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Jump Higher Training: Targeting the Fast Twitch Muscle Fibers
By admin | August 30, 2009
Muscles that facilitate movements of the human body, specifically the skeletal muscles, are composed of two basic muscle fiber types: the slow twitch and the fast twitch muscle fibers. These two differ only in the rate at which they can contract or convert the chemical energy in them into speed and power that makes movement possible.
In targeting the leg muscles in training to jump higher, what you are actually zeroing in on are the fast twitch muscles because they are the ones you need to create the speed and power needed to execute those explosive vertical leaps. As you would guess, leaping is an essential skill in more than one sporting activity which includes basketball, volleyball, cheerleading, soccer, American football, etc.
In general, exercising either type of muscle fibers with appropriate exercises increases its size which makes it better at what it does. For the fast twitch muscle, exercise will enable it to develop more fibers that are necessary to make it stronger and quicker in its contractions.
Furthermore, exercise also develops the nervous system responses in stimulating the voluntary muscle contractions of the fast twitch fibers which also contributes to the improvement of speed and strength of the contractions.
The objective of exercises for jumping higher is to work out the fast twitching muscles of the leg. It will do you no good to drill the slow twitch muscles by doing endurance-improving exercises.
The following are some exercises that are suitable for those who wishes to develop their vertical jumping skills:
Jumping exercises – the best way to learn to jump higher is, well, to jump. But don’t just jump to your average height. Do your maximum and reach for the highest jump height you can. Jumping 12 inches of the ground at 100 repetitions will do your fast twitch muscles no favor. Go for broke and jump to your maximum at 10 to 20 repetitions. You are not going for endurance here, you are after explosiveness so be explosive in this exercise.
Plyometric exercises – these are exercises that includes the first bullet above. They are exercises that promote speed and power in short bursts. They are high impact activities so they should not be done in prolonged periods and without proper supervision of, in this case, vertical jump trainers or coaches. Be sure that you know what you are doing.
Toe raises, heel lifts or calf raises – this is a pretty well-known exercise for developing calf muscle strength. You can do this seated (for a light workout), standing up (medium workout) and standing up with some weights (heavy workout). Learn more about toe raises exercise for jumping higher.
To learn how to increase your jump height, you need to know the right type of muscles to target. You can not just go about exercising without understanding what that exercise is doing to your body. The fast twitch muscle fibers is the way to go if you wish to do it right.
Photo credit: afroboof
Topics: jump higher training, plyometrics and plyometric exercises | 1 Comment »
December 14th, 2009 at 11:25 am
[...] It is a well-accepted rule that if you wish to increase your vertical jumping ability, you need to simulate the act of jumping itself and do it at the highest intensity that you are capable of (because this stimulates and work out the fast twitch muscle fibers). [...]