Is it normal for a person to have an ok start if they have a high vertical. When I had a 40+ my blocks were awful. I didn’t feel any explosion whatsoever. But now my start is much better, but I lost almost a 1’ of my vert since I don’t play b-ball as much anymore. I’ve heard stories of Bailey having a 50+ vertical:borg:, but his start was nothin to brag about. Even if his mechanics weren’t the best, shouldn’t he have been able to come out with the pack. Or was his mechanics that bad, that he couldn’t utilize his power. Is that all it is? Will a person with a high vert, cancel it out with bad start mechanics?
50 inch verticle? where did u hear that. i dunno about that one.
Don’t vertical-oriented plyometrics develop top speed more? Wouldn’t a vertical leap be a vertical plyometric?
Absolutely right prophet.
Why do vertical plyos develop top speed more?
Interesting subject. I have an athlete who does 82cm standing vertical yet his best 60m is only 7.39. Onbviously he needs to work on his technique.
Similarly, I know another runner who has run second in the Stawell Gift who does a standing vertical of 95 cm yet can barely break 11.00 seconds electronic.
Having heard that Bailey suppodly does 50 inches, am interested to know what other top sprinter have done for a standing long or standing vertical.
For charlie francis, did Ben johnson ever do a standing vertical or standing long test. I have heard that he has done 3.50m standign long.
Further, do you seen any relevance between such tests, power improvements or runing tests, or should runnign tests be the sole indicator for tests as recommended by some physiology books as a better measurement of power.
After all, standing single jumps probably place a greater emphasis on quad strength which may merely be more relevant to acceleration whereas glutes and hamstrings are more relevant to top speed.
Max velocity requires alot of vertical force production. You have to keep raising a given body weight in less and less time.
Charlie explains it better on the old forum. Check under hip height in the archives.
Does a 40+ vertical translate into an explosive start?
NO!!!
I don’t know which test is exaggerated more vertical jumps or 40y times-they are probably equally stretched.
I think a good box squat would meen a good start
The start of a race would indicate that someone has good “starting”-strength. A good deadlift would indicate this (and in more advanced athletes a good power clean would be even better). Starting strength is typically represented without the stretch-reflex.
i doubt it, but i’d like to hear the theory behind this other than “strong hips.” i like speedkills reply.
Q-does a 40+ VJ translate to an explosive start?
first of all donovan bailey may have had a great VJ,that we honestly don’t know but one thing i do know is that he had great pr’s for 50/55 and 60m sprints.you order to have his pr’s for such distances you need an explosive start in which he had.his outdoor races were identical to carl lewis’ runs which was to accelerate smoothly.his WR run was very much identical to lewis’ wr run in 91.
what exactly does the VJ prove? proves how much force you can generate off the ground from a static position by you as a whole.
what makes a fast starter? personally i have found that people with fast and i mean fast starts always had a very noticable cns.i remember charlie pointing this out as a guideline in the CFTS and i agree totally.you will also notice that such people are always edgy,fidgity and have out-bursts’ within their personality.
VJ are good guidelines if watching progression in a training period but other than that it dictates damn all.
50 inches?! The best i can do is 36 inches (5’8" tall) for standing VJ. Around 42 inches when I dunked basketball. Last time i got tested for 40 yard dash, i ran 4.6 with 2 blown hammies. Most painful experience ever…
Because at the bottom of the box squat you should have released your leg muscles, espicially your hips… this is similar to starting a sprint
What protocol are you guys using for the Vertical?
My vertical (counter-movement to full squat with hand swung up)as a Masters athlete (43yrs) is only around 27inches(67cms) with 100m at 11.7. IMHO some of the the of the figures quoted some a trifle high! My SLJ at 2.85m is better tho’.
For me personally, if my VHJ increases I run the first 30m quicker, in fact the same as 11.2/11.3 guys; however i don’t accelerate as long and therefore don’t reach the same top speed - this could be due to technique, trying to hard, bad mechanics/relaxation and just being an old git!
Increasing VHJ’s and SLJ’s can show that the weight training is being productive, but can only really be used as a personal indicator - not necessarily as a comparison against other athletes where there is a looser correlation.
Yeah, the 50 inches sounds like a huge exageration. So do some of the claims some of the posters…
I don’t exagerate! 
I tested myself the other day against the wall and i did 30 inches while bumping into the wall. I barely do any sprinting or jumping these days so that’s pretty good but still far off from my personal best from a long time ago! I was just testing this HS senior soccer kid that i’m helping to get in shape and didn’t even clear 20 inches! Ouch. Looks like I have a lot of work to do…
LT, CSCS
Why don’t you measure his height and then see what part of his hand/arm he can get to touch a basketball rim (or lowered basketball rim if need be)? I don’t think you could really get anything too accurate by having him jumping and touching a wall.
His school gym has 9 ft hoop (maybe less) and he could barely touch it wheresa I could easily dunk the ball with 2 hands. He probably can’t do it standing VJ. He’s only 5’6" . His school doesn’t really have anything for me to use other than the wall VJ measurement in the basketball gym. It was just a spur of moment when we walked by and saw it. We were joking around till I jumped that made him and others speechless. I’m only 5’8" tall. I was a freshman in HS when i was be able to touch the 10 ft rim (5’6" at that time so i didnt grow much after that). I guess pure genetic freak for a white boy.