I have noticed, by accident of course, that a simple vertical jump test could be used for a quick evaluation of the athlete's state of recovery and as a predictor of sprinting performance. It only takes 2 minutes and the correlation between sprint performance and the height of the jump seems pretty reliable.I am currently working with a young 400m runner. As you might know, high school track athletes have quite a few meets during the season. Spring track just started and there is a track meet pretty much every week. At some of the meets, she is running other distances as well as even high jumping and long jumping. All in all, the season can be very demanding and the challenge is obviously to peak at the right time for the important meets in the end of May.
So, by the end of winter track, she seemed a little bit fatigued, so I started measuring the vertical twice a week just do some field research. I was surprised to notice that her bilateral counter movement vertical jump had decreased to 17 inches on average, which was on average 4 inches lower than normally.
After a scheduled recovery and less meets the vertical jump went back up to 21+ inches.
The vertical jump result seemed to be a predictor of how well the next meet (the same week) will go and what kind of times she could expect. The higher and more consistent the jump, the better the time.
Now, it seems that tasks that require rapid and total recruitment of the muscle can give information whether the state of performance is optimal or not. Strength measurement does not seem to give a clear enough of an indication in her case, especially since she is not working on 1RM.
The value in this discovery is when she comes in on Monday or Wednesday to train with me, I can make educated choices for exercises, modalities and variables based on how she does on the vertical jump.
So why choose vertical jump as a tool?
2. Gives combined data on different movement systems of the body
(neurological, muscular, mental...)
3. Can be used both bilaterally and unilaterally based on the specific needs.
Single leg jump on the mat gives a little different feedback than the bilateral jump. Sometimes the lower leg is more fatigued compared to the rest of the body and single leg jump result drops even the if the bilateral jump shows no difference.
For a different purpose, the vertical jump can be performed continuously as well. By testing how many times she can jump above 21 inches in a row, can give more information on the qualities required for a 400m sprint.
To sum it up, the vertical jump test can serve for many purposes. In addition to testing power, it could be used to monitor the athlete's state of recovery and preparedness for optimal performance. I am unaware of any scientific evidence on this but the results of my subjective and small test group encourages me to keep playing around with it.
Tap yourself on the back if you read the whole thing!
Tommi
PS: Thoughts, like fleas, jump from man to man, but they don't bite everybody. Stanislaw J. Lec
