HMMR Podcast Episode 273: Jumping

Jumping is one of the cornerstones of athleticism and plays a central role in the athletic development for early every sport. On this week’s episode we look at introducing jump training to athletes, our progressions, how to make jump training sport-specific, and testing protocols.

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Notes and quotes

This episode is also brought to you by Swift Performance. Their EZE Jump Mat combines accuracy, usability, and durability. One of many Swift solutions to help improve training assessments.

• 0:00 – Introduction.
• 2:00 – Nick’s jumping progressions: “We train jumps by progressing from (1) easy jumps in place or moving, (2) jumping onto things, (3) jumping over things, and then (4) jumps combined with med ball throws.”
• 4:15 – Learning to jump and learning to land: “Learning to jump or land is just like learning any skill: you learn through variation, repetition, and then gradually increasing the challenge.”
• 8:00 – Training methods: using different planes of movement, warming up, combining movements, jump rope, and other variations.
• 12:00 – Managing load when jumping for throwers and larger athletes.
• 14:45 – Sandpit jumps and learning how different jumps train different things: “Jumping in general might build athleticism, but eventually you need to match the types of jump training to the demands of the sport.”
• 19:00 – Jumping and sport specificity: “The type of jump a hammer throw might need are different than what a sprinter needs. One demands short contact time, the other never leaves contact the ground.”
• 20:00 – Testing jumps and making tests more specific.
• 24:15 – Learning from comparing different jump performances.
• 27:45 – Reactive strength index.

To hear more on these topics, listen to the full episode above. Also be sure to subscribe to our podcast and review it on iTunes.

Further reading

• This episode is brought to you by HMMR Plus. Become a member for full access to our videos, articles, and podcast archives. This month’s site theme is jumping, so keep an eye out for more on the topic in the coming weeks. You can learn more about jumping and sprinting on our topic page.
• This episode is also brought to you by Swift Performance and their EZE Jump Mat can be found on their website.
• Jumping was also discussed on Episode 88 and GAINcast 155. HMMR Classroom Video Lesson 4 demonstrates Nick’s jumping circuits and progressions. James Marshall’s recent article also looks at how to explore jumping movements with young athletes.
• We referenced the work of Professor Warren Young several times in the episode. He is a frequent contributor to HMMR Media and guest on recent GAINcast 241. Of particular relevance here are his articles on reactive strength index, vertical jump assessment, and bounding.