Increase in sports’ results in the last decades has mainly occurred due to an increase in the volume of strength training i.e. increase in the level of muscular strength. But why is strength so important in increasing vertical jump and other physical abilities?
1. it ensures necessary level of general physical preparation
2. it ensures the development of the strength of those muscle group, the strength of which determines success in the chosen field (in our case ability of vertical jump)
3. it enables to fix one’s attention on separate parts of the learned movement, feel the structure of the athletic exercise better.
In most cases the muscular tension in performing the exercises is higher than in jumping. The higher muscular tension is created with external resistance, for which special equipment (gym equipment) is used. In developing strength, it is very important to choose the correct amount of resistance, which is aimed at muscle groups necessary for jumping. If your previous preparedness is very weak, you should start with performing exercises with your own bodyweight. If you are not trained well, attention should be turned to general strength exercises which develop the whole body, because it enables to work with all muscles. In conclusion, we have to be trained evenly all over the body. Excellent exercises for doing so are basic exercises, which use large muscle groups of the body (thighs, back, chest etc.) along with smaller muscle groups (biceps, triceps etc.). In those exercises it is possible to implement very large resistance. But if your physical fitness is sufficient, you may use also isolated exercises, which influence separate muscle groups, often their separate parts, relatively isolated from the body. In the case of such exercises, the resistance is lower, as they develop one muscle group.
