Olympic Lifts for Higher Jumps

Recently I was told olympic weightlifting is the most effective way to build explosive power in the legs to help improve vertical jumps. I like to ask if its true.

My standing jumps aren't impressive. Maybe I'm not lifting heavy enough.

Current bodyweight: 62.5 kgs

Snatch: 42.5 kgs

Clean & Jerk: 60 kgs

I can't break past the 60 kgs limit on the clean and jerk and its always been that way since I started posting on this forum. Perhaps thats the maximum output my tiny body can do... Other than weights I also do pistol squats on one day and the next time I do pistols, I do jumping pistols and normal standing jumps. On the third day I go back to normal pistols again and so on.

Sailor Venus said:

I can't break past the 60 kgs limit on the clean and jerk and its always been that way since I started posting on this forum.

Do you deadlift, squat and military press?

Lift more (not weight, frequency), eat more, lift more.

Check out a website called higher-faster-sports. A lot of valuable knowledge on training vertical jump on there.

I'd say squats, deadlifts, and box jumps would be way better

The carryover from one element (OL) to another (jump) that is very similar is of course good but limited. 

For a good carryover you can of course build up a basic strength with multi joints exercises like squat especially for glutes, hamstring and calves. BUT this carryover will be limited as you are progressing. the best way to approach OL to gain power in jumps is alternate both explosive-specific strength work for jump for a certain period of time with OL to increase your basic strength.

It's knew that the strength you can generate is the product of mass x acceleration. so if you manage different weight and acceleration you can generate the same strength. In one case (low constant acc and big weight as OL) you will generate basic strength that, one day, will support explosive strength ( high acceleration and bodyweigth as jump-specific work).

The question about : can i have benefit in a jump if a train always and only OL? the answer is with big probability NO, the reason is more neurological since the strength is primarily a neurological matter. 

Repulsion is different talking about neural pattern compared to move the body against resistance with a controlled motion. you will have different stretch reflex signals, different motor neurons firing rate (less time to do a movement needs less time to reach the edge activation of a certain groups of nervous cells), different proprioceptors activation due do different joints angles, different muscle activation (upper body + lower body) and so on. so the carryover will be always less and less and less...with simple words : do you want to become stronger in X? you need to train X. do you need basic strength to improve X ? Build it up then return to X. I've used with one of my client a 4-5 months of basic strength alternate with 2-4 months of explosive specific jump works, i was surprised that there was a carryover between both OL and specific-jump strength. This is why maximal strength is a limiting factor to develop explosive strength.

alex87 said:

This is why maximal strength is a limiting factor to develop explosive strength.

That sounds familiar...

You might want to compare your depth jump (from a couple of different heights) to your normal vertical jump. If your depth jump is consistently equal or less than your normal jump you could probably use some plyometric or reactive training (provided you have adequate joint preparation). If your depth jump is higher than your base vertical jump you should focus on both limit and explosive strength.

Keep in mind that vertical jump is very hard to increase and that it follows the law of diminishing returns.

Yes, this a concept that Coach used previously, but only recently I've understood the reason of that.

Why do you want to increase your vertical jump?

The Olympic lifts are fantastic and will help, but if you are just wanting to increase your vertical jump you could do jump squats or high pulls.

Banded deadlifts would be a good alternative too.

Lots of vertical jumping is required too.

I'm going to include this video too because it's amazing. Olympic Gold medalistStephan Holm easily bounding over giant hurdles as tall as he (5'11). 

Jono said:

Check out a website called higher-faster-sports. A lot of valuable knowledge on training vertical jump on there.

http://www.higher-faster-sports.com/jumphigher.html had a look around there. Ta da! Basically three things to mix together: Limit strength, explosive strength and reactive strength. I could do deadlift on one day, second day do snatches and third day do ankle jumps.

Bipocni said:

Do you deadlift, squat and military press?

I stopped doing olympic lifts and done normal deadlifts and see if it helps. One rep max; 100 kgs. I think it did. Cleaning 55 kgs felt easier than before. Ain't tried military presses; I can do handstand push ups which'll work just fine. I haven't squatted weights since last year!

bigB said:

Why do you want to increase your vertical jump?

 

The Olympic lifts are fantastic and will help, but if you are just wanting to increase your vertical jump you could do jump squats or high pulls.

Banded deadlifts would be a good alternative too.

Lots of vertical jumping is required too.

 

I'm going to include this video too because it's amazing. Olympic Gold medalistStephan Holm easily bounding over giant hurdles as tall as he (5'11). 

 

I believe vertical jumps will make tumbling easier, especially standing back tucks. I've seen basketball players walk inside gymnastic halls and experience a new sport and they can do back tucks and front tucks on their first day! Of course their technique still needs improving but their high jumps outweighs technique. So I decide to learn from them and researched basketball training and find out what contributed to their high jumps.

bigB said:

I'm going to include this video too because it's amazing. Olympic Gold medalistStephan Holm easily bounding over giant hurdles as tall as he (5'11). 

 

That was excellent.  Thank you.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

From what I remember from the vertical jump bible (written by the higher-faster-sports guys) if you don't squat at least twice bodyweight, getting stronger will improve your vertical jump.  I've seen bodybuilders match sprinters in vertical jumps, so it checks out.

Olympic lifts are good because they're explosive, and they involve a jumping mechanic.  You don't necessarily need to snatch or jerk though, a simple power clean should cover everything you need.  Although, snatching is just damn cool....

Like Dritar said, you should test your jump on the rebound vs from a standing start.  The vertical jump is rather skill intensive as well, so maybe get someone to look at your jumping mechanics.

Feel like posting your vertical jump height vs your height?

It's not as simple as saying one exercise is enough.  You need multiple exercises.  You need both maximal strength exercises and explosive exercises because even though you may generate a huge amount of strength, it doesn't help when you're performing jumps .  You need to generate as much strength as possible in as short amount of time, that's where explosive exercises comes in. 

When you choose maximal strength exercises you need a knee dominant and a hip dominant movement exercise, but don't call them by muscle groups like a quad exercise, a hamstring, or a glute exercise because you're ignoring the other hundreds of muscles involved.  For example, don't call a squat a quad exercise, it's a knee dominant movement.  Whereas, deadlift isn't a glute exercise (though some people perform a knee dominant deadlift), it is a hip dominant movement.  Knee Dominant is classified as a lower body exercise with maximal knee bend and a hip dominant exercise is classified as a lower body movement with maximal hip bend and minimal knee bend. 

You don't need to perform barbell squats or deadlifts.  You have other options for example Bulgarian Splits Squats, Pistol Squats, Goblet Squats etc (these are my favorites).  For deadlifts, my favorites are single leg deadlifts, suitcase deadlifts or kettlebell deadlifts.  I also prefer front barbell squats rather than back squats simply because in the olympic lifts you never perform the squat in the rack position of the Olympic Cleans in the back position, it is performed in the front so there's a degree of carryover there and you're also greasing the pattern.  You should also choose just one though, one knee dominant and one hip dominant exercise.

Even for the explosive movements, you also don't need to perform Olympics lifts.  For example, you can a knee dominant explosive movement can be push presses and hip dominant explosive movements you can use kettlebell swings.  Much easier, safer, and with kettlebells for both exercises you can do them for longer and you can practice the speed component (strength x speed = power) since there's less weight involved.  But also choose just one hip dominant and one knee dominant though.

If you want higher vertical leaps, you should also do box jumps and depth jumps.  Although I did mention that you should classify exercises as movement, the functional usage of calves is to jump (box jumps) and the functional usage of shin is to land (depth jump).  And plus, vertical leaps is a skill, so you performing box jumps and depth jumps will help too.

I had a pretty good jump back when I used to use my legs (lol): 6m long jump, 1.8m high jump. 

When I was a younger kid and I was getting ready for my athletics carnivals I would do heaps of skipping (ropes), and hill sprints. 

I did HEAPS of skipping: normal, double-unders, 2 skips on one leg and then alternate legs, one-legged double-unders, etc. 

Because jumping ability is mostly related to how quickly you can explode some force. 

But the hill sprints gave me some solid quads do, I was able to do infinite reps (hyperbole) of single-leg squats first attempt. 

lol I just realised how much I didn't answer your question, rather, your question brought me back to the good old days of when I used to use my legs. Now I only sit around and walk. 

To answer your question, yes, Olympic Lifts will help your jump. But you should include some plyometrics in there. 

Hmm 43/60 @63 is ok I guess with a 100 DL. Let's say your SQ is equal to your DL and your DL is actually a Clean DL and not a conventional DL with a mixed grip for. Russian texts state Clean DL should equal BS and Snatch should be 55-65% of SQ. Cn should be about 20% more than Snatch.

One guess is your WL technique is a bit off. If that DL is actually a mixed grip DL, it'll be higher than your squat probably by 20% or so. I can DL a lot more if I switch to a mixed grip with my hips higher than my Clean Start position ( I BS 170, Cn DL nearly 180 and Sn DL around 140-145 ). Back when I tested my mixed grip DL in the summer ( and tweaked my back ) I DL'd about 80# nearly 40kg more switching to a higher hip start and mixed grip. My guess is now I could probably DL maybe close to 200 if I wanted to risk tweaking my back again (which I don't ).

Thing is DL is a lot different than SQ. One of the smaller asian guys in the S&C class I coach DL around 180kg but probably only Squats about 120 or so. He weighs about 70kg and has good pull strength but just hasn't squatted a lot or enough.