I ran across this article on an approach to improving vertical jump. Most of it targets calf development, so I don’t think this is much good for sprinting, but I’d be interested in hearing opinions about the exercises in here, the frequency and volume. Looks like a high number of contacts (volume) that tax the CNS. Are calf muscles that important in VJ? Any great value in HJ or horizontal jumps? Other than the step ups, I don’t see much in here that would be very good for sprinters, or HJ/LJ/TJ for that matter.
I’ve done it well half of it. It’s okay but it’s really taxing on the knees and their better excersise/programs to do out their.
That program sucks. Find a good sprint coach and have at it. If you’re doing the same program 10,000 other kids in the country are doing, how are you going to stand out? It sure won’t be because of your jumping ability.
Don’t know about Air Alert 3, but I did Air Alert 2 a few years back when I was playing basketball. They promised 8-14 inches increase in vertical in 12 weeks. I might have gotten about 1 inch. The program sucks man, its really hard to do (from what I remember its pretty difficult to keep your form because there are so many reps). And 5 days in a row is way too much (does anyone do any one exercise 5 days in a row?). And I found that it worked my calves and quads too much, but didn’t do anything for my gluts or hams, this resulted in me having cramps in the middle of the night. So I wouldn’t recommend AA2, but I read a bit of that AA3 thing and at least they’ve cut it down to 3 days (but I still wouldn’t advise y’all to do it). I agree with the above, there are heaps of better exercises to do to increase vertical, speed or whatever - namely plyometrics and weights.
just avoid those programs. No 1 program is made for 1 person. You have to find workouts that you find that help you and just stick to those. That workout dosent seem fit for everyone, and does not seem very smart to do, considering the injury risk
All good comments that confirm what I thought about it, but I was thinking some of the exercises – step ups and leap ups – are good plyo exercises that emphasize quads rather than calves. I mostly do bounding, skipping and depth jumps and some squat jumps, but thought the step ups might make sense.
I think the volumes in the program are too high. I like to keep my plyo work to around 50-60 contacts per session following speed work.
I think the alert associated with this Air Alert stuff is to avoid it.
Focus on extension, extension, extension. Forget about all that quad this and calf that. If anything you need to think about the hip extension of the glute and hamstring. Want to jump higher then practice jumping higher!!
it’s tragicomic…300 burnouts(small jumps) 4 sets of it…
air alert sucks. i remember trying a bit a few years ago, and it made my vertical leap worse.
i had to devise my own program to make up for my lost vertical.
and how is it supposed to work anyway?
i thought high repitition exercises trains endurance, not power.
air alert is horrible, there are so many things that are better, honestly jumping off the roof of your house a couple of times causes the equivilent amount of damage to your legs that air alert causes.