Increase Vertical Leap - Muscle Balance

In my searching of the internet, I have seen many attempts to identify the percentage of force generated in a jump that comes from different muscle groups. People conclude to train the muscles that contribute the most to jumping. Often times the quadriceps and calves are labeled as the most important. Regardless of the accuracy of these findings, I want to say that we can pretty much toss them out the window.

It is important to train every muscle group, because the human body requires balance. The muscle spindle and the golgi tendon organ are two mechanisms that the body uses to protect muscles, tendons, and joints from too high force or too fast motion. (more info on those mechanisms is in my free vertical jump training report) Basically, antagonist muscles always hold each other in check. For example, the quadriceps muscle cannot extend the knee so powerfully that the hamstring muscle cannot control the motion to prevent damage to the knee joint or the hamstring muscle-tendon complex.

You can have all the quad strength in the world, but you won't be able to utilize it in a high speed movement like a jump unless your hamstrings are both strong and flexible enough to control forceful knee extension. In the same way, hip flexors must be able to control powerful hip extension; many people neglect hip flexors in their workouts. Also, dorsiflexors of the ankle must be able to control strong plantar flexion. Few people spend time developing dorsiflexion strength. The imbalance between dorsiflexion and plantar flexion is what causes shin splints.

So go ahead and try to figure out what muscle contributes what percentage of the force in jumping; it's a nice little tidbit of information. But bottom line, you need to be strong everywhere to maximize your jumping ability.

By Daniel Back
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