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Will not work better than squats, depth jumps, and practicing your SVJ and 3 step VJ  

I could imagine the cables pulling you back during the 3 step VJ and making your steps a bit less coordinated.

Powerlifting!

You have the chance to set a record?!?!

Do it man.

Quote from: Dreyth on April 19, 2012, 05:27:32 pm

Quote from: Gary on April 19, 2012, 03:40:53 pm

NO barbell, just bands.

http://www.verticaljumping.com/power_jumper.html

The Portable Power Jumper is composed of bands that attached to holders you wear around your ankles. You loop the bands across your shoulders and they stretch as you lift your torso away from your ankles (where the bands' ends are secured) in a jump. The resistance obviously grows as the bands stretch, forcing you to accelerate more than usual in order to get the same velocity off the ground.

Using too much band resistance defeats the purpose. Just a little band resistance fires up your nervous sytem to make you move faster (and hence jump higher) once the bands are off. Too much resistance turns this back into a weighted squat practically and moves you from speed over to the strength side of the speed-strength curve.

You don't HAVE to buy the PPJ. You can use a couple of mini bands. Loop one under each foot and then over the neck and then jump.

Again, this may not be what you need. But it helped me. A little accomodating resistance "taught" my body how to move more quickly, develop force faster, etc. This was after a couple years of doing nothing but heavy squatting and deadlifting. I'd gotten much better at moving heavier things slowly, but I hadn't practiced moving quickly. The band jumping "turned the speed on". What was amazing was how quickly it did it. Immediate improvement after just a few triples with the bands. Gains promptly slowed down after that and I never got to 30" before I had to take a break from lower body work. But 2" in one day isn't bad (and indicates that I just really needed something to force me to move faster with my existing strength).

honestly, just do depth jumps.

I'm guessing you don't realize I'm the guy who had to drain all that fluid out of his banged up knee every day for a couple of years..?

And don't assume that I didn't try depth jumps. You seem exasperated that the bands worked better for me than the depth jumps did. Why is that?

I was unclear.

I was telling the OP to do depth jumps, but I quoted you 

NO barbell, just bands.

http://www.verticaljumping.com/power_jumper.html

The Portable Power Jumper is composed of bands that attached to holders you wear around your ankles. You loop the bands across your shoulders and they stretch as you lift your torso away from your ankles (where the bands' ends are secured) in a jump. The resistance obviously grows as the bands stretch, forcing you to accelerate more than usual in order to get the same velocity off the ground.

Using too much band resistance defeats the purpose. Just a little band resistance fires up your nervous sytem to make you move faster (and hence jump higher) once the bands are off. Too much resistance turns this back into a weighted squat practically and moves you from speed over to the strength side of the speed-strength curve.

You don't HAVE to buy the PPJ. You can use a couple of mini bands. Loop one under each foot and then over the neck and then jump.

Again, this may not be what you need. But it helped me. A little accomodating resistance "taught" my body how to move more quickly, develop force faster, etc. This was after a couple years of doing nothing but heavy squatting and deadlifting. I'd gotten much better at moving heavier things slowly, but I hadn't practiced moving quickly. The band jumping "turned the speed on". What was amazing was how quickly it did it. Immediate improvement after just a few triples with the bands. Gains promptly slowed down after that and I never got to 30" before I had to take a break from lower body work. But 2" in one day isn't bad (and indicates that I just really needed something to force me to move faster with my existing strength).

honestly, just do depth jumps.

I currently have jumper's knee right now. I've stopped playing basketball for like 3 months, and squat lightly only once  a week to maintain the strength.

My squat got up to 405x4 but I never deadlifted, so I think part of the reason I got it was through muscle imbalances.

Here's what I'm doing to help myself:

VMO Activation - I'd rather have my VMO fire before the rest of the quad because it stabilizes the patella. This would be safer. If you look at my thread here, I noticed that in my left knee where I have jumper's knee, the VMO doesn't fire clearly before the rest of the quad, where as in my right leg it does: http://www.adarq.org/forum/strength-power-reactivity-speed-discussion/vmo-firing-patterns-%28video%29/

Glute Activation - My quads were very overractive since I never deadlifted. Perhaps my quads are taking over in movements that should be glute-driven, which is putting more strain on my patellar tendon.

Quad Foam Rolling - This will help with the tightness in my quads and help them "relax" more.

Rectus Femoris Stretching - This is the single most effective stretch I've done that helps alleviate the pain in my knee: http://davidlasnier.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/sports-training-rectus-femoris-stretch.jpg
^^ Yes, the back leg must be up like that. Otherwise you're just stretching the hip flexors. It will also help combat the overactivity of my quads.

Strengthen Hamstrings - I really have to strengthen the antagonist muscle to my quads to help inhibit the overractiveness of my quads. My hamstrings are VERY weak compared to my quads, and that can't be healthy.

Lift weights again one day. Then, on that day and for the next 2 days, don't play basketball or do any plyos. The next time you step on the court you will get higher.

It sounds like you just need a little bit of rest right now. Otherwise, practice your jumps in your plyo sessions. Maybe you're not coordinated enough to jump higher.

Here is something I noticed.

I have jumper's knee in my left knee. My right knee doesn't give any pain anymore.

When I flex my left quad, the VMO and the VL flex at nearly the same time.
When I flex my right quad, the VMO clearly flexes before the VL.

It is my understanding that the VMO works to stabilize the knee. I have a hypothesis that part of the reason why I have jumper's knee in the left knee is because of this firing pattern. I think I need to work on getting my VMO to fire first, like it does in my right quad.

I guess when I jump, the VMO contracts slightly before the rest of the quad, acting to stabilize the knee and prevent it from injury. Could it be that since my left quad's firing pattern is a little off, it is aggravating my injury to some extent? Or rather, could it be it is letting the rest of my quad put more tension on my patellar tendon?

I've made a video to show what I mean below. It should be at 1080p once it's done processing:

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2neCEbA6Pw" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2neCEbA6Pw</a>





I'd appreciate any insight, and maybe some of you will find this interesting.

How many hours of sleep do you usually get at night, and how many in a pre-workout nap?