The Jump Manual Reviewed
At first encounter with the Jump Manual, anyone would be skeptical.
The program posits that you can increase your vertical leap by 10 inches in just 12 weeks.
However, it has been received very well, so with a skeptical mind and a grain of salt, I decided to review the product.
Arriving at the site was a refreshing turn of events, however.
The author of the Jump Manual, David, seems have a very real outlook towards increasing your jump height.
He's the first to admit that the process will not be easy, and that it will require hard work and discipline.
His fundamental argument is that increasing your vertical leap requires time and energy, but when you train with the wrong tools, you rapidly exhaust both.
Fair enough, let's see if the Jump Manual is the 'right tool'.
The Jump Manual breaks down jump height into 9 components, with perhaps the two most important being strength and quickness (which together equals explosive power).
He points out that most training programs train the wrong thing, endurance.
Doing lots and lots of 10 inch jumps doesn't train you to jump higher; it trains you to jump more.
In this way, good jump training is counter intuitive; you have to be training at peak intensity, even above game intensity in your "improvement zone".
I actually have to agree with his methodology here, too many fitness programs (not just jump training) focus on endurance when you really need to be developing explosive power.
Training with high weight at a fast movement speed creates high intensity which develops fast twitch muscle fiber and leads to explosive power.
In other words, doing 8 squats with 85% of your 1rmax (1rmax=1 rep max, the most weight you can put up once) at a high speed (of course still being safe and keeping good form) is going to do much more for your explosive power than 300 5 inch jumps.
Another thing I liked about the Jump Manual was that it did not stop at just developing strength and quickness.
As I mentioned before, David breaks down jumping into 9 components, including form, balance, nutrition, muscle recruitment, etc.
and goes into detail on each one.
I like this methodology, accumulating gains in each of those areas is going to add up and help you to increase your jump height faster than solely focusing on strength training.
He also spends a significant amount of time and detail on proper nutrition and how important it is.
I think this is a nice addition to an already very well-rounded package.
If there's anything I feel like he glosses over, it's sleep.
In a full prescription training program like this one, where he covers almost everything else, I feel like he glosses over the importance of sleep.
Sleep is one of the most important factors to getting maximum results from your workouts, when you sleep you repair muscles and develop muscle memory (sleep spindles, look it up).
Sleep is absolutely crucial to the effectiveness of your training, and if you do decide to implement any kind of fitness regime, make sure you're getting at least 8 hours a night.
All in all, I thought it was a very good program, mostly because of its emphasis on proper training technique and its comprehensiveness, he covers almost everything.
I also appreciated his no nonsense fashion and admission that there is no magic pill for jump training (or any kind of training) and that it takes hard work and discipline.
If you're serious about developing your vertical leap, I would recommend that you investigate the Jump Manual for yourself and keep what I've already pointed out in mind.
The program posits that you can increase your vertical leap by 10 inches in just 12 weeks.
However, it has been received very well, so with a skeptical mind and a grain of salt, I decided to review the product.
Arriving at the site was a refreshing turn of events, however.
The author of the Jump Manual, David, seems have a very real outlook towards increasing your jump height.
He's the first to admit that the process will not be easy, and that it will require hard work and discipline.
His fundamental argument is that increasing your vertical leap requires time and energy, but when you train with the wrong tools, you rapidly exhaust both.
Fair enough, let's see if the Jump Manual is the 'right tool'.
The Jump Manual breaks down jump height into 9 components, with perhaps the two most important being strength and quickness (which together equals explosive power).
He points out that most training programs train the wrong thing, endurance.
Doing lots and lots of 10 inch jumps doesn't train you to jump higher; it trains you to jump more.
In this way, good jump training is counter intuitive; you have to be training at peak intensity, even above game intensity in your "improvement zone".
I actually have to agree with his methodology here, too many fitness programs (not just jump training) focus on endurance when you really need to be developing explosive power.
Training with high weight at a fast movement speed creates high intensity which develops fast twitch muscle fiber and leads to explosive power.
In other words, doing 8 squats with 85% of your 1rmax (1rmax=1 rep max, the most weight you can put up once) at a high speed (of course still being safe and keeping good form) is going to do much more for your explosive power than 300 5 inch jumps.
Another thing I liked about the Jump Manual was that it did not stop at just developing strength and quickness.
As I mentioned before, David breaks down jumping into 9 components, including form, balance, nutrition, muscle recruitment, etc.
and goes into detail on each one.
I like this methodology, accumulating gains in each of those areas is going to add up and help you to increase your jump height faster than solely focusing on strength training.
He also spends a significant amount of time and detail on proper nutrition and how important it is.
I think this is a nice addition to an already very well-rounded package.
If there's anything I feel like he glosses over, it's sleep.
In a full prescription training program like this one, where he covers almost everything else, I feel like he glosses over the importance of sleep.
Sleep is one of the most important factors to getting maximum results from your workouts, when you sleep you repair muscles and develop muscle memory (sleep spindles, look it up).
Sleep is absolutely crucial to the effectiveness of your training, and if you do decide to implement any kind of fitness regime, make sure you're getting at least 8 hours a night.
All in all, I thought it was a very good program, mostly because of its emphasis on proper training technique and its comprehensiveness, he covers almost everything.
I also appreciated his no nonsense fashion and admission that there is no magic pill for jump training (or any kind of training) and that it takes hard work and discipline.
If you're serious about developing your vertical leap, I would recommend that you investigate the Jump Manual for yourself and keep what I've already pointed out in mind.
