With so many aspects to train to become the most complete athlete possible, how do you choose where to allocate your time? The athlete and coach may choose to design a program to increase the athlete’s overall abilities, including jumping, speed, agility, or fine-tune a myriad of more sport-specific movements.

However, it routinely seems that increasing the vertical jump is one of the hottest topics of interest, if not the most discussed, for athletes and performance enhancement specialists. Of course, many of the best athletes in most sports possess extraordinary athleticism, including the ability to jump. However, upon closer examination from an engineering and physiology standpoint, one’s upright may not be the most trainable and time efficient aspect of developing the well-rounded athlete.

More specifically, the mechanical and physiological determinants of how high one jumps are based on one’s center of mass (COM) velocity just before takeoff. The maximum theoretically achievable speed of one’s COM can be based on several factors, both from an engineering and physiology perspective. These factors include, but are not limited to:

1. Anthropometry (ie, limb segment lengths)
2. Percentage of fast twitch fibers (genetically determined, although it has been hypothesized that some intermediate fibers may become fast twitch fibers)
3. Abilities of passive elements (ie, ligaments, tendons, etc.) to store energy and properties (eg, ligament length, stiffness, etc.)
4. Muscle moments (ie, point along the limb where the distal ligaments attach relative to the axis of rotation)
5. Pennation angles of muscle fibers (eg, spindle muscles whose fibers align more with ligaments are oriented toward higher velocities; bipenniform muscles are more force oriented)

Given the fact that most of these properties are largely untrainable (ie, cannot be altered or to a very small degree), how should the athlete increase his vertical jump, and to what degree? Fast twitch fibers are always of interest to the performance enhancement community. There is still debate about the extent to which fibers can alter their shrink properties. If any fibers have the potential to convert, they are expected to be the intermediate fibers (Type IIx).

The properties of muscle contraction are largely determined by the type of myosin heavy chain that the fiber possesses. Similarly, some trainable qualities of the athlete’s muscles that the laws of physics theoretically show can potentially improve the upright include:

1. Cross-sectional area (CSA) of the muscle (i.e. more fibers potentially recruited for greater force)
2. Recruitment of motor units (ie more fibers activated by the nervous system to increase force)
3. Technique (ie, timing all segments in the kinetic chain to maximize overall velocity of one’s center of mass for maximum vertical jump)

The trainability of the musculoskeletal system to increase maximal strength is of central interest for the vertical jump. Those who are weaker in relation to their body weight will naturally benefit more by becoming stronger. This is due to the fact that an increase in force should result in an increase in acceleration for a given mass, by definition of force. When one performs a jump, the athlete tries to achieve the highest speed possible within a given range of motion. If the athlete’s force output is relatively low and consequently has low acceleration, the athlete may not reach the maximum speed at which their muscles are capable of contracting within a given range of motion at takeoff.

The best way to visualize the benefits of increasing maximum strength to jump higher is through a car that has a very high top speed but little power. If the car accelerates from rest and its velocity is measured after a short distance (for example, 100 yards), the car may be well below the top speed it is ultimately capable of. Increasing your power should increase your acceleration, allowing you to reach a higher speed within a given distance (for example, 100 yards), even though your top speed has not increased. The distance constraint of 100 yards represents the range of motion constraint in which the athlete will perform their jump.

How does range of motion represent a constraint? Of course, increasing the range of motion may seem logical, but physiological phenomena such as the stretch-reflex dictate the optimal range of motion for a muscle to produce maximum power. From an engineering point of view, muscles and ligaments have viscoelastic properties (ie, they store and dissipate energy when stretched).

There is an optimal length that muscles and ligaments can stretch to take advantage of their elastic properties (ie energy storage) before viscous properties (ie energy dissipation) take over. The stored energy comes from stretching the muscle and ligament, which is then also used to drive contraction, similar to a spring being broken.

Likewise, limb synchronization is an area that can be improved. Theoretically, the athlete should want to take advantage of the physical fact that moving objects tend to stay in motion. If all the segments are at their maximum velocities at the same moment, their maximum velocities and momentum will add up to a net total impulse from the body’s center of mass, which ultimately determines the vertical jump. Of course, the point in time that is most relevant to achieving synchronous top speed is takeoff.

Given these trainable qualities, different types of athletes will benefit to varying degrees by improving each quality. Specifically, the types of athletes who will benefit most from improving each quality include:
1. Weaker athletes with low maximal strength and low muscle mass: focus on increasing CSA, increase motor unit recruitment:

2. Athletes with high muscle mass but low maximal strength – focus on increasing motor unit recruitment
3. Athletes with sufficient muscle mass and maximal strength, but poor synchronization and unsynchronized extension of limb segments: Focus on improving technique.

These simple facts regarding trainable qualities may explain the large differences in observed improvements in vertical jump abilities of athletes with different training styles. Essentially, the types of training that can help improve each quality and are ultimately responsible for increasing one’s vertical include:

1. Increased muscle CSA: basic strength training (eg, squats, deadlifts, etc.)
2. Increased motor unit recruitment: basic strength training, plyometrics (eg, box jumps, depth jumps, etc.)
3. Technique: plyometrics, Olympic lifts (eg, power clean, snatch, etc.)

An interesting observation is that people who master Olympic lifts (eg clean and jerk) also tend to have phenomenal vertical jumps. So is it correct to conclude that the Olympic lifts are solely responsible for these individuals’ jumping abilities? The answer is up for debate. Given the fact that there is a strong positive correlation between Olympic lifting and vaulting, the cause and effect relationship is unclear. It’s plausible that those who are successful at Olympic lifting may simply be more competent jumpers from the start, naturally, given the close resemblance of the shovel phase during Olympic lifts to a vertical jump. Alternatively, the Olympic lifts may have helped these weightlifters master efficient jumping technique. Either way, these powerlifters are outstanding jumpers. However, it is crucial for the athletic performance specialist to keep the Olympic lifts in context, as they constitute a separate sport that requires a dedicated commitment to master.

This same type of analysis is applicable to virtually any movement, including linear velocity for sprinting. There are genetically predetermined elements as well as trainable qualities. The main point is to realize the degree of trainability of all these movements. Lessons to be learned and drawn from this engineering perspective and analysis are:

1. Not getting sucked in or brainwashed into trying to imitate another athlete with superior athletic traits: Many athletes who are glorified for their supreme athleticism possess genetic advantages that fall into one of the untrainable qualities discussed above for their observed feats.
2. What works for an athlete won’t necessarily work for you! – Every athlete has a unique set of strengths and weaknesses. Without proper assessment, an athlete may not focus and maximize her efforts to improve weaknesses and may not reach her athletic potential.
3. There is no guarantee how much YOU will increase your vertical, decrease your 40-yard dash, etc. – The important fact is that your improvement will be based on how you attack YOUR weaknesses. Relatively speaking, he should be able to reach his potential if his weaknesses are addressed according to trainable qualities.
4. Realize when you’ve maxed out one skill and focus on improving the next skill – Athletes often become obsessed with continually trying to improve one skill (for example, jumping) and sacrificing another skill. It’s important to realize when you’ve reached your genetic ceiling for improving a certain skill. Instead, spend less time improving that particular skill and just try to maintain it as part of a balanced performance-enhancing routine. Spend more time improving the skills that have the most room for improvement to become the most well-rounded athlete you can be in your sport.

In general, always stay on top of the myriad of features that can be improved for your sport. Focus on all the little aspects of being a complete player. Remember, if your sport isn’t athletics, don’t get hung up on raw physical abilities (eg jumping, running, etc.) and your measurements for these abilities. It is most likely a much finer skill that everyone else overlooks (eg, how quickly one rotates one’s hips during an attempt to play defense in basketball and pass an opponent, foot speed, etc.) that will allow you to separate yourself from the rest. competence. Otherwise, all the top athletes in track and field would automatically dominate all other sports as well. The beauty of athletic performance enhancement lies in the fact that there is always a new skill/trait to train that has been overlooked and undertrained to its fullest. You just have to be diligent enough to find out!