OK people, the design and building phase is more or less over (I’m not much of a tech guy either) and it’s time I gave this blog some life with a new post.
In the next short article I will address the issue of improving your vertical jump through the jump manual program by trainer Jacob Hiller. So let’s jump right into it…
Practicing proper techniques and correct methods is the foundation for promoting you as a jumper, even if you’re a high level athlete.
However, you need to understand that in order to improve your vertical jump, you need to work hard and you can’t take any shortcuts. You have to perform all the exercises on a consistent basis over time. Don’t be discouraged if you don’t see results overnight, that’s just how it works with the jump manual.
In this article I want to go over some general points and then give you some examples of how you should apply the jump manual to your own training based on volume. Before we continue let me just say that exact exercises and volume of the program will not be provided here due copyright purposes of the program (sorry guys).
The best way for certain athletes (basketball players in our case) to improve their vertical leap is to be given with a customized training program rather than a standard program.
This is however not always possible as not everyone can afford a personal trainer to customize their training every step of the way.
However The Jump Manual does quite a good job of integrating the volume of training (number of workouts, training time, etc.) to your current state, and Jacob Hiller, which is a qualified trainer and also the man who understands the program the most (since he’s the one who built it), provides you with weekly consulting sessions.
Sadly, not a lot of people who sign up with this program use this feature and they end up plateauing after a while.
Here’s a classic case of that happening and how by simply sitting down with coach Hiller and tweaking a few things one guy was able to add an additional 7 inches to his vertical leap http://www.basketballworkouttips.com/jump-manual-review/
The First Step
Before starting the manual you must consider doing a vertical jump test in order to benchmark your starting point so you can track your performance and measure it throughout the training program.
What does measurement mean? Think of a way to measure your vertical leap height. Use a friend or a camera (or this method) to record the maximum height when you jump. These tests themselves can also be a part of your exercise program to strengthen your legs.
So How Does Jump Manual Improve Your Vertical?
In order to lift our bodies from the ground up to the air we need to recruit a lot of muscles that will work simultaneously in a timed manner and powerfully.
In the past, training methods and jump programs advocated strengthening those targeted muscles in turns, each muscle separately. Today we know that such work is largely incorrect, because we need to train our body to function efficiently while mixing a lot of muscle groups simultaneously.
What Jacob Hiller’s jump manual offers is practicing a variety of muscle training: maximum power, explosive power, plyometrics and endurance strength. These power components can be developed through the various exercises Hiller gives in his manual.
It’s important to understand that in order to develop these athletic components you should do a “periodization” of the training, i.e. in one period develop maximum strength / endurance strength, and then work on explosive power. You can also work using different methods, but it’s important to understand that you can’t effectively develop all components in parallel and it’s difficult to practice many types of jump training simultaneously.
Before you begin training with the jump manual you need to understand that the exercises are only a part of the package that allows your muscles to improve in parameters such as maximum strength, explosiveness and so on. An important and inseparable aspect is the workloads and by workloads I mean a number of variables:
- The weight being lifted by the athlete
- The number of repetitions performed in each set
- The rest time between sets
- Number of sets of each exercise
- The number of exercises in each training session
- The number of training sessions per week
With the jump manual you can perform a particular exercise with different variables and get different results. The variables above essentially determine whether you’re developing maximum power, explosive power, endurance power or anything else for that matter.
I can’t elaborate here on the entire theory of vertical jumping so I won’t be talking about the actual exercises or volume/load the manual preaches. To prepare a good plan it is recommended to carefully construct it with a qualified trainer. For this reason anyone who takes the jump manual gets coach Hiller to construct a plan personally with him.
It’s important to understand that any athlete who’s not training in a gym must first build himself a basis before he picks up the heavy weights. Therefore, guidance in carrying out the right technique is required and Hiller’s program provides it in the best possible manner.
And here’s a little something to give you some taste of what the program can do for you…