes them to apply that force. A squat is a
good example of that.
As stated, power-lifting, arm wrestling, and tug-of-war are some sports that measure this.
In practically every other athletic event, there isn’t enough time to allow true maximum
force to be developed. So in this case you see that athlete “A” reaches a higher peak
force and he squats more weight, 400 lbs vs 300 lbs, yet if you look at the 3rd row, the
amount of force he can put out in .2 seconds, which is the same amount of time it takes to
complete a vertical jump, - Athlete A’s force output is lower then that of athlete B, so he
develops force slower. Therefore, athlete A is going to be able to squat more than athlete
B, but athlete B is going to smoke athlete A in a vertical jump test. Here’s why:
In the maximum squat or maximum force test, the athlete has plenty of time to generate
peak force. It takes roughly .4-.7 seconds to develop peak force. On the other hand,
movements like the vertical jump inherently occur very quickly, around .2 seconds. So,
how much force you can put out in a short period of time is going to determine
performance.
Don’t get too carried away with this just yet though. Although being able to apply force
rapidly is a very useful characteristic, you still need to have enough potential force to tap
into for anything to happen. The 6’3”, 200 lb guy with a max squat of 100 lbs is not
going to be dunking any time soon, even if he can apply all that force very rapidly.
Here is an example of what that athlete might look like on paper when we break his
strength qualities down like we did above:
Bodyweight Max force (strength) in the
Squat
Max force in vertical
jump
Weak
Athlete
200 lbs 100 lbs 95 lbs
You should be able to see that even though this athlete utilizes 95% of his potential force
(95 lbs) within those .2 seconds, and has good rate of force development, he still doesn’t
have enough potential force to tap into for that awesome rate of force development to do
much good. He’s only capable of squatting 100 lbs and even though he’s able to use 95%
of that in the vertical jump he’s still only putting out 95 lbs of force, which isn’t going to
do a whole lot to get him off the ground!
Now here is an example of what an ideal athlete’s maximal force and rate of force
development profile might look like:
Bodyweight Max force (strength) in the
squat
Max force in the vertical
jump
Ideal
Athlete
175 lbs 400 lbs 325 lbs
Even though this athlete is very strong he is also capable of utilizing a large % of that
force in a very short time-span, which is ideal. His max squat is 400 lbs. and he’s able to
utilize over 75% of his potential force, or 325 lbs., at toe off.
10 Key Performance Qualities
With that out of the way let’s now quickly go over 10 key qualities that you’ll be using
and focusing on in the programs. Keep in mind that none of these qualities or training
methods exist completely in isolation yet they are all important..
1. Control and stability- Obviously before you can develop maximum power,
strength, speed, or anything else, - you need to be able to stabilize and control
your own bodyweight and control minimal loads. Control and stability is related
to coordination and learning. When it comes to learning a new skill or movement,
this should be the initial focus. If you’ve never done a particular movement before
it’s best to start off light and slow so that you can learn the correct performance.
Once you’ve learned incorrect movement patterns those bad habits can be hard to
break so it’s essential you learn how to do each movement correctly. After you
have enough experience you can then move on.
2. General Strength- The goal here is to strengthen the muscles involved by adding
additional loading. An emphasis should be placed on correct technique with less
emphasis on the load.
3. Range of Motion- Range of motion is also known as flexibility. You need to
have a certain degree of flexibility in order to prevent injury and optimally carry
out the movements in your sport. In the vertical jump, if your ankles and calves
are so tight that you can’t achieve the desired range of motion then you risk
serious injury. On the other hand, it’s not necessary and could in fact be
detrimental to have the flexibility of a contortionist. It is essential that a minimal
amount of flexibility be maintained yet flexibility training won’t do miracles.
4. Maximum Strength- Here the focus is on strengthening the musculature by
lifting maximum loads. This greatly enhances a muscle’s maximum force output.
If you were to attempt a maximum strength phase without first developing basic
conditioning there would be a high risk of injury. To illustrate this, consider an
exercise such as the squat. If you’ve never executed a squat before and you
immediately go in the gym and try to establish a 1-rep maximum (max out),
there’s a chance you’ll injure yourself. A better way is to learn the correct
movement performance using low loads and more repetitions (general strength
and stability). Pay attention to form and work the correct muscle groups. After
you’ve done this, you can gradually begin to add additional loading and advance
towards maximal strength training.
5. Maximum Power- Power (force x velocity) is a combination of strength and
speed. Virtually any type of training can qualify as power training as long as
there is some load that must be moved and you “focus” on moving fast. You can
train for power using your bodyweight, your bodyweight with an additional load,
lifting light loads, or attempting to move a heavy load quickly. Most of the
training methods utilized in this manual will either directly or indirectly impact
power. Maximum strength training, due to it’s inherent slower movement speeds,
may not produce a lot of power during it’s execution, yet it will boost your
strength levels and that will enable you to put out more force which translates into
more power.
6. Starting Strength- Starting strength is the ability to instantly apply lots of force
at the very beginning of a movement. Try this. Sit back in a chair in a “ready to
jump” position. Make sure your butt is touching the chair. Now without rocking
backward simply jump up from this dead stop position. This is an example of
starting strength and also involves rate of force development. Just like any other
strength quality, it can be trained and improved. Your muscles can be trained to
fire quicker.
7. Force Absorption Training- This is the ability to absorb and stabilize high
eccentric or negative forces and is the first step in developing great plyometric
power. In the vertical jump, the eccentric forces are the forces that are created as
you execute a quick countermovement or bend down before you jump. You can
also see this when you run-up into a jump stop and have to stop or reverse
direction in order to transform your horizontal mass into a vertical movement.
These movements create a lot of force as the negative movement (or eccentric)
causes your muscles and tendons to stretch, which creates a gathering of energy.
The forces you gather are then stored in the tendons and muscles, causing your
tendons to act like a stretched rubber band. In order to excel at this you first need
good levels of basic strength along with muscular control. Being able to absorb
energy is a pre-requisite to the next step, which is reactive training.
8. Reactive training- This is the result of being able to “release” lots of stored
energy after you absorb it. Reactive training is also known as plyometric training,
reversal strength, elastic strength, and static-spring proficiency. They all
essentially mean the same thing. Reactive training can account for a significant
part of performance in any athletic endeavor. In the earlier example when you sat
down and paused on the chair before jumping, were you able to jump as high as
you normally do? Probably not. That is because you would naturally reflexively
execute a quick ¼ squat, or countermovement, just prior to your jump. The
difference between your vertical jump with and without a countermovement is
how much additional force you’re getting from reactive contributions. This
strength quality is also highly trainable. Certain drills allow you to increase both
energy absorption ability and reactive ability. Together they make up plyometric
training. This topic will be explained in more detail later.
9. Short response reactive training- This type of training differs from regular
reactive training in that the switch from “down” to “up” happens a lot quicker and
is nearly completely reflexive with little voluntary input. For example, look at the
difference in the time you spend changing direction from down to up in a vertical
jump done with a running start vs the time your foot spends on the ground during
a max speed sprint. Which one occurs quicker? The quicker the movement, the
shorter the response time, and the greater the reflexive force contributions tend to
be. Sprinting is the ultimate display of reactive or plyometric training. The
movements occur too quick for much voluntary force output or “strain”. In much
the same way, executing a uni-lateral one legged jump after a run-up also
qualifies as a short response reactive activity because the movement occurs much
faster then a regular vertical jump. Certain drills are better for this type of
training.
10. Speed of movement/Quickness/Velocity- When you increase the force and
power behind your movements and then increase the absolute speed at which you
move, you get the best of both worlds. The qualities above will mainly increase
the “horsepower” behind your movements. When you combine that with an
increase in absolute speed your results will be far superior. How fast can you turn
your system off and on? How fast can you move your limbs without regard to
force? Can you catch flies with your bare hands? How many times can you tap
your feet in place in 5 seconds? Fortunately, you really don’t have to be all that
“fast” to improve your vertical jump or even your running speed. There is a blend
of physical qualities needed for optimal performance and typically strength and
power output per pound of bodyweight are more important then the ability to
actually move your limbs fast. However, improving speed of movement never
hurts. It can be done by lots of practice being fast and developing an optimal
mind to muscle link, better learning to control your muscles.
Strength as the Backbone
Let’s go back to the importance of power production and our power equation
(Power = Force x Velocity)
You should be able to see that you can increase power either through an increase in force
or an increase in velocity. However, it is generally accepted that the maximum force you
put out is going to be the main determining factor for an increase in power. This is due to
many reasons, one being that maximum strength is the foundation for all the other
strength qualities such as speed, power etc. Think of this. If you weigh 150 lbs and your
goal is to move your bodyweight off the ground as fast and as far as you can - and you
are only capable of putting out 200 lbs of force, what is going to happen? If you can only
squat 200 lbs then trying to move your 150 lb. bodyweight requires a significant portion
of your maximum strength. You’d have to use 75% of your maximum strength just to
move your own body. In this situation you’re probably not going to be moving very fast
or jumping very high! Another example that may hit home – A space shuttle with a 4
horsepower motor surely won’t make it out of the earth’s atmosphere in a hurry!
Being strong just makes things easier. In the above example if you were able to put 350
lbs of force into the ground then moving your bodyweight (150 lbs) requires a lot less of
your maximum strength so you have a larger strength reserve to work from. In this case
you would only have to use 30% of your max strength to move your body and 30% of
your maximum can be moved with greater speed and power then 75%. Make sense?
Another major consideration is that it is easier to increase force then it is to increase
velocity. That is, the ceiling on maximal force or strength improvement is much lower
then the ceiling on pure levels of speed. Speed has much more genetic limitation than
strength does. It’s not that pure velocity or speed of movement can’t be increased, but
due to genetic factors, such as body structure, neural factors, or the number of fast twitch
fibers one has, speed improvement is much more limited.
To illustrate this, many people who lift weights over a period of several years can easily
double their strength in exercises such as the bench press and squat and thus double their
levels of force. Yet in tests of pure speed of movement, such as the ability to tap the feet
in place as many times as possible in 5 seconds, or to tap your finger as quickly as
possible, improvement is much more limited.
The good thing is that in most athletic events, speed of movement does not exist in
isolation, but rather is strongly related to force. Even in what would be considered a pure
test of speed, the 100-meter dash, it might come as a surprise that elite level sprinters
don’t move their limbs much if any faster then regular folks do! Anybody can get on their
back and cycle their legs 5 times per second. Rather, it’s the amount of force a sprinter
puts into the ground with each foot strike that propels them down the track at lightning
speed. Each footstrike does occur quickly, yet the amount of force per footstrike is key.
When executing a vertical jump, people do change direction during their
countermovements (transition from down to up) at different speeds, but in much the same
way, everyone pretty much straightens their legs at the same rate of speed. The main
determining outcome in the vertical jump isn’t how fast your legs move, it’s the amount
of force relative to your bodyweight that you are able to put into the ground. With that
said I can now give the basic vertical jump equation:
Spectacular vertical jump = High levels of force + High speed of force application
That is all there is to it! Any improvement in the vertical jump comes about through
increasing one or both of those factors.
The goal of this entire program is to increase your vertical jump by increasing both of
those factors.
If velocity and rate of force development stay constant, yet force levels, or strength
levels, go up, you can also expect your power, and thus leaping ability, to improve as
well. So how do you increase levels of force without negatively impacting the speed at
which you apply that force?
Can weight training make you slow?
As mentioned before, the application of force in a movement like the vertical jump
occurs very quickly, somewhere around 200 milliseconds (2 tenths of a seconds). It
generally takes around 400-700 milliseconds (4 to7 tenths of a second) to apply max
force. Therefore the body must not only be able to apply a lot of force, but also be able to
apply it quickly.
One problem with weight training is that bodybuilding programs have dominated the
programs of athletes everywhere and many athletes are trying to make “athletic” gains by
following weight-training methods designed for bodybuilders. Not that I have a single
thing against bodybuilding but bodybuilders should train for bodybuilding and athletes
should train for athletic performance. Training programs based upon bodybuilding
methods often include a high number of repetitions performed to exhaustion with a focus
on keeping the muscle under tension for prolonged periods of time. Such programs
mainly develop muscle size rather than improved force or rate of force development.
Over time such programs can indeed make you slower by negatively impacting your
ability to apply force at high speeds. Our goal is to become stronger while directly
increasing transferable strength into power and increasing the speed at which we utilize
our strength. In fact, we actually want to become stronger and faster at the same time! To
do this requires strength training designed for athletic performance.
When you lift weights, you must use fairly heavy loads and apply force against the
resistance quickly so that your body learns to generate maximum force quickly. This
recruits more fast twitch muscle fibers and trains the nervous system to engage more
muscle fibers. This makes the strength derived from the program directly transferable to
our goal, which is to get you up in the air!
Do I have to strength train?
For those of you out there who are not keen on lifting weights and wonder if you have to
strength train to improve your vertical jump the answer is, “no of course not”. I’ve
included several very effective jumping programs that can be performed without weights
just for these people and I know these programs are very effective on their own.
It's been said that the main reason many trainees avoid leg training is because it hurts too
much. Maybe they're right. After all, leg training in the gym with heavy iron can be
painful. I’m not going to try and sugar coat anything. But I’ll also tell you that most of
you out there are not going to come close to reaching your potential unless you do some
strength training somewhere along the way. Now, some of you, especially those who are
naturally strong, will be able to gain a significant amount on your vertical jump without
ever even lifting weights. Sometimes even a VERY significant amount. However,
eventually there will come a time when your gains will stop and the only way to further
your improvement will be to increase your base of strength. I want everyone to benefit
here. If you have only a very limited amount of time and don’t have access to a weight
room I’d encourage you to give it your all on one of the non-resistance training programs.
For those of you who still want to strength train but don’t have access to a weight-room
I’ve also included a routine that will increase your strength using a variety of unique
bodyweight exercises which you’ll find challenging. For everyone else, virtually all
you’ll need is a weight room with a squat rack and a barbell!
Training Loads
Before discussing the exercises I’d like to address the loads used for strength training
exercises. Load can be defined as the % of your 1-repetition maximum that you use in a
movement. So, if you’re training with a 50% load and your max 1 repetition squat is 200
lbs, you would be using 100 lbs (50% of 200=100).
Many people are confused as to how heavy the load should be for optimal power
development. Some people say, “Use light weights with more speed.” Others say “Train
with heavy weights or go home.” Still others say, “Use Olympic lifts.” It can get very
confusing with all the varying opinions out there. The truth is, there is a time and place
for ALL types of loading. However, different loading percentages have varying effects
on the body. Following is a list of the different training loads and what they’re best
utilized for:
Speed training (0-25% of maximum): Here speed is maximized while power output and
force are low. This training zone can be used to train speed of movement and rate of force
development but has little benefit for improving maximal force production. Training in
this zone could be considered similar to the effects of performing plyometric type
training. With resistance exercises this training is more effective when you can project
either the load or your body in the air. Exercises such as jump squats and medicine ball
throws are best suited for this training load.
Speed-strength (25-50% of maximum): Here you’ll find a compromise between speed
and strength with speed and rate of force development being the dominant qualities
affected. If you train in this zone you will get gains in force development and speed,
however the gains in maximal force production will be marginal.
Strength-speed (55-80% of maximum): Here you’ll find the best compromise between
speed and strength with strength (maximal force) being the dominant quality affected.
Training in this zone will give you gains in both rate of force development and strength
with a marginal gain in speed.
Maximum strength (80-100% of maximum): Here strength and force are maximized.
Now, which loading zone should you spend most of your time in? The answer to this is
fairly complicated. First, remember the power equation. If your goal is to improve the
“Force” part of the equation as quickly as possible then there is no question about it,
using a heavy load (80-100%) will strengthen your muscles much quicker and will allow
you to get more out of the time that you spend training. The problem with this approach
is that if you were to only lift heavy loads 100% of the time while doing no other types of
training or sports specific activity, you obviously wouldn’t be doing a whole lot to
improve rate of force development and speed. Thus, over time those qualities would
suffer. You would undoubtedly become very strong, but you’d eventually sacrifice some
speed as well.
However, you also have to consider the training effect that comes from other activities
that you do outside the weight-room. If you’re also playing a sport requiring speed
(basketball), or doing any running or plyometric work, you’ll be getting plenty of
stimulation in the speed aspects as well. This occurs just from participating in and
practicing your sport. So, for the majority of people who engage in sports training as
infrequently as 2 times per week, there isn’t a whole lot of need to try to duplicate this
work (speed and rate of force development) in the weight room.
We also have to ask ourselves if training for speed in the weight room is as effective as
other methods of speed training such as sprinting, plyometrics, or even playing a sport.
Consider the effects of performing a 60-meter sprint vs using light weight training for
speed. The movement speeds of a sprint are far faster then anything that can occur in the
weight room. Lifting weights should improve your ability to apply more force, which
you can then take advantage of and use in the sprint, yet trying to duplicate the speed of
the sprint with a weight room activity is impossible.
Since you can develop the velocity and rate of force development components through
jump training itself, your priority in the weight room should generally be to develop your
strength qualities. This is best achieved through the use of ‘limit’ strength exercises such
as squats. This is also the same reason most top sprinters, jumpers, and other track
athletes spend the majority of their weight room time training to improve maximal force
production by lifting weights in the 80-100% bracket, with a smaller percentage of the
total volume dedicated to performing exercises in the 55-80% bracket for power and rate
of force development (force + speed together). Most of you should spend the majority of
your weight room time training in these 2 zones as well. Doing so will lead to quicker
increases in maximal force and strength, and better economize your training time.
However, you will also see the programs I’ve designed are customized to the individual
and sometimes do lend a portion of weight-room time using lighter loads with quicker
speed of execution. Yet, for the most part, those qualities are addressed using other
training methods such as plyometrics.
Specific vs General Strength
Now another question that is often asked is, “Do specific weighted activities in the
weight room that mimic the sporting activity carry over into increased performance better
then general strengthening movements?” In other words, if our goal is to run faster,
would it be better to perform a sprint running with a heavy loaded sled rather then
increase leg strength through squatting? Or, if our goal is to hit a baseball harder why not
just train with very heavy bats all the time instead of increasing general upper body
strength? Well the answer to this question is fairly complicated. There is a place for
general loaded movements, such as weighted jump squats. However, one needs to be
careful about trying to get too specific and use too much loading in technical movements
because when we add additional loading to a sports movement we can negatively affect
the movement pattern.
Load a movement too close to a technique-crucial sports movement pattern and you risk
changing the technique of the athlete. You do not want to do this, as usually the loaded
technique is significantly different than that of the unloaded technique.
For example, say you try to train for increased sprinting speed by running with a heavy
weighted sled all the time. If the weight is too heavy it will cause negative changes in
your sprinting technique. Not a good thing. Since you obviously don’t sprint in
competition with a weight attached to your body then the technique required for doing so
wouldn’t do you much good if you’re a sprinter! The same thing occurs when baseball
players use high volumes of very heavy bats in their training. The technical differences
can throw off technique once the player returns to a regular bat. When used short term
the heavier bat can enhance batting proficiency by creating a contrast effect. Yet use it
all the time and it will detract from technique. Not to mention, swinging a heavy bat,
running with heavy weights, throwing a weighted punch, or other specific loaded activity
won’t have near the effect of increasing the maximal strength of your muscles like basic
barbell exercises will.
The goal in general strengthening movements is to increase the strength of the muscles
involved in the movement and their order of muscular recruitment, not necessarily
duplicate the exact task. In other words, when you squat to develop maximum strength
there is no need to perform it in the exact same manner and stance that you perform a
vertical jump. To increase general strength, basic movement patterns should be chosen
that stimulate the same muscles as the desired sporting activity. These exercises do not
have to mimic the movement. This ensures there is no risk of ruining technique through
heavy loading, yet you still get the adaptive stress. The squat is a perfect example of this.
An example of a good exercise that can be loaded is a jump squat. When performing
general strengthening exercises such as the squat, the technique is not so much like the
vertical jump that the body compromises technical abilities. However, these also need to
be utilized along with un-weighted jumps, which you’ll definitely be doing plenty of.
When looking at jump squats vs squats, if the athlete could improve faster by increasing
his general muscular strength, there is no contest, - regular squats and other strength
development methods will offer substantial advantages. If the athlete already has plenty
of general muscular strength then jump squats would be useful, but they aren’t as
effective as a complete program that addresses development through multiple angles.
WHY THE NEED FOR FULL RANGE MOVEMENTS??
Along these same lines many people will ask, “Since during a vertical jump one only
descends into a ¼ squat position, then why should they do loaded squats with a full range
of motion going past parallel?” Again, realize the purpose of strength training is to
improve the general strength of the muscles involved. The fact is that a full deep squat is
better at strengthening all the muscles involved in the vertical jump, despite the fact that
one is capable of using much more weight in a ¼ squat. A full squat fully activates the
muscles of the quadriceps and also strongly engages the hamstrings, glutes, and even
calves. Not only does this build strength, but it also keeps the lower body in
developmental balance and helps prevent knee injuries and muscle strains. A ¼ squat
doesn’t strengthen the muscles of the posterior chain nearly as well and also puts a lot of
stress on the tendons of the knee. However, there is a time when the ¼ squat can be
effective. That is after a base of strength has been developed. The ¼ squat can then be
used for short periods for further enhance strength development. If I could throw out one
piece of advice to every young athlete in the world it would be, “Do squats and do them
full and deep!”
IMPROVING FORCE AND INCREASING STRENGH – EXERCISES OF
CHOICE
For our purposes, the basic barbell squat, the “king of all exercises”, is the exercise of
choice. The barbell squat trains nearly all the muscles involved in the vertical jump and
strength derived from the squat translates very well into increasing the Force part of the
power equation. In fact, some studies have demonstrated one’s relative strength in the
squat, or strength per pound of bodyweight, is the single biggest determinant in the
vertical jump! (Chu)
Another exercise we’ll use heavily in one form or another is the deadlift. The deadlift
works the muscles of the posterior chain (hips, hamstrings, and lower back) like no other.
These muscles are not only very important for power production but also tend to be the
weak link in the chain for many athletes. You’ve probably heard that a chain is only as
strong as it’s weakest link. The prime muscle contributors to the vertical jump are the
quadriceps, glutes, hamstrings, calves, and lower back. Even if your quadriceps are very
strong if your posterior chain, or to put it more eloquently, your backside, is weak; - your
performance will be severely limited. By strengthening both the squat and the deadlift
we can ensure that ALL the muscles involved in getting you off the ground are
strengthened optimally.
HOW TO TRAIN
Your strength will improve as a result of creating high-tension levels in the muscle,
which is directly related to the training method employed. Your ability to generate
maximum strength depends on the size of the muscle involved, the capacity to recruit or
use your fast twitch muscle fibers, and the ability to coordinate all of your muscles
involved into action. The ability to recruit your fast twitch fibers depends on training
content, in which heavy loads and explosive power training should dominate. Improving
your muscle coordination and synchronization depends on learning, which means
performing many reps of the same exercise.
High-tension levels in the muscle are necessary to create increased levels of force and
strength. So how does one go about creating a lot of tension in the muscles and thus
improve force output? The answer is simple. Lift a moderately heavy to heavy load in
good form with as much force as you can muster! When lifting a heavy load, even
though you might be pushing as hard and as fast as you can, the weight probably won’t
move all that fast. Each muscle cell has to contract forcefully for fairly long periods of
time, therefore your muscle cells are subject to greater amounts of tension which is
necessary to create strength. Lifting a lighter load with more speed doesn’t subject the
muscle cells to the prolonged levels of high tension, so, although useful for increasing
other aspects of performance like increased rate of force development, won’t have near
the effect of heavy weights at creating maximum levels of useable strength and force.
Won’t Getting Bigger Muscles Slow Me Down?
If any of you out there are worried about becoming overly “muscular” or getting too big
from weight training, first I might ask what are you worried about? Don’t you know the
opposite sex loves hard bodies?! All kidding aside you definitely don’t have to develop
huge bodies and large muscles to become significantly stronger. Research shows that
strength training methods typically bring a 3:1 ratio of strength vs. muscle mass increase.
This means if your body mass increases 10%, your strength should increase 30%, which
makes your gains purely functional.
Say you weigh 150 lbs right now and can squat 200 lbs. Your bodyweight is 75% of
your squat. Let’s say you gain 15 lbs of bodyweight bringing you to 165 lbs while at the
same time your squat increases to 260 lbs. Now your bodyweight is only 63% of your
squat! This means your relative strength, or strength per pound of bodyweight, has
improved substantially and your performance will also improve dramatically. The take
home point is to not be afraid of gaining muscular bodyweight.
Can’t I get Too Strong?
Remember that the vertical jump occurs in about .2 seconds and it takes at least .4
seconds to develop maximal force. Up to a certain point strength is beneficial for power
development. However, if you were to do nothing but train for maximum strength for
months or years on end there will come a time when your bodyweight and strength
increases above and beyond the speed at which you can apply useable force.
This is why it’s important to pay attention to your strength per pound of bodyweight or
relative strength. So you may ask, “What is the point that additional strength per pound
of bodyweight is of no use for vertical jump improvement?” This will vary from person
to person and depends on many factors, the biggest probably being your plyometric
capacity in comparison to your maximal strength. Fortunately, there are tests to
determine this, which I’ll go into detail on later.
One simple thing you can do is pay attention to how quickly you can move heavy loads.
You want to be able to lift relatively fast and explosively with a relatively high % of your
maximum strength. To give you an idea, Fred Hatfield set a world record squat of over
1000 lbs. What’s really amazing is his squat attempt took him less than 3 seconds to
complete from start to finish. With that kind of explosiveness it’s no wonder he at one
time had a vertical jump around 40 inches even without any specific training for it! You
should be able to complete your maximum lifts in 4 seconds or less from start to finish.
If it takes you longer then that any extra strength you gain won’t be very useful when
performing a high-speed maneuver like a jump.
To make it easier we can say that strength training can be detrimental to your
performance when:
1. Increases in strength fail to yield improvements in leaping performance
2. When strength increases are only achieved through a large increase in body
weight and hence do not increase the power to bodyweight ratio.
3. When the training frequency required for an increase in strength compromises the
time needed for sport specific activity.
4. When extra strength can only be gained by increasing the duration of a max lift
above ~4 seconds.
We can also do a strength analysis of some of the most powerful and explosive athletes
around, sprinters. Upper level sprinters are universally very strong for their bodyweight.
In fact, at bodyweights anywhere from 160 to 200 lbs they will routinely squat a
minimum of 400 lbs on up to 600 lbs! With this knowledge it’s probably safe to say that
unless you’re squatting 2.5 to 3 times or more your bodyweight you could still benefit
from increased strength!
THE CNS – YOUR MUSCULAR COMPUTER
The next step towards maximum strength and force involves manipulating the central
nervous system (CNS). You might know that the central nervous system basically
connects your brain through a neurological network to all of your muscles. Your central
nervous system is like the computer that controls all of your muscles. Your mind is like a
central computer and your CNS carries out what you tell it to do. When you decide to
move in any fashion your brain sends a message telling your muscles to contract. The
more efficient your CNS operates, the more muscle cells you can use, the better you can
control your muscles, and the greater your potential levels of strength and force
development. Imagine if you could supercharge your CNS so that the signals you send
your muscles are sent faster and with more precision? Fortunately you can impact this
through correct training.
Step one is optimizing the mind/muscle connection and learning how to activate a large
number of fast twitch muscle fibers. Through correct training methods - using the correct
loads, speed of force application, and rest intervals between sets; you will be able to
supercharge your central nervous system and be able to call upon and use muscles you’ve
never used before. You’ll also increase your muscular control and coordination and
move not only in a powerful manner but also an effortless manner. Before talking about
what to do to improve this aspect of your performance let’s talk about what not to do!
A Word On Fatigue
This training program does not call for repetitions of weight training, drills, or
plyometrics to be performed under conditions of muscular exhaustion or extreme fatigue
as in bodybuilding or endurance training. Doing so would inhibit the central nervous
system and dampen FT fiber recruitment and basically amount to a waste your time.
Imagine trying to run as fast as you can for 30 seconds and then having to perform a
maximal vertical jump. Try it sometime if you haven’t! You’ll probably find you don’t
get very high. The reason for this is that optimal speed and power can only be
maintained for about 6 seconds. After this, lactic acid begins to accumulate in the
muscles and this is what gives the “burn” feeling after a long set. This lactic acid
interferes with the contraction of the fast twitch muscle fibers. If you train with elevated
lactate frequently enough you will interfere with power production as your muscles adapt
to endurance.
If you’re training with higher repetitions and getting a humongous “burn” from your
training, then you’re probably not able to use enough weight or put enough intensity into
the exercises you’re doing to create the adaptations or affect the muscle fibers that you
want. Likewise, when performing plyometric drills, some of the goals are to increase the
efficiency of the nervous system, improve rate of force development, and increase
muscular recruitment. To accomplish this, the rep range needs to be fairly low so that
each repetition can be performed with nearly 100% intensity and power.
Some programs out there use repetitions of 100-500 per exercise! This is training
muscular endurance, not muscular strength or power! Any gains made on these programs
are made in novice athletes mainly because technical abilities were lacking. If you think
training for endurance is all well and dandy realize the average marathon runner has a
vertical leap of about 12 inches!! Any high volume endurance training you do will tend
to interfere with power development. The body can be trained to be fast, quick, strong,
and powerful at the same time, or it can also be trained to have a lot of endurance. It does
not do both (gain power and endurance) at the same time very effectively. I realize that
athletes do need to maintain a level of conditioning but it needs to be the right kind of
conditioning that develops the endurance specific to the sport.
There definitely is a time and place for the right type of conditioning and endurance
training but unless you’re very out of shape ideally you should not try to train for vertical
jump improvements along with endurance at the same time. If you want to train for
strength and power in a workout then focus on that. If you want to train for conditioning
and endurance don’t try to do it with your strength and power program by doing high reps
of exercises designed to increase your power. Ideally you should focus on boosting your
power and jumping capacities while maintaining general fitness. Once you have your
power capacity in place you can then focus more on endurance and conditioning.
More On Specific Endurance
Another reason you don’t want to train for endurance in power related events until you
first have developed the power you want is because training endurance won’t transfer
into increased maximal performance, it will only increase the length of time you can
maintain a sub-maximal effort. One of the best ways to improve your power endurance is
to simply increase your maximum because when your maximum goes up any given
percentage of that maximum becomes easier as well. I know that was a mouthful but let
me give you an example. If you have a 30-inch vertical jump and you increase that to 40
inches, you will then be able to perform more consecutive jumps at 24 inches then you
could before because 24 inches goes from being 80% of your max to 60% of your max. A
60% effort can be maintained with less effort than an 80% effort.
However, performing 100 consecutive 24-inch vertical jumps won’t take your vertical
jump from 30 inches up to 40 inches, it will only improve the number of lower intensity
jumps you can do before fatigue. Would you rather be able to vertical jump 24 inches
100 times in a row or would you rather be able to vertical jump 40 inches one time? I
would assume you want the latter so I suggest you train for that while maintaining a
minimal level of conditioning.
In much the same way, performing a drill of jumping as high as you can in place 50 times
might improve your jumping endurance, but unless you’re de-conditioned it won’t do
much to improve the height you can jump one time. Elite level 100-meter sprinters don’t
actually develop their speed training over 100 meters. They develop speed training at 10,
30, and 60 meters. After they have built up the necessary speed in these shorter distances
they then train to extend that speed out to 100 meters. The point to take home is that you
should develop your vertical jump to the max and pay some attention to conditioning but
don’t do a high volume of endurance training until your power is where you want it to be
or until you must prepare yourself for your sporting season.
Now back to how this relates to the topic at hand, the central nervous system. You can
get maximum activation of your central nervous system through factors such as
concentration, motivation, taking enough rest between sets, and training in the correct
repetition and loading bracket without creating the wrong kind of muscular fatigue. With
each and every repetition you will also improve muscle coordination and
synchronization. This translates into an overall more efficient movement.
Jumping With a Weighted Sled
The next step to manipulating the CNS (central nervous system) is to prevent it from
antagonistic muscle contraction and muscle recruitment inhibition. I know that probably
sounds complicated but it’s really easy to comprehend. An antagonistic muscle is the
muscle opposite the one contracting. For example, if you’re doing a pulling movement
the antagonistic muscles would be the pushing muscles on the opposite side and vice
versa. If you were doing a bicep curl, the antagonistic muscle would be the triceps,
which is the muscle on the back of your arm. Normally, when contracting a muscle,
some tension is maintained in the antagonist muscle and this decreases the force
application of the working muscle. Try this out for yourself. Try to do an arm curl while
also contracting your tricep muscle as hard as you can. When you perform a high-speed
movement with a lot of force and power your body will exactly that to a certain extent.
What happens in this situation is your master controller (CNS) tries to work against you
by “pushing” while you “pull”. It’s largely a protective mechanism to prevent you from
injuring yourself and also occurs because you haven’t trained your CNS to relax
completely when moving at high speeds. This is like running with a weighted sled
attached to you. Any weight you can remove from that sled will instantly make it easier
to go the same speed or in the case of the vertical jump, make it easier to go higher. For
another simple example of this, tap your hand on a desk as fast as you can for 10 seconds
straight. Did you find it difficult to avoid tensing up? If so, that’s because you were
unable to completely relax in between taps.
Being able to put out a lot of force is very useful but being able to relax completely is just
as important for any high- speed movement and the vertical jump certainly qualifies here.
In fact, the key characteristic of world-class sprinters is their ability to completely relax
between strides. Lower class sprinters will maintain lots of tension in the antagonists yet
top sprinters relax completely which enables them to go faster. Training methods such as
energy absorption training and reactive methods done at high speed with an emphasis on
relaxation can teach your system to eliminate antagonist contraction.
The end result after implementation of these training methods is a very smooth and
powerful contraction of the muscles involved and a relaxed flow to the movement.
Eventually, when you apply maximum force at high speed the antagonist muscles are
coordinated in such a way that they don’t contract to oppose the movement, which
automatically means increased performance. Have you ever noticed how most of the
best jumpers, or athletes in any field, appear to be so relaxed and perform with such ease
and grace that they make what they’re doing look easy? They leave the ground smooth
and relaxed without any unnecessary muscle involvement. This is just one of the effects
of an efficient nervous system. Contrast this to the guy with a 15-inch vertical jump who
looks like he’s about to have a conniption when he jumps!.
Programming Your Master Computer
Now the most important part of CNS manipulation. The nervous system normally
prevents you from fully activating all of your muscle motor units in a particular task.
Yep, not only can it make things difficult when you want to move effortlessly, it also
prevents you from exerting all of your potential force in a given movement!
If you were to take a muscle and hook it up in the laboratory to a special measuring
device you can accurately determine how much force that muscle is potentially capable
of exerting. This figure is the definition of absolute strength and is the maximum amount
of force you could apply if you were able to voluntarily contract all motor units in a
muscle. Potential is big here because it turns out most folks aren't able to use anywhere
near the potential force their muscles are capable of exerting. In fact, untrained folks
might only be able to voluntarily put out around 50% of their potential absolute force in a
given task. Trained athletes with years of experience can approach 85-90%.
The nervous system inhibits you from using all your potential strength in 2 ways. First,
exerting all your voluntary force and getting all your muscle motor units turned on
requires strong and efficient neural (electrical) signals emanating from the brain and
spinal cord. These signal your muscles to turn on and exert force. The
more efficiently
this process works the more muscle fibers you can fire and the quicker you can turn your
muscles off and on. However, the reason your body makes this difficult is because if you
were able to voluntarily turn on all your muscle motor units you'd stand a good chance of
ripping your muscles right off the tendon! Therefore, the body naturally “protects” or
inhibits you from doing this. However, it is possible to condition your body to push this
natural inhibition back with proper
training and this is why trained athletes are able to use
more of their potential ability than sedentary folks. This also partly explains why some
small guys are exceptionally strong and powerful, while some large guys are weak.
Second, and this example will be more specific to jumping, eccentric stretching brought
on by plyometric activity (which leaping inherently relies on) causes the muscles and
tendons throughout your lower body to stretch and quickly store energy in the tendons
like a spring. When this energy is released it causes a reflexive, or involuntary
contraction that can increase force output more than double what you’d get through
voluntary force output. The faster the speed and more forceful the stretch in
reactive/plyometric activity the greater the level of force in the subsequent contraction
which is why we instinctively use plyometric contractions in just about everything we do
(rearing the arm back to throw, dipping down prior to a jump etc).
However, most are not able to fully take advantage of this because the muscle/tendon
complex has proprioceptors. The job of a proprioceptor is to monitor the degree of the
eccentric stretch and prevent overstretching and injury by basically shutting the muscle
down when the stress or stretch is too great. The problem is, sometimes these
proprioceptors kick in sooner than you would like and they inhibit you from taking full
advantage of your reactive, or plyometric capacity. So, they prevent you from injuring
yourself but also prevent you from fully utilizing all of your potential power output.



To illustrate this for yourself perform a s