The study shows that stretching the hip flexors before the vertical jump produces a slight advantage, take advantage of it.

Lift Heavy Before

It is based on taking advantage of the so-called post-activation potentiation: by applying a short and high load to the muscle, it increases its immediate power. How to apply the PAP to improve the score in a test? It is easy, according to this study. Perform a series of 4-5 squat repetitions, using 70-90% of your 1RM. Wait 4-8 minutes and try your jump. There the vertical training program really comes useful.

If you use 70% of your 1RM the peak performance will be closer to 4 minutes, and closer to 8 minutes if you opt for 90% of your 1 RM. Why this window of 4-8 minutes? The potentiation is maximum if you let a few minutes pass so that fatigue disappears. But if you wait more than 10-12 minutes the potentiation disappears.

Empowerment Post Activation

Ideally, experiment to find what works best for you. The hard part: access to a squat rack and be able to perform the test at the exact moment.

Sports training and physical preparation to increase their performance should be directed according to the physiological and muscular demands that are requested during their development. In dozens of sports disciplines, a certain capacity is required in the vertical jump to be able to successfully develop the rest of technical-tactical tasks: basketball, volleyball, handball and even soccer in certain actions. The objective of this article is to review the literature about the methodologies that aim to increase the vertical jump and the main characteristics of each of the intensity, volume, frequency, exercises.

Vertical jump characteristics

Power equals to Force x Speed. If you want to increase a certain physical capacity it is essential to know what musculoskeletal qualities make its development possible. The vertical jump depends largely on the power we know to print in the right direction. If we break down the concept of power we are faced with two skills that, in synergy, make up this concept.

There are many plans that try to improve without success the vertical jump since they understand that the work of both qualities must be carried out separately for the same purpose. It is not about applying more force in the jump or doing it at a greater speed: the objective of our effort is to increase the amount of force that we can apply in a given time. How is this ability achieved in physical-mechanical terms? Thanks to the Stretch-Shortening Cycle or CEA.

Stretching-Shortening Cycle

The mechanism consists of the storage of elastic energy during an eccentric phase to take advantage of it later in immediate concentric action. In other words, and by way of example, it consists of the duck gesture eccentric phase before then taking off and performing the vertical jump concentric phase. If we can strengthen this mechanism, we will gain a jumping capacity thanks to the storage of the elastic force of the tendons. According to various authors, the CEA increases the faster the previous eccentric phase, the subsequent transition speed and the last concentric contraction.