Weight Loss and Vertical Jump

Expert Discussion Advanced Sports Sciences
1

I believe someone posted a link or made reference to a standard high jumpers rule of thumb for weight loss. Couldn’t find it though.

Just wondering about any athletes or coaches’ personal experiences with the effect of certain amounts of weight loss on vertical jump.

I’m talking about athletes that are already at low but not extremely low bf levels. 10-13%. And also talking about cutting responsibly for the most part minimizing lbm losses.

The thought of cutting down from 200 to 180 and flying has more than once crossed my mind. But I would hate to find myself at 180 jumping 1.5 inches higher as it would be a complete backfire if the time could’ve been better used to increase my limit strength, etc.

-Erik

2

It depends on what is a normal bodyfat for you personally. Once you start dropping below that you’ll probably do more harm then good. Every single adaptation that comes with dieting is negative with regard to speed, power, or strength expression - with dieting endurance adaptations predominate. Testosterone levels decline, sympathetic nervous system activity declines, thyroid declines, leptin levels decline. All these things help determine things like the ability to express fast twitch characteristics. The fed state is a fast state the starved state is a slow state. So if you have to diet really hard or do a bunch of cardiovascular activity to get as lean as you think you need to be then forget it. The best athletes are lean, but they’re naturally lean. Theres a big difference.

3

Thanks for the reply, Kelly. Helpful as always.

I’d say I’m already at a naturally lean state around my normal bf.

  • Erik
4

Here is something I can’t understand, I Hav always had a low body fat and I hav never been able to get really big even though my diet was correct and I know for certain I was doing the correct weights! but this year I haven’t been able to go the gym and do the weight sessions because of money problems, so therefore I have lost quite I bit of muscle and I pound or two, and my power has gone through the roof(well for me anyway)
Can any one explain this?

5

Could be that fast twitch fibers increase in number when someone lays off exercise for a period of time? I believe I’ve heard that tossed out before. Maybe there’s some studies out there to prove it. Anyone else?

6

Here is something I can’t understand, I Hav always had a low body fat and I hav never been able to get really big even though my diet was correct and I know for certain I was doing the correct weights! but this year I haven’t been able to go the gym and do the weight sessions because of money problems, so therefore I have lost quite I bit of muscle and I pound or two, and my power has gone through the roof(well for me anyway)
Can any one explain this?

You are very sympathetic dominant which is the key to your performance and the main difference between natural weight loss and forced weight loss. With forced weight loss comes a decrease in SNS activity. Guys like you transfer strength into power very efficiently and also tend to overtrain easily. When you were weight training you were probably in a constant state of low grade fatigue so your fatigue was masking your fitness. Remove that extra fatigue and even though you’ve lost some muscle, your relative power and muscule recruitment more then make up for it.

7

Great observation Kelly.

8

Thanks kellyb, I have been told many times that I over train easily, can recomend any sources were I can get any infomation about this stuff and what is the best way for a person like me to gain strength and power?

9

Andy how have you quantified your power increases?

10

doing vertical jumps on electronic jump mats, doing counter jumps and static jumps.

11

Power performance can rise when CNS competition is reduced.

12

Thanks charlie. so can you recomend any books or website to get more info on this subject?

13

I’ll have some e-bok material soon but it’s been slow! Hopefully soon

14

Finally found the thread I was looking for - “long jumpers vs. high jumpers”

Someone basically said…

losing 1 lb bodyweight = +1 cm

Has anyone here worked with high jumpers and found this to apply?

Clearly most elite high jumpers try to minimize their weight so it seems likely that some coaches and jumpers found through practical experience that after a certain point extra strength gained through additional muscle mass gets to be detrimental.

-Erik

15

Also, this question is coming from someone who eats decently well but knows that if he really got his act together, he could lose 15 lbs easily by just eating clean 5-6x per day without cardio.

In addition, there is a shin splint problem that seems to have come with the last 15 or so lbs and his insistence on trying to jump out of the gym. Gone now, but don’t want it back.

Strangely, I know my back is carrying a lot of muscle mass proportional to even the rest of my body from years of loving deadlifts. And I don’t think its helping me get up to the rim any faster.

-Erik

P.S. We’re all looking forward to the new e-book material whenever you can get it out, Charlie!