As I commonly mention, one of the best exercises, if not the best to develop vertical jump and reactive sprint power is the depth jump.
Today, I’m going to talk about one of the most powerful compliments to the depth jump, the reactive box hop. The reactive, or speed box hop has gone by many names through the course of sports performance training, but in many cases, it is not properly performed, which completely destroys it’s effectiveness.
When correctly performed, it can vastly improve an athletes force transfer patterning in vertical jump movements, and also help create vertical stiffness in sprint ability, and do so in a more specific manner than depth jumping.
So how is the movement correctly performed? The only thing that really makes the speed box hop worth doing is when it is done with minimal rise of the hips.
Generally, when someone looks at an athlete jumping up and down onto a box, they see a strong jump up, then a casual hop down, then a strong jump back up again. The actual overload acquired when performing box jumps in this manner is minimal.
To maximize the benefits of this exercise, an athlete should actually not put so much emphasis on the jump up, as the jump back down and the reactive force in the transition to getting the feet on the box again. To make this better (you improve what you measure), this lift can be timed, with the athlete trying to get the maximal number of repetitions in a particular time frame. In this manner, rate of force development in context of quick muscle contraction/relaxation is being strongly trained.
Below is a video showing what I mean by all this.
The speed box hop is one of the best movements available for pairing with various strength exercises, or as part of a French Contrast series. One of my favorite series of contrast involves the speed box hop as one of the plyometric exercises, on an 18” box if it is the first exercise, or a 8-12” box if it is the second.
Athletes who can perform the speed box hop quickly and efficiently on an 18 inch box will generally possess great vertical force qualities in sprinting, and reactive jumping ability.
If you enjoy this series, and want to see how to put these exercises together in context of a complete program, check out our books and training groups, particularly “Vertical Ignition” and “Legendary Athleticism”. Be a part of the revolutionary training systems that are getting dozens of athletes to lifetime bests in speed, jumping and explosive power!
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