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Commonalities of High Level jumping athletes (single leg)

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LanceSTS:
   I was looking through some old print outs I had from a few years back that had some of the training sheets of some of the  athletes in track and field I worked with.  I know the jumps are of particular interest here so I figured I would write down some things that some of the better ones had in common, and things that made them unique to the others.  

  For a reference frame, these are all collegiate division 1 and 1aa  athletes Im using in this comparison, and the two "better" athletes in the group were in the top 20 in the nation at one point in their career.  Some of the things that they did very well in comparison to other athletes, and strong points are listed  below.


 * Glutes and hamstrings fired EXTREMELY well in one leg exercises, even exercises that would typically  be considered "quad" focused.  For example, single leg  box squats would hammer the glutes and hams of the higher level  jumpers, where most of the football guys would get a quad  burn.  Even some of the faster guys and sprinters would claim to feel the exercise a lot in the quad, where the  jumpers would report very little quad activity.  

  An interesting point I noticed then was how far they would naturally place their lead foot in front of the  box, even without me cuing it, where most athletes will naturally put the foot closer to the  body.  It is almost as if they dont want to  break at the knee, and would rather  break at the hip if they are in a position to do so.  Front squats were one of the only exercises we could really train the quads as a main focus.  


* Very high levels of "stiffness" in the hamstrings (the ability of the hamstrings to "lock up" so the glute can work optimally".

 This was extremely prevalent on the reverse hyper, with one and two leg exercises.  We would often work up to a high level of  band tension coupled with free weight, and do a reactive type reverse hyper.  The  jumpers would almost never fail the lift  by  breaking the knee and allowing collapse, they would simply fail to reach the desired height when it got too heavy or fast.  Almost all other athletes will fail this exercise  by allowing the knee to collapse, and trying to "press" the lift rather than extend the hip.


 * Insanely strong lower legs

Calves and soleus were almost impossible to work two legged in the weight room, even seated calves were done unilaterally, as the loads on two legs got ridiculous, and this is solid controlled form, all the way up on the toe and all the way down.  I remember setting up the 24 inch hurdles for one of our higher volume drills, and it looking like a stiff legged single leg  jump series, with PLENTY of clearance.  Very little to no movement except from the ankle.


 * Flexible glutes and hamstrings

 Really not much elaboration here, but it held true with all the best  jumpers.  I didnt include hip flexors and quads here due to the fact even though they were definitely mobile in those areas as well, most of my other athletes were on par with them, in those particular areas.


*Strong Lower abdominals, psoas

 Try this, go to any elite level high or long jumper, have them get into an L sit position on the dip handles, and see if you can push their legs down.  Then try that same experiment with anyone else.  There is a very large gap between their lower abdominal strength, especially statically, than other athletes.



  So, there are some of the similar characteristics that held true with very high level one leg jumpers.  Correlation doesnt imply causation, and there are of course other factors at play as well in their success as athletes.  If you can take something away from that, then thats great, if you cant, thats great too.  Its always interesting to me to see if I see some similarities in different athletes who are at a higher level in their particular event/strength/sport, and definitely helps with training targets and specificity.

Raptor:
Great stuff^^^

Now the question is - how can you get to be like these people? Taking these points each at a time, what would you do to improve onto them?

Harvey:
What does this mean for two-leg jumpers?

barks217:
Great post!

LanceSTS:

--- Quote from: Raptor on April 14, 2012, 05:20:33 am ---Great stuff^^^

Now the question is - how can you get to be like these people? Taking these points each at a time, what would you do to improve onto them?

--- End quote ---

 Thanks, and good idea.  When I get in later Ill outline those points and how to improve them.

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