Lebron James is an example of a highly explosive, highly reactive athlete. For one, he is a 1-foot jumper. 1-foot jumping uses more reactive, or plyometric, ability and less strength than 2-foot.
On top of that though, Lebron is no ordinary 1-foot jumper. He can get an extremely high jump off a high speed approach, indicating that he can store a lot of energy during the stretch-shortening cycle in the muscle-tendon complex. And he can do it at lightning speed. He can generate so much force in a small fraction of a second that he barely has to slow down to propel his body 40+ inches in the air.
This ability to maintain horizontal speed through his takeoff is what allows Lebron to dunk from so far away from the hoop. Let's say Lebron is moving toward the basket at a high speed on an open fast break. When he plants his foot to jump, his body is moving fast, so his foot can only stay there for a very short time. In that short time he has to generate enough force to launch high into the air.
A less explosive, less reactive person would have to slow down to allow the foot to be planted longer, giving more time for force production. Slowing down would mean sacrificing horizontal distance on the jump.
Watch this video of Lebron's fast break dunk. Lebron free throw dunk Note how fast his takeoff is. His plant leg just attacks the ground. It also looks pretty effortless, that's because much of the force in a fast stretch-shortening cycle comes from the recoil of the tendons, which is involuntary. You can see an obvious difference between Lebron and a typical athlete, or even Lebron James is an incredibly gifted athlete.By Daniel Back
PressSearch.org
0 comments:
Post a Comment