Want to jump higher?

I'm going to dare to say that vertical jumping is one of the most desired athletic attributes in all of sports, (except perhaps in Curling and Table Tennis). It's one of the key indicators for how "athletic" someone in a given sport is, as well as certainly one of the most measured attributes by coaches. It gives us a good idea of an athletes general lower body power and strength.  However I feel that many people try and get too "cute or fancy" with trying to train athletes to jump higher.

Check out Shawn Myszka from Explosive Edge Athletics, in Edina, MN, and his series of videos on improving the vertical jump. Shawn did a great presentation at the NSCA National Conference last July on Eccentric Training. I had a chance to speak with him after his presentation and he's incredibly knowledgeable about training and the proper mechanics of getting athletes to be more explosive. Also this guy is jacked! Which tells me as a fellow coach and professional that he practices what he preaches, and I love that about great coaches that they are in the trenches coaching as well as being positive role models for their athletes.

Shawn says right off in his intro video that people are trying to be too "gimmicky" (is that a word?) with special shoes, etc., while really getting better at jumping comes down to a few key things; Technique and Coordination, and then REPETITION! He makes another good point that science shows us the best lines of force and that many times athletes are jumping with too wide or narrow a stance which in turn messes up the foot position and joint angles necessary for optimal jumping. And of course when he's talking about Repetition that means good reps friends, remember our 10,000 hours principle? The athletes who are the best in the world at something may not necessarily be the strongest, fittest, or most athletic (however that helps) but they've had the opportunity to put in more REPS. Shawn gets into a lot more detail about jumping in his ,
video series on his YouTube page here.