Vertical Jumping Program

Keys To Picking A Good Vertical Jumping Program -Part Two

Now that you know what it takes to have a powerful vertical, and the key components necessary to truly explode off the ground you can look at vertical jump programs with a more trained eye.

It has been proven that generating a fast rate of force development is accomplished most efficiently by explosive Olympic lifts like the snatch, clean and jerk, and power clean. If you would like proof of this, there was an experiment held in 1962 during the Olympic Games that pitted the world class athletes against each other in a 30 meter dash. Guess what happened? The Olympic lifters won. They even beat the sprinters.

Another key to teaching your muscles to contract with tremendous speed are plyometric techniques. Plyometric techniques have the added effect, and considered by some to be one of the most important effects of teaching your tendons and connective tissue to store energy more efficiently. So, a proper program should utilize both Olympic Lifts and Plyometrics to increase the efficiency of your transmission.

There is another factor which must be considered, and this is your limit strength. Limit Strength can be increased most effectively by a regimen of weighted resistance training. Now, being super strong alone will not make you jump higher, but coupled with a sound regimen of Olympic lifting and plyometrics, all the gains you make in engine size are going to give you increases in vertical jump height as well.

In conclusion, the greatest vertical jump program should be strong in all aspects of speed-strength development. Most jump programs do offer some parts of the equation, but very few address both limit strength and neural speed to their maximum efficiency. If you want the best program, it would be the one that not only teaches your muscles to contract faster with a higher level of force, but also increases your base of strength so that your plateau continues to get higher and higher. A recap:

-The ability to contract with as much force as possible is what gets you off the ground. Rate of force development is most efficiently increased with Olympic Lifts.
-The ability to contract your muscles with blinding speed and the ability to store built up energy is most efficiently trained through plyometrics.
-Limit strength, or base muscular raw power is most effectively increased through weighted resistance training.

A proper vertical jump program should have a blend of all three. If it doesn’t, it probably will help; but not as fast or effectively as possible.