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.
Very interesting article from Kelly Baggett, 7 Modern Day Myths About Plyometrics. Here’s more about the Iso Extension Stim he mentions.
Sorry, been sitting on some of these links for a while...
- Ringtraining's come out with new, improved rings: Elite Rings II. Lovely. I still have my metal version 1.0 ones. These new ones look great, , especially in black (not shown, on that page, but available on ordering). Related, this Crossfit London muscle-up tutorial. Some great exercises demonstrated within. Not sure why the page repeats itself over and over.
- This article makes squash sound like a blast. A good read, but when I check out some squash highlights on YouTube, my enthusiasm dampened a bit. Not a good spectator sport, apparently.
- Conditioning Research embeds a video of a huge jump. My goodness.
- First time poster maverick10 shared a link to the Eccentric Exercise Protocol weblog:
I developed tendinitis in mid-2004 after doing a lot of bicycling over a period of two weeks. The inflammation went away after some time, but I continued to have pain that lasted for several years. After trying everything from accupuncture, physical therapy, massage, chiropractors, pain drugs, lidoderm patches, ointments, etc... the only thing that significantly reduced my pain was "eccentric exercises." I learned about such exercises through reading medical journal articles. However, I had to develop a protocol that worked for me through trial-and-error.
Ties in perfectly with what I know about fixing achilles tendonitis.
It's happened to me more than once that I've read a training article, said to myself, "hey, that makes a lot of sense", only to check the author after the fact and find out it was Kelly Baggett. So too with this Vertical Jump FAQ. No shortcuts, no fancy platform shoes, no ridiculous amounts of high-volume work, sounds... about right.
(Not that I've ever done any vertical leap training, which I'm sure is obvious to anyone who's watched me try to get up in the air.)
Somehow a bunch of links piled up on me:
- The Beast Skills tutorials don't come around very often these days, but they are always worth the wait. The latest covers standing rollouts with the evil wheel.
- Crossfit has a vertical leap thread going. Two Joe DeFranco pieces are referenced therein: Fabulous 15 (which I believe I've linked up before) and Dirty Tricks For Higher Jumps.
- I don't have any medical chops for evaluating this critically, but every time Art De Vany posts something by Mark Sisson it makes a lot of sense. This time: Fat Cells as Disposal Sites for Toxins.
- Speaking of fat, you (and I) really should completely eliminate trans fat from our diets:
Furthermore, two independent methods of estimation indicate that the adverse effect of trans fat is stronger than that of saturated fat. By our most conservative estimate, replacement of partially hydrogenated fat in the U.S. diet with natural unhydrogenated vegetable oils would prevent approximately 30,000 premature coronary deaths per year, and epidemiologic evidence suggests this number is closer to 100,0000 premature deaths annually. These reductions are higher than what could be achieved with realistic reductions in saturated fat intake.
- Hopefully the offseason is still a month away, but I'm thinking I'd like to work the Grasso Lunge into my winter routine.
- Finally, a bit of fun: "Unbelievably Long Rollerblade Grind" @ Google Video.
Click on through to Top 15 Exercises for Higher Vertical Jumps and check out item #2, "Static Hip Flexor Stretch". A couple things caught my eye: first, this stretch sounds very similar to the "Samson Stretch", a Crossfit favorite. Second, the author doesn't recommend static stretching prior to working out (good advice, in my experience) except for the hip flexors. Very interesting exception to the rule, and yet another reference to cross my desk about the primacy of hip action in athletic endeavor.
