I was first introduced to depth jumps in high school. It was part of a basketball training program at my first high school. We weren't given any explanation on how to perform the exercise and our coach had all of us dropping off a table that was at least 30 inches off the floor on our very first day. Needless to say, I really didn't see any improvement using this exercise and I thought it was kind of stupid.
With the Jump Soles program, I performed depth jumps 3 times a week. The program, at the time, didn't come with a great deal of instruction and, looking back, I know that I didn't perform this exercise correctly. Again, because of poor technique, I thought the exercise wasn't very useful.
When I put together my squat/depth jump program a few years later, I read a more about depth jumps in some volleyball magazines that gave better instruction on how to perform the exercise. This time I saw a great improvement in my vertical and started to love this exercise. One thing I did was start from a low box and then work my way up to a 24 inch box over the course of a few weeks. I really learned how to explode through my jumps starting this way.
In college, I performed depth jumps sporadically. It wasn't until I used the Science of Jumping program that I starting using them again on a regular basis. At that time, I wasn't jumping really high and could dunk with two hands off of a drop-step. It wasn't until the past few years that I stopped using them. During this time, I've had a few injuries that have frustrated me (leg stress fractures, partially torn Achilles tendon, hip strain, tendinitis) and have not allowed me to perform depth jumps like I used to perform them. The issue is that I tried to perform them like I did when I was younger, using lots of resp multiple times a week on high boxes.
With my current training, I am going to follow a set of rules and see if I can not only perform depth jumps without causing tendinitis and still see an increase in my vertical jump. Here are my "old dude rules for depth jumps":
- Soft surfaces only. No concrete or basketball courts. Either grass, sand, or on a stack of mats.
- Only one day per week. I'll need to give my legs lots of time to recover.
- Start slow and low. I've started this program performing only drop jumps off a low box. In the coming weeks, I'll switch to depth jumps off a low box and won't transition to a higher box for at least a few weeks.
- Lower rep sets. No more than 5 reps per set.
- Soft landings after each jump.
Since depth jumps have always been a part of my training when I was jumping really high, I've got to find a way to keep doing them.
C
