Improving jumps for wushu

[zhugeliang]

Doing Shaolin gongfu for over a year now and my jumps are all lousy. Anybody got training tips for improving jumps in wushu?

[bodhitree]

There are a few ways.

Plyometrics (actually practicing jumping)

Sprinting (short distance to develop the explosive power)

Strength training (Read the Strength training links sticky thread) - meaning powerlifting or (even better) olympic lifts.

[mickey]

Greetings,

It is all in the fingers, man!


http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/bbinfo.php?page=VerticalJump





mickey

[Toby]

What bodhitree said. I've got a decent vertical leap, purely from powerlifting-type lifts. If I had the ability to do it, I'd love to do Oly lifts. You can feel from these heavy full-body lifts the acceleration produced in the legs. Plus you get good full-body integration and coordination.

[GunnedDownAtrocity]

i dont know if anything helps more than oly lifts, but you need a good coach to do them correctly. if you have access to one take advantage of it.

if not just go with what's been mentioned. only thing id add is that i improved my jump drastically in the past by picking out walls or landings i could barely make or not quite make. id keep practicing on both and move my way up. sometimes you have to go outside and get a little creative, but that makes it all the more fun.

[zhugeliang]

That's right, I am going to need a coach to properly do powerlifting otherwise I will do more damage to myself than good. Until I find one I am going to force myself to work through increasing heights of walls and landings. Thanks to all for good advice.

[GunnedDownAtrocity]

powelifting doesn't need quite as much coaching as oly lifting. you can learn a lot from books, youtube, and forums. they key points to squatting and deadlifting correctly are covered pretty well by various media. honestly, just reading starting strength would give you a good enough foundation to start strength training safely. you have to keep in mind that no ones form is perfect initially, and you have a lot of room for error before you get strong. its hard to hurt your knees by squatting 135lbs incorrectly. if you take videos of yourself and re-read/watch your how to's you can make a great deal of progress on you lonesome. since powerlifting isn't your primary sport, its unlikely you'll have 500lbs on your back any time soon, if ever, so id pick a book and a program and have at it.

oly lifts are another breed. i think the same logic i used above can be applied to the oly lifts to a certain degree, but they are much more technical from the very begining. thats not to say that someone can't reap the rewards of doing the movements imperfectly as long as the main points are covered since snatching 200killos isn't their primary goal, but i still feel there's less room for error.

[GunnedDownAtrocity]

im not trying to be condensending, but do you know the difference between powerlifting and oly lifting?

i lifted in my basement for years before i had any idea there was a difference.