Is this good info on broad jump? And can someone explain to me how getting better at these bounds variations will make me a better athlete?
ya it's decent.. it touches on most of the key points. arm swing is definitely important. We used to do lots of heavy med ball throws in addition to all of the strength/plyo work, really helped. And as they say, 'practice ...'.. you can improve your broad jump with skill training alone, so putting in the reps helps.
as for how standing broad jump will make you a better athlete?? dno, it'll help to teach you how to generate power just like a VJ will, via hip & shoulder power, rate of force generation etc. It won't really do anything magical though for athleticism.
if people weren't preparing for some kind of combine/tests, i'd use broad jump more as a measure of how training was improving overall power. I wouldn't have people perform broad jumps often at all. Actually I never had people do max effort broad jumps. We'd also be jumping over a hurdle for example, so that landings weren't deep and exaggerated. ME broad jumps can actually be VERY intense, especially when people sacrifice some form in order to attempt to get a few more inches.
Instead, I just used it as a measurement when testing every X weeks. I'd expect it (and VJ) to improve without specifically focusing on it as a skill.
We'd perform tons of movements similar to broad jumps, but not actual broad jumps, ie; hurdle jumps, multi response hurdle jumps, med ball throws with a broad jump, other forms of throws/plate swings etc.
pC!