[quote author="Matt Gardner" date="1260238135"]…I took the lead of a wise coach and have used them with lighter loads and in the context of the above that’s where they usually fit best for me in my programs…
I understand what you’re saying, but what does ‘fit best for me in my programs…’ really mean? Are you talking convenience (you do them on a light day, or before sprints, etc.) or because you feel that you get a better result from the lighter weight? What is this based on? While I’m not questioning your particular use of jump squats, I am in fact interested in knowing how to best convert improvements in strength to power, and how to make improvements in RFD regardless of progress in strength. Horizontal plyos like bounds and multiple hops? Vertical plyos like box jumps, depth jumps and altitude drops? Olympic lifts? Light or heavy? Jump squats? Light or heavy? Or should we use as many means as are availalbe to us? I consider these important questions and appreciate both member experiences as well as scientific data that’s presented. You’re right that they have to be considered in the context of a complete training plan, but to me this is all the more reason to be as effecient and effective as possible.[/quote]
First I’m speaking primarily and generally in the context of sprint based athletes (sprinters, jumpers, football, push athletes in bobsleigh, etc..)
Most of my programs include the elements I listed so I generally (there are no rules only tools) use jump squats sparingly (a short two to at most three week cycle) and at lightish loads. I’m not saying this is best for everyone, but this is my experience with what works in my programs with the athletes I’ve work with. They are generally the last plyo pre oly if that althete olympic lifts and we’re in a standard sprint, plyo/multithrow, oly, static setup (sometimes I will use multithrow as a reset pre oly). When possible I try to make my lifting very prescriptive to the individual athletes abilities and needs. This becomes more and more important with athlete advancement, sports medicine limitations, and program limitations (limited sprinting etc..)
Light loads are specific to the individuals abilities and the joint angles and actions I want, but I’ve had guys who squat (careful when considering percents as you may squat in a different manner that those you’re getting information from) over double bodyweight using loads of around 15% of squat max via DBs. If you add bodyweight into equation and took percent off of that you’re looking at closer to 10%
When athletes travel or holidays present challenges where olys aren’t feasible I’ve used heavier jump squats (ala Dan Pfaff) as a bridging stimulus and loads here for the well developed athlete are usually around 50% of BW.