Most training systems and programming today revolves pretty heavily around the Central Nervous System and teaching it to become more powerful through various training methods. The best way to get better at any skill (sport is made up of skills: jumping, running, throwing, etc.) is to practice that skill and become proficient at it. That proficiency is primarily driven through the CNS. This task of proficiency sometimes takes many months or years to accomplish, depending on the complexity of the skill being learned. An example of this would be that the best way to get better at jumping is to practice jumping as high as possible with the correct technique, and then practice it a lot! It is the same way with sprinting, the best way to get better is to perfect the movement, and then practice hard.
Although it is easy to live only in the world that the CNS plays in athletic development, you can never forget the systems that support the development of human movement. I like to think of this as the “supporting army” of your training. I first heard this analogy in a DVD on therapeutic modalities for sprinters by Kebba Tolbert. In the DVD, Kebba talked about the primary training methods in building an athlete, and then the supporting ones, such as general strength training (bodyweight training/jump circuits/medicine ball/etc.). In his analogy, Kebba referred to the primary CNS training methods as the front line troops of a battle, those are the ones that, when it comes down to it, get the job done in winning a war. He then referred to all the people that supported those troops as the supporting army. The supporting army were those that manufactured and transported ammunition, cooked food, healed the wounded, etc. Although the troops are imminently the most important aspect of the war, they could never win without their supporting army. It is similar in athletics, the direct CNS work is the “showcase” training that we look the most at, but ones true potential will never be reached without a good amount of supporting work.
So what all does the supporting work entail? It may be helpful to discuss the systems/facets of the body that are at play when developing an athlete. These include:
- The central nervous system (CNS)
- Muscle tissue
- Tendons and connective tissue
- The endocine/hormonal system
- The cardiovascular system
- Body composition
Although some of these systems will provide significantly greater immediate gains than others regarding speed and power, you need all of them developed well to reach your highest levels of athleticism. When training speed power athletes, the “big” training methods would include maximal efforts in sprinting/jumping/etc, heavy strength training, plyometrics, and explosive medicine ball or shot throws. These work to train the maximal power output and coordination of the CNS, and also increase cross sectional area of muscle, while strengthening tendons and connective tissue. This are all, obviously important things in training,and the majority of results will be found within these exercises. Many, if not all, commercial jump programs are based entirely off of these exercises.
Supporting training methods would include general strength training, repetitive submaximal jumping, repetitive submaximal sprinting, mobility work, soft tissue work and circuit training. These training methods are very important for the development of the structural capacity of the body, as well as the health and well being of the body and it’s ability to work as one piece. Training the structure of the body is important, especially that of the tendons elasticity in conjunction with the muscle tissue. When it comes to improving elasticity, exercises need to be selected that have a repetitive element. For many athletes, playing team sports satisfies this element quite well. In a given basketball game, hundreds of repetitions of cutting, stopping, starting, and jumping are performed, all in unique motor patterns. These repetitions are important to the overall function of the body. Simply performing weights and plyos will not allow the full potential of the speed/power athlete, especially in elastic endeavors other than a standing vertical leap.
Two of my favorite exercises to assist in the elastic development of an athlete are rudiment hops and soft pit plyometrics, which are shown below. I feel that these are great exercises because 1) They train the stretch shortening cycle and associated muscular adaptations and 2) They help strengthen connective tissue of the hip, knees, and ankles, and increase elastic ability of the athlete.
As great as it is to be strong, to be a good athlete, you also need to be elastic. As a final parting note, I had tremendous success using pole vault pit plyometrics in the rehabilitation of a high jumper in preparing for the NCAA national indoor meet. In the second meet of the season, a high jumper of mine injured the arch of his foot on a hard surface, a meet in which he cleared 2.06m. After this meet, he could not jump for a whole month. During this time frame, the only jumping work we did was on a pole vault mat, and the majority of this work was repetitive single leg hops for about 15-20 seconds, and around 3-4Â sets of each exercise. We also focused on improving his strength in the weight room over the course of the month.
At the end of the month of no jumping, he took 3 jumps to win the conference meet at 2 meters, and then 2 weeks later, went to set the indoor school record in the high jump with 2.08 meters, a jump that also landed him a second place finish at the national meet! I feel that the soft pit plyos were an integral part of this as they helped to “support” the jumping motion by building specific work capacity and helping to preserve and even build elasticity. When we got back to the main parts of training by actually jumping, he made rapid and excellent progress int hat 3 week time period by going on to set the school record.
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