Thursday, April 03, 2008

Explosive Power


Explosive power matters. Being able to move big loads slowly is important, but typically only because training for peak strength leads to improvements in an athlete's ability to generate large amounts of force quickly.

We like strong be but we worship freakish displays of power. Coach Adrian is demonstrating this concept beautifully by jumping onto a 52 inch tower after squatting a heavy 5x5.

Crossfit develops peak explosive power very well. Adding some high jumping drills to your game will definitely help your hops.

Note that all of the jumps in these photos are accompanied by pretty extreme hip range of motion. Hmmm, turns out that that the flexibility stuff sort of helps to express that peak explosive power.

Note also the low bench behind the jumper. This bench effectively places the jumper in a good squat (hip crease below knee position). All of these jumps were performed without the benefit of a stretch shortening cycle (no pre-jumping, quick down-ups, running start). Jumping assessment from this dead start, low squat position is a pretty fair expression of an athlete's ability to generate pure explosive force.

There is a good rumor that the Bulgarians choose their junior Olympic Lifting athletes
by assessing their standing broad jump. In this case Coach Adrian has cleared 8 45 lb plates on top of a 25 inch box. Wonder if he'd be selected for the team?


Coach K


Coach K hits 7 plates after back squatting 405.

12 comments:

Nick said...

That is awesome. That's pretty much all I can say about that.

Adam said...

That looks unreal. I wish you had a couple more mid-air pictures.

freddy c. said...

You guys are freaky strong...
FYI: I only give the "freaky strong" shout out to a few select individuals...

Nick said...

You know, after I got back home from box jumps this morning I remembered that just last night I read an article sorta talking about this. Basically an assistant college football coach had tracked various stats and scores for all of his athletes over 30 years. The one thing that was consistent with all of the athletes who started games was that they all had the highest vertical jumps. The question then becomes, do you train the vertical jump or does the athlete just have those gifts naturally. Also, in this coach's case, they never specifically trained a vertical.

Anonymous said...

Sick!

Anonymous said...

I would need a 50 yard running start and a trampoline to get that.

Anonymous said...

rediculously awesome

Anonymous said...

I'd like to see you both leap frog over my head in a full standing position. circus anyone? -molly

The Navigator said...

Nick, I think I read that same article: http://www.mikesgym.org/articles/index.php?show=article§ionID=1&articleID=67

Shawn S. Sullivan said...

Green with envy. That said, FREAKS.

Unknown said...

Any questions as to how kelly cleans about 300 and adrian 275 have been answered. furthermore, think about this... Shane hammond ex us heavyweight oly lifter was a 5'10" 350 man with a 44in vertical. thats more than most all nba or nfl players, and oh yeah he back sqauts 1000 lbs too. i think im gonna go do some jumps.

Anonymous said...

Jumping is definitely being added to my "Feats of Strength" goals for next Festivus.