How do you train your athletes to improve their jumping? Here are four safe exercises that can be performed int he weight room.
In the video below Steven Kenyon, strength & conditioning coach and founder of the Speed Strength Training Program, gives a presentation on jump drills in the weight room.
The first exercise is a simple Tuck Jump. Coach Kenyon stresses that it is important to use the correct cues to help the athlete get into the proper position. For example he tells athletes to get their feet high, or heels to the butt. He wants them to activate their hamstrings and pulls their heel to the butt. He believes that when you tell an athlete to get their knees high that the activate their hip flexor and pull their knees up and hang the foot.
The second exercise in the sequence is the stick jump. This exercises is done for injury prevention. He feels that the number one cause if injury in a high school athlete is the inability decelerate under control. This exercise is designed to help train the body to decelerate under control.
The third exercise is the Multiple Hurdle Jump. This is a series of tuck jumps over multiple hurdles. For this drill he emphasizes that you should let the athlete look at the obstacles at first and slowly progress to the point where their eyes are up.
The fourth drill is standard depth jumps. Simply stepping off a box, landing properly and jumping up explosively. Coach Kenyon points out that he feels strongly that you should not do multiple jumps up onto boxes.
This clip is just a portion of Coach Kenyon’s speed and agility presentation at a recent Glazier Athletic Performance Clinic. For information about how to gain access to his entire presentation, as well as hundreds of other great clinic presentations, click the link Glazier Athletic Performance Clinics.
The YouTube video below has sound, so please make sure that your volume is turned up and that you have access to the site. Note some schools block access to YouTube.