THE

JUMP
GUIDE
PPA Principles of Jump Technique
By: Tyler Ray JTS, CSCS
 THE JUMP GUIDE
MANUAL

“Jump Technique will vary by NEED, but never by KIND.”

The Vertical Jump is a perfect expression of speed, power and stability. No

matter if you are jumping on the volleyball court or off a long jump board, the
fundamental principles of jump technique remain the same. The only variables
become the way in which the principles are applied.

In the world of training or coaching the technicalities of VJT, it is important to

work backward, or reverse engineer the desired movement. Let’s take a look at
the the principles of jump technique.

PPA Principles of Jump Technique

1. Landing Mechanics
2. The Take Off
3. Amortization/Loading Phase
4. Penultimate/Block Steps
5. Joint Stacking
6. Maximum Controlled Velocity (MCV)
7. Eye Line
8. Mindset

In the pages to come we will go over in more detail each of the principles of
jump technique. The key to navigating this program is understanding it is an ed-
ucational approach. There will be take away movements, but the reason I have
been successful with so many athletes is that I am able to communicate why
“knowing more” is more often than not the missing link in an athlete’s arsenal.
Mindless training in my opinion yields mindless athletes that are less likely to
make critical decisions in their sport. Let’s take a look at the areas of jump tech-
nique that I work with on a weekly basis here at Project Pure Athlete.
 Landing Mechanics

No matter the sport or environment, the fundamental elements of landing safely

and efficiently apply. (NOTE: This applies to sport application where landing on
one’s feet is the desired outcome. Track and Field will have different landing
mechanics for jumping events).

1. Load the hips, not the knees - The hips (primarily the glutes) are the big en-
gine of the lower body. This engine is not only responsible for the large
amount of power it gives during our take off, but is almost exclusively respon-
sible for absorbing the vast majority of our landing forces. The basic princi-
ples of a squat apply to our landing. By allowing our hips to travel backward
slightly before loading or flexing our knees, they will absorb more of the land-
ing forces. In jumping sports the most important thing to remember, beyond
being able to jump high, is the concept of longevity. If your goal is to play a
successful career in a sport, then prioritizing your landing efficiency should be
paramount.

2. Perfect Practice Yields more Favourable Landing Prioritization - This means that
the goal is not land perfectly in every instance, because in the shifting demands
of sport, that becomes next to impossible. What we want is to practice our
landings in controlled settings (training) ALWAYS, so that we ingrain our motor
patterns to naturally choose this method of landing, thereby increasing the likeli-
hood of efficient landing mechanics. Practice, practice, practice.
3. Two Legged vs. One Legged - The question becomes, “should I always land
on two feet?” In short, no. As I mentioned earlier, the likelihood we will have this
option in the chaotic world of competitive sport is slim to none. Therefore, if we
know that the possibility exists we will be landing in precarious positions, we
should account for this by influencing our training model with elements of shifting
landing conditions. The framework however remains the same, load the hips
not the knees and practice perfectly.

4. Breathing and Bracing - An athletic injury is much more likely to occur from
landing incorrectly, then from the jump itself. That being said, what else can one
do to efficiently absorb the massive eccentric load on the tissues and joints of
the body? This is where the concept of breathing and bracing is introduced.
Upon absorption of a landing, a slight breath into the belly can stabilize the
spine. This skill can be difficult, so practice makes perfect. Begin falling from a
low height (stair or small box) taking a gentle breath in and landing correctly.

The Take Off

Here’s where the fun stuff happens. The history of vertical jumping dictates that
the point of take-off is where the focus should be. I’m here to tell you that it is
very important, but is most definitely not the be-all-end-all of a jump. That being
said, there are a few elements of a take off to pay special attention to.

1. Ground Contact Time - In short, this is the amount of time an athlete spends
on the ground during the loading or amortization of a jump. We can optimize
our ground reaction time by the position we are in during take off. If an ath-
lete is in a collapsed position (excessive hip flexion) there is a biomechanics
necessity to “recover” that torso (extend the hip) before take off can occur.
This is why we aim to reach our take off in a more vertical position (NOTE:
This does NOT mean completely vertical). When a more vertical position is
achieved, the amount of time required to re-establish a stable take off is less-
ened, therefore reducing the ground contact time.
2. Take off angles - This is the concept of a jump varying by NEED. Depending
upon the desired outcome of the jump, the need for angular difference will
change. For example: A volleyball player will require a steeper take off angle
than that of a long jumper. Understanding the sport-specific requirements of
a jump should be of initial focus. When coaching the take off what I look for
is the correct expression of angle vs. the EXACT degree of take off. This
means if I’m coaching a volleyball approach, we want to see a more rapid as-
cent at a much steeper angle of take off than that of a long jumper.
NOTE: Optimal angles can vary, but can differ during athletic application. This is
largely due to shifting take off speeds and competitive conditions.

3. Arm Swing - Generally, the arm swing is under appreciated. The arms play a
large role in the speed at which the lower half of the body moves through the
take-off. I teach a cue known as “quick-quick”. The focus of this cue is to en-
courage a more rapid arm swing, optimizing the muscles stretch-reflex.

Stretch-Reflex - This is a muscular contraction response to a muscle being

stretched. The body will effectively auto-regulate to ensure it doesn’t get “over”
stretched and will rapidly return the muscle back to a more relaxed/controlled
state.
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The arm swing should be quick, but with enough range of motion that it aids in
creating additional potential energy during take-off.

NOTE: The arm-swing is NOT initiated during the Take-Off Phase of the jump,
but is completed here. I will indicate the arm-swing’s purpose through additional
stages of a jump.

Amortization/Loading Phase

This phase is the point at which the athlete has created muscular lengthening
and the body is now responsible for a rapid shortening. This is also known as

the stretch-shortening cycle.

In jump training, we are always looking for ways to improve the body’s stretch-
shortening cycle. We want make it quicker, therefore increasing the amount of
usable energy through our take off. This becomes a combination of increasing a
muscles responsiveness, power, tendon strength and finally the associated
joint’s stability to be able to support this highly dynamic action.
1. Dynamic Joint Stability - This is a heavily biased area of training with my ath-
letes. I have always worked under the principle that no matter how powerful
or fast you make an athlete, their ability to express that is limited by the
body’s effectiveness to stabilize it.

GARDEN HOSE ANALOGY - Picture your body like a garden hose. The pur-
pose of a hose is to spray water. The faucet are your big movers in your body
(Muscles) and the stream of water leaving the end is the movement you’re per-
forming (ie. Jump). The hose itself is our support structures (Stability in the
joints, midline etc). Now picture we poke a few holes in the hose (Joint weak-
ness). Water will still travel through the hose, but it will bleed out of the tiny
holes, ultimately reducing the power of the stream at the end of the hose. The
weaker the joints and midline are, the more “holes” we have in our hose, there-
fore reducing the power of our jump.

SPEED & POWER IS ONLY AS USEFUL AS OUR ABILITY TO CONTROL IT

2. Strength vs. Power - I see these terms being used interchangeably amongst
coaches and athletes too often. It is important to understand that when they do
share commonalities, they are not the same thing. Strength is a muscles ability
to move against resistance (Ie. Bench Pressing, squatting etc). Whereas power
is our body’s ability to generate as much force as quickly as possible (Sprinting,
Jumping, bounding etc.). That being said, you can improve the body’s relative
power using resistance, but the intensity and rate at which the movement is per-
formed changes. Power training requires using sub-maximal (50-65%) of esti-
mated 1-rep max as quickly as possible. Heavier than that, we start getting into
strength training.

Note: These are short explanations and further research into power program-
ming should be done before implementing these concepts.
 Penultimate & Block Steps

These are the final 2-strides of any jump. The penultimate (second to last stride)
is a “set-up” stride responsible for a few things:

1. Lowering the hips slightly to gain mechanical advantage during take-off.

2. Carrying approach speed through to take-off.
3. Establishing take-off position

1. Lowering the Hips

Here is where a lot can go wrong. It is extremely important to understand that a

jump is NOT determined by how low someone can get during take-off. As ath-
letes we are built differently, trained differently and have varying anatomical differ-
ences that can change the application of the penultimate stride. I HATE when I
meet a new athlete that has been coached to crouch as low as possible when
jumping. If you are a coach, please pay special attention to this.

Lowering the hips will reduce an athletes speed. Speed is additional energy that
can be added to an athlete’s jump. It’s our ability to carry as much speed as
possible through take-off that will make or break an athlete’s jumping potential.
So we have to do our best to establish the appropriate speed for each individual
athlete, known as their Maximum Controlled Velocity or MCV. We will get in to
this in more detail below.

A lot of excessive lowering can be taken care of by cueing an athlete to “push”

into their penultimate vs. gallop. A gallop can work for certain athletes, but on
the whole, optimizing approach speed can make more dramatic changes to an
athlete’s vertical.

2. Carrying Speed THROUGH take-off, not TO the take-off

This is another very common problem with the jump. An athlete that slows
down into their take-off as a way to mitigate the effects of approaching too
quickly. The easiest way to remedy this is to cue an athlete to accelerate
through their take off. Beginning slowly and speeding up through the take-off
will allow the athlete to learn what velocity is appropriate for their current stability
levels. They can then make adjustments to find out where they feel most com-
fortable.
A good way to find out whether an athlete maximizes speed is to test both a sta-
tionary jump and a full approach. If there is very little difference (1-2”) between
the two, it’s fairly evident that the athlete isn’t able to maximize speed. Most ath-
letes have a need to jump from a moving position. Even movements like a block
in volleyball or a rebound in basketball use some form of momentum.

3. Establishing take-off position

The penultimate is a “set-up” step. There are a few points to keep in mind when
looking to improve a penultimate as a means to set up the take-off position:

1) Too Short - If the step is too short, the athlete will appear to blow right
through their take-off. A stride that is too short allows the hips and upper
body to end up in front of the feet. There should be a distinct difference in
look for this stride.
2) Too Long - A penultimate that is too long will cause the foot to be too far in
front of the hips to allow for any element of mechanical advantage. What
ends up here is the athlete must regulate their centre of mass by pulling their
body forward, overusing the posterior chain and slowing them down through
take-off.
3) Galloping vs. Pushing - When transitioning from the approach through the
penultimate stride, we try to avoid the hips rising too much. This movement
looks like a hop or a gallop. The reason we coach away from this is the loss
of speed. Instead, a horizontal ‘push’ method is utilized to optimize speed.
(See Penultimate Jab drill)

Joint Stacking

“Stacking” of the joints refers to the mechanical advantage gained by ensuring

certain joint structures are lined up through take-off.

SHOULDERS - HIPS - ANKLES

EXAMPLES - STACKED EXAMPLES - NOT STACKED

*Images were screen captured from @projectpureathlete Instagram

With these joints in a relative, stacked position, power transference through

take-off becomes optimized as we lose less power through areas such as the
upper back, core (midline), knees.
This is the concept that makes an incredible difference when it comes to the
ability to carry speed and transfer power through take-off.

How do we improve joint stacking?

We accomplish this through a combination of patterning and dynamic joint sta-

bility drills. (See 2-Step Jumps & SL Hops)

Maximum Controlled Velocity (MCV)

This is our approach. The component of a jump that creates a lot of potential
energy and the rhythm of any given effort.

The concept of maximum controlled velocity, or MCV is one that determines the
appropriate speed any given athlete should have at point of take off. I encour-
age speed, but too much speed will impossible for an athlete to handle if the
requisite stability and strength doesn’t line up.

MCV = The maximum amount of speed any given athlete can carry effectively
through take off.

How do I determine my MCV?

There is no clear cut way to do this. The way I determine an athlete’s MCV is
different on any given day of jumping. This will be a result of visual cues given
by the result of an athlete’s jump.

Ex.1 - The athlete drifts significantly forward after take - off.

What is significant?

Answer - If the NEED of the athlete’s jump is to touch a basketball rim and it ap-
pears to be behind them at the peak of their jump, either they have taken off too
close to the rim OR their MCV is slightly too fast.

Ex. 2 - There is a visible shift in speed through the athletes penultimate stride.
Either the athlete slows down indicating their approach speed was too signifi-
cant for their current level OR they speed up dramatically, indicating they may
not be utilizing as much speed as they can through their approach.
ULTIMATELY, the MCV is a “feel” and “touch” element, meaning as an athlete
you may have to play around with speed to find where yours is. As a coach, it
becomes your task to cue an athlete according to the above points of perfor-
mance.

Eye Line

The eyes are EVERYTHING during a jump. First, having them open is a good
start. After making sure that is taken care of, understanding the following con-
cepts are important.

1) Gaze will determine much of our take off angle - Your body tends to default
to where the eyes are looking. The eyes control a great deal of our spatial
awareness.

2) The eyes set the tone for the jump - This refers more to the element of focus.
The more dialled in an athlete is for a jump, the more effective of an effort
they will be able to execute. A lot of this comes from where an athlete is
looking. As humans we tend to look around at others and things around us
when we feel self-conscious or timid. Confident athletes will err on the side
of staring at their goal. As an athlete, you will always have to contend with
elements of distraction, including your own thoughts. Start with looking to
your goal. If you’re a dunker, it’s the rim. If you’re a long jumper, it’s the
sand. If you're a volleyball player, it’s the set or the net.

Spatial Awareness - is the ability to be aware of oneself in space. It is an orga-

nized knowledge of objects in relation to oneself in that given space. Spatial
awareness also involves understanding the relationship of these objects when
there is a change of position.
 Mindset

This is the most under appreciated aspect of jumping. Our mindset is and al-
ways will remain the bottleneck for most athletes. This relates to concepts like:

- dealing with extraneous pressures from family, friends and fans.

- stressors in one’s life (family, money, job etc.)
- training pressure (not progressing as fast as one would like)
- having an “off” day in training or competing
- illness
- training inconsistency (binge training or becoming de-conditioned)

Whatever the issue or element of life an athlete is dealing with, the strength of
their mind will serve as their greatest strength. In PPA training, a large majority of
my efforts go toward ensuring that athletes are not only progressive physically,
but mentally as well.

Some of the strategies we use are as follows:

1) Think-to-Be Mentality - This one may sound insignificant, but when an athlete
learns to harness this technique, it will improve not only their results, but the
way in which they approach life. (ex. Think Powerful to be Powerful). I will
routinely cue my athletes to THINK TO BE prior to a lift, jump or specific
movement.
2) Briefing & Debriefing (for coaches) - An excellent strategy for coaches that
deal with athletes. Setting clear expectations for training or competitions
prior to by going over what the day looks like in detail. The will allow the ath-
lete to start prepping themselves and tapering their focus. A debrief follow-
ing to assess areas of success or concern will ensure that they are aware of
what went right and are given homework to focus on before the next session
or competition. Our goal is to create a complete athlete.
3) Don’t be afraid to have fun - We don’t take ourselves too serious at PPA.
This is a strategy that has done wonders for our athletes. The athletes be-
come a part of a culture and it carries over into their sport. Laughing re-
leases endorphins that can help relax tense muscles, improve respiratory
and core function and provide energy. Next time you’re having a bad day of
training, stop, remember the latest “F$#& Jerry” Post and LAUGH!
 Technique Drills

1) Forward Hops

2-Foot

• Great for younger and beginner athletes

• Excellent warm up protocol for any athlete
• Should follow some element of muscular priming for the gluten and core.

Starting with a stationary jumping stance (feet under the hips), the athlete loads
the hips quickly, jumps on a steep angle and receives themselves in a partial
squat or landing position. The athlete will hold this position for 2-3 seconds to
encourage neuromuscular recognition and positional stability. This drill should
be performed at 60-75% full effort for 10-15 repetitions.

ALL VARIATIONS OF HOPS ARE GREAT AS EITHER WARM UP OR WORKOUT

PROTOCOL. VARY SETS AND REPS DEPENDING ON DESIRED STIMULUS.

Warm Up - 2 x 10 each leg

Workout - 3 x 10-12

Single-Leg

• Great for beginner athletes, but volume should be relatively low

• Excellent drill for ALL jumpers as warm up protocol for joint stability
• Jumps should be controlled and error on the side of smaller efforts.

Starting with a 1-foot stance, make sure the leg in the air is in front of the jump-
ing leg. This will ensure the hips remain neutral and in a more powerful and sta-
ble position. Upper body should remain in line with the hips in a “stacked” posi-
tion. This drill utilizes small, controlled hops and each jump the athlete must
show control on the landing, holding for 2-3 seconds.

2) Lateral Hops (Lead Leg)

Lead Leg & Trail Leg

• Excellent drill for conditioning lateral shearing forces on the knee

• Follow same protocol to forward travelling hops
• Athlete should remain focused with eyes and head forward.
• Breathing is important to control abdominal pressure. (Refer to Landing Me-
chanics Video)

3) Drop Jump Holds

• Excellent Drill for establishing landing mechanics

• Height of Box should be low and progressively raised in unison with the ath-
lete’s training age and requisite strength.

Starting on a raised surface (plyo box, bench, stair) the athlete drops off and
proceeds to land in a partial squat (above parallel) position. Holding this position
for 2-3 seconds will help create more defined neural pathways and positional
strength and stability.

3 Sets of 6 Repetitions

4) Arm-less Mini Broad Jump

• Warm Up Drill to help improve the efficiency of an athlete’s hip extension.

• Be sure to execute the hip extension from the glutes and NOT from the lower
back.
• Jump will be small and controlled.

USE IN WARM UPS - 2 - 3 sets of 10 Jumps

5) Penultimate Jabs

• A patterning drill to help reinforce the penultimate stride

• This is used to coach the ‘push’ element of the penultimate
• Can be body weight or with banded resistance from either behind or in front.

From a powerful 2-foot position the athlete drives their penultimate foot forward
whilst simultaneously pulling their arms into the backward component of the arm
swing. Special attention is put on ensuring the torso remains quite upright and
shoulders stacked over hips. Athlete should pause in this position for 1-2 sec-
onds before the next repetition.

3-5 sets of 10 Jabs (QUALITY, QUICK AND CONTROLLED)

6) 2-Step Jumps

• Great drill for the rhythmic patterning of the final two strides of a jump.
• This should follow the penultimate jabs to ensure a pushing movement is be-
ing utilized.
• Jumps can be progressed toward full effort in this drill

From a stationary position the athlete completes the final two steps of their jump.
Should be an aggressive movement to help the body and mind capture the sen-
sations attributed to it. I use this drill in many different ways including:

- As a warm Up (lower intensity)

- Following penultimate and block step patterning
- Following an intense cardiovascular effort to train jump endurance and tech-
nical efficiency under duress.
- Warm up before testing
- etc.

4-5 sets of 5-8 QUALITY repetitions

7) Overspeed Jump Variations

• Great drill for patterning the entire approach

• Can be used with seasoned and beginner athletes
• Works to auto regulate Maximum controlled velocity or MCV
• Builds elements of dynamic stability

With either 1 longer band or a series of circular strength bands attached to each
other, fix it to a stationary, heavy object at approximately chest height. The ath-
lete will loop the band around their upper back and underneath their arm pits.
Walking back to a point of relatively high tension, the athlete will then perform
their approach with the assistance of the bands. This should force the athlete to
remain taller through the approach as a necessity to resisting the band.

4-5 sets of 5 reps with a good amount of rest between sets.

8) Seated Jumps
• Great drill for improving relative power output
• This can be done from a completely stationary position or with the aid of a
“rock”.
• Works well to improve CNS reactivity
• Proper breathing can increase exercise efficiency (See Landing Mechanics -
Breathing/Bracing)

From a seated position (knees slightly above hip crease) the athlete will jump to
an elevated surface. I prefer to coach athletes to a moderate height box as we
can do more work on creating full extension on take off. There is a tendency to
jump to the landing when the box is too high. Complete the jump to full exten-
sion and land on the box as a bi-product of gravity. I know that sounds weird,
but more often than not, an athlete will stare at the point of landing, effecting the
mechanics of their jump. Stay tall, jump high and land controlled.

4 sets of 5-6 jumps. Works well as a PAP (Post Activation Potentiation) Protocol
or on it’s own!

Post Activation Potentiation - Force exerted during a plyometric exercise is in-

creased due to its contractile history from the previous movement. Varying loads
can be used for the initial movement, but slightly heavier loads seem to elicit a
more favourable response.

9) Beast Holds/Walks

• Excellent drill for creating intra-abdominal pressure for take off positions
• Increases shoulder and hip stability
• Controlled walk variations have benefit to breathing control under tension.

Starting in a quadruped position on the ground (wrists below the shoulders,

knees below the hips), the athlete will pick their knees off the ground just slightly.
The key to this drill is creating and keeping tension through the midline. A slight
breath into the belly will help with this. As the athlete moves forward, it is imper-
ative that the movements are small, controlled and performed with a purpose.

2-3 sets of 5-10 deep breath holds

3-4 sets of 5-10 yard walks

** VARIATION - Backward or Sideways walks **