Passive Jump Training

Written by Jack Woodrup for VerticalJumping.com

I am sure we would all like to have a great vertical jump but not have to work for it. I mean jump training takes time, effort, dedication, and planning. Wouldn't it be great if we could go about our daily lives, and still have a huge vertical? Well, in some ways you can. The answer - passive training.

What is Passive Training?

Passive training is as the name suggests - training when you are not really training. By training I think it is fair to say that most people would consider this to mean the time you are spending in the gym or on the track. These are designated 'training' times where you do specific work to increase you athletic abilities.

Non training times are generally referred to as recovery. However, there are a few things you can implement that can help improve your vertical jump that really aren't what you would normally classify as recovery based. It is these things that we like to call 'passive training'.

Figure 1 and Figure 2: Mark V doing some quality passive vertical jump training. Sorry for the blurry quality. He lost the coin toss for the photos shoot and wasn't happy.

Passive Mind Training

Training the mind is an important aspect of improvement in any athletic pursuit. If your mind doesn't believe your body can do something, than sure as anything, you won't be able to do it.

The answer of course is using visualization to produce the required mental image. Using positive mental imagery not only helps reinforces a belief that you can do what you set out to, but in the case of vertical jumping, can also be used a very effective tool to improve your technique.

If you go over in your mind enough times a mental image of yourself jumping flawlessly and flying in for a dunk, or rising above defenders to head in a game winning goal, your brain will learn how to co-ordinate the body to more easily reproduce these actions when you want them in a real life scenario.

This isn't new age mumbo jumbo either. Positive mental images are used by elite athletes across most sports. I doubt there is an Olympic weightlifter or a powerlifter alive who wouldn't mentally execute their lifts before each attempt in competition. Sprinters, tennis players, basketballer's etc all use some form of positive mental reinforcement technique to better improve their physical skills.

The use of mental imagery can be done any time you have a few moments. If you are on a bus going to school or work, before you go to sleep at night, it doesn't matter. A few minutes here and there of visualization can make a big difference to your vertical jump.

Passive Body Training

Passive training for your body may seem like a ridiculous concept. However there are a number of things you can do as you go about your day to improve your vertical jump. The first is to simply wear a weight vest around as often as possible.

Several years ago there was a study on a group of volleyball players that had seemingly peaked in regards to their vertical jump. These were elite athletes so the assumption was that they were already at the top of their genetic jumping capacity. For the prior 12 months they had not made any gains. Then they wore weight vests with approximately 10% of their body weight around from morning until night for 3 weeks. 3 weeks later their vertical jump had improved by 10%.

Using a weight vest has long been a favorite of athletic coaches. If you want to learn some more about the topic you should read our weight vest training article.

As you read this you might be thinking that this sounds easy enough. Be warned. If you way 175 pounds, that extra 17.5 pounds can get heavy pretty quickly. However, if you are persistent with it you will soon notice how much lighter you feel when you take it off, and how much more springy you are on the court. You also don't need to wear it around all day either. If you can get in a few hours a day with it on you will see noticeable differences.

The next easy thing you can do is to throw on a pair of Jumpsoles with proprioception plugs.
Something as simple as wearing these around the house for a few hours will do a number of things.

1) Increase your ankle strength

2) Increase your balance and proprioception

3) Increase your foot strength

4) Allow you to more easily find things in in high cupboards

Aside from number 4, the other 3 benefits are actually very useful for improving your vertical jump. We don't find Jumpsoles that great for jumping in, but they do have their uses, and passive training of the ankle joint is one very good one.

Conclusion

Improving your vertical jump isn't just about doing your workouts and getting enough sleep. For the serious athlete it is a 24 hour, 7 day a week proposition. The passive training techniques we mention here will not on their own give you a 40 inch vertical, but they will definitely contribute.

None of these simple activities is really demanding either, yet they will yield some surprising improvements. So next time you have some 'down' time, take a few moments to imagine yourself jumping high above your opponents. Alternatively, mow the lawn in your weight vest. All these little things add up and when combined with a good training regime and adequate rest, the results can be quite amazing.