Name: Playbook - TrickStrong RX - JumpStrong
Uploaded: 2023-11-29T19:22:50.753Z
Duration: 75 min
Description: JumpStrong

Parker

Gabe

Ethan

It went great! Already want to do it again

Yahav Ori

Nick

Welcome to JumpStrong - our newest lower body plyometric workout. Let us know what you think and we may make it a full program in the future. 

This workout focuses on reactive strength.

Reactive strength is a measure of how well you can absorb and explode in your takeoffs and landings. In other words, it's a measure of your ground contact time, or how long you took to absorb the force of your landing and use it to take off. Reactive strength is needed in setups and combos, yet we often see only single jumps or leaps (box jumps) be used as plyometric training. 

The theory is that the lower the ground contact time, the better the next jump. This is because the energy was transferred quickly. Think of a spring: a tight coil will provide a better bounce than a loose one. Reactive strength is about creating an efficient transfer of power. 

While there is a lot of use for a stiff jump with little ground time (i.e. blocking out of a setup), there is also use for absorption and single leg stability (i.e. shuriken cutter landing). 

JumpStrong also incorporates contrast training, which is an advanced training technique that combines the benefits of strength training and plyometric training in order to recruit more motor units (more muscle fibers) and enhance the effects of both exercise methods. This has been investigated in the literature and has been found to be an effective way to improve strength, power and athleticism🔥

Remember, tricking is also a plyometric activity. If you add days of plyo training, you should count it similar to a day of tricking. Following the Seasonal Model (in the START HERE Section), here is our recommendation:

Pre-Season: 1-2x/week

In-Season: 1-2x per month (maintenance)

Post-Season: 1x/week (or specific p/rehab)

Off-Season: 1-2x/week 


Let's get it 🦘

The reps are a guideline. The hallmark of a good warmup is that you feel prepared to move!

This mobility drill fits perfectly into a warmup as a line drill. You can also do this throughout the day to improve hamstring length and to reduce lower back tension. 

Lead with a straight leg and hinge from the hips while sitting your butt back. Arch your lower back when doing this. 

Another tip is to imagine that you are "scooping water" with your hands.

You should feel a stretch in your hamstring without feeling pain at the lower back, calf or feet.

Hamstring Walks

This mobility drill fits perfectly into a warmup as a line drill. You can also do this throughout the day to improve hip flexor and quad length.  

Grab your knee with the same side hand, and with core engagement, hinge forward. 

You should feel a stretch in the quad and hip flexors, without feeling compression at the lower back.

Dynamic Quad Pull

Piriformis walks are excellent for a dynamic warmup or mobility session. Support your ankle and knee joints as shown.

Piriformis Walks

Knee To Wall Taps are great for ankle mobility. They help us to create stability and control within our movement.

This is where flexibility and mobility differ. The former is just a position you can get to, while the latter is a movement you OWN. 

Notice the direction of the toes here. They are pointing forward, which encourages us to move through our ankle joint rather than our foot.

Shifting your weight to the front leg loads your foot and ankle more and enhances the benefits if you can tolerate it. If this is too much, you can start by shifting your weight more towards the back leg or by doing this same motion from a kneeling lunge position.

The wall gives us a goal to reach that can be measured over time and can guide us in going just far enough. We want to avoid letting the heel come up off of the ground.

Knee to Wall Taps

The standing clamshell is most effective with a looped band around both ankles (harder) or knees (easier).

Start on one leg with your knees slightly bent. 

The clamshell comes in when you spread your knees apart by raising one leg to the side. Notice how I am also externally rotating at the hip. My free knee faces outwards at the top of the rep. 

Drive this motion by squeezing your glutes together and maintaining that tension throughout the rep. Try not to let yourself arch in the lower back. Go to your available range of motion, which will improve over time. 

Once you have completed the clamshell, or hip opening movement, return with control to the original position.

Standing Clamshell

This drill is helpful in improving ankle joint mobility - especially in improving dorsiflexion ROM. 

The belt or band is placed at the ankle crease right at the top of your foot (not on your shin)! 

If your setup allows for it, try to have the band angle downwards by putting your foot on an elevated surface. If not, parallel to the floor will still have plenty of benefit.

The band helps mobilize the ankle joint by allowing your tibia (shin) to translate forward on your fixed talus (ankle bone). 

Notice the direction of the toes here. They are pointing forward, which encourages us to move through our ankle joint rather than our foot.

Shifting your weight to the front leg loads your foot and ankle more and enhances the benefits if you can tolerate it.

Be sure that your knee is tracking over your second toe and not going too far inwards or outwards. 

You should feel no pinching or pain during this!

Optional: Banded Ankle Mobilization

The goal of banded hip mobilizations is to improve joint mobility of the hip. 

In traditional stretching, although the hip is moving, the muscles are primarily targeted.

This drill is useful if: 

1)	there is pinch or block sensation (usually when you are in a squat or otherwise flexed and/or internally rotated hip position

2)	You are plateauing or unable to get more ROM no matter how much mobility work you do
3)	Pain relief

*If you have excessive hip mobility or instability, this exercise is not for you as it will likely make your issue worse. 

With banded hip mobilizations, we use the band to bring our hip into certain positions so the joint can be stretched. 

This banded child's pose drill helps improve hip flexion.

You should not go to the point where you feel your pinch or block sensation as we are running into a joint block. 

Sets, reps and frequency should be gradually increased as tolerated as you can get sore from these drills.

Optional: Banded Hip Mobilization - Child's Pose

Lower Body Warmup

This is an incredible exercise for developing power and agility in the lower extremity. The box further stresses the single leg and allows us to change the back foot angle freely. Placing your foot further back behind you will be more challenging for the calf and Achilles. 

Your goal should be to keep ground contact time to a minimum. Try quick flicks with your ankle while keeping the core tight. Training like the floor is "hot lava" will improve reactivity - or your speed and efficiency in plyometric movement.

Modifications: jump rope, single leg, lateral movements, patterns, jogging in place (ankle bounding)

Primer A: Box Ankle Bounding

Hops are amazing for building leg strength, stability and explosiveness. Perform both sides

The goal is to land centered over your foot with good landing mechanics. Absorb landing by compressing and springing through the hip, knee and ankle with core tension. 

With this single leg variation, it is even more important (and difficult) to maintain proper alignment. If you find yourself landing with poor form, reduce the side hop height or distance until you're in control.

This helps solidify good landing technique and deceleration ability. This is critical for improving performance and longevity.

Modifications: Double leg, less/more distance, less/more height

Primer B: Side Hops, Single Leg

Step one: Strength Movement
Use moderate resistance. Aim for 5-6 reps at 60%-80% of 1 Rep Max 

Step two: Plyometric (Power) movement 
-approx. 5-6 reps of either body weight or low load (less than 50% 1 Rep Max) performed at max speed

Rest 2-3 min between sets to fully recover and maximize power output.

Perform this superset for 2 rounds.

The goblet squat is an awesome lower body exercise used to improve strength and power. The goblet hold creates a more vertical position which emphasizes the quads. Goblet squats are a great exercise to improve your vertical leap. 

It is also helpful in mobility training, as the weight helps push us into more ankle dorsiflexion and opens our hips.

Goblet Squat - KB

Vertical Jumps are amazing for building leg strength, stability and explosiveness. The goal is to jump straight up as if reaching for a basketball hoop. Getting extension through your hips, knees & ankles (triple extension) as well as your arms (shoulder flexion) helps to maximize height and control. Land in an athletic position as shown with good landing mechanics: 

Land by bending at the hips, knees and ankles with core tensioned to absorb impact.

Stick landing for 3 seconds before standing. This solidifies good landing technique and deceleration ability. This is critical for improving performance and longevity.

Standing Vertical Jump

Superset A: Goblet Squat x5, Vertical Jump x5

This exercise is one of the best exercises for lower extremity and core stability. It trains the posterior chain, most notably the hamstrings and glutes in an extremely functional way. 
It's important to work on the posterior chain as we are often quad dominant. This balances the body and can help prevent hyperextension injuries at the knee.

If you are someone with tight hamstrings, this will help tremendously, as the body responds to lengthening under load well and will allow the hamstrings to move more freely over time. 

Form Tips:
- Hinge at hips while maintaining neutral spine
- squeeze fists to create total body tension
- ground yourself by "grabbing the floor" with your feet

If you don't have weights, do this bodyweight for a rep range that challenges you

Single Leg Deadlift - KB

For distance skiers, we are simply trying to cover as much lateral distance as possible in each rep while still maintaining form control. We want to rebound in each skier jump. Think "load and explode", using your arms, trunk and legs in sequence to push off of the ground effectively.

The skier and it’s variations are amazing for building single leg strength, stability, explosiveness and change of direction ability in a safer, controlled environment.

Skiers are a valuable exercise in preparing us to cut, pivot, take off and land in a 3 dimensional way as we often do in tricking and other athletics.

Modifications: shorter distance, less power

Distance Skiers

Superset B: SL Deadlift x5, Distance Skiers x5

This exercise challenges our single leg power and change of direction ability, which is huge in being able to handle the demands of sports such as tricking. By translating horizontal speed to vertical height, we mimic sport-specific activities like running and jumping or blocking from setups (tdr, round off).

1) Perform a single leg hop for distance. You can and should use your arms and swing leg to generate more force. As soon as you land on that same leg, immediately perform a single leg vertical jump with focus on going straight up (versus out or to the side). Remember, the floor is "hot lava".

3) Stick the landing for 2-3 seconds before rising on one leg.

Our goal here is a horizontal translation to a vertical jump, so try to keep your height low and long on the first jump, and then explode to a high single leg jump. Keep eyes, trunk, hip, knees and ankles ahead and stress good triple extension mechanics (hips, knees and ankles) to get the most out of this exercise.

Practice to even out imbalances between sides.

Single Leg Low-Highs

Depth Jumps are an advanced plyometric exercise that requires a lot of strength and stability to do safely. You need a box or sturdy surface (i.e. stairs) of about 6-18 inches to start. The goal is to step off and rebound from the ground as quickly as possible, thinking of the floor as “hot lava”. 

This drill trains our reactive balance, explosiveness, agility and adaptability. This is important in developing change of direction ability and in cleaning up our takeoff and landing mechanics.

Stick landing for 3 seconds before standing. This solidifies good landing technique and deceleration ability.

Depth Jumps

High Knee Jumps are an intermediate plyometric exercise that requires strength and coordination to do safely. The goal is to step off and rebound from the ground as quickly as possible, thinking of the floor as “hot lava”. 

This drill trains our reactive strength and power, which refers to our ability to convert the impact of our previous jump efficiently into following jump. This is important in developing change of direction ability and in cleaning up our takeoff and landing mechanics. Notice the role of the upper body in keeping us balanced and in rhythm. 

Modifications: Changing jump height, knee height, speed and reps.

High Knee Tuck Jumps

Alternating split jumps are excellent for improving leg strength, power and coordination. 

Alt. split jumps teach us how to properly land in a deep knee bend position, which is useful in improving capacity when landing from height or upon finishing a sequence of jumps (as in a combo). The single leg bias further addresses this goal.  Play with your weight distribution, using the front leg for power and back leg for balance. Use your upper body in sequence for rhythm, balance and power. 

Depth should be determined by your form. Go as low as possible with great form to improve strength and stability in your full ROM.

Alternating Split Jumps

End of workout is a great time for mobility as our muscles and joints are warm. If you have the time, do these mobility drills to supplement your workout.

The couch stretch is a great way to open up the front of your hips, really getting into your hip flexors, quads and even abdominal muscles. It’s called the couch stretch because we put our foot up on a surface (like a couch) to do this one. 

I actually prefer doing this one with a wall if you can handle it. If it’s too much knee bend for you, you can simply have your leg on a platform that isn’t as high. 

You also want to engage your core and tilt your pelvis so you are not arching at the lower back. 

You want to tighten the glutes on the side you are stretching. This adds a huge difference in relaxation from the hip flexor muscles due to neurological inhibition. 

To perform the contract-relax technique, tighten your glute and quad for a 5 sec hold. Imagine kicking your knee straight. 

When you relax, you should be able to get further into your stretch.

Couch Stretch - (5 sec contract/relax)

This is a great way to open up the hamstrings.

Reach for a stable surface (such as the ground, yoga blocks or chairs) so you can relax into the stretch. 
You also want to arch your lower back to maximize stretch on the hamstrings. 

You want to tighten the the quads on the side you are stretching. This adds a huge difference in relaxation from the hamstring muscles due to neurological inhibition. 

To perform the contract-relax technique, tighten your quad for a 5 sec hold. Imagine kicking your knee straight. 

When you relax, you should be able to get further into your stretch. Do cycles of contract-relax during each set.

Hamstring Stretching - Half Kneeling, Contract-Relax

The hip 9090 stretch is called this because of the 90 degree angles your hip will make. 

The hip is a ball and socket joint. This means that in order to train our mobility in an effective way, we will want to explore and be less linear with this stretch. 

The front hip is in external rotation. By keeping our lower back straight and leaning forward, we stretch the external rotators of the front hip and allow more opening. Try to find your restrictions and spend time with them, remembering to try slightly different angles. I like to spend at least one to two minutes on the front leg before working on the back leg.

You should not be feeling any pain in your lower back, hips or knees.

Hip 90/90 - Front Leg Stretch

The hip 9090 stretch is called this because of the 90 degree angles your hip will make. 
The hip is a ball and socket joint. This means that in order to train our mobility in an effective way, we will want to explore and be less linear with this stretch. 
You can improve internal rotation at the back hip by rotating towards It or by leaning backwards. We want to explore our restrictions in a 3-dimensional way, so I encourage you to rotate, move around, lift your arm overhead and play around with this. You should feel a deep stretch in your groin, but it should not feel sharp. You should not feel this in your knees either. 
By improving our hip internal rotation, we can really help with low back, knee pain and ankle pain as restrictions in hip mobility can often manifest as increased stress and pain with jumping, pivoting and landing.

Hip 90/90 - Back Leg Stretch

Frog stretch is great for opening up the hips in a supported position. 

I like performing a contract-relax if there is no pain associated. To do this, push your knees into the ground to contract your inner groin muscles (adductors). 

After a 5 sec hold, relax and try to go further into the stretch. Maintain a normal breath.

Frog Stretch

Calf stretching is useful in improving ankle dorsiflexion ROM if your restriction is coming from the gastrocnemius or soleus muscles. 

If you have a joint restriction, or pinching in front of ankle, I recommend you watch our banded ankle mobilization video to target joint restrictions.

For effective calf stretching, we need to target both muscles, the gastrocnemius and the soleus as either of them can be restricted.

They are both plantarflexors, but since the bigger gastrocnemius crosses the knee, that is the primary muscle you will be stretching with your knee straight.

The soleus is best stretched from a bent knee position.

Slant boards are really useful in stretching the calf as we can get more of our body weight over our foot. Lean into the wall for best results!

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