Vertical jump training: breaking plateaus
So maybe you bought a good jump training program and gained the first 6 to 8 inches in your vertical but now progress has stopped? Or maybe after weeks of hard training you still haven’t seen that initial gain that everyone says comes pretty quickly at first?
In either case, you’re stuck on a plateau and your training isn’t producing any more gains. So what can you do?
Here is a list of possible reasons for Plateau and what you can do about it.
* Poor nutrition: A mistake many athletes make is that they only take whey protein after training. A protein shake a day WILL INTERPRET in the results. A minimum should be three shakes a day, in the morning, after training and before bed. Another mistake is poor nutrition in general. If you think that everything your body needs is in the whey protein shake, you are wrong. Try to add fresh fruits and vegetables to your diet. Don’t you like to eat them? Put them in a blender and make them into one of your protein shakes for the day. Olympic legend Carl Lewis had the best moments of his career at age 30 by switching to a diet of raw fruits and vegetables.
* No Glutes – No Results – So your squat has gone up a lot but your vertical hasn’t. Your glutes may be off and you’re overcompensating with your quads (thigh muscles). To activate the Glutes you have to FEEL THEM CONTRACT. Try box squats. As you lower the weight and sit on the box, all tension is removed from the quads. Now when you get up and begin the lift, sink your heels into the ground and FEEL your glutes contract. Another great version of the posterior chain is the wide stance squat. With a wide stance, with the toes slightly turned out (like the martial arts horse stance), the posterior chain will be forced to take over.
* Plyometric form: you are stronger but still do not explode. Video yourself jumping. Pay attention to how quickly you leave the ground. I did this and compared it to a friend of mine and my explosive take off was in slow motion compared to his. Naturally, his vertical is much higher than mine, but I am stronger. Focus on maximum takeoff speed with each plyometric exercise.
* Test your handstand after resting: By rest I don’t mean 30 minutes. When you train hard over time, the CNS (Central Nervous System) will wear down. The CNS is responsible for firing muscles. Rest for 3-5 days and then try your handstand.
* Your Posterior Chain Is Still Weak – The main drivers of the jumping movement is the posterior chain (Glutes – Hamstrings – Lower Back). Advertising exercises that focus on these areas for greater leverage and explosive potential. There are examples of each exercise all over YouTube, so I won’t post examples in this article.
* Ham buttock lift.
* Hyper and Hyper inverse extensions.
* Barbell hip thrusts.
* Wide stance squats.
* Box squat.
If you think you’ve reached your vertical jump potential, think again. I will end with a quote that I live by and perfectly sums up this article.
“There are no limits. Only plateaus. You must not stay there. You must go beyond them.” -Bruce Lee
