Jumps up on to boxes
 

Are these really of any value?

I'm incorporating jumps into my training from time to time. I've been doing simple jumps from standing to touch a height, resting between reps, and the same thing with a drop of an 18" box. My vert has gone up a couple an inch or two just from all the practice, which is nice.

Does jumping over things or onto things actually provide any effect above and beyond this kind of training besides looking me look fly and beating up my knees?

This is something I've considered more than a few times myself. I don't see any real benefit of jumping onto something over just jumping--getting onto an object trains your ability to tuck your knees and lift your feet higher, not necessarily to move your center of mass higher. So unless your chosen sportt or discipline demands this kind of jumping (e.g. parkour, tricking), I don't see much of a need. In other instances, such as for a weightlifter, I see it as possibly detrimental because it both trains the excessive lifting of the feet as wwell as a forward jump.

I remember reading that some of the people who had the highest verticals were highly ranked Oly lifters....and they do not train to jump...

Other than metabolic or sport specific reasons......It's just maybe something fun to do in a routine...if you are looking for leg explosiveness then I think something like squat/lunge jumps would be more appropriate....

Sounds right to me.


Jumping on to boxes also trains to lean forward and round your back to make the jump--not exactly squat snatch technique.

I think there might be some benefit for rate of force production/rate coding. Along this vein clap push-ups and med ball throws can be useful.

Mike Burgener told me once that it is a good start to do jumps on boxes for three or four weeks before switching to jump squats. Leg bend and roundbacking certainly helps but you don't jump up on a 40" box with leg bend alone...

How about this - quit thinking about the physiological reasons for why you would or wouldn't do it for a second:

How about using it simply to develop the motor pattern necessary to accomplish the task? I'm quickly moving away from looking at training from an exercise perspective and moving toward a movement perspective.

The movements necessary for a lifter or for gymnast may vary inside the gym, but outside the gym they have similar requirements so give them enough tools to work outside and excell inside the gym.

thats my $0.02 anyways.

The fact that Burgener throws them into his Oly WOD from time to time was what made me think about them.

There is something about going back and forth between back squats and jumps up to boxes (landing in the squat on top of the box). Any jumps make squats feel lighter, but these do especially for some reason, maybe because the movement is more similar.


Pierre--

I don't entirely understand what you're saying, but it sounds interesting... can you flesh it out more? Are you saying that jumps up on to something is more of a real-world movement. That's certainly true. I guess from a GPP/ real-world injury prevention perspective it might not hurt to develop the ability to land concurrently with the ability to jump. :p

This is where I live...

No matter the venue. MMA, submission, met-con, loaded (weights), et cetera...

Numbers are "important," but for me, training breaks down as movement before moves.