The equation of jumping

I want to establish through this post the “proper equation of jumping”. Yes, I know, I’m starting to sound more and more like a marketing guru but bare with me on this one.

The problem I have found with whatever there is in this strength&speed “industry” (although I have hardly understood where the word “industry” should fit – oh wait – marketing gurus just reminded me) is that simplicity is the worst enemy of any quality idea. Whenever you go simple about a thing the guy you’re trying to train is like “hey man, cut me this bull, I want real training”. Because, like the industry word suggests, “real training” is “complicated training”.

Now for those that think that know me, they’ll be like “yeah man but you’re the first to overanalyze stuff”. That’s true. But am I the first to overcomplicate training? I don’t think so. My training journal should be pretty obvious about my training and it’s simplicity. The overanalyzing comes just from the pure curiosity of understanding. I can’t just say “yeah man, it just works like that and that’s it”. That’s like saying “yeah man, I’m just stupid and can’t understand things, I’ll just leave it at that”. Doesn’t work that way for me.

But enough with this chit-chat. What’s up with this “equation thing”? Nothing else than a fancy name for simple stuff.

Before we get to it, I want to make a geek analogy, like I sometimes do.

Let’s suppose you work into computer graphics. Nothing to do with athleticism, right? (I actually work in the domain, by the way).

Say I’m a Photoshop beginner. But I want to become the best photoshopper I can possibly be. What are my possibilities for improvement?

Well, for one it would be just working in Photoshop. You know, working in it, playing with tools, see what they do, what the menus do etc. Read the help. Whatever.

Another possiblity would be to watch tutorials, read advanced books etc.

Once I get decent at it, I could go out with deadlines on my projects. I have to finish this stuff in 2 hours or ELSE. Etc.

1) What would happen if I only read books/watch tutorials but never actually practice working in Photoshop itself? My POTENTIAL of being very good would increase a lot, but I wouldn’t be good. I could become very good in a very short time though, working in Photoshop.

2) What would happen if I would only work in photoshop and not read anything/watch any tutorial? I could become good, but probably never great because my potential of greatness would be limited/it would demand too much time to discover stuff on my own out of hazard.

3) What would happen if I would do deadline work without knowing the program well/having the background to do quality work? Well, for one I’d probably be very slow and for another – I’d probably be very limited.

So how the heck does this correlate with jumping/athleticism?

Well, the same thing happens in this field. The muscle is your potential. Practicing your movement is a SKILL. Overload exercises are your “deadlines” (think depth jumps).

To make a comparison:

1)What would happen if I only strength train but never actually practice jumping itself? My POTENTIAL of being very good at jumping would increase a lot, but I wouldn’t be good at jumping (especially running jumps, regardless of them being unilateral or bilateral). I could become very good in a very short time though, practicing jumping.

2) What would happen if I would only jump and not do any strength training? I could become a very good jumper, but probably never great because my potential of greatness would be limited/building strength would demand too much time using only jumping (because the time under tension is too low to optimally help build muscle).

3) What would happen if I would do depth jump work without jumping/having strength? I’d probably be very bad and my depth jumping advancement would be very limited.

The equation is build muscle + train movement + overload ever now and then with supramaximal exercises like depth jumps to increase the tension threshold that the CNS is/is not accepting in the eccentric phase.

So, again: build muscle to increase your potential of tension, train your movement to learn to apply/access your potential of tension in your jumps, do depth jumps to increase the amount of tension the CNS accepts.

It’s really that simple. Once this is settled, the only downside is bodyfat. If that is in check (say around 10% maximum) then you can’t help but jump high. Really. Notice I haven’t mentioned the relative strength factor in here because I’ll talk about it in the next article. You really have to be aware of what relative strength tells you/what can mean for you/how to read it.