Balanced strength requires not just lifting heavy weights, but of all different types of intensities at a variety of speeds.
Unloaded jump training is fantastic at achieving this and we utilize them frequently in our programming.
We’ll do jumps from 2 legs and from one.
Hops that will be forward and hops that will be backward.
Seated jumps and standing jumps.
Jumps into space and jumps onto a box.
Jumping up, jumping to the side, and jumping with rotation.
Jumps from a stand still, jumps with a loaded element, and reactive jumps that start with a clap.
Exercises like jumps are huge at helping protect you from catastrophic injuries, like falls, slips, as they help create a body capable or reacting and stabilizing quickly.
Jumps are great at improving neural drive. By focusing on moving as quickly as possible, your brain learns how to coordinate more muscles to fire more explosively.
If you play pick up games of football, soccer, or meet a friend for a game of tennis, jump training with a plyometric element (think of a jump immediately after landing from one jump like successive hops, depth jumps, double contact jumps, speedsters, etc) teaches your body how to change direction quickly.
Finally, jumps mimic a sense of play and exploration that adults need to recapture. Learning new ways to move and move quickly will give you a body that can solve a variety of novel movement problems and situations and will help you keep up with your kids and eventually your grandkids!