I know Mark Henry could dunk a basketball.
He was very heavy, but not exceptionally tall (good luck finding an Olympic lifter who is).
His back squat max. was 1010, or something like that, I think (I either read that or he told me the one time I met him).
That’s the extent of my experience with Olympic lifters and VJ, but it definitely made an impression on me.
i have seen top coaches that tested vertical jumps saying that oly lifters have the highest verticals when they tested athletes…the strongest athletes will perform best at static jumps imo…shot putters and oly lifters usually are the best at VJ SVJ…
In “The Training of the Weightlifter”, 2nd edition, by R.A. Roman, he mentions that yurik vardanian had a vertical jump of 65cm (26") with a barbell equal to 50% body weight on his back!!!
God only knows what he could jump unloaded when you take into account that he also didn’t have the use of his arms for this.
Due to the dynamic characteristics of the lifts I would estimate that weightlifters would win the vertical jump competition across many different sporting disciplines.
I don’t have the data in front of me; however, I know that Vardanian had a gigantic vertical jump with countermovement.
A lifter I trained a few years ago was visiting the OTC and saw Shane Hamman dunk a basketball.
Also, not having the data in front of me, I know that Alexeyev ran a very impressive 100m considering his mass.
Forgive me not having the numbers on any of this.
Regarding numbers I do have: here’s some of Bondarchuk’s findings relative to sprinters an throwers:
100m sprinters in the 10.00-10.20 range
SLJ- 3.10 - 3.30m
Shot Throwers
SLJ- 3.40 - 3.60m
VJ- 95-100cm
Disc Throwers
SLJ- 3.50-3.690m
VJ- 95-105cm
Jav Throwers
SLJ- 3.50-3.60m
VJ- 95-100cm
Hammer Throwers
SLJ- 3.30-3.50
VJ- 95-100cm
All thrower results were taken from throwers he described as ‘high level’ in his book.
For sure throwers are better than sprinters on average in the SLJ and the WR is, 3.77m (12ft 4in) held by a SPer. I have no stats on sprinters for VJ but wouldn’t expect them to be as good there either.
interesting…since all the throwers have impressive static jumps do you think the added mass improves or helps this jumps…Jonathan Edwards was very strong in the squat and powerclean he probably had better relative strength than the throwing athletes 2xbw powerclean 3xbw squat yet his best SLJ was 3.14m…i doubt this throwers are powercleaning 2xbw yet they jump further.
Stephen francis on SLJ…
“Also, the testing we do tells us the progress. If they can jump mover 2.90m for SLJ then they are doing well. I don’t have anyone over 3m at MVP. For females it’s about 2.50m”
so asafa isint over 3m…seems like SLJ correlates with max strength and not speed.
Correct. Elastic response is the key, not a single burst. Same goes for Jonathan Edwards. most sprint coaches who have used jumps tests have used a 5 bound total distance test or similar.
Something I’ve had to clarify to many an audience that has been mislead by one of the most highly ‘acclaimed’ NFL combine ‘gurus’ in the business who claims the most impressive performers in the SLJ and VJ will be the fastest in the 40yd.
Wrong, wrong, wrong.
the most impressive in the SLJ and VJ, among those in the same positions ,might possibly be fastes to 40y but probably not. If they are, it’s just coincidence, not any sort of pre-condition.
I think people overlook the height factor involved in the SLJ which could help explain why throwers (aside from there strength/power) have large SLJ. Taller athletes are at an advantage in in SLJ
Furthermore, although it is not correct to say that an athlete needs ‘x’ distance in the SLJ or VJ in order to run a 40 in 4.4, I do believe younger athletes will most likely see an increase in speed when SLJ or VJ is improved, whereas the higher level athlete might not.
What does the frequency have to be for elastic response to be important?
Does it have to be up near the 5/second of sprinters (I think Ben Johnson averaged 5.02 in Rome, but I could be way off), or would the 30-45/minute of rowers be in play, too?
At least if you have a great VJ in football, you can jump high to catch the ball
Unless you just ran 50 yards and have no elastic response, I imagine.
I believe i saw a study at some point that explored the relation between VJ and success in the NFL, specifically at the linebacker position, and it appeared that there was a fairly proportional relationship to VJ height and success. As far as how success was judged, i think it was based on length of years played and tackles, but im not completely sure.
There would be plenty of opportunities for a good high jump during a game (spread out between all the players) without a run, perhaps just a step or two. At least if you can jump that high, you could have the chance to catch it if the opportunity presents itself.
I agree with whats been said about speed, max strength elastic response etc.
But who says its always about speed when it comes to say, football, basketball etc. SLJ and VJ etc have other roles to play other than speed.
Mind you, it would make for an explosive block clearance
The important distinction to be made is that the single attempt SLJ and VJ are special strength based abilities that do not require an impressive elastic/reactive ability while the sprint, even one as short as the 40yd, demands heavily upon the elastic/reactive ability.
Additionally, because the jumps are more special strength oriented they are much easier to develop, by comparison, and less dependent upon certain genetic material that is absolutely necessary to become very fast.
There was a recent “informal and un-official” jump off at the USOTC in Colorado Springs, between the resident women VB players and the resident women OL. They did both a CMJ and an approach jump. One of the OL scored the highest CMJ and a VB had the highest approach jump.
The team averages were about the same.
TNT
I hate to quote myself, but could someone throw me a bone here, please?
the rowers would be in play, just not to as high a degree as 5strides per sec.
typically, one can jump higher on a vert jump test with a walk in jump than a standing jump - so even relatively slow, its still matters