Jumping Exercises
If you are scratching your head, that is probably good. You propel your body into the air by applying force to the ground to overcomes your body's inertia. We all know this. So, why do some athletes fly while the rest of us seem stuck to the ground? The answer to that is that some athletes either through genetic fortune or hard work have the horsepower to overcome gravity coupled with the gear box to do it fast. ==> Click Here To Learn Great Jumping Exercises What is horsepower? Horsepower is your body's maximum strength. Imagine a power lifter lifting 4 times his body weight in a squat. I am sure you are wondering why he doesn't just walk like he is on the moon. The answer is the gearbox. The gearbox is the limiting factor in his ability to apply his force fast enough to overcome the forces of gravity. In other words, if he can apply all his muscular power fast enough to outrun the acceleration of gravity that is holding him firmly to the ground, he will fly. Heavyweight olympic lifters are living proof of this. I bet you didn't know that most if not all the heavyweight world class olympic lifters can easily dunk a basketball into a regulation hoop even though they sometimes weight 300 lbs. That is because olympic lifting requires not only extreme maximal strength, but the nature of the exercise is one of lightning application of this strength. If you have ever seen a lifter clean 3 times his bodyweight from the ground and saw how fast it happens, it would be no surprise to anyone that they can achieve some impressive heights while jumping. So, where does this leave us? Now that you understand what makes it possible to achieve incredible vertical jump heights, it is simple to attain this once elusive goal. You need to increase your strength, or if you are already strong you need to improve your ability to apply this strength in fractions of a second to propel your body into the air. The best jumping exercises exercise to increase the strength of these muscles has to be the squat, with the deadlift coming in a very close second. You need to make it a matter of principle to be able to squat at least double your body weight. If you have that kind of power, you now need to develop your gearbox. Your gearbox is your central nervous system (CNS) or more specifically, your ability to act or react quickly. This is what decides how much of your muscle you use when you are trying to leave the ground behind. In order to develop your this capacity, you need to either perform extremely fast weighted movements, preferably with 50% or less of your max; or alternately, you can perform plyometric jumping exercises with your bodyweight alone. So if you want to fly, focus on increasing your horsepower and developing the proper gearbox to enable yourself to activate all your horsepower in a fraction of a second. A high vertical jump may be an elusive target, but with applied science it is not out of reach. There are no magic jumping exercises, but the squat, dead lift, power clean and applied plyometrics can all get you there.
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