Springbak Athletic Springsoles: Jump Higher and Run Faster

Springbak Springsoles

We have been hearing about Springbak Springsoles ever since we started Vertical Jump Explosion and have finally gotten around to writting about them.  We will be the first to admit that we were very skeptical when we first heard about these, as we should have.  A simple shoe insole that guarantees to increase your vertical jump and speed, while reducing fatigue and eliminating shin splits.  That is a bold statement, and the product had a lot to live up to in order to walk the talk it was talking.  And it did.  After checking out the Springbak Springsoles and talking to happy customer after happy customer, we became thoroughly impressed with these athletic shoe insoles.  Every claim appear to be backed up from what we saw, apparently there is something "magic" in these insoles.

Well save you a lot of the technical mumbo jumbo, but the two main scientific factors in the Springbak Springsoles that lead to these amazing results are vibration frequency and a recoil process.  Increased vibration frequency causes a minimum of a ten percent increase in the electric current flow within the users body.  The second factor, known as the recoil process, is described as a small but significant energy absorbtion that eliminates shin splints and greatly reduces fatigue in athletes.  With all these products positive characteristics, it is borderline insane for an athlete not to try these out for the mere price of twenty five dollars.

Springbak springsoles have been widely used by professional, college, and olympic athletes since their inception, and have produced amazing results for the athletes who wear them.  Case studies have shown them to add an average of 2 inches of vertical jump and shave off atleast 0.1 seconds in an athletes 40 yard dash.  On top of this, they reduce fatigue and your chance of getting shin splints, a great feature in itself.  Springbak Springsoles are a revolutionary and one of a kind product that has athletes everywhere in awe of their awesome results.  Don't miss out on this amazing product today, you will not be upset you that you made the decision to invest in a pair.

To visit the Springbak Springsoles website click here!

Exercises to Increase Vertical Jump

Important Exercises to Increase Vertical Jump

Although there are many exercises to increase vertical jump, we would like to take just a minute to talk about a few, and why they can be extra beneficial to the development of your vertical leap. Don't be confused though, just because these are some very good exercises to increase vertical jump doesn't mean that every good program out there will use them, nor does it mean that you HAVE to incorporate them into your training to reach your goals. There are many, many ways to reach the end results you desire, and more often then not it is going to take you some trial and error in order to find the best combination of programs and exercises that work for you and your body to increase vertical leap effectively.

Squats and Power Cleans- Squats and power cleans are some of the most famous power lifts ever, and over time can develop a great source of power within you. There are many power lifters who stand under six feet tall, are very muscular and "stocky" looking, yet can blast upwards from a standing start and easily dunk a basketball with two hands. This tremendous amount of upward force can be attributed to them squat and power clean enormous amounts of weight, hence building up massive stores of power within their legs. Although you shouldn't be trying to get your squat/power clean that high if you plan to still be an athlete in a sport such as basketball or volleyball or even football, it can be and is an important excercise in a successful training regimine aimed at increasing vertical leap.

Calf Raises/Hops- The calves, although not the most important source of power within the jumping motion, are very important. The calves are your last push off from the ground, and if properly trained and conditioned, can add a significant boost to your vertical leap. Calf raises, either weighted or unweighted, consist you standing on a ledge such as stairs or a chair, with your heel hanging off. You then push up, using your calf muscle, until you have reached the furthest point of extension that your ankle will allow. Your "push upwards" should be powerful, yet controlled. You should never push off with so much force that your feet leave the surface of the ledge you are standing on. If this is the case you need to add more weight to you workout. Calf "Hops" are when you bounce up and down off of the ground in short quick hops. You should never bend your knees or hips during this exercise, only your ankle joint should be active. Your aim should be to spend as little time on the ground as possible, so when your feet touch back down, immeadiately burst back upwards.

Plyometrics- We have discussed the importance of plyometric exercise earlier on this site, if you would like to read that post click here. Basically, plyometric exercise takes the strength you build up within your legs from weight lifting and turns it into explosive power that has the ability to greatly increase your vertical jump. When thinking about a program or specific exercises to increase vertical jump, plyometrics should for no reason be excluded. Some good plyometric exercises, although not nearly all of them, include: box jumps, lateral box jumps, depth jumps, bounding, calf hops, and maximum height squat jumps.

Upper Body- Upper body, as we have stated before, is often the most overlooked aspect of training vertical leap. Two important muscles to train are the back in general, and the shoulders. The back creates an upward thrust when you quickly throw your body from a bent over position to vertical, and the shoulders fuel the upward motion of the armswing, which is an important part of obtaining maximum vertical leap.

So when looking at possible excercises to increase vertical jump within a program or when trying to construct a program of your own, strongly consider these elements. They are all very important and could be the difference between you only adding a few inches, or reaching the vertical jump heights of your dreams.

If you liked this article, make sure to check out our other articles, as well our ratings of the top vertical jump programs, including our Jump Manual Review, which currently holds the number one rating on our site!

Vertical Jump: Jump!

Increase Jumping Ability by...JUMPING!

We are going to keep this article short but sweet, while at the same time giving away a great tip.  Want to know one of the easiest and most effective ways to increase vertical jump? JUMP!  Take a look at almost any exercise program designed to increase jumping ability and you will notice that there is a quite a bit of jumping involved.  That is because vertical jumping is one of the more explosive exercises that the human body can perform, and it is a perfect way for you to train to jump higher.  You can do all of the lifts, exercises, and workouts in the world, but the simple fact is that if you do not practice your vertical jumping and practice often, your vertical leap will never reach its full potential. 

There are a variety of ways you can practice this, here is a short list to think about:

• Practice dunking a basketball, even if you cannot do it TRY!  The jumping will be great training
• Find something you can almost jump and touch but can't quite (one or two inches away).  Practice and work hard until you can!
• Play a sport like basketball that involves jumping for fun.  Jump as high as you can when the situation allows, such as rebounding

There are many ways you can practice jumping, the most simple being just get out there and do it.  So if you are ever bored and want to up that vertical jump remember this saying...."To increase vertical jump, JUMP!"

Looking for a vertical jumping program to really take your hops to the next level?  Check out our reviews of The Jump Manual and Vertfreak101!

Vertical Jump: Building Strength Foundation

Building a Strength Foundation for Vertical Jumping

When attempting to increase vertical jump, it is important to be fully aware of how much of a strength foundation you have. A good strength foundation for optimum vertical jumping consists of strong legs as a whole, as well as your back and core muscles. Without solid strength here, it is unlikely that doing all the plyometrics in the world will help you gain more than a couple of inches. That is because plyometric exercises increase how quickly your leg muscles react and move. They do not, however, increase strength. No matter how fast you muscles can react, if they cannot exert a powerful enough force, you will never reach you vertical jumps maximum potential.

Now don't get us wrong, this does not mean we suggest not starting a vertical jump program right away, because believe us that is the best way to start training your vertical leap. It DOES mean that if you would consider yourself as having a weaker foundation of strength, you should spend as much effort on increasing strength as you do working on your vertical explosiveness. You may be asking, how do I increase strength in these areas? Well there is an easy and clear cut answer to this. Squats and deadlifts!!

Squats and deadlifts are to fundamental strength training exercises that will work on and build up all of the necessary gains in strength you will need in order to fully realize your vertical jumps full potential. They are both multi-joint strength training lifts in which, if done properly, you can move a lot of weight, and make a lot of strength gains quite quickly. However, one key part of performing these two lifts is that you execute them with precise form. You do NOT want to cheat in these lifts. Not only will good form prevent injury, it will also allow you to fully maximize the lift and see the most gains. There is a reason that it is easier to move more weight while cheating form, it is because you are not stimulating all of the correct muscles, and more often than not are not using a full range of motion in your lift. Don't worry about how much you are lifting, because that will go up quickly and easily, worry about whether or not you are using correct form. This is the key to success with these two lifts, that and hard work and determination to reach your goals.

So if you consider yourself to be lacking in a strength foundation, mainly in the legs, back and core, then you may want to consider adding squats and deadlifts to your normal routine. By working on these two lifts, and building up a strong strength base, you will be able to fully reap the benefits of you explosiveness training that you are doing. Remember that vertical explosiveness is just one part of the equation, and that you need the necessary strength and power base in order to exert high levels of force, and fly vertically like you never thought possible.

Tracking Your Vertical Jump Progress

Tracking the Progress of Your Vertical Jump

One thing that we highly suggest to everybody looking to increase their vertical jump is to accurately track progress. Especially important is to measure where your vertical leap is at prior to starting a vertical jump program, such as Jump Manual or Vertical Mastery. This way, you will know where you began, and after the program is finished, you can assess the program and the results you gained from it. Remember that not all programs are perfect for each and every person, so some trial and error can be a positive thing.

There are countless ways to measure your vertical leap, which can be as easy and measuring your reach, putting a piece of tape on the tip of your finger and jumping up and touching the wall, and subtracting the two heights. These home-made ways will give you a good ball park idea of where your vertical jump is at, but sometimes it is good to find out exactly what your vertical jump measures, especially if you are planning on training intensely to increase it over the next couple of months. To measure you vertical jump with full accuracy it may be best for you to pick up one of several devices that are designed to specifically measure the distance of you vertical leap. The price range on these can be anywhere from $20-350, depending on what type of device you are looking for. The higher end vertical jump measurement devices that cost more are the ones you will commonly see at high school/college gyms and in football combines sometimes shown on television.

We will be putting up some vertical jump measurement devices soon, just to give you an idea of what is out there and how much it would cost. Setting goals, working hard, and then visually seeing the results is one of the most gratifying things that comes along with training vertical jump. It is exciting after two months of hard work to see that you have gained over six inches of vertical leap, which is why we highly recommend that you measure you beginning and end results while training vertical leap. It has proven to be an amazing motivational tool for all types of athletes, and it can do the same for you too.

(While measuring results is important, we thought we would add this side note- measuring your vertical leap too frequently is not a good thing. While training your vertical jump you should only measure your results about once a month, if not even less frequently. If you are constantlymeasuring your vertical jump multiple times a week, the results will be less noticeable, and you will be wasting precious energy that could be going into your workouts. This can potentially slow your progress and also lead to discouragement, so we advise against measuring progress more than twice a month)

Choosing a Vertical Jump Program: What will work best for you!

How to Choose a Vertical Jump Program!

Here at Vertical Jump Explosion we spend a lot of time going over, reading through, researching, and reviewing all of the top notch vertical jump programs.  There are many of them out there, and we try to review all of the best ones, in order to help our readers gain better insight to which ones might work best for them.  There are many factors that can go into choosing a vertical jump program, but we would like to talk about just a few, in hopes that we can help you choose a program more effectively.

Budget:

Your budget is one of the most important factors when it comes to choosing which vertical jump program will be best for you.  Some people can afford to spend a lot here, and others are restricted to a much smaller amount.  While we recommend investing in a good jump program, it is not always realistic for a person to buy the most expensive option out there.

Rankings:

We have put a lot of time into creating our vertical jump rankings, and think that they are very accurate and represent how the various vertical jump programs rank.  Use these as a guide to your decision, but not as a sole determining factor.  There are other things to consider.

Strength/Explosiveness needs:

Some vertical jump programs focus on training strength while others are more based on increasing explosiveness.  Others yet manage to do both, or have options for each.  We have talked about this in the past, but if you are lacking strength you are limiting how much explosiveness you can obtain, and conversely, if you are very strong but only train for a strength, odds are you aren't reaching your vertical potential because of a lack of explosiveness.

Availability:

Some programs can require up to six days a week and atleast an hour of your time each of those days.  Other programs require much less and are more flexible to a busy persons schedule.  Know your availability before you run off and purchase a vertical jump program that you won't be able to full commit to.