Depth jumps almost have a mythical status in vertical jump training. On one hand they can be extremely effective at generating quick and impressive results in your jumping ability, and on the other hand, their incorrect application can very quickly lead to injury. So what do you do? For a start, you can read this article and find out what the is the best and most appropriate way to incorporate this great exercise into your training program.
WHAT IS A DEPTH JUMP
Depth jumps are an excellent exercise Bungee Jumping In Rishikesh Price to help improve reactive/eccentric strength. One of the great things about them is that often they provide immediate and noticeable gains in jump height. The down side is that these short term results often lead to them being abused as a training tool (see below).
Depth jumps are simply a jump that is performed after the athlete has dropped to the ground off a platform or box. The jump should be both immediate and rapid. As the goal of depth jumps is to improve an athlete’s reactive strength, the less bending of the knees and the less time the feet are in contact with the ground, the more effective it is.
One of the more commonly heard myths about this exercise is that you should land on your toes and that your heels should not touch the ground. The rationale for this is that your heels touching the ground increases contact time.
This myth is half true. Yes your heels touching the ground may increase contact time, but the landing and jumping can still be performed sufficiently fast so that they provide plenty of reactive stimulation. The other upside to a bit of heel contact is that it helps reduce the pressure on your joints by increasing the surface area over which forces can be dissipated.
Another quick point about performing depth jumps is that they are very hard on your CNS. In order to get the most out f them you should make sure you have plenty of rest between sets (2-3 minutes at least. The more reps you perform per set, the more rest you need between sets). You should also get plenty of rest between training sessions. Even with advanced athletes I would still only recommend their use up to twice per week.
SAFETY CONCERNS
Before I continue I wanted to address one of the biggest issues that coaches have with depth jumps – safety. Over the years the abuse of them in an athletes training program has lead to many reporting injuries from their use. Due to this there are a lot of coaches who feel that only advanced athletes should use them (often quoted is the need for a minimum of a 1.5x BW squat).
This however is something that to I do not entirely agree with. Why? I believe it has more to do with the volume and the drop height causing the injuries, not the exercise itself. After all you only have to look around the various athletic chat rooms to see that there are plenty of athletes will lots of strength and training experience who have still had problems from depth jumps.
Another way to look at it is that no one argues that squats are a great way to build strength in the legs. If you have never squatted before the chances are that you would be pretty bad at it. The squat is also a reasonably advanced exercise. It requires balance, core strength, decent range of motion etc as well as strength.
Does this mean that you wouldn’t have a beginner squat? No of course not. What it does mean however is that instead of loading up the bar with 2x your bodyweight you would pick a very light weight to start with and work up from there.
The same approach should be applied to depth jumps. They are a great way to develop reactive strength. Just because you are not great at them to begin with doesn’t mean you cannot do them, it just means you have to start nice and easy. In this case nice and easy means starting with a low box and with low number of jumps until you have found a height and volume that allows you to perform the movement quickly, correctly, and most important of all, safely.