Wondering if anyone here has any significant experience with kneeling jumps. It seems like one week I’ll be fine with 3-5 reps bodyweight, then the next week I’ll be struggling to keep from falling on my ass or only planting on one leg in time. I can’t even wrap my head around someone doing this:
[quote]IronAbrams wrote:
Wondering if anyone here has any significant experience with kneeling jumps. It seems like one week I’ll be fine with 3-5 reps bodyweight, then the next week I’ll be struggling to keep from falling on my ass or only planting on one leg in time.[/quote]
I first saw them in an old Mike Mahler dvd, for building explosive power from the hips. Like any other plyometric exercise, adding a weight is basically an “advanced” version that can compromise technique if you’re not 100% ready to handle external load.
If you’re unintentionally alternating between 3-5 reps and struggling for a 1 or 2 good ones, it could have more to do with your overall recovery and CNS fatigue rather than something muscular (though that could be the easiest answer). Look into what Thibaudeau has said about “neural charge exercises” and how to interpret their performance.
I know that Defranco’s uses them. This video has them in it. There was a video with a guy doing them with a BB on his back like the video you posted but I couldn’t find it. Here he uses them for explosiveness and power.
Last time I did those I got 95#x3. Was pretty hard, don’t think I could go any higher. I think they help with speed. Another tool in the toolbox.
that video is extremely impressive
ive done a little experimentation with this with just a barbell in hands after watching a video of louie simmons explaining how he believes them to be an excellent predictor of speed under the bar (particularly in the catch of the o-lifts, which has always been the worst phase for me)
i always land in the catch position of either the clean or snatch and hold there for a hold so i cant quite compare to that video, but i have also found a great deal of variance in my performance day to day.
i think chris colucci is probably spot on on this in that it takes an extremely high rate of force production to execute, which requires coordinated large scale motor unit recruitment. ive always found that speed is the first thing to go when im even a little fatigued so i save these for special occasions or when i fall into old habits of not jumping under the bar enough
How old are you and how are your knees?
Maybe it’s the years of basketball but I couldn’t imagine doing these.