Train What You Can Train – The Truth About Jumping Higher and Running Faster
With so many aspects for training to become the most complete athlete possible, how does one choose where to allocate time? The athlete and trainer may choose to design a program to increase the athlete’s gross abilities including jumping, speed, agility, or fine-tune a myriad of more specific sporting movements.
Nonetheless, it routinely seems that increasing one’s vertical leap is one of the hottest, if not the most discussed, topics of interest for athletes and performance enhancement specialists. Granted, many of the greatest athletes in most sports possess extraordinary athleticism including leaping ability. However, upon closer examination from an engineering and physiology standpoint, one’s vertical may not be the most trainable and time-efficient aspect to developing the complete athlete.
More specifically, the mechanical and physiological determinants of how high one jumps are based on the velocity of one’s center-of-mass (COM) just prior to takeoff. The theoretically maximal attainable velocity of one’s COM may be based on several factors, both from an engineering and physiology perspective. These factors include, but are not limited to:
1. Anthropometry (i.e. limb segment lengths)
2. Percentage of fast-twitch fibers (genetically predetermined although some intermediate fibers have been hypothesized to be able to convert to fast-twitch)
3. Passive element (i.e. ligaments, tendons, etc) abilities to store energy and properties (e.g. ligament length, stiffness, etc)
4. Muscle Moments (i.e. point along limb where distal ligament attaches relative to axis of rotation)
5. Muscle Fiber Pennation Angles (e.g. fusiform muscles whose fibers align more with the ligaments are geared towards higher velocities; bipennate muscles are more geared for strength)
Given the fact that most of these properties are largely untrainable (i.e. cannot be altered or to a very small degree), how must the athlete increase one’s vertical leap, and to what degree? Fast-twitch fibers are always of interest to the performance enhancement community. There is still debate on what extent fibers can alter their twitch properties. If any fibers have the potential to convert, it is expected to be the intermediate (Type IIx) fibers.
Muscle twitch properties are largely predetermined by the myosin heavy chain type that the fiber possesses. Likewise, some trainable qualities of the athlete’s muscles that the laws of physics theoretically show may potentially improve one’s vertical include:
1. Cross-Sectional Area (CSA) of muscle (i.e. more fibers to potentially be recruited for higher force)
2. Motor Unit Recruitment (i.e. more fibers activated by nervous system for increased force)
3. Technique (i.e. timing of all segments in kinetic chain to maximize the overall velocity of one’s center-of-mass for maximal vertical leap)
The trainability of the musculoskeletal system to increase peak force is of central interest for vertical leaping. Those that are weaker relative to their bodyweights will naturally benefit more from becoming stronger. This is due to the fact that an increase in force should result in an increase in acceleration for a given mass, by definition of a force. When one performs a jump, the athlete is attempting to reach the highest velocity attainable within a given range of motion. If the athlete’s force output is relatively low and consequently has low acceleration, the athlete may fall short of the maximal velocity his muscles are capable of contracting at within a given range of motion at takeoff.
The best way to visualize the benefits of increasing peak force for jumping higher is through a car that has a very high top speed but low power. If the car accelerates from rest and its speed is measured after a short distance (e.g. 100 yards), the car may be well short of its top speed that it is capable of ultimately reaching. Increasing its power should increase its acceleration, allowing it to reach a higher speed within a given distance (e.g. 100 yards), although its top speed hasn’t increased. The 100 yard distance constraint represents the range of motion constraint that the athlete will perform his/her jump through.
How does range of motion represent a constraint? Of course, increasing the range of motion may seem logical but physiological phenomenon such as the stretch-reflex dictate the optimal range of motion for a muscle to produce maximum power. From an engineering standpoint, the muscles and ligaments have viscoelastic properties (i.e. both store and dissipate energy when being stretched).
There is an optimum length that the muscles and ligaments may be stretched to take advantage of their elastic (i.e. energy storage) properties before the viscous (i.e. energy dissipating) properties take over. The stored energy comes from the stretching of the muscle and ligament, which is then also used to power the contraction, similar to a spring snapping.
Likewise, timing of the limbs is an area that may be improved. Theoretically, the athlete should want to take advantage of the physics fact that objects in motion tend to stay in motion. If all segments are at their peak velocities at the same point in time, their peak velocities and momentum will sum to a net overall momentum of the body’s center-of-mass, which ultimately determines one’s vertical leap. Of course, the point in time that is most relevant to achieve synchronous peak velocity is takeoff.
Given these trainable qualities, different types of athletes will benefit to varying degrees from improving each quality. Specifically, the types of athletes that will benefit the most from improving each quality include:
1. Weaker athletes with low peak force and low muscle mass – focus on increasing CSA, increase motor unit recruitment:
2. Athletes with large muscle mass but low peak force – focus on increasing motor unit recruitment
3. Athletes with sufficient muscle mass and peak force but poor timing and unsynchronized extension of limb segments – focus on improving technique
These simple facts regarding trainable qualities may explain the vast differences in observed improvements in athlete’s vertical leaping abilities with different styles of training. Essentially, the types of training that may cater to improving each quality and are ultimately responsible for increasing one’s vertical include:
1. Increasing Muscular CSA – Basic Strength Training (e.g. squats, deadlifts, etc)
2. Increasing Motor Unit Recruitment – Basic Strength Training, Plyometrics (e.g. box jumps, depth jumps, etc)
3. Technique – Plyometrics, Olympic Lifts (e.g. power cleans, snatch, etc)
An interesting observation is individuals who master Olympic lifts (e.g. clean and jerk) also tend to have phenomenal vertical leaps. Is it then accurate to conclude the Olympic lifts are solely responsible for these individuals’ leaping abilities? The answer is up for debate. Given the fact that there is a strong positive correlation between Olympic lifting and jumping, the cause-and-effect relationship is not clear. It is plausible that those who are successful at Olympic lifting may simply be more proficient leapers from the start, naturally, given the strong resemblance of the scoop phase during Olympic lifts to a vertical leap. Alternatively, the Olympic lifts may have helped these weightlifters master efficient jumping technique. Either way, these weightlifters are extraordinary leapers. Yet, it is crucial for the athletic performance specialist to keep the Olympic lifts in context as they constitute a separate sport requiring dedicated commitment for mastery.
This same type of analysis is applicable to virtually any movement, including linear speed for sprinting. There are genetically predetermined elements as well as trainable qualities. The main point is to realize the degree of trainability of all these movements. The lessons to be learned and gleaned from this engineering perspective and analysis are:
1. To not get caught up or brainwashed into trying to imitate another athlete with superior athletic traits – Many athletes that are glorified for their supreme athleticism possess genetic advantages that fall into one of the untrainable qualities discussed earlier for their observed feats
2. What works for one athlete will not necessarily work for you! – Every athlete has a unique set of strengths and weaknesses. Without the proper assessment, an athlete may not be focusing and maximizing his/her efforts to improve the weaknesses and fall well short of his/her athletic potential
3. There is no guarantee for how much YOU will increase your vertical, decrease your 40-yard dash, etc. – The important fact is that your improvement will be based on how you attack YOUR weaknesses. Relatively speaking, you should be able to reach your potential if your weaknesses are addressed according to the trainable qualities
4. Realize when you’ve maximized one skill and focus on improving the next skill – Oftentimes, athletes become obsessed with continuously trying to improve one skill (e.g. jumping) and sacrifice another skill. It is important to realize when you’ve reached your genetic ceiling for improving a certain skill. Instead, focus less time on improving that particular skill and simply aim to maintain it as part of a balanced performance enhancement routine. Spend more time improving the skills that have more room to improve to become the most complete athlete you can become in your sport.
Overall, always remain cognizant of the countless number of traits that can be improved for your sport. Focus on all the little aspects of being a complete player. Remember, if your sport is not track-and-field don’t be obsessed with the gross physical abilities (e.g. jumping, sprinting, etc) and your measurements for these skills. Chances are it will be a much finer skill that everyone else overlooks (e.g. how quickly one turns his/her hips during an attempt to play defense in basketball and drive past an opponent, footspeed, etc) that will allow you to separate yourself from the competition. Otherwise, all the superior athletes in track-and-field would automatically dominate all other sports as well. The beauty of athletic performance enhancement lies in the fact that there is always a new skill/trait to be trained that has been overlooked and not trained to its maximum – You just have to be diligent enough to discover it!
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