I have no idea if this works, but awhile ago Jason Ferruggia was touting Jon Hind’s Power Jumper. Hind is the former strength coach for the LA Clippers. It wasn’t enough to get me to buy the product, but I am playing with a homegrown version that uses a couple Iron Woody bands I already had on hand tied together, plus a couple NRS straps for attaching them to my feet. Works great. Hinds’ jump training program (PDF) is available online.
The other interesting thing I came across was Andrew Darqui’s Iso Extension Stims. I tried these yesterday for the first time, using a Glute Ham Raise machine instead of one of those 45-degree things, making sure to point my toes, while pulling on a band to pile on the resistance. I followed the protocol described in section 5, “Example Usage & Session”, but for vertical leap, and I did gain two or three inches between my first set and my last. Since my vertical is pretty meager, this is a big percentage gain (but also means I have more room for improvement). LOTS of disclaimers though: I used a different machine, I’m not a very good jumper so it’s not hard for me to get better, I’m not sure I did it right, maybe I got better just by being more warmed up, etc. But I’ll keep working ‘em in and see how it goes.
