What are the best shoes, in your opinion and experience for testing the vertical jump?
Practice in these, then you can pretty much wear chucks and you’ll still jump out the gym.
Well I’ve sorta been close. I have been practicing with the replica moon boots that Neil Armstrong wore on the moon. But on test day I don’t feel these will really give me low gravity 
WEAR TRACK WAFFLES WHEN TESTING YOUR VERTICAL!
Proper shoe wear just might be the most overlooked component of the vertical jump. DO NOT wear an old pair of running sneakers because you feel that they’re “broken in” and comfortable. This type of sneaker is the worst thing you can put on your feet when jumping! These “comfortable” sneakers actually dampen the forces that you put into the ground. This, in turn, lengthens the time that you spend on the ground. Picture that as you rapidly descend into your jump, the foot collapses slightly and absorbs force. This dissipation of force can reduce the height of the jump.
I have my athletes wear light sneakers with a rigid sole and maximal arch support. This type of sneaker supports the first metatarsal, which is crucial to your jumping performance. I have found that track waffles are the best shoes for vertical jumping. Waffles are firm and very light. This allows for a rapid descent and take-off with maximal support. I also recommend that my athletes purchase waffles that are half a size too small. This prevents their feet from moving around in the shoe. Remember that these shoes aren’t meant for comfort; they’re meant for a world-class vertical jump!
Hopefully, this combination of training methods and “tricks” will have you jumping so high that you can grab a dollar bill off the top of the backboard and make change before descending. Okay, maybe that’s a little too ambitious a goal. Still, using these time-tested methods should have you jumping considerably higher than your current best.
Taken from: Dirty Tricks for Higher Vertical Jumps - Official Website of Joe DeFranco & DeFranco’s Gym!
Thanks for the help man, but reading that is what prompted this post. I was hoping to get brand names of shoes, cause I have no idea what waffles are ;/ I did search for some and all i found were spiked running shoes. I’m from England, are they called something different over here?
Pancakes?
[quote]LarryDavid wrote:
WEAR TRACK WAFFLES WHEN TESTING YOUR VERTICAL!
Proper shoe wear just might be the most overlooked component of the vertical jump. DO NOT wear an old pair of running sneakers because you feel that they’re “broken in” and comfortable. This type of sneaker is the worst thing you can put on your feet when jumping! These “comfortable” sneakers actually dampen the forces that you put into the ground. This, in turn, lengthens the time that you spend on the ground. Picture that as you rapidly descend into your jump, the foot collapses slightly and absorbs force. This dissipation of force can reduce the height of the jump.
I have my athletes wear light sneakers with a rigid sole and maximal arch support. This type of sneaker supports the first metatarsal, which is crucial to your jumping performance. I have found that track waffles are the best shoes for vertical jumping. Waffles are firm and very light. This allows for a rapid descent and take-off with maximal support. I also recommend that my athletes purchase waffles that are half a size too small. This prevents their feet from moving around in the shoe. Remember that these shoes aren’t meant for comfort; they’re meant for a world-class vertical jump!
Hopefully, this combination of training methods and “tricks” will have you jumping so high that you can grab a dollar bill off the top of the backboard and make change before descending. Okay, maybe that’s a little too ambitious a goal. Still, using these time-tested methods should have you jumping considerably higher than your current best.
Taken from: Dirty Tricks for Higher Vertical Jumps - Official Website of Joe DeFranco & DeFranco’s Gym!
[/quote]
I don’t know what DeFranco is calling a “track Waffle”. Does he mean the standard track shoes with the plastic spike plate on the forefoot? If so, I agree that would be a good choice. I disagree about a shoe with maximal arch support. A stiff shoe will be good as it will add to spring but, artificial arch filling in your own natural arch will hinder the elasticity in your feet.
A specific track shoe you might want to consider is a Long Jump spike that has no heel but tapers to about 3/8 inch rubber right under the ball of the feet. I think it’s called a negative heel. As matter of fact I’ve got a pair of negative heel sneakers and I think I might just compare my vertical with & without. I should be able to do it on Monday. Could be interesting.
[quote]on edge wrote:
[quote]LarryDavid wrote:
WEAR TRACK WAFFLES WHEN TESTING YOUR VERTICAL!
Proper shoe wear just might be the most overlooked component of the vertical jump. DO NOT wear an old pair of running sneakers because you feel that they’re “broken in” and comfortable. This type of sneaker is the worst thing you can put on your feet when jumping! These “comfortable” sneakers actually dampen the forces that you put into the ground. This, in turn, lengthens the time that you spend on the ground. Picture that as you rapidly descend into your jump, the foot collapses slightly and absorbs force. This dissipation of force can reduce the height of the jump.
I have my athletes wear light sneakers with a rigid sole and maximal arch support. This type of sneaker supports the first metatarsal, which is crucial to your jumping performance. I have found that track waffles are the best shoes for vertical jumping. Waffles are firm and very light. This allows for a rapid descent and take-off with maximal support. I also recommend that my athletes purchase waffles that are half a size too small. This prevents their feet from moving around in the shoe. Remember that these shoes aren’t meant for comfort; they’re meant for a world-class vertical jump!
Hopefully, this combination of training methods and “tricks” will have you jumping so high that you can grab a dollar bill off the top of the backboard and make change before descending. Okay, maybe that’s a little too ambitious a goal. Still, using these time-tested methods should have you jumping considerably higher than your current best.
Taken from: Dirty Tricks for Higher Vertical Jumps - Official Website of Joe DeFranco & DeFranco’s Gym!
[/quote]
I don’t know what DeFranco is calling a “track Waffle”. Does he mean the standard track shoes with the plastic spike plate on the forefoot? If so, I agree that would be a good choice. I disagree about a shoe with maximal arch support. A stiff shoe will be good as it will add to spring but, artificial arch filling in your own natural arch will hinder the elasticity in your feet.
[/quote]
Not sure, and that sounds like a good point about shoes with maximal arch support. I guess you’re right about that.
OP, sorry I wasn’t of much help. You could always PM WhiteFlash, he knows a lot about this stuff. Or maybe he’ll come across this thread.
Obviously Moonshoes
[quote]LarryDavid wrote:
[quote]on edge wrote:
[quote]LarryDavid wrote:
WEAR TRACK WAFFLES WHEN TESTING YOUR VERTICAL!
Proper shoe wear just might be the most overlooked component of the vertical jump. DO NOT wear an old pair of running sneakers because you feel that they’re “broken in” and comfortable. This type of sneaker is the worst thing you can put on your feet when jumping! These “comfortable” sneakers actually dampen the forces that you put into the ground. This, in turn, lengthens the time that you spend on the ground. Picture that as you rapidly descend into your jump, the foot collapses slightly and absorbs force. This dissipation of force can reduce the height of the jump.
I have my athletes wear light sneakers with a rigid sole and maximal arch support. This type of sneaker supports the first metatarsal, which is crucial to your jumping performance. I have found that track waffles are the best shoes for vertical jumping. Waffles are firm and very light. This allows for a rapid descent and take-off with maximal support. I also recommend that my athletes purchase waffles that are half a size too small. This prevents their feet from moving around in the shoe. Remember that these shoes aren’t meant for comfort; they’re meant for a world-class vertical jump!
Hopefully, this combination of training methods and “tricks” will have you jumping so high that you can grab a dollar bill off the top of the backboard and make change before descending. Okay, maybe that’s a little too ambitious a goal. Still, using these time-tested methods should have you jumping considerably higher than your current best.
Taken from: Dirty Tricks for Higher Vertical Jumps - Official Website of Joe DeFranco & DeFranco’s Gym!
[/quote]
I don’t know what DeFranco is calling a “track Waffle”. Does he mean the standard track shoes with the plastic spike plate on the forefoot? If so, I agree that would be a good choice. I disagree about a shoe with maximal arch support. A stiff shoe will be good as it will add to spring but, artificial arch filling in your own natural arch will hinder the elasticity in your feet.
[/quote]
Not sure, and that sounds like a good point about shoes with maximal arch support. I guess you’re right about that.
OP, sorry I wasn’t of much help. You could always PM WhiteFlash, he knows a lot about this stuff. Or maybe he’ll come across this thread.[/quote]
You know man, I never really thought too much about what shoes to train in. I always jump in what’s comfortable, and my gym’s owner gives me shit for squatting in shoes with air bubbles. OP, do you have team testing coming up or are you just seeing where you’re at?
I’ve completed my testing and I assure you the most strict scientific methods were applied. For the testing I picked a spot in the warehouse underneath a support beam where a speaker cable is strung across at a point I estimated to be about my maximum leap. I stood directly underneath on the balls of my feet and arms stretched above my head, dropped quickly and jumped up, tapping as I could on the beam.
The first shoe tested was my frikken expensive Mizunos that immediately began falling apart right after buying them. With my best leap I tapped the thin cable right at the first joint of my middle finger.
The next shoe tested was my frikken expensive Negative Heel sneakers that I can’t wear 'cause they hurt my knee. With these shoes I barely touched the cable with my middle finger, so probably half an inch lower. I had trouble balancing on the balls of my feet in these and felt uncoordinated in the jump. I wouldn’t recommend something like this with out a lot of practice first and being sure ahead of time that it would improve results. Personally, I don’t think practice would help much.
Last, since I can’t use track spikes in the warehouse I used my frikken expensive Vibrams (that I can’t wear 'cause the strap irritates my Planar Fascia) as a suitable replacement. With the Vibrams I only took one leap and tapped the cable, again, right on the first joint of my index finger. To me this was the clear winner since in a testing scenario my reach would be measured probably a full inch lower than it would with the sneakers on. I think my VJ is about 25 inches (If I was 23 it would be 36 just like the rest of you liars) in regular shoes, so I’d guess it was 26 in the Vibrams.
My conclusion is regular track spikes with no heel would be best. I think it would be interesting to test with and without Kinesio tape spanning across the arch of the food and continuing all the way up to the base of the calves, under maximum tension. Maybe I’ll try that sometime.
This is the Nike Zoom Waffle. It’s a track racing sneaker. It’s not a trainer due to the “lack of cusioning” heh, we used these on track surfaces which did not allow spikes. They come in different varieties, some have hard plastic spike plates and some have soft rubber spike plates, others like this one, just have a rubber tread bottom.
They weigh close to nothing.
I would second Vibrams though. You should own a pair of those anyways, the zoom waffles might not be all that practical if you don’t run track.
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