I wanted to incorporate jump squats into my routine, but was wondering which method is best. Should they be done off a box? If not, how deep should I descend? I’ve done searches and I’ve seen Ian King prescribe only going to a quarter squat and I’ve also seen one of his programs in which he recommends going into a deep squat? Which method do you guys think is best? Thanks for the help.
It depends on what your training for, there is no best… Jump higher? Improve squats? Agility? Improve your snatch?
As I do not know what your specific goals are here is some general information. First if you are using loaded jump squats, don’t jump off a box. Jumps off a box in the plyometric world are refered to as “depth jumps”. These are one of the most stressfull plyometrics there is. As a general rule, don’t exceed the heigth of your vertical in box height and if your heels touch the ground at any point in the workout terminate it. The range of motion of any plyometric should be pretty small, as the point of plyometrics are to increase the body’s stretch reflex ability. Jump squats can be preformed as a plyometric or a slower exercise. I think their was a pretty good article about that in last issue of t-mag. Best of luck.
I’m training mostly to improve my vertical jump
I didn’t mean depth jumps, I actually meant jump box squats from the recent chad waterbury. Sorry for the misunderstanding.
Check out “White men can jump” by Ian King. If you don’t want alter all of your leg training I would recomend that you incorporate cleans into your leg workouts. While it may not “fix” you weak-link, from my experience a higher speed movement is what will benifit most people (at least in the begining). Best of luck.