Importance of Glutes

Importance of Glute Activation

In recent years, the posterior chain of the body has come into focus as the primary determining factor of athletic performance. While this is partially true, many trainers spend too much time on the posterior chain while neglecting the anterior chain's importance. As stated previously, their is a direct relationship between squatting power and vertical jump. Many times trainers neglect the primary movement of the vertical jump. The vertical jump is a knee dominant exercise, and many people commit to posterior chain exercises with mixed results. Posterior chain exercises will translate more directly to speed enhancement than vertical jump.

However, this is not to say that the posterior chain is important. A strong posterior chain is vital in avoiding injury, gaining those extra inches on your vert, and maintaining physical balance. For every knee dominant lower body exercise that is used during a workout, a hip dominant exercise should also be employed. This is important to make sure the glutes and hamstring are balanced with the quadricep. Athletes should also make sure they save their central nervous system for knee dominant exercise. They should always perform a knee dominant exercise first because knee dominant movement is more relevant to vertical jump.

Athletic Propulsion Labs

Is it for Real?

Athletic Propulsion Labs is a company that has recently come into existence making very bold claims. They have a shoe promising to increase your vertical by a significant and noticeable amount. They claim the average user will experience and increase of about 3-4 inches just by putting them on. This is a huge statement, and if it is legitimate these shoes will absolutely turn the shoe industry upside down, with implications in major sporting leagues instantly. So are they legit?

The answer is:

Potentially, but probably not to the point they are promising. There are a few reasons why. First of all, there is 0 video evidence anywhere showing that these shoes work. You would think that there would be some sort of demo video to stir up hype. Secondly, there is no way the shoe could make everyone's vertical increase. Anatomical differences and jumping styles will surely limit the effects of it. The shoe will probably work better for bi-lateral jumpers than single leg jumpers, but we still do not know. Fortunately, the shoe is made by some seemingly trustworthy individuals, but the truth on the validity of this shoe is still up in the air.

CC http://yfrog.com/5cproduct2j

Single Leg Strength

The New Fad

Single leg strength is quickly becoming one of the most popular aspects of athletic training. For many years improving single leg strength through unilateral exercise was simply considered"functional exercise", an exercise that worked on stabilizing the core, maintaining flexibility, and improving sport specific on the field motions. However, more recently, single leg exercises have taken center stage in the performance enhancement community.

Can Single Leg Exercises completely replace Bi-lateral exercises?

Absolutely not. While recently world renowned Mike Boyle has claimed that he no longer performs squats in his program, I am not ready to jump to that conclusion. There is a reason that the parallel squat has been considered the king of all exercises for decades. While Boyle's modification of the squat to a rear foot elevated single leg version is certainly effective. It does not replace some of the benefits of a two leg squat. First of all the body does not recruit as many muscle fibers because the weights are not heavy. Secondly, the back is not put under the same load even though the legs are, so the posterior chain is not stimulated as greatly as it should be. Finally, the exercise is very difficult to perform without proper flexibility coordination and a good spotter. Overall, there still is no replacement for the two legged squat. Yet.

Training Program Review: Vertical Jump Project

There are hundreds of vertical jumping programs available for purchase on the web, but none really get the hype that Vertical Jump Project receives. It is Luke Lowrey's creation, a 25 year old guy who claims to know all of the secrets of vertical jumping. The most amazing promise in the entire program is that people can legitimately double their vertical jump if they put their mind to it. With a varying price that at minimum sits at 200, you would think this probably is the most advanced and effective program out there. However, this could not be further than the truth. This program is an absolute fluke that will leave you with little improvement after a ton of work. There are many reasons why this is true.

Lack of Squats
As stated in previous posts, the ability to have a good body weight to squat ratio is absolutely crucial. However, in this program, you squat about once every three weeks for 3 sets. This is not going to provide much training benefit. Luke claims that squats are not really that effective when it comes to vertical jump training, however this could not be more false. Time and time again people have shown that squatting is the most important determining factor of a vertical jump. There are other squatting movements in the workouts, but none actually utilize heavy weights and therefore improvements in one rep max are not going to happen.
Workload
I have personally tried to complete this program before. However I found that the actual time it takes to complete the daily schedule is absurd. Without any stretching or warming up, the program still takes at minimum 2 hours. Luke actual claims that you should not stretch pre workout at all? Really? Just about every trainer in the country believes in at least a dynamic warmup, but Lowrey doesn't mention anything.

There are quite a few other reasons for concern regarding this program. But overall, you can trust me that there are better ways to spend your time.

picture CC