Part I: Pull more to jump higher

February 3, 2002
By CHAD IKEI


Time and time again you hear athletes inquiring on how to improve their jumping ability. The most common response among coaches would be “let’s focus on plyometrics.” When I speak of “plyometrics,” I am reffering to jumping exercises both unilateral and bilateral. In effect, the stretch shortening cycle or SSC is the primary focus in plyometric training. I will not go into details here because it would bore you and besides, there are ton of books on plyometric training. Also, plyometric training is the last thing most athletes need to improve their jumping ability.

It is my experience that most elite athletes already have great jumping abilities, ground contact times or SSC response. Having these athletes perform tons of jumps and ground contacts can lead to diminishing training effects. However, there is an appropriate time for plyometric training that is necessary for most athletes. Here are some guidelines I like to use when determining how to approach an athlete's training cycle for improving jumping ability.

1) Athletes heatlh history
2) Athletes sports specific position
3) Total playing time
4) Total season length
5) Total off-season length
6) Athletes bodycomposition (bodyfat/ht/wt)
7) Postural assesment
8) Functional muscle assesment
9) Maximal strength assesment
10) Structural balance assesment
11) Range-of-motion / flexibility assesment
12) Days available for training
13) Hours availble for training
14) Power / jumping assesment

After a full analysis of an athlete is performed the coach must sit down and analyze what is the “weakest link” in the athlete’s structure. This is the toughest part of the coach’s position. Determining the weakest links are easy, but applying them to a training program that has only a limited time is tough. But the hardest part of training the weakest link is explaining to the athlete why he will be performing such silly and seemingly boring exercises like external rotation or unilateral step-ups instead of performing power cleans and squats. But after execution of such exercises an athlete will notice the benefit from a much more balanced physiological system. 

In Part I of this training article I will focus on one of the more common weak links: hip extension. Hip extension in this term will be considered the firing of the gluteus maximus, hamstrings and erector spinae. 

If after a thorough analysis the weak link is the hip extensors, then priority must be given to this area. Depending on the time allotted for training (length of off-season preparation), a specific program geared toward improving hip extension strength and power must be developed. The approach I like to take if given the adequate training time is to improve an athlete’s hip extensor strength first and then work toward improving power. What this means in training terms is start out with deadlifts and it’s derivatives and work toward explosive hip extension movements like the Olympic lifts. If you don’t have a strong base, you will be less likely to develop adequate power in the next training cycles.

Since the emphasis of Part I of this article is on the benefits of training the hip extensors, I would like to use some examples of athletes with great vertical jump heights whom train the hip extensors 4-6 times a week. These athletes would be Olympic Weightlifters. In fact, from past training experience at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, we would train our hip extensors as much as 8-12 times per week. Now this is an extreme case, but when you look at the results of vertical jumps of these atheltes, you might want to consider training your athletes with hip extension exercises.
Nicu Vlad of Romania, World Record holder and Two time Olympic Medallist, came to the United States back in 1990, with now current U.S. National and Olympic Team Coach Dragomir Cioroslan, for a training camp. It was here at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, that this 100-kg (220 lbs) weightlifter recorded a 42” vertical jump. Not to mention he was in weightlifting shoes, which weighs a lot more than tennis shoes and no formal warm-up. (Snatch 200 kg, Clean and Jerk 232.5 kg)

Wesley Barnett of Team USA, 3-time Olympian and Silver Medallist @ 1997 World Championships, have legs (especially hamstrings) and ass like a thoroughbread on him that most body builders would like to have. He has recorded vertical jumps of over 39” @ a height of 6’1” and 105 kg (231 lbs). I’ve even witnessed him dunking a basketball while jumping over my head, and I do mean literally jumping over my head which of course only stands a mere 5’2” but he straddle jumped directly over my head and dunked. (Snatch 175 kg, Clean and Jerk 220 kg)

James Carter, probably one of the strongest legs pound for pound, could dunk a volleyball on a regulation basketball court. He couldn’t dunk a basketball because his hands were too small; he only stood 5’5” tall and weighed about 64 kg (140 lbs). I’ve witnessed him squatting 245 kg (540 lbs), and that’s with no belt and no knee wraps and ass to the floor…A REAL SQUAT. He has also pulled over 500 lbs off the floor like no tomorrow. (Snatch 120 kg, Clean and Jerk 160 kg)

Mark Henry, 1996 Olympic Team Member, now known as “Sexual Chocolate” on the WWF scene, had quite a vertical jump. At 6’3” tall he could dunk a basketball, not to mention that he could squat over 1000 lbs and deadlift over 900 lbs. Now dunking a basketball at 6’3” doesn’t sound that hard, but take in to account that he weighed at that time 175 kg (385 lbs). Now that’s impressive for a big guy. (Snatch 180 kg, Clean and Jerk 220 kg)

Shane Hamman, 2000 Olympic Team Member and current National Superheavyweight Champion, another big man weighing in @ 163 kg (358 lbs) but only at a height of 5’9” tall, can jump onto boxes @ a height over 42” high. Of course Shane was also known for his squatting ability of over 1000 lbs. (Snatch 195 kg, Clean and Jerk 230 kg)

So, as you can see both leg and hip extension strength plays a major role in vertical jumping and explosive power. Considering that Mark and Shane both could squat over 1000 and cleaned over 500#. It doesn’t necessarily mean you have to squat a 1000# and clean 500# to jump high, but it does mean that you have to improve your leg strength as much as your pulling strength. Do note that these athletes listed above were elite weightlifters and the development of both the hip and knee extensors were extremely strong. But the point I wanted to make was that their capabilities of training the hip extensors contributed to their great vertical displacements, considering that none of these athletes were involved in a structured jumping program or sport.

By training the hip extensors with the appropriate exercises an athlete can improve his or her jumping abilities without actually performing tons of plyometric training. Once a foundation is laid and explosive hip extension movements are introduced, then and only then should we focus our attention to plyometric training. But don’t get me wrong, if an athlete has a different weak link such as weak legs or poor ground contact time (usually due to weak legs) then another approach would need to be taken. The same thing goes for a very stong athlete that needs more emphasis in speed, here an athlete would tend to benefit from more plyometric training. There is no one answer for improving jumping abilities, but there is a process on how to improve an individual athlete’s performance.

In Part II of this article I will focus on training programs for the hip extensors.

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