Bounding is a fundamental exercise when it comes to doing several athletic things well:
- Loading and unloading the posterior chain powerfully
- Overloading the vertical component of ground contact in sprinting and training the foot and fascial system
- Simulating the forward leg and swing-kick action of single leg jumping (although there are differences)
- Working the swing-leg retraction portion of sprinting (albeit in a more delayed manner than sprinting)
- Accessing the whole foot in athletic movement
When it comes to bounding, there are many types we can do as well, much of which I’ve taken from Russian manuals, such as:
- Regular “left-right” bounding
- “Left-left-right-right” pattern bounding
- “Left-left-left-right-right-right” pattern bounding
- “Mini-Bounding” emphasizing contact speed over bound distance
- “Variable Bounding” (link or video below) emphasizing motor-variability in each step
- Bound-Jog-Bound-Jog rhythms
- Serpentine Bounding
- Box-Bounding (bounding from box to ground to box… more of a triple jump drill)
- Straight and flexed leg bounding
- Single leg bounding
- Single leg bounding over hurdles
- And the list goes on
Variable Bounding…. Awesome!
https://www.instagram.com/p/BqrQs8VAVVR/
Single Leg Bounding Over Hurdles….. Awesome!
When it comes to anything athletic that we do, and any plyometric, it’s important to know that any means taken too far becomes specific unto itself at some point.
In other words, there are subtle differences between plyometric exercises and actually jumping. When plyometric exercises are over-emphasized for too long, relative to one’s actual jump performance, actual jump performance can suffer, probably not by much, but there can be a detraction occuring.
After all, the guys you see doing ridiculous dunks on YouTube aren’t also doing 56” serial hurdle hops (although they probably could if they wanted to), but rather are just practicing various dunks, playing basketball, and occasionally doing gymnastics. They also might try something like kicking the rim every now and then. A lot of the “plyometrics” that they are doing are built into the game itself, such as landing on one leg primarily when landing after a dunk.
The bottom line is that plyometrics are a helpful bridge in terms of building one’s general elastic systems, training the feet and fascial system, creating diversity in jumping, and also bridging biomechanical carryover where appropriate (we’ll be focusing on that last point for the rest of this article.
Biomechanical carryover can be different in many cases, however. When I was in my mid-20’s I was a plyometric machine doing things like a depth jump dropping from a 24” box to jumping over a 56” hurdle, or doing a single leg depth jump over 48” dropping from 18”. Despite all this, my actual single leg jumping as noted by high jump, triple jump, and dunking, was better when I was 21, or even 18 on some great days.
The single leg depth jump in this video seems pretty impressive, but in many ways it is specific unto itself and limited in transfer past a certain point. My dunking and high jumping had been much better at other parts of my life other than when this video was shot.
Another interesting example is a Spanish high jumper well-known for his plyometric prowess.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BhHWGqmga3V/
Although incredible at various plyometric jumps, this athlete’s high jump is behind many athletes who are at a lower level of plyometric ability (2.26m vs. world elites over 2.35m). Although I’m not 100% sure of all the reasons, I’ve talked with Adarian Barr about it and we can see his feet and Achilles are not serving him properly when it comes to his actual high jump (you can see a lot of dorsiflexion range as well in that depth jump landing above).
This all being said, various forms of plyometrics tend to have better transfer to actual jumping than others. I’ve found things like double contact hops to a big jump seem to transfer a little better than one single depth jump due to the waveform (quick to big) versus a more direct vertical output.
Integrated plyometrics such as the double-hop to big jump are very athletic in nature
In bounding, I’ve found one particular execution of the method that seems to help transfer to single leg jumping in many cases, especially in the case of those athletes who are more of the “force jumper” category, but need help with their timing. If the swing leg comes through faster than the stance leg absorbs and deflects the ground, then upward lift will not be maximized.
You can see this in action at 3:28 time in the video below, when an athlete who is incredible jumping off of two legs (seriously incredible) really struggles to jump off of one. The problem is not strength in any manner, just timing, as his swing leg gets through too fast.
To help timing in these situations, “scrape bounding” or “heel drag bounding” helps create the rhythm and feel of more time on the ground.
https://www.instagram.com/p/ByvV2ShBWfx/
Although it can be performed for distance, as shown in the video, keeping the hips generally lower to the ground can help to reinforce how the last two steps play out in jumping. With the toe drag aspect, the timing is everything. Saying “toe drag is bad” or “toe drag is good”, in something like a block start is not as important as looking at when the toe drag happened. Drag happens earlier in a jump than in a block start, as I’ve learned from Adarian.
I’ve found that this type of bounding, combined with bounds with a more outwards, rather than backwards, arm action, can boost one’s running jump off one leg by 3-4” in a single session.
It can also be done in the manner where one bounds like this for 10-15 meters, then takes 3-4 steps and jumps as high as possible to an overhead target. This type of bounding is generally more applicable towards basketball and volleyball players, but it has uses for track and field as well.
Conclusion
In conclusion, plyometrics are incredibly helpful to help athletes achieve their best potential in jumping, but are also specific unto themselves. In this regards, it is helpful to understand the biomechanical similarities (and dis-similarities) between plyometrics and actual sport jumps, and know the ins and out’s of programming.
If you want to learn more on the next revolution of jump and sprint biomechanics, as well as foot training and a whole lot more, check out a ReWire clinic with Adarian Barr.
About Joel Smith
Joel Smith, MS, CSCS is a NCAA Division I Strength Coach working in the PAC12 conference. He has been a track and field jumper and javelin thrower, track coach, strength coach, personal trainer, researcher, writer and lecturer in his 12 years in the professional field. His degrees in exercise science have been earned from Cedarville University in 2006 (BA) and Wisconsin LaCrosse (MS) in 2008. Prior to California, Joel was a track coach, strength coach and lecturer at Wilmington College of Ohio. During Joel’s coaching tenure at Wilmington, he guided 8 athletes to NCAA All-American performances including a national champion in the women’s 55m dash. In 2011, Joel started Just Fly Sports with Jake Clark in an effort to bring relevant training information to the everyday coach and athlete. Aside from the NSCA, Joel is certified through USA Track and Field and his hope is to bridge the gap between understandable theory and current coaching practices.
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