Jump Higher and Faster With Transitional Med Ball Box Jumps
Everybody wants to be the athlete who can throw down ridiculous dunks and have the highest vertical on the team. Remember the first time you touched the net or made a huge spike in gym class? It felt great, right? Well I am here to show you exactly what you need to get those hops and make the crowd wonder where you learned how to jump. I am talking about Transitional Med Ball Box Jumps.
Jumping occurs in all sports and planes of motion. When you break down what happens during a jump, you see that your ankle, knee and hip joints all extend quickly to move your body off the ground. We call this triple extension. You want to be able to efficiently and powerfully triple extend your legs so you can burst out in the direction you want to travel.
Here are the important components all athletes need to focus on when training to jump out of the gym:
- Landing in a safe position
- Activating Type II muscle fibers (fast-twitch)
- Reaction
- Jumping off one or both legs
- Jumping in all planes of motion
- Using your upper body to help your lower body muscles activate
Transitional Med Ball Box Jumps focus on reaction timing, jumping and landing safely on a plyo box, plus transitioning your body through multiple planes of motion.
RELATED: Henrik Zetterberg’s Box Jump Series
What you need
- A medicine ball
- A plyo box, bench, or any surface you can land on without getting hurt
What you do
- Place a medicine ball in your hands (go light at first).
- Move your feet rapidly in place in one plane of motion (choose forward, side or rotating).
- Rapidly transition to another plane of motion and land near the box.
- React and jump onto the box, landing softly in a safe position.
- Repeat 3-6 times with at least 1 minute of rest between.
Examples
Here are six examples to start with, and watch your jumping ability go through the roof.
- Feet shuffle forward to lateral jump to box jump with overhead reach
- Feet jumping jack to rotation to box jump
- Hips twisting to lateral jump to box jump with overhead reach
- Feet shuffle to 180 spins to box jump
- Left foot lateral shuffle to box jump
- Right foot twisting to lateral hop to box jump with overhead reach
Key Areas of Focus
The key things you want to focus on are:
- Landing safely and softly. You don’t want to land on your toes, and never land with your knees caving in (valgus knee movement).
- Using your upper body to rotate and react quickly.
- Reacting fast!
- Allowing at least 60 seconds between rounds.
- Jumping as high as you can.
Add these to your training regimen and you will soon be jumping higher and faster.
- For beginners: Perform 3 sets of 5 reps with at least 1 minute rest between sets
- For advanced: Perform 5 sets of 8 reps with at least 1.5 minutes rest between sets
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Jump Higher and Faster With Transitional Med Ball Box Jumps
Everybody wants to be the athlete who can throw down ridiculous dunks and have the highest vertical on the team. Remember the first time you touched the net or made a huge spike in gym class? It felt great, right? Well I am here to show you exactly what you need to get those hops and make the crowd wonder where you learned how to jump. I am talking about Transitional Med Ball Box Jumps.
Jumping occurs in all sports and planes of motion. When you break down what happens during a jump, you see that your ankle, knee and hip joints all extend quickly to move your body off the ground. We call this triple extension. You want to be able to efficiently and powerfully triple extend your legs so you can burst out in the direction you want to travel.
Here are the important components all athletes need to focus on when training to jump out of the gym:
- Landing in a safe position
- Activating Type II muscle fibers (fast-twitch)
- Reaction
- Jumping off one or both legs
- Jumping in all planes of motion
- Using your upper body to help your lower body muscles activate
Transitional Med Ball Box Jumps focus on reaction timing, jumping and landing safely on a plyo box, plus transitioning your body through multiple planes of motion.
RELATED: Henrik Zetterberg’s Box Jump Series
What you need
- A medicine ball
- A plyo box, bench, or any surface you can land on without getting hurt
What you do
- Place a medicine ball in your hands (go light at first).
- Move your feet rapidly in place in one plane of motion (choose forward, side or rotating).
- Rapidly transition to another plane of motion and land near the box.
- React and jump onto the box, landing softly in a safe position.
- Repeat 3-6 times with at least 1 minute of rest between.
Examples
Here are six examples to start with, and watch your jumping ability go through the roof.
- Feet shuffle forward to lateral jump to box jump with overhead reach
- Feet jumping jack to rotation to box jump
- Hips twisting to lateral jump to box jump with overhead reach
- Feet shuffle to 180 spins to box jump
- Left foot lateral shuffle to box jump
- Right foot twisting to lateral hop to box jump with overhead reach
Key Areas of Focus
The key things you want to focus on are:
- Landing safely and softly. You don’t want to land on your toes, and never land with your knees caving in (valgus knee movement).
- Using your upper body to rotate and react quickly.
- Reacting fast!
- Allowing at least 60 seconds between rounds.
- Jumping as high as you can.
Add these to your training regimen and you will soon be jumping higher and faster.
- For beginners: Perform 3 sets of 5 reps with at least 1 minute rest between sets
- For advanced: Perform 5 sets of 8 reps with at least 1.5 minutes rest between sets