Tips for mastering Tuck Jumps?

[papaya]

Cathe, I'm trying to improve my form on tuck jumps and get some height like you do Should I focus more on bringing my knees up higher or is the power in the rebound and tucking my feet under? Thanks

 

[nightowl81]

bump

 

[Cathe Friedrich]

Hi Papaya! When it comes to high tuck jumps, the mastery comes from the push off. It is also a proven fact tuck jumps (or any explosive moevement) come more naturally to people with a higher ration of fast twitch muscle fiber(as opposed to those with a higher ratio of slow twitch muscle fibers in which they are better at endurance activities).

So if you are really struggling with it chances are your body makeup has more slow twitch fiber. But if you feel that you can get there and its just a matter of figuring out what to focus on, focus on the take off....do a slight squat and then power up vertically while quickly pulling your knees up under you.

If you feel you have more of a slow twitch fiber make up, then you can still make the effort to explode up as high as you can but instead of pulling your knees all the way up under you, shoot to just jump up and bend your heels up behind you 90 degrees.

Good Luck!

 

[honeybunch1]

Don't believe her - she really has springs in her shoes! ;-)

"It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt." Mark Twain ;-)

 

[fit_fairy]

>Don't believe her - she really has springs in her shoes!
>;-)
>
>"It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think
>you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt." Mark
>Twain ;-)





:7 :7 :7 :7
Catherine

 

[lemoncustard]

I finally understand why I have such problems with tuck jumps. I do much better with endurance type exercises and had already figured out that I must have a higher ratio of slow twitch muscle fibers. I had not yet related it to the "tuck jump."

Hope your recovery is progressing.

Rhonda

 

[papaya]

Ahhh, that does make alot of sense. I've actually been working to improve my fast twitch fibers in relation to speed running. I've always been a great endurance runner but at a moderate pace but am now working on speed. I've been using my Cathe workouts to help create the fast twitch fibers by doing alot of the explosive and plyometric type workouts. My running speed has improved. I will keep working on it. Thanks for the tips.

Oh and Cathe, if you happen to check back into this thread, are there any particular workout titles that stand out to you that would help develop those fast twitch muscle fibers?