Duncan Keith Dumbbell Squat Jumps

May 13, 2009

NHL defenseman Duncan Keith of the Chicago Blackhawks performs Dumbbell Squat Jumps to improve his lower body explosive power. The exercise is coached by president/director of athletic performance Doug Crashley of Crash Conditioning.

TRANSCRIPT

Doug Crashley: I'm a big believer in taking heavy lifts and control lifts and adding a power endurance component to it. Power needs extension or full release of that force. You can't do that without letting go of the bar, without letting go of the weight. By jumping you're releasing that connection between the ground and the feet so you're actually producing true power, which you can't do by keeping your feet on the ground such as a squat.

In a jump position you want to be at a 120 degree joint angle, which is a lot less joint angle than most athletes think they need to produce power. They tend to want to over flex or over bend to produce power. When they get to over flex or bend position they're just slowing themselves down.

I don't believe in a lot of weight. I'm a 10 to 20 percent of their body weight. You want to be slowing down. You want to be able to jump and still be producing a lot of speed, not producing a slower movement. You're trying to produce faster movements.

The landing's always a common issue where as they as they land on their knee's they're tracking past their toes they're going to be putting a lot of pressure on their knee and sub patellar tendon, the tendon beneath the knee cap, as well as landing too stiff legged and putting a lot of jerk on their back, their spine, their vertebrae, what not.

So you want a lot of good flexion or good deceleration. So you're landing safely and not putting unnecessary load on the joints individual; About five reps of a jump.

For more with Duncan Keith, check out Duncan Keith on Training With Crash Conditioning