Squats in jump training

Squat… the king, the ruler of all gym exercises. I agree with this in its entirety.

I don’t write articles to you in a heavy language, but as to a normal average guy who wants to jump higher.

If someone asked me about the most important exercise we can do in the gym, I would answer squat.
Well, yes… but which one?

YouTube and trainers flood us with versions of squats often invented to attract attention. One puts on bands, one puts a barbell on his forehead and stands on dumbbells, a third will do it even without legs, just to make a young guy think “awesome trainer, he must have discovered some mega jump exercise”. Honestly. He shat himself, not discovered it.
When someone says that he tests some strange exercises and training methods on himself, I get a knife in my pocket.

Sorry, but I am one of those people who trust people like:

• Poliquin
• Verkoshansky
• Thibaudeau
• DeFranco
• Starret

and many other authorities in the field of training and not only, and research done on the best equipment, and various groups of athletes.

When entering YT, often after typing in, squat technique, or squat, we get versions that have little to do with jump training, and usually
they are bodybuilding variations. We are not bodybuilders, we are athletes striving to be stronger, faster, and more explosive in their discipline.

No video will tell you to stand on your big toe while sitting to additionally engage the long flexor of the thumb, and at the same time achieve triple extension.
Yes, I will tell you that. Because small things, like rolling a towel with your fingers to exercise this muscle, and that’s another few cm thanks to which I scraped off 123 cm of jump.

Back to squats.

If you think that I’ve been doing some fancy versions my whole life, you’re wrong. And although I had the opportunity to try practically every version of squats

– low bar
– high bar
– back
– front
– box squat
– landmine
– zercher
– even on a shitty gantry.

I don’t count Bulgarian lunges, although I should too 🙂

Here’s a note:
I regularly trained by doing: back squat high bar (very rarely fronts), box squat

That’s it. Are you shocked? Why so? And because I simply didn’t need to, if someone knows the rules, what is more involved in a given form of squat, how the posture changes, and our body behaves, then we can look for the right version for ourselves.

This is not an article describing the squat technique, tempo and how to match them to our jumping technique, because I will write about that another time.

I am writing this to let you know that the simplest methods are the most effective, because you can make the fewest mistakes with them.

Finally, I will only explain why I did squats, in this case the back squat (benefits for the athlete)

– the squat as a whole is very closely related to jumping higher strength*speed-power
– it puts a lot of strain on the posterior chain, glutes and biceps, it is very transferable to sprinting and vertical jump
– you sit more back, so you can take more weight
– compared to the front squat, it does not limit us how much weight we can hold on our shoulders (all world records are for the back squat)
– it is the best abdominal and deep muscle training
– it is a determinant of athleticism. An element of powerlifting, drafts, etc.
– performed in full range increases flexibility
– it takes care of the strength and health of our knees
– increases bone mineralization, and strengthens tendons and ligaments (especially extended eccentricity)
– when you squat, you gain strength in deadlift, and when you do deadlift, not necessarily in squat (squat is more complex)
– you take care of the entire posterior chain, its health and strength
– a large weight stimulates the nervous system incredibly
– it can be modified depending on the goal:
building strength – large % CM
speed – small % CM

these are just a few advantages thanks to which you will jump higher.

But squat is not everything, if it were so, everyone who sits a lot would jump 120 up, it is only an element of jump training, but when it comes to strength training it is the most important element.

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Damian Hadzbe Harsze