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Jump Training, How to Fit It Into a Routine?

Jim Wendler 5/3/1 Coaching
#1

I am a big fan of Jim and I have two 5/3/1 books one being the simplest strength book and the other being the powerlifting Ebook.

From your books and articles I have gotten the impression you value jump training just as much as sprinting and lifting for the young athlete.

I was wondering what jump exercises you think have the best carryover to athletic endeavours and where would you fit them in and would you give them priority or use them as assistance?

I am thinking of adding them to my deadlift and squat days after my workout. However this will surely limit my ability to fully develop my jump at the cost of focusing on my lifts.

Would you rather athletes prioritise jumps as the first movement on non lifting days, like doing box and broad jumps before sprints? Or do them as a secondary movement after the lifts?

#2

Typical workout

Warm-up - 20 minutes
Flex/mobility - 15 minutes
Jumps/throws
Lift

Jumps: box jumps, bounds, standing jumps, jump over boxes/hurdles, med ball throws (various)

I don’t know how jumps would effect your lifts except make you better. Maybe I’m missing something.

#3

[quote]Jim Wendler wrote:
Typical workout

Warm-up - 20 minutes
Flex/mobility - 15 minutes
Jumps/throws
Lift

Jumps: box jumps, bounds, standing jumps, jump over boxes/hurdles, med ball throws (various)

I don’t know how jumps would effect your lifts except make you better. Maybe I’m missing something.

[/quote]

I just always felt like I had no explosiveness out of the hole when I had done box jumps before hand. Might just be being weak is the problem and the pre lifting jumps are merely highlighting that.

Thanks for the reply dude.

#4

Don’t do a ton of jumps. Something like 5x3. Maybe more or maybe less. The point is is to be explosive…crisp. No point in doing so many that they DO affect your main movements. You’ll know when you have got it right. Warm weights will feel like an empty bar and main sets will have a fluid groove to it. Tinker with it. I know since implementing these before my mains has helped A TON.

  • Brant
#5

I concur with the previous posts:

  • jumping before lifting

  • jumping first helps lifting

  • less can be more with jumping

For more ideas check out the DE day of WS4SB III. Joe D suggests 5-8 sets of 1-3 jumps; so, somewhere in the neighborhood of 10 - 20 total jumps. Something like this can work well before 5/3/1 main lifts.

#6

This is how I typically do it:

3 box jumps
Squat - 45 x 5 (empty bar)
3 box jumps
Squat - 40% x 5
3 box jumps
Squat - 50% x 5
3 box jumps
Squat - 60% x 5
3 box jumps
Squat - 75% x 5
Squat - 85% x 3
Squat - 95% x 1

#7

I second some_dude’s way of doing it. Just do 3 to 5 box jumps in between your warm up and most or all of your working sets. Don’t do any max-height jumps, that’s not what the jumps are for. Pick a height that you have no chance of missing even on a shitty day and have at it. You are just trying to awaken the nervous system, not leaping and tucking your feet for dear life.

The jumps will not affect your lifts at all. In fact, by the 4th or 5th set, your lifts should get better due to the jumps if the height is right. Don’t be afraid to lower the jump height until you find the one that benefits you most.

#8

[quote]JoeyWaters wrote:
I second some_dude’s way of doing it. Just do 3 to 5 box jumps in between your warm up and most or all of your working sets. Don’t do any max-height jumps, that’s not what the jumps are for. Pick a height that you have no chance of missing even on a shitty day and have at it. You are just trying to awaken the nervous system, not leaping and tucking your feet for dear life.

The jumps will not affect your lifts at all. In fact, by the 4th or 5th set, your lifts should get better due to the jumps if the height is right. Don’t be afraid to lower the jump height until you find the one that benefits you most. [/quote]

I agree the height of the box does not have to be excessively high. You should be able to comfortably jump onto the box, there is no reason to injure yourself. Tucking your knees does not make you jump higher. It is perfectly fine to land on the box to medium to low knee bend.

I agree with JoeyWaters in not doing max height jumps if the only reason you are jumping is the prime the CNS for lifting. However, if you are jumping for athletic performance (football, basketball, track, etc.) then jumps are as important as your lifts. In this case you should definitely do max height jumps as this is how to increase your vertical. Again you can do a max height jump with a lower box by using less knee bend.

#9

What I do is pick a low-ish box (16-20") and instead of jumping higher I stand a few feet back and jump forward onto the box (kind of a cross between a box jump and a broad jump). I find it forces me to jump hard without encouraging the frog jump tall boxes tend to encourage.

#10

Wow.

Challenge yourself people.

1 Like
#11

[quote]Jim Wendler wrote:
Wow.

Challenge yourself people. [/quote]

Don’t worry Jim. Going to train now. I’ll challenge myself. Bounding, sprinting, shuttle runs.

#12

I add jump training in by coupling it with regular reps of strength exercises. For instance, my regular squat day looks like this:

Sqaut 5/3/1
Squat 5x10
Ab Work 5x

My plyo/ jump training squat day looks like this:

Squat 5/3/1
Squat/ Jump Squat 5x5/5
Abs work 5x

To simplify, instead of doing 5x10 on the back off-sets I do 5x5 on squats immediately followed by 5 BW Jump Squats for height and explosiveness on each set. It allows me to go heavier on the squat sets and sneak in some jump work.

#13

I like to do the jumps in line with foam roling, kind of takes away how painful the It band and piriformus can be. Just breaks it up. So I foam role the quads then do a set of 5 at what id guess to be 70-80% of what I could max broad jump or box jump, then role It band, then jump, then role piriformis. I also tend to do my jump training with 1 leg.

After ACL surgery it was funny, i felt fully recoevered, could squat 405 after 6 months or so, but could get on a 10 inch higher box with my good leg. I think thats something you can do is see the difference in explosive strength between legs, defintly can identify a weakness. I seem to be able to store alot more elastic energy in my good leg then bad(or should say could until I trained them seperatly). All the best