Build Vertical
Jump… WITHOUT THE IRON!
By Mark Sias
Here’s a new method to build functional strength & jumping power
fast! You won’t need any expensive fancy pieces of fad
equipment to make leaps and bounds in your physique, power
output (vertical jump & sprint speed), and strength levels. It
seems most training equipment that comes around lately is aimed
at fleecing your wallet rather that producing real results. I
understand most young athletes don’t have access to weights but
strength training is a must.
While I fully realize that impressive gains can be made with
plyometrics alone, sooner or later
you will get tapped out because you can’t produce anymore power
that your capable of absorbing
because of lack of strength. Let me use my friend Vince Carter
for an example: In High school he had a 36” vertical jump with
no resistance training at all, only
plyometrics. Not bad! But after going to UNC -- and
building a new strength base to develop more power -- he added
another ½ foot to his leap!
So what can you do? I answer you with… Isometrics!
Up until now isometrics have been dismissed because of a
simple flaw; they only build strength in the range of motion
that they are held in.
But in the problem lies the solution!
Multi angled contractions. More specifically, about 3 per
muscle group. The contractions only need to be held for 10
seconds maximally at each angle. So what this means
is you can get a biceps blast in only
30 seconds of exercise, 2 days a week! Beat that
Bowflex! The workouts will be
quick, and very effective. I challenge you to 1 month of this
workout and see what progress you have made. I see a lot of
amateur programs posted on the web and my problem is this: you
need to improve your strength-to-bodyweight ratio, so please
quit fooling around with lightweight, ankle weight, and high rep
non-sense that isn’t going to give you what you really want!
Before we go any further let me make a couple of quick
points, as some of my readers will be skeptical. Not too many
years ago, a study was done with several elite level male
gymnasts. The researchers had each gymnast, all of whom have
never set foot in a weight room or so much as lifted a plate hit
the bench press for a maximum. What they found out was
astonishing! Every athlete was able to put up 315 lbs. easily
for several reps. How was that possible with no prior weight
training?
The answer is 2-fold. As an elite coach I can tell you that
there are only 3 basic training methods employed in our
gymnasiums:
1)
In early development: basic
callisthenics.
2)
In advanced levels: plyometrics,
even for the upper-body and
3)
Yes, a lot of isometric training!
You see isometrics at a peak contractile effort also
cause you to innervate of much of the
deeper motor units in muscles you can’t get doing any Nancy-boy
light routines! This is the second reason for the impressive
power. My athletes are using more of their available
muscles, only due to this nature of training!
O.K., having said that lets get on with the program. All you
are going to need is a 6ft long piece of
rope, I’ll show you how to make it work for you. In my
illustrations I am using an old karate belt, because it is thick
and very durable. The rope will act as your resistance &
immovable object. Some common isometrics like holding a
position, or pause in a rep, are not what we are after. Those
are iso’s
, and they work but what we are talking about doing now
are maximum force applied for 10 seconds to an immovable
object! This is a far superior method that yields much faster
overall results. For each exercise you will need to do only 1
set ideally in 3 positions:
1)
Is at the very beginning angle of the movement like the
bottom of the squat & is usually where you are weakest.
2)
Will be in the middle of the movement.
3)
Close to the peak of the range of motion.
This makes sure that the muscles in that exercise are fully
worked and the strength will directly
carry-over to a specific motion. Follow so far?
Our rope is made stationary by either standing on it for
some drills or tying it to something stationary in a few cases.
I realize that some examples below are upper-body that you don’t
need to do, just read them for example purposes so you
an apply them to lower-body
isometrics.
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Iso-Biceps
Curl
Standing upright, wrap the rope around your left or
right hand (which ever you choose to do first) and
stand on the remaining cord, thus making it
stationary. The 1st position the arm is only
slightly bent like 10 degrees from full extension.
Squeeze & pull with all your might for just ten
seconds, then relax. Rest for a couple seconds,
then move your arm into the next position at half
way, about 90 degrees and perform the same! 3rd |
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Flex ‘em, baby!
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and
finally, hold is at the top, almost peak flexion
point. That’s it, now you can repeat this process
for the opposite arm. Just simply step on the rope
at the desired length you wish to provide resistance
at. This is the basic concept for every
exercise, I will go
through more examples, so you get the idea. But
with a little imagination you can see how the entire
body can be covered in minutes! |
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Iso-Tricep
Press
For this one, start with the arm bent at full range
behind your back with rope in hand, and try to
straighten the cord. Same as before, you next want
to open the arm to a half way angle and repeat the
contraction. Next a final hold at near peak
extension of the arm overhead, then switch arms. |
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Iso-Delt
Holds
The shoulders have more complex movements so here
are a few examples to give them a complete workout.
Exercise #1
is for the posterior deltoid… Hold the rope
in both hands in front of your chest, start at
shoulder width apart. This is similar to the “chest
expander” movement, as you will try forcing arms
away from each other. As with before, widen the
angle by moving your arms further apart for another
contraction, then a 3rd position. |
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Exercise #2 will target the anterior deltoid…
one arm at a time. Hold the rope in hand at a level
just above waist, stand on the end & pull! 2nd
position at chest height, for this hold you are
trying to raise the arm up overhead from in front of
the body. Finally the arm will be positioned above
the head, closer to being fully opened.
Exercise #3
will follow all the same procedure but from the side
of the body for a lateral deltoid lift. |
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Iso-Chest
Pulls
Like the delts, the
pecs can be developed
for various movements. Here are a couple of
examples.
The 1st is similar to a cable cross movement, you
need to tie 1 end of the rope to a stationary object
like a door handle. Grabbing the cord again, pull
inward towards your center just like a cable fly.
Change the angles after 10 seconds of isometrics a
couple more times. Always make sure at least 1 of
your positions of hold, is at a weak angle of a
certain lift for you. This example can also be
altered to have an upward or downward focus to it as
well.
Another chest movement with a stationary rope is the
iso-pullover. Do this
by lying supine on the floor or bench and do an
isometric pull downward across the torso. |
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Iso-Abs
From that same position (or on a Swiss ball), with
the rope tied to an immovable object and the other
ends in both hands, perform a sit-up hold at 3
angles.
In addition, you can also target the
obliques by later lying
recumbent left then right and simply doing a
sideways sit-up hold. |
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Iso-Deadlift
Stand on the cord with both feet, wrap the hands
with the ends, start at parallel with your spine
erect and try standing!
This is sure to jack up your squat
max!
Most athletes are weak at the bottom. Hold this for
10 sec. then onto the next 2 angles. This one is
the Pinnacle exercises for vertical leap
improvement! |
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Iso-Kicks
If you are into martial arts you’ll love these
three. They are sure to improve foot speed and kick
technique! To target your Glutes, the Hip flexors,
Illiopsoas, Hip Abductors and Hamstrings you can do
these kick-holds on the tied-down rope or you can
tie one end to a leg/foot while standing on the
rope.
The kicks should be done front, back, and lateral to
target the bulk of the muscles in the legs! |
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I
think by now you are getting an idea of the
virtually limitless number of exercises that can be
done in this method. Let me mention a couple more
and you can go from there:
Iso-Shrug
Hold
(for traps)
Iso-Bent
Over Row
(for lats)
Iso-Single
Leg Curl
(for biceps femoris)
Iso-Dorsi-Flexion
(for tibialis anterior) |
Iso-Single Leg Curl |
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Iso-Stiff-Legged
Deadlift
(for spinal erectors) -- A jumpers must!
Iso-“Squeezing
the bundle of rope”
(for the forearms) & even
Iso-Wrist Curls!
Iso-Calf
Raise
(for plantar flexion) -- Another jumpers must! |
There you have it! Fast & easy muscles on the go! A whole-body
strength program in ten minutes and it works like the most
expensive of devises.
As usual, I have a plethora of isometric tricks I haven’t
yet let out of the bag that work even better yet... but that’s
too much reading for now. Check with my site in the near
future. I may release a downloadable e-book with more exercises
and detailed photos, all relatively inexpensive!
(Ed note: Mark has a great download available right now.
Check
it out here).
As always, feel free to contact me with any exercise &
physiology questions you may have!
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About the Author…
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Mark Sias
is a 27 year-old Florida native who currently
resides near Flint, Michigan. Mark is the owner of
Bionic Plyometrics, a
site devoted to new developments in power and speed
training. Mark is a former gymnast and black belt in
Tae Kwon Do with 17 years of practice. He also
professionally instructed USAG and AAU competitive
gymnasts up to level 9 for 6 years, with numerous
credentials. This is where he was first able to
apply plyometric
concepts & stabilization development.
It's not all theory with Mark,
he obviously practices what he preaches. At 6'1”
tall and 235lbs, he has a whopping 37” standing
vertical jump and has been seen performing feats
like straddle jumping grown adults into slam dunks,
jamming things like medicine balls, or jumping over
the roof
of a car. Stay tuned, as new research
is always being conducted and better products on the
way! |
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If you have any questions you would like to ask Mr.
Sias about vertical
jump, nutrition, plyometric
training or working in person with a group of
athletes, he can be contacted on: Sales -at-
BionicPlyometrics.com
BREAKING NEWS -->
Check out Mark’s hot new download
here! |
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