Remember, at some point in any athletic career every competitor will face opponents who were working hard when they were not. Which side of that equation do you want to be on when the time comes?
The choice is yours.
To start at the beginning, it has been my opportunity to coach intercollegiate and interscholastic basketball for more than three decades during which time I worked with literally hundreds of athletes. Some went on to play professionally both here and overseas. Some developed into intercollegiate Division 1 scholarship student-athletes. Others earned high accolades as interscholastic competitors. Some teams went undefeated, some lost very few games and others were average achievers.
During almost all of that time I was always on the alert for ways to help athletes improve their jump reach so that they could gain an edge during game competition. In the process I utilized weight lifting, ankle weights, jump ropes, weight vests, strength shoes, jump platforms, plyometric boxes, special drills and more. Most of it helped to some degree or another but nothing proved to be the path to significantly better hops.
Thus, when The Jump Manuel came up on my radar screen I was very skeptical, to say the least. The "add 10" claim" came across as just far too fantastic. Over all those years of coaching the best improvement I had seen was in the neighborhood of four inches which was impressive even though it required lots of hard work.
So the first step in debunking the claim of such huge gains in jump reach made by The Jump Manual was to get busy researching the program from every angle possible. During that long and complicated process, this is what I discovered.
1. This program features a notably comprehensive approach to vertical jump training. The Table of Contents reads like this:
2. Included with the manual are two special bonus pieces. One is from the Shooting Coach and is about, of course, shooting. The other is from the Mind Coach and is about overcoming mental obstacles. The latter has direct application to vertical jump training.
3. As you may have noted in the contents, a Jumpers Forum is also provided with this program giving a trainee access to others who have been through the training or are in the midst of it so that specific questions can be asked and answered and best practices can be shared. What makes this resource particularly helpful is the exposure it provides to a very large audience of Jump Manual users. It helps trainees to know they are not the lone ranger.
4. Of even greater value is the ability to contact the program developer directly via email and phone. That allows for a personally customized use of the training.
5. The most recent addition to this package is an online mechanism that allows users to partner up with others so that they can train together or at least in support of one another if they are not located in the same area or region.
Once I discovered all of this content, along with a review of lots of testimonials from a variety of athletes, I took the plunge and purchased the program so that I could fully delve into all of the detail. All of that research is complete.
Which brings us to my take on this vertical jump training program: in a word, it is legitimate. It is important to understand, however, that adding ten or more inches to a vertical jump reach is no walk in the park. There is a very specific path to follow and there is no question that it requires a lot of work. Like anything worth having, becoming a leaper or adding to an already impressive vertical is not easy. But is it worth it? Based upon my experience, the answer is a resounding YES!
For more information about The Jump Manual click on the link that follows. You will not be disappointed.
Any way that you want to cut it, having a high vertical leap is a real advantage in lots of ways in lots of different sports. An athlete who ignores vertical jump development and training puts himself or herself at a distinct and repeated disadvantage. On the other hand, any athlete who trains to improve their leaping skills develops an immediate and lasting competitive edge over those athletes who do not bother to grow their jump reach. Consider the following.
Using vertical jump to be a rebounder. Using vertical jump to create open shots.
Saving a game. Turning a double play.
Making a big reception. Defending deep.
Defending. Directing.
Blocking. Spiking.
For athletes with at least a little knowledge of what is required to improve vertical jump reach, remember the following rules to achieve much better training outcomes.
1. Strength + Quickness = Explosion.
2. Train explosion, not endurance.
3. If you are pacing yourself, lower the number of rep.
4. Keep your workouts with the "improvement zone" or don't train at all. Over training is counterproductive.
5. Train with 85% of your single rep MAX and do every rep at maximum speed. When speed is in jeopardy, lower the number of reps. Speed is king.
6. Plyometrics are to be done minimizing the "amortization phase" executing each explosion at maximum strength and speed with NO extra bounce.
7. For perfect plyometrics: Load - Amortization - Explode.
8. Recruiting all muscle fibers and firing all fibers at maximum rate is the only way to extract maximum benefit from a strength training regime.
9. Treat each rep with the focus and intensity of a single event.
Clearly a comprehensive jump development program is the only way to add several inches (at least 10") to your vertical jump. If you know what to do and you do it, you can become a leaper. One such program is available for review at the link below. Regardless of how you choose to proceed, use these nine rules to make more significant progress.
Becoming a leaper, to borrow an old phrase, is not about the size of the dog in the fight. It is about the size of the fight in the dog. Leapers as well as dunkers come in all shapes and sizes but most share one important characteristic in common. They want to be develop and use big time hops.
Given that you are the dog, how much fight is in you to grow your vertical jump reach? If you want it, you will have it.
BEST JUMP TRAINING