Anybody on this board ever use these babies ? I had a pair early in university and loaned them to a “friend” He promptly moved away to Montreal and I never saw them again… I just got a new pair yesterday and can’t wait to incorporate them into my leg program.
Just wanted to know how people on the site used them in their plyometric exercises and if they got good results.
I used these about 4 times a week about 8-10 years ago. I had not yet gotten involved in weight lifting, but the jumpsoles had a tremendous effect on my vertical jump. I can’t remember exactly, but I want to say I added something like 12"s to my vertical.
Scientific experiments with them have demonstrated no differences in jumping ability in groups using the platform shoes vs groups who trained exactly the same without the platform shoes. It’s the workout that gets results not the shoes. There were a couple of differences unrelated to jumping. In the platform shoe group there was a significantly higher amount of injuries. There was also a tendency for a slightly greater increase in calf size, but this would be expected from walking around on your toes all the time.
Anyone who wants to see the studies can look them up at sportsci.org
yeah, i wasted 100 bucks on them… id return them if i were you and get your 90 day refund or whatever. you can get better results from just working out and practicing dunking.
They do not work.
12" on your vertical from Jumpsoles is a lot. If that is an accurate number, I’m sure there were other factors that played into that increase.
make sure that your muscles and joints can handle the extra stress. This is an excellent way to grow the calve so a combination of regular weight training for power, regular plyos, and some plyos with the jumpsoles will show a big improvement. I read over the studies and they were all flawed even the ones using track athletes. how do you expect to improve in sprinting if you are not actually practicing sprinting in your normal fashion. its like practicing the front squat or romanian deadlift thinking that you will automatically get better at doing the clean. Also the issue with injury was due to using untrained athletes in one of the studies and not having a well designed program. Just look at the fact that the calves do get bigger. More cross-sectional muscle if trained properly will lead to a stronger muscle. It’s just a matter of putting all the pieces together. Too bad they did not do any direct testing of calve strenth or endurance. laters pk
Well before I purchased the jumpsoles I had not been doing any specific jump exercises. I had only been playing basketball. So it is quite possible that I would have achieved the same results by just doing the plyometric workout. But either way my vertical definitely increased.
I don’t see how they help because when you jump your heel doesn’t touch (or should not touch) the ground anyway.
One thing I wondered about them was that maybe the contraction of the calf muscles while having the food flat (not flexed may be where the benifits came from but who knows).
PK- “how do you expect to improve in sprinting if you are not actually practicing sprinting in your normal fashion.”
Tell that one to Jay Schroeder.
Its hard to jump maximally in them, so that pretty much ruins any workout you do in em…
Who knows any olympic sprinter who practices by not sprinting at all? tell that one to all the olympic medalists. laters pk
just because you can’t jump maximally does not mean that the muscle tension is not greater then before. there is a difference between working out with or without them. Realize that you are at a mechanical disadvantage when you wear the jumpsoles so you will not be able to jump as high. Try jumping while you are on your toes and don’t let your heel touch. also look at the dynamics of sprinting. when you wear spiked shoes your heel barely touches the ground. this is so you can get a reflex of the calve muscles as your toes hit the ground for a faster lift off. the soles are supposed to mimic this motion.
look i have not worked out in them in years. I just don’t have the time. If i did i would because the soreness that was induced was immense and satisfying. Are they worth the price, probably not. You could probably just buy spiked shoes from eastbay and do nice plyos and sprints with them and get a similar effect. I can’t wait to hit the track again. laters pk
The mechanism behind the shoes is that they increase the strength of the plantar flexors. Sufficient plantar flexion strength is necessary to fully use the explosive capability of the posterior chain, so the shoes work to help bring out the ability of the true jumping muscles(hip/lumbar). However, there are many ways to bring up plantar flexion strength, the shoes are not necessary.
I can jump and sprint fine on my toes, in fact that’s the proper way to do depth jumps and sprint 
But on a Jumpsoles its a whole new ball game. I know I’ve tried them