How to jump higher? - It's easy!

Whether there have been male or female the goal was always the sameJump higher! Aside from affixing springs to their feet I have tried all the techniques and here are some that can work for you!

Cant Jump?
Its true, jumping is way harder than it seems. Lots of athletes struggle with getting off of the ground. Fear of heights? No, just a body that hasnt been taught what to do. Often athletes havent learned how to take off and are jumping only with their legs, which if you are gifted with limbs full of fast twitch fibre you might get somewhere. However, most of us are not miracle workers and we need the help from our feet, hips, arms and core for a really good jump. Dont forget to learn how to land as well! When you are jumping in sport (header in soccer, block in volleyball, shot in basketball etc) you usually have to move upon landing and either change direction and/or sometimes jump again. If you are landing poorly (knees knocking, heavy landing, stiff joints etc) you will not be ready for the next movement and can set yourself up for injury!

Prerequisites!
This is your reality check. So many athletes wonder why they cant jump but they have not addressed the basics! If you have not addressed all of the following then your jumping may be compromised. Are you pain free? Even small joint pain in the foot will affect your jump and more so if it is in the knee, hip or trunk. Make sure you address any nagging injuries that might be holding back your jump. Do you have suitable joint range of motion? For example, if your ankle does not have normal range of motion then you will end up using your knees or hips in a less than optimal movement pattern to get the range of motion! Core strength is another key area. In order to get your highest jumps you are using your entire body-arms too. The key for your arms to add to your jump is the energy transfer through your trunk or core. Coordination is another factor that enables you to take the power in different body parts and apply it when and how you want to. If you are uncoordinated then your limbs may not be timed for jumping when you need them to contribute! These are simple factors but if ignored will compromise your jumping ability!

Mechanics of Jumping
Without breaking down the multiple angular accelerations lets talk a bit about what you can control when you break down different parts of the jump. To keep it simple for this short newsletter well stick to take off and landing. When you are taking off, the timing and coordination are key in order to create the elastic tension that enables us to spring into the air. So, like an elastic, our muscles create energy when we apply a stretch or counter movement to a jump. If we do not use a counter movement (jump from standing straight up) or we hold a stretched position too long (sinking down and holding without jumping) we lose the optimal energy potential for a jump. This is where we need to use the appropriate countermovement and timing in our take off to get the best we can from our jump in the given sporting situation. When it comes to landing, it is highly unlikely that you will be able to relax upon landing. You will have positional demands to backpedal, jump again, move laterally etc. Because of this it is very detrimental to land hard or stiffly. You will be far more effective and possibly beat your opponent by landing lightly and being ready to change direction or premeditating which way you will move! Practicing quiet landingsand direction changes after jumping will make a huge difference to your reaction time and second jumps!

You have jumped through these hoops, in the next part of our article you can check out my tips if you want more vertical!

Your jump can divide into three phases. When you load up the muscles for the jump, it is the eccentric phase. The concentric phase is actual upwards explosive movement. The phase number three that is the amortization phase, and occurs between the first and second phase.

Additionaly, to jump higher, you must focus on four factors and work on them. 1. Movement Efficiency 2. Body Composition 3. Strength 4. Speed

Movement efficiency is the same as coordination. Skinny people jump higer, so when you want jump higer reduce unnecessary weight. Strength in terms of jumping is essentially how much force you can apply to the ground. Jumping speed is a combination of your rate of force development (RFD) and your reactivity. RFD is how quickly you can access your strength to produce your jumping power and reactive strength is how quickly you can do your full up and down jumping motion without loss of performance.

In next articles we will disclose the details each of the four factors over which you have to work to improve the jump.

Physical prep. for Asian players I.

PHYSICAL TRAINING FOR ASIAN PLAYERS Analysis of the volleyball's techniques from a strength point of view: In volleyball we have difference between spiking jumping and blocking jumping. The three types of jumping: 1) with spike approach 2) without approach and with and without counter movement and 3) with a lateral step, Volleyball technique is special with the power of the spike: the arm, shoulder and hand movement. The low position in the defense and the footwork. The transition from the low position of defense to a running action for defense. The prevention of injuries: - The typical "training" injuries of volleyball problems with shoulder, back and knee. - We need to reply to this questions. Why do they happen? What to do to prevent them in the strength training program? - Protagonist and antagonist group of muscles. - The role of stretching and massage. - The importance of the technique in all kind of exercises. Basic principles: First is the learning of a right technique and after the strength training. Perfect technique is the basic in all kind of exercises. Exercise and method of training with high level of risk. Are they always necessary? It must be a very strong reasons for use a risk exercise. The best protector of an articulation is a strong muscle. The muscles must be strong but also elastic. A rigid muscle is not good but neither a too relax one. We need good balance between protagonist and antagonist muscles. Good bilateral symmetry in each member. Any articulation must be strong in all its angles. Strengthen the locomotive system first and improve the quality of the function after. The tendons adapt slowly than muscles.

Key concepts for the prevention of injuries: Jumper/s knee: Leg extension: starting at 150, isometric in maximum extension, returning slowly for 30. Falling is worst than jumping. The antagonist of the quadriceps must be relax and stretch. The floor must be elastic and not hard. The shoes are very important. Relax after the training and use ice immediately. Shoulder: Basic exercise to have a strong shoulder. Being strong in the maximum extension: the pullover. The balance between protagonist and antagonist is so important: the development of the Extrarotatories and the muscles who "get down" the scapulas. Not rigid, not loose.

Back: Good flexibility of the column in flexion, extension, rotation and lateral flexion. Three basic exercises to have a strong back: extension in the backbench, rotations and lateral flexion. Good abdominal, good back. The back must be always straight. The bust must be strengthen before the arms and legs (centrifugal principal).

The neuromuscular point of view in the training of the strength. What kind of strength do we want? Explosive strength: maximum acceleration. Fast strength: sub-maximum acceleration and resistance. Slow strength: high resistance and the velocity trends to be constant. Concentric, eccentric and isometric strength. Ballistic and ramp contraction. Elastic component or not?

Big muscle's group and little muscles. Synergy's and analytic work. Ipertrofic or strength? General, specific and special exercises: General exercises create the conditions for the specific work: maximum incursion (all the angles), progressive intensity, and the resistance more than acceleration, maximum strength. Specific exercises develop the type of strength that is necessary for volleyball: specific angle, acceleration, maximum intensity, and explosive strength. Special exercises use the volleyball techniques to develop the specific strength in the special situation: coordination, special angle, maximum acceleration, explosive or fast strength. The strength's training The weight lifting training permit to program and to control the parameters to use a specific and individual load. The increasing of the quantity precedes the intensity's increasing. The increasing of the resistance (external load) precedes the acceleration's increasing. In the beginning is necessary to reach the maximum incursion and in a second time the specific angle. It is necessary to consider the nervous fatigue, not only the metabolic one. The bust must be strengthening before the arms and legs (centrifugal principal). Some exercises can be done before the volleyball training and another's after the volleyball training. . . 77/e parameters of an exercise Quantity: repetitions, sets. Intensity: relative intensity (% of the maximum strength), velocity, duration of the recovery (2'4'). MAXIMUM STRENGTH MAX. DINAMIC STRENGTH Number of repetitions 1 1-2 2-3 4-5 6-7 8-9 10-11 11-12 15-16 RELATIVE INTENSITY 100% 95% 90% 85% 80% 75% 70% 65% 60% EXPLOSIVE STRENGTH FAST STRENGTH Number of repetitions 1 2-3 4-5 6-7 8-9

Rules for the weight lifting training: It's necessary to do a specific warm up: one set in low intensity. Take the dumbbells and the barbells from a secure and advantage position of the body. Never get a weight far from the body. Do not start without a proper assistance. Stop any exercise if you have pain. In the snatch and power clean let fall down the barbell if you don't control it or if there is a technical mistake. Do not do violent hiper-extension movement. Maintain the back straight when put the barbell down on the floor. First part - Physical preparation for Asian players I

Exercises The following exercises could be done after the volleyball training: General exercises, slow strength: Bench press with or without dumbbells Lat. machine or bar (pectoral and triceps) (dorsal and biceps)

Shoulder press with dumbbells (deltoids and triceps)

Back extension; 3 - 5 sets (back muscles)

Leg extension, repetitions till exhaustion 3 - 5 sets each leg

Pullover in maximum extension (high pectorals)

Leg curl, concentric and eccentric 3 - 4 sets; 6 - 8 rips

Abdominal: rectum abdomens, external and internal oblique (4 to 6 sets; from 30 to 50 rip.) Concentric and eccentric exercises. The following exercises must be done before the volleyball training: Squat complete jump services, spike or spike jump touching the vertek. Max. Strength, 4-8 rip. 3-4 sets. Only in the first 3-4 months, two times a week. It's a general exercise of slow strength. General exercises, fast strength: Squat in 45/ 90 degrees block in an analytic exercise. Max. Power, 3-4 rip. 6-8 sets. Complete recovery (2.5'-3'). One-legged calf rise pliometric rebounds jumps with one and two legs. Specific excises, explosive strength: Power clean

Snatch. Throwing over the net medicine balls of different weights between 1 and 5 kg. Special exercises, explosive strength: Block jumping with and without counter movement, 3-4 sets of 4 rip. Spike jumping to touch the maximum personal high using the vertek. Short sprint departing from the low defense position. Blocking footwork 2x1. This physical preparation program for Asian players has been provided by Julio Velasco to Czech volleyball national team in 2002.

Volleyball exercise: Spike to zone

Description Half of the ground is divided into 6 zones, according to the drawing (front zones and the middleback one are worth 1 point, while two back zones which are on the verge of the ground are worth 2 points). Receiver from team A (P) passes the ball towards setter (R), who set it to spiker (A). Then spiker has to put the ball to particular zone, also in particular way (strong hit, off-speed hit or standing spike). After every attack team receives as many points as the zone which the ball was directed to is worth. Spiker can do forearms or overhead bounce to save the ball from a fall but in this case team does not score points (spike has to be obligatory made by one hand over head). Teams take turns serving (throwing) the ball, no matter which one won action. Rotation follows after every finished action or after performing fixed task. Variants To make the play easier for younger or less skills players, need to:

play on larger ground or lower a net; throw the ball directly to setter at every beginning of action.

To make the play more demanding for older or higher skills players, need to:

determine type of attack; require players to tell what type of attack are they going to do; grant points only for finished spike;

divide the ground on 9 zones ( zones which are located the closest to net and those the farthest from it are worth 3 points; external, middle zones and middle-back one 2 points; central zone 1 point); determine which zone the ball has to be directed to.

source: Akademia Polskiej Siatkowki