Posts Tagged ‘jump higher’

Hang Time - Is There Such a Thing?

Thursday, May 28th, 2009

Is there such a thing as “Hang Time“? To get straight to the point - it is a matter of science - there is no such thing as “hang time”. Many people may not believe this, using their favorite player as an example and exclaiming how he can stay in the air longer than anyone else. But, in reality, any basketball player (including “Air Jordan” himself) just makes it seem as if they are hanging in the air.

Here’s the details of what is happening when a basketball player jumps (or any other sport where jumping is involved).

Coming down the court, a player jumps and the laws of physics comes into play. This law states that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. What this means in layman’s terms is that the player pushes against the floor and the floor exerts a force back. This action/reaction causes the player to “jump” up into the air. The greater the force the player exerts when he pushes against the floor, the greater the force the floor pushes back with - resulting in the player going higher into the air.

If a player is in motion (running) during the jump, his/her center of mass follows a parabolic path, which basically looks like a rounded off mountain top. A persons “center of mass” is located around the middle of their body. This means that, if the person were to stay in exactly the same position during the jump, his/her midsection (and therefore, entire body) would follow this path. But as a player that is running jumps, the center of mass is lifted — and manipulated.

By raising his knees, he raises his center of mass in relation to his head. He does that on his way up. On the way down, however, he lowers his legs and that brings the center of mass back down. This effectively raises his head in comparison to the center of mass. The head does not follows the parabolic path. The head stays at one height.

So what you get is during part of the time in the air, the head stays at the same height, but ,during the entire flight the center of mass follows this parabola.

In essence, the player’s head is the key to why our eyes believe in hang time.

When we look at another person, we don’t usually look at the person’s “center of mass”. We usually look at the head (or at least the upper part of the whole body) . What happens then is somewhat of an “illusion”, but it really is happening; the head stays in the same place for an unnaturally long time because he/she changes his center of mass.

Well, if there is no such thing as “hang time”, how is it that one person can stay in the air longer than another person? The REAL answer is that they can JUMP HIGHER.

If you can’t increase your hang time then, you have to learn to jump higher! How can you do this? Check out these Vertical Jump Program Reviews for more information.

How To Jump Higher

Thursday, May 28th, 2009

ANYBODY can improve their vertical jump and learn how to jump higher!

The key to jumping higher is understanding how your body type affects this. Age, gender, race e.t.c., are not as important as most people think. You need to do an assessment of your own individual response to training, as this varies from one person to another. just assigning you exercises simply doesn’t cut it if you want real hops…you NEED a cycle based on exercises for your given body type, aiming at your weaknesses. These exercises should cycle from Strength to Explosiveness to Plyometrics.

Some Basic Steps To Get You Started

1. Assess your current level of fitness and your level of experience with previous methods of training. The best way to get gains is to construct a totally new strength foundation. After this start utilizing an explosion phase. This will result in further inches.

2. Practice Lifts. Entire body strength is a key factor for such an athlete and there is no better exercise than the full back squat. This provides you with progressive increases on spinal loading, which increases stabilization under tension, and also improves stretch-response of hip muscles and hamstrings.

3. Root the squat centrally within most of your lower body workouts. 6-8 decent lifts gets the best strength developments and vertical carryover. For the upper body days, use the same philosophy, with the core exercises being bench press, overhead press variations, pull-ups and dips. Remember to work often overlooked muscles at the end of the workout - muscles such as hip flexors, the shins , transverse abdominals e.t.c.

4. Ensure that you use a lifting technique in a safe and effective manner. Undergo 3-5 week strength phases for upper and lower body. Done correctly, visible gains of 5+% on each lift should be evident weekly. Following this, you will be able to see how your jump is guaranteed to increase.

5. Correctly utilize explosive and plyometric training as well as your strength training. These are your “field workouts” and are completed before your weight exercises. That is, on Day 1 you begin by using a series of tempo runs, sprints and low-intensity plyos (after the proper warm-up of course). By the time Phase 3 comes around, this will have gradually lessened to shorter tempo runs, overspeed (downhill) sprints and high-intensity plyometrics.

6. Concentration on the heavier weights will decrease as you progress through the phases.

7. Visualize by closing your eyes, imagining yourself exploding upwards. Picture yourself with large leg muscles that are coiled like springs, ready to blast you up into the air. Say to yourself “I feel myself getting more powerful and much lighter.” Then jump again. You should observe a noticeable increase in your vertical leap. (Sports psychologists have long recognized the effectiveness of “mental practice” in increasing one’s performance in sports.)

For more information on learning how to jump higher, visit Vertical Jump Program Reviews.

How To Jump Higher

Friday, May 22nd, 2009

ANYBODY can improve their vertical jump and learn how to jump higher!

The key to jumping higher is understanding how your body type affects this. Age, gender, race e.t.c., are not the deciding factors. You need to assess your own individual reaction to training, as this varies from person to person. Giving you exercises simply doesn’t cut it if you want to really jump higher…you NEED a cycle based on exercises for your given body type, aiming at your weaknesses. These exercises should cycle from Strength to Explosiveness to Plyometrics.

Basic Steps To Get Started

1. Assess your current strength and your level of experience with previous types of training. The most effective way to experience gains is to build a totally new strength foundation. After this start utilizing an explosion phase. This will result in further inches.
2. Practice Lifts. Total body conditioning is a key factor for such an athlete and there is no better exercise than the full back squat. This provides you with progressive increases on spinal loading, which, in turn, stabilizes you under tension, and also improves stretch-response of both hamstrings and hip muscles.
3. Make the squat the core exercise of your lower body workouts. 6-8 quality lifts gets the best strength developments and vertical carryover. On the days of your upper body workouts, use the same philosophy, with the central exercises being bench press, overhead press variations, pull-ups and dips. Remember the overlooked muscles towards the end of your workout - muscles such as hip flexors, the shins , transverse abdominals e.t.c.
4. Ensure that you use a lifting technique in a safe and effective manner. Undergo 3-5 week strength cycles for upper and lower body. Done correctly, you should see gains of 5% each week. Following this, you will be able to see how your jump is guaranteed to increase.
5. Correctly utilize explosive and plyometric training as well as your strength training. These are your “field workouts” and are completed pre-weights. E.g., on Day 1 you begin by engaging in a series of tempo runs, sprints and low-intensity plyos (after the proper warm-up of course). By the time Phase 3 comes around, this will have gradually lessened to shorter tempo runs, overspeed (downhill) sprints and high-intensity plyos.
6. Emphasis on the heavier weights will decrease as you progress through the phases.
7. Visualize by closing your eyes, imagining yourself exploding upwards. Picture yourself with large leg muscles that are coiled like springs, ready to blast you up into the air. Say to yourself “I feel myself getting more powerful and much lighter.” Then jump again. You should notice a marked increase in your vertical jump. (Sports psychologists have long recognized the effectiveness of “mental practice” in improving athletic performance.)

For more information on improving your vertical jump, visit Vertical Jump Program Reviews.

Is Hang Time Real?

Wednesday, May 20th, 2009

Is there such a thing as “Hang Time“? The short answer is, scientific laws control this, there is no such thing as “hang time”. Most people will not believe this, pointing to their favorite player and at the same time exclaim how he can hang in the air longer than anyone else. But, the fact of the matter is, any basketball player (including “Air Jordan” himself) just makes it seem as if they are hanging in the air.

Here’s the details of what is happening when a basketball player goes up for a slam dunk (but any other sport where jumping is involved applies as well).

Coming down the court, a player jumps and the laws of physics comes into play. This law states that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. What this means in layman’s terms is that the player’s foot exerts a force against the floor and the floor exerts a force back. This action/reaction causes the player to leave the floor. The more force the player exerts when pushing against the floor, the greater the force the floor pushes back with - resulting in the player jumping higher into the air.

If a player is running during the jumping process, his/her center of mass follows a parabolic path, which basically looks like a rounded off mountain top. A persons “center of mass” is located around their midsection. This means that, if the person stayed in exactly the same position during the jump, his/her midsection (and therefore, entire body) would follow this path. But as a player jumps while running, the center of mass is lifted — and manipulated.

By raising his knees, he raises his center of mass in relation to his head. He does that on his way up. On the way down, however, he lowers his legs back down and that brings the center of mass back down. This effectively raises his head in relation to the center of mass. The head does not follows the parabolic path. The head stays at one height.

So what happens is during part of the time, the head stays at the same height, but ,during the entire time the center of mass goes up and down.

In essence, the player’s head is the key to why we believe there is such a thing as hang time.

When we look at each other, we don’t normally look at the person’s “center of mass”. We usually concentrate on a person’s head (or at least the upper part of the whole body) . What happens then is somewhat of an “illusion”, but it really is happening; the head is staying constant for an unnaturally long time because he/she changes his center of mass.

Well, if “hang time” is not for real, how is it that one person can stay in the air longer than someone else? The REAL answer is because they JUMP HIGHER.

If you can’t increase your hang time then, you have to learn to jump higher! How can you do this? Check out these Vertical Jump Program Reviews for more information.

Easier Workouts To Help You Jump Higher

Tuesday, May 12th, 2009

Are you serious about your vertical jump training?

Correct practices to improve your vertical leap is very COUNTER INTUITIVE.

The vertical jump is an explosion caused by the sudden contraction of fast twitch muscle fibers.  Because of this, vertical jump training should be “anaerobic.”  Too many athletes train in a way that that is mostly “aerobic”.

What is the difference in training?

Basketball players have been told that long distance running would increase their vertical. This is big misconception. Training with the cross country team can cause your vertical jump to shrink.

Sprinting, like jumping is a much less aerobic exercise.  Do you see a sprinter distance running as part of their training for sprinting? NEVER! Then why do so many vertical jump programs have us PACING ourselves during our vertical jump training regimes?

NEVER NEVER NEVER PACE YOURSELF DURING YOUR VERTICAL JUMP TRAINING!

We have all seen it before. Athletes running up and down stairs or out of breath from doing speed ladder drills. Or maybe you jump rope for 20 minutes and your legs are so tired.. you are going to say to yourself, “Now that was a hard workout, surely that will increase my vertical.”

This is not explosive training, so they are NOT going to see results in explosive moves. I guarantee you, they will not be satisfied. You must train explosively and not endurance to improve your vertical jump.

“Explosion” training will feel awkward to start with.  You don’t end up with the same burn as training aerobically.  In some ways training explosion is easier, it just requires much more focus and short term energy.

Your vertical jump training can improve incredibly just by decreasing repetition and increasing intensity.

Doesn’t doing less to get more results sound like the best of both worlds? It is and you can find out how. For more information on How To Jump Higher, visit this site.


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