Please Scroll Down to See Forums Below
for CoolColJ and other jumpers
- Thread starter ZGzaZ
- Start date
CoolColJ said:
CCJ, for squats I'm currently doing a few warmup sets, then something like 5 reps with 135, 5 with 170-ish, 2x3 with 185, then 2x2 with 195 where 205 is my 1RM. Should I do the lighter speed squats before this, or on a separate day, or what?
also, would adding 6-8 sets of 3 fast reps partial standing deadlifts at 40-60% 1RM be beneficial?
coolcolj
New member
I just don't see how a knee flexion exercise like leg curls is gonna help you with any athletic move, because they all use hip extension function of the hamstrings. And in any case glute ham raises are far suprior to any leg curl machine
High jumping is all about elastic energy, you do run up, there is also a lot of technique involved.
When I talk about vertical jumping, I'm talking about raw epxlosive power type - Shane Hamman at 5'9" 360lbs standing under a ring, and jumping straight up and dunking a volleyball type, no bounces, not step. You think Leg curls gonna help ya here?
Squats sure will
I won't give routines out, because everyone is differnet, and training need to be periodised. Just take the key principals in mind and work from there.
I never said plyos weren't important, they're just not the only component needed. They poteniate your strength base, a person who can squat 2 twice his bodyweight ass to the floor will get much better results from depth jumps, because his ground contact time will be much lower. I know a guy who plays semi pro ball in Europe who gained 5 inches on vert from depth jumps, in 10 weeks, but he could already full squat 405lbs and deadlift 455 at 200lb bodyweight.
Well not too many blacks have big calves, in fact a long achilles tendon would give you much better elastic spring from plyos and the dip while jumping...I can count quite a few black sprinters who have awesome jumping ability, and have stick calves. Shorter muscles with longer tendons can contract faster and store more elastic energy. Just like a kanagroo
Hips are still the prime movers. try lock your knees and jump as high as you can using only your calves, no dip, doubt you get too high off the ground - maybe an inch at most
Don't train above 80% of your 1RM too often it will burn out the CNS. I would do a 70-75% only session every 3 weeks. In other words don't go above 170lbs too often. Your not doing enough volume of work either to get that squat to go up. You have to count the total reps your do and tonnage - repsxweight.
You want the tonnage to go up over a period of time, not necessarily in a linear fashion, but it will have to rise for strength to go up.
You could do the lighter squats on the same day, or different depending on how your split goes.
Try this squat setup - I designed this cycle for a football player who wanted to up his squat. I'm doing a variation of this at the moment.
every reps is lowered in a controlled fashion - about 2-3 secs and then accelerated up.
for week 1 - 24 total reps
4x3 60% 1RM - rest between 2-3mins
4x3 70% 1RM - rest between 3-5mins
for week 2 - 20 total reps
3x3 65% 1RM - rest between 2-3mins
3x3 70% 1RM - rest between 3-5mins
2x1 80% 1RM - rest 3-5mins
for week 3 - 17 total reps
3x3 50% 1RM - rest between 2-3mins
2x2 75% 1RM - rest between 3-5mins
2x2 85% 1RM - rest 3-5mins
for week 4 - 12 total reps
2x3 55% 1RM - rest between 2-3 mins
2x2 80% 1RM - rest between 3-5 mins
2x1 90% 1RM - rest 4-5 mins
Work up to a new Max out on week 5. Warmup with triples going up. then do one attempt under your old PR say 195lbs, then one just above and smoke it 210lbs for example, and then rest 5mins and then attempt with 5-10lbs more and so on.
Restart the cycle with your new max.
The deadlifts would help no doubt. They are done standing sort, bar dropped to knee level or just below and then exploded up onto your toes, you could shrug as well. Use weights around 25-40% of your 1RM, ie not too heavy.
another way is -
Weeks 1-4: Squat by percents, using 70%, 6-8 sets of 3 reps, and working up to a heavy triple every other workout (do this during week 2 and week 4)-aiming to bump up your 3rm PR each time you try this . . . rest between 2-6mins between sets
Start with 2mins, and go longer as you tire
. . . followed by 5 sets of 5 reps for weeks 5-8, working up from 70% to 85% of your 1rm over the course of your 5 worksets each time. In week 8, go for a 1RM PR then go back to the percent squating
One workout each week is devoted to jump squats, 3x6 and light explosive 40-60% 1RM squats 6-8x3. I would go from 40 to 60% over the course of the sets
Once you have the strength levels, then you can add plyos and depth jumps
Off course practise jumping weekly. I actually do a vertical jump 30 secs before each set of squats I do, helps me get into that explosive frame of mind and fires up the CNS - the squats following after are much more forceful.
High jumping is all about elastic energy, you do run up, there is also a lot of technique involved.
When I talk about vertical jumping, I'm talking about raw epxlosive power type - Shane Hamman at 5'9" 360lbs standing under a ring, and jumping straight up and dunking a volleyball type, no bounces, not step. You think Leg curls gonna help ya here?
Squats sure will
ZGzaZ said:
I won't give routines out, because everyone is differnet, and training need to be periodised. Just take the key principals in mind and work from there.
crew9 said:Imma have to agree with Citrus here in the fact that I think plyos play a huge role in jump and speed and what not. I also think you doubt the power of your calves in jumping.
I never said plyos weren't important, they're just not the only component needed. They poteniate your strength base, a person who can squat 2 twice his bodyweight ass to the floor will get much better results from depth jumps, because his ground contact time will be much lower. I know a guy who plays semi pro ball in Europe who gained 5 inches on vert from depth jumps, in 10 weeks, but he could already full squat 405lbs and deadlift 455 at 200lb bodyweight.
Well not too many blacks have big calves, in fact a long achilles tendon would give you much better elastic spring from plyos and the dip while jumping...I can count quite a few black sprinters who have awesome jumping ability, and have stick calves. Shorter muscles with longer tendons can contract faster and store more elastic energy. Just like a kanagroo
Hips are still the prime movers. try lock your knees and jump as high as you can using only your calves, no dip, doubt you get too high off the ground - maybe an inch at most
Tagio said:
Don't train above 80% of your 1RM too often it will burn out the CNS. I would do a 70-75% only session every 3 weeks. In other words don't go above 170lbs too often. Your not doing enough volume of work either to get that squat to go up. You have to count the total reps your do and tonnage - repsxweight.
You want the tonnage to go up over a period of time, not necessarily in a linear fashion, but it will have to rise for strength to go up.
You could do the lighter squats on the same day, or different depending on how your split goes.
Try this squat setup - I designed this cycle for a football player who wanted to up his squat. I'm doing a variation of this at the moment.
every reps is lowered in a controlled fashion - about 2-3 secs and then accelerated up.
for week 1 - 24 total reps
4x3 60% 1RM - rest between 2-3mins
4x3 70% 1RM - rest between 3-5mins
for week 2 - 20 total reps
3x3 65% 1RM - rest between 2-3mins
3x3 70% 1RM - rest between 3-5mins
2x1 80% 1RM - rest 3-5mins
for week 3 - 17 total reps
3x3 50% 1RM - rest between 2-3mins
2x2 75% 1RM - rest between 3-5mins
2x2 85% 1RM - rest 3-5mins
for week 4 - 12 total reps
2x3 55% 1RM - rest between 2-3 mins
2x2 80% 1RM - rest between 3-5 mins
2x1 90% 1RM - rest 4-5 mins
Work up to a new Max out on week 5. Warmup with triples going up. then do one attempt under your old PR say 195lbs, then one just above and smoke it 210lbs for example, and then rest 5mins and then attempt with 5-10lbs more and so on.
Restart the cycle with your new max.
The deadlifts would help no doubt. They are done standing sort, bar dropped to knee level or just below and then exploded up onto your toes, you could shrug as well. Use weights around 25-40% of your 1RM, ie not too heavy.
another way is -
Weeks 1-4: Squat by percents, using 70%, 6-8 sets of 3 reps, and working up to a heavy triple every other workout (do this during week 2 and week 4)-aiming to bump up your 3rm PR each time you try this . . . rest between 2-6mins between sets
Start with 2mins, and go longer as you tire
. . . followed by 5 sets of 5 reps for weeks 5-8, working up from 70% to 85% of your 1rm over the course of your 5 worksets each time. In week 8, go for a 1RM PR then go back to the percent squating
One workout each week is devoted to jump squats, 3x6 and light explosive 40-60% 1RM squats 6-8x3. I would go from 40 to 60% over the course of the sets
Once you have the strength levels, then you can add plyos and depth jumps
Off course practise jumping weekly. I actually do a vertical jump 30 secs before each set of squats I do, helps me get into that explosive frame of mind and fires up the CNS - the squats following after are much more forceful.
Last edited:
PolishHammer1977
New member
Nice posts guys.
To jump higher you have to start jumping. Forgetting objects you can touch now, look past them and pick new ones to touch. Kind of like planning goals.
Plyo's will help, hit squats first. Variations like Box, wide and close stance wil help.
BE consistant.
Depending on your body, you may not be able to put on weight and jump higher. You will have ti figure out all these things by trial and error.
To jump higher you have to start jumping. Forgetting objects you can touch now, look past them and pick new ones to touch. Kind of like planning goals.
Plyo's will help, hit squats first. Variations like Box, wide and close stance wil help.
BE consistant.
Depending on your body, you may not be able to put on weight and jump higher. You will have ti figure out all these things by trial and error.
PolishHammer1977
New member
bump
thanks for all the info CCJ . Assuming I follow the first program, should I only do squats once a week? or should I do a light speed day (with jump squats maybe) later in the week?
I feel like I recover really quickly from squats, especially low-rep sets, so I'd feel weird only doing them once a week.
. Assuming I follow the first program, should I only do squats once a week? or should I do a light speed day (with jump squats maybe) later in the week?I feel like I recover really quickly from squats, especially low-rep sets, so I'd feel weird only doing them once a week.
Legion Kreinak2
New member
Just have to say... CCJ has a pretty impressive collection of links, articles, and his own knowledge base.
He is a great man.
Not to say that Citruscide doesn't seem to know his stuff as well.
He is a great man.
Not to say that Citruscide doesn't seem to know his stuff as well.
coolcolj
New member
Tagio said:thanks for all the info CCJ
I feel like I recover really quickly from squats, especially low-rep sets, so I'd feel weird only doing them once a week.
Squat twice a week if you can handle it, and you should since none of these are near failure. You will get better gains from squatting twice a week. You can either do the program twice, or do a speed day as you suggested.
Be warned the cycle may look easy on paper, but you have to push every rep like it is a max attempt - explode hard! And 8 sets of 3 , even though the weights are sort light at 60-70% in the first week, it will feel tough, until you get used to this type of squatting . The football player who I made this program for, said it yoked him pretty hard
Similar threads
