Jim,
Will loading the box jump (weighted vest) produce any improvement in the vertical jump or explosiveness in general?
Edit: and would you ever use this exercise to train any of your athletes?
There are certianly plenty of YouTube dudes out there that use barbell jumps/barbell box jumps, etc. in their athletic pursuits. These videos are then heralded by the FORUM POLICE as being culturally significant to all people who train and who have no experience bounding.
So while they make for a cool video it isn’t something I generally tell people to do. Most people won’t even do box jumps because (and this is true) they literally think it will make them weaker. Fucking BB is ruining training.
Anyway, using a weigh vest is a pain in the ass when box jumping because it moves around. Using DB’s is kind of a joke so you are left with a barbell - and that gets hairy. I’ve done all of these and NOTHING beat 42" bounds over 10 hurdles.
No way I would load an athlete on a jump. Rare that I’d ever get an athlete that advanced and I think there are much better ways to increase your jumping. Or do the jumping.
Thanks. Never thought of using tall hurdles that way (only ever used the small plastic ones for agility work), but it makes sense.