Increasing Your Vertical – Part 5 Strength Training

In last the last post we looked at Plyometrics for vertical training.

Increasing Your Vertical – Part 4 Plyometrics

In this post we will look at strength training for improving your vertical. Strength is the base for all power development, without a strong base power cannot be generated or sustained, a strength training program based on your sport, weakness/strengths and goals is important. While all the other training is helpful strength will be your most important factor in jumping. The more strength  you have the more you can propel yourself against gravity.

Olympic Lifts and Power Lifts have shown a strong correlation to vertical jumping.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18714236

With this in mind a workout that is built around Power and Olympic Lifting will help improve vertical.

Olympic lifts should be done early in the weight lifting program. They are a technical lift, requiring strength, power and coordination Dumbbell Snatches are a great starting off point. The 1 Arm Dumbbell Snatch allows the athlete to work on the snatch movement with more ease than the traditional barbell snatch. The weight is easier to control, it can be lighter and it is less intimidating.

Once you have master the 1 arm dumbell snatch and also maxed out the weight moving to the Hang Barbell Snatch , you can now add more load, however remember heavier is not always better, The speed that you move your hips is just as important as the weight you lift,

Squats, Deadlifts and Lunges – The Pressing Movements

These movements are the extremely important as they mimic the triple extension and tripe extension is the explosive movement  All these movements are important to explosiveness.. However i find squats and deadlifts the best for developing strength for jumping. Front squats are great for developing the jumping posture, while back squats if done correctly can develop leg strength. Deadlifts develop starting power for jumping from a dead stop position or when you have not been moving to develop power. Lunges are a good glute and quad exercise, part of many excellent programs. However for jumping programs i find them less useful as a primary exercise  but still good as a secondary.

These exercises are the best for developing the glutes as well which is your primary muscle for developing power during a jump. Without powerful glute strength the jump will lack power, using squats and deadlifts with varying loads and speeds we can develop both power and speed under load which when you are unloaded should be able to provide even more power and increase your vertical.

Straight Leg Deadlifts, Good Mornings, Romanian Deadlift – Hip Hinge Exercises

The  hamstrings are important for jumping. They are important to support the knees. during any jumping and landing, if your body cannot support itself on jumping you will just usually jump a little less intensely so as to protect the knee.The hamstrings also store energy when stretched out during the pre jump hip drive. When driving the hips back to start a jump the hamstrings store energy to jump. About a quarter of the power from jumping also comes from you hamstrings. This means that doing hamstring exercises is an important part of jump training.

Remember leg strength is key to jumping, doing squats, deadlifts and Straight Leg Deadlifts and a multitude of other exercises, with slow eccentric movements and controlled but powerful concentric movements we can develop storage capacity and explosiveness in athletes. As well as lessen the potential for injury in these powerful movements.