Elitetrack: Sport Training & Conditioning

How,what,when?
how do we all do jump sqauts? dumbells, straight bar? how much weight to use? sets and reps? what else would you want to do and not do in that session?

I think jump squats are a good exercise for the comp phase. I’ve used both bodyweight and percentages of max as guidlines for the weight. I think the bar is much better than dumbbells for jump squats as I think that equivalent weights with dumbbells actually feels heavier than with a bar on the shouders…..I think this is because it’s more difficult to control and because the lower position of the weight creates a tendency for greater trunk lean. I would typically do them them for time or slightly higher reps (5-10).

Jump squats are great because unlike all but the heaviest of squats, the athlete can actually try to accelerate all the way through triple extension. In regular the athlete (whether consciously or not) actually has to decelerate so that their feet stay firmly planted on the floor. 

This actually brings up another thing which I’ve found to be quite valuable…....compensatory acceleration (CA). This method means that the athlete tries to move the resistance as fast as possible through the complete range of motion. For every joint, there is a specific strength curve where people are strongest and weakest in various phases of the range of motion of the particular joint. This occurs as a result of many factors, most notably muscle length and moment arm / mechanical advantage. Through a full range of motion, we are only as strong as our weakest portion of that range of motion. Normally, people push very hard (lots of force) through their weakest range of motion and push at much lower levels (relatively low force output) where the resistance feels lightest. If CA is used, the athlete applies maximal force throughout the complete range of motion.

Mike that is interesting.
you touched upon CA in the “Strength and Conditioning Roundtable pt 2” in Track Coach. I think i understand the concept but just to clarify what is the definition of “Leverage”?

mike states” In Compensatory Acceleration training, the athlete will attempt to move the bar as fast as possible through the entire range of motion reguardless of biomechanical leverage, thereby maximixing motor recruitment”.

when you are tlaking about putting maximum effort through the whole lift and the lift getting easier at the top portion of a squat for example i feel this is best illustrated by something i noticed while squatting the other day. while doing triples i was trying to bring the bar up so fast that when i got to the top of the squat i sometimes was ending up on my toes.

i dont really understand how you can do jump squats effectivly with a barbell. arent you supposed to explode up as high and as fast as you can? well if you did this with a barbell wouldnt the bar pop up and bruise the heck out of the bone under the back of your neck? also having your hands keeping the bar in place i feel is unnatural and not specific to sprinting and jumping. i would not be able to get the same verticle hight and explosion with my arms in that position.

lets bring this thread back up to the top..

When I speak of leverage I’m referring to the length of the moment arm. The lever arm itself does not change…..that wording is probably a little confusing. The moment arm however does change. This change in moment arm changes the mechanical advantage of a given movement through a range of motion. This partly explains the reason movements are more difficult in certain ranges of motion.

Your squat example is, like you said, a perfect example of CA.

You’re also right about the jump squats. I think both DB and BB have advantages of disadvantages. I think if you do use a BB and rather than holding the bar with the hands, you extend your arms and wrap them around the bar so that you form a “t” shape with the bar. In this setup, the weight of your arms should be sufficient to hold the bar onto your traps. This will make you and the bar one system and ensure that the bar doesn’t go flying off of you and you don’t have to forcefully hold the bar down.

mike,
in another thread we are talking about verticle plyos developing top end speed. well can jump squats be considered a verticle plyo if you do them all in a row. For example “bang bang bang” instead of resetting yourself. And what would be a better way to do jump squats anyway? continuously or resetting yourself?

If you are looking to improve the “top-end speed” i.e. increased stiffness of the leg at MaxV, the amortization phase of the jump squat should be a small as possible.  Therefore, do not “reset”. Hit and change direction as quickly as possible.  Don’t allow yourself to settle.

Ditto to what JJ said. I’d also add that to make this possible, you’ll need to keep the load relatively light (~33% max). I do however think that full depth squat jumps can have some value from a power and variety standpoint (but like JJ said, not from a leg stiffness standpoint).

There exists an optimal ground contact time for all jump training, dependant upon a number of criteria (additional load, height of jump, desired goal, etc.)......if the contact time is too short, the neuromuscular system has insufficient time to produce high forces….conversely, if it is too long the SSC is no longer optimal.

On jumps of higher load (longer SSC), the amplitude of the stretch should not exceed the range of the SRES (to quote Schmidtbleicher).

For this reason, we must be careful when prescribing optimal loads: I believe the ~33% max that Mike recommends may be a little high (assuming you mean 33% of max 1RM back squat)......if ground contact times are sufficiently minimized, then knee angle will assumably be high (in excess of 120 degrees?); so possibly you are even basing the 33% on a similarly deep squat (i.e. a 1/4 squat)??

I coach a sprinter (fairly strong for a sprinter - aprox 405lb full back squat 1RM) that I believe would have difficulty jump squatting 135lbs @ a consistent depth - the window between too long a GCT and too short is narrow, and is much easier negotiated @ a lighter load.

Also, I coach bobsledders who can full back squat in excess of 550lbs - a jump squat of 165lbs is, in my mind, asking for trouble.

I think rather than prescribing squat jumps on a percentage of max squat, it may be more appropriate to do so from a percentage of one's bodyweight.
I've prescribed anywhere from 20-50% of bodyweight for anything from 5-10 reps - always with dumb bells…....I've used barbells in the past, but have compared height of jump with barbell with equally loaded dumb bells (both in single squat jumps and counter-movement jumps, as well as repeated 4-jumps), and dumb bell height was superior each time…..also, most of the athletes tend to find the DB squat jump a more comfortable lift…..biomechanically, I see just a small difference, that to be honest, I'm not real concerned with.

As far as CA - I agree - a superior method for most exercises over traditional means…..generally, we use chains in gen prep, bands in spec prep, and move to jump squats during comp (although you'll find each method in all phases of my YTP).

Just my 2 cents

Stu McMillan

I think rather than prescribing squat jumps on a percentage of max squat, it may be more appropriate to do so from a percentage of one's bodyweight.

good post.. i agree..

Stu-
You're right. Thanks for catching that (re: jump squats with a % of body weight rather than a % of max). I think I must have just had a brain fart there….I meant 33% bodyweight. I have had athletes do speed squats (for 5-8 second time intervals with loads ranging from 30-70% body weight where they see how many full squats they can do in the given time period); but I have only very rarely used a % of max for jump squats for the very reasons you gave.

Also, the main reason an athlete can jump higher with DB jump squat as compared to the BB jump squat is the fact that there is essentially no moment arm when the resistance is held at the side (DB). As a result, all the athlete is feeling is the actual mass of the DB. In the case of the BB, the length of the bar on either side of the shoulders effectively makes the bar feel heavier. This is one of the main reasons why it is more difficult to lift equivalent amounts of weight with bumper plates (they are much thicker and thus the mass is distributed further away from axis of rotation) as compared to metal plates.

The question know is lifting general or specific? Will all of the qualities be developed from the sprinting itself or will prescription weight training clear up track issues? Or dose specific weight work speed up the learning process in some way with more exposure to specific qualities?

mike - 18 May 2003 10:43 PM

Stu-
You're right. Thanks for catching that (re: jump squats with a % of body weight rather than a % of max). I think I must have just had a brain fart there….I meant 33% bodyweight. I have had athletes do speed squats (for 5-8 second time intervals with loads ranging from 30-70% body weight where they see how many full squats they can do in the given time period); but I have only very rarely used a % of max for jump squats for the very reasons you gave.

Also, the main reason an athlete can jump higher with DB jump squat as compared to the BB jump squat is the fact that there is essentially no moment arm when the resistance is held at the side (DB). As a result, all the athlete is feeling is the actual mass of the DB. In the case of the BB, the length of the bar on either side of the shoulders effectively makes the bar feel heavier. This is one of the main reasons why it is more difficult to lift equivalent amounts of weight with bumper plates (they are much thicker and thus the mass is distributed further away from axis of rotation) as compared to metal plates.

hey mike do u always use % of bodyweight, i agree bc i see programs out there that call for 15-30% of 1rm squat max- thats alot i think.

This was/is a good thread. I'm glad it was brought back up to the top. UT I use % bwt as well with my athletes.
I would like to know if anyone uses drop squats or REA squats as inno sports calls it? And the pro's and cons of using them vs. jump squats or oly lifts?

for those people who may not know about drop squats, this is from kelly b site:

reactive squat- In this variation the focus is just as much on the negative eccentric contraction as it is on the "jump". Hold the weight tight against your shoulders and drop quickly from top to bottom. Focus on accelerating during the negative (down) phase so that you build up a lot of mechanical tension during the eccentric to concentric switch that occurs at the bottom. Your hips will get fairly low, somewhere around parallel. When getting started, think of finding the point where you get stretch reflexes from as many muscle groups as possible (glutes, hamstrings, quads, calves, etc). Get low enough to accomplish this. After you relax and free fall you then quickly gain full tension to stabilize the force of the load at the bottom.

This will develop explosive power in the entire lower body musculature and teach you to really turn on the power. If all is done correctly you should feel your body want to rebound to the top after the initation of force absorption at the bottom. You should feel your body respond with a reflexive "bounce" at the bottom. It can be beneficial to just focus on the negative part with lighter loads until you get the hang of the movement. Once you do, simply carry the reflex out of the bottom all the way to the top and jump. Reset yourself for each repetition. The loading on this variation will be between 30-60% of max squat depending on the goals and needs of the athlete. The rep range will fall between 3-10 per set.

QUIKAZHELL - 26 November 2006 09:32 AM

This was/is a good thread. I'm glad it was brought back up to the top. UT I use % bwt as well with my athletes.
I would like to know if anyone uses drop squats or REA squats as inno sports calls it? And the pro's and cons of using them vs. jump squats or oly lifts?

hey quik what ranges do u normally use 15-50% etc?