One of the most proven ways is to perform ‘ eccentric training‘.Įccentric training refers to overloading the ‘lowering’ phase of the range of motion. So how do you increase the strength of your tendons? The more elastic energy, the higher you jump.Creating stronger tendons (aka tendon stiffness) creates greater elastic energy.The elastic energy is then released during the jumping phase.When your tendons lengthen they store elastic energy (loading the spring).When you bend your knees to perform a jump, your tendons lengthen.Think of elastic energy as loading a spring or stretching a rubber band. This is because your tendons store elastic energy. The interaction between your muscles and tendons have an impact on your jumping performance. Tendons are what attach your muscles to bone.įor example, if you feel just below your knee cap, you’ll touch your patellar tendon. Squats will allow you to increase your tendon strength If you’re worried that heavy squat will make you a slower athlete, then check out my article on Does Powerlifting Make You Slower. Also, because the squat mimics the vertical range of motion needed for jumping, the increases in force production are specific to the task. Using the squat will increase lower body strength, and consequently, train the larger motor units to produce greater levels of force. This leads us to our second reason why squats improve jump performance: If you can increase your 1 rep max strength, then you can guarantee your higher threshold motor units are producing more force. You use resistance training to increase maximal strength. So how do we get our larger motor units producing greater force? Our goal is to get the larger motor units capable of producing greater amounts of force.The larger ones are responsible for higher threshold activities like jumping explosively.The smaller ones are responsible for lower threshold activities like picking up a coffee mug.You have smaller motor units and bigger motor units.These motor units are responsible for producing force.Inside the muscle, you have what’s called ‘motor units’.Here’s how it works when we break things down: This is because higher forces lead to faster acceleration, and when you can accelerate faster, you can jump higher. In addition to being able to produce force quickly, if you want to jump higher you need to produce a lot of force all at once. Squats will allow you to generate greater levels of force production Thus, squats can increase your rate of force development (especially heavy squats). If you don’t think about ‘moving the barbell quickly’, then you won’t be successful in lifting the weight. When training squats, you need to think about having a high intent to move the barbell quickly out of the bottom range of motion. This brings us to the first reason why squats improve jump performance: Ballistic training (using various jumping exercises with the intent to ‘move quickly’). Resistance training (using barbells and dumbbells to get stronger).There are only two ways that have been shown to improve rate of force development: When you improve your rate of force development, you become more explosive because you’re able to develop larger forces in a shorter period of time. It’s the intent to move your body quickly. Simply put, it’s how fast your muscle contract at the point in which your brain decides to send the signal to your muscles to move. Rate of force development is a measure of explosive strength, or how fast you can develop force. Squats allow you to increase your rate of force development With practice, you can train yourself to jump higher.Ī lot of coaches use squats to accomplish this. Why Is Squatting So Effective For Increasing Jump Performance? How to train your squat so you can jump higherīefore leaving, check out my other articles on jump performance:.4 studies that prove squatting is one of the best things you can do.Why squatting is so effective for increasing jump performance.Using the squat to make you jump higher is extremely effective. When comparing the squat with other lower body exercises, such as the leg press, the squat is 3.5X more effective in increasing jump results. This is because the squat has been shown to be one of the best exercises for building both lower body strength and mass.īut, does the squat make you jump higher? Yes, building strength in the squat has been shown to increase vertical jump performance by 12.4% after only 8-weeks of squat training. The squat is a staple exercise among all strength and conditioning programs.
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