What is the best way to train athletes to jump higher?
Plyometrics is a type of training commonly used to improve vertical jump. Muscles are composed of fast and slow twitch fibers. The higher the percentage of fast twitch fibers, the more explosive the muscle is. Athletes looking to increase explosiveness and vertical jump, focus on plyometric training to increase the percentage of fast twitch muscle fibers in key muscle groups. To be effective, plyometrics needs to be performed with high intensity efforts to recruit the fast twitch fibers that are crucial to improving the vertical jump.
Plyometric training programs have been found to increase vertical jump height in multiple studies. The length of these jump training programs range from 6 to 24 weeks, including pre‐pubertal, pubertal, and adult athletes. A recent meta analysis, found that to achieve improved jump heights training has been anywhere from one to five sessions per week or tallied as total training sessions from six to greater than 25 sessions. Despite the large variety of variables in these studies, improved vertical jump performance is a consistent outcome after plyometric training.
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