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Well, if my only goal is to get a bigger vertical, is there any real necessity to be doing upper body work? I'm doing Smolov for the next 12 weeks, so my legs and lower upper body are going to be drained from that. Any problems with ignoring my upper body? Should I be doing just enough to maintain what I've got?

Most people on this forum have a relgious belief that muscle mass hampers vertical jump. It does not significantly hamper SVJ, or RVJ off of two feet. Off of one foot, the ground reaction forces are higher, therefore more multiples of your bodyweight will be absorbed into the plant leg so it's going to place much greater stress on the tibia. In a long jump or triple jump, the GRFs are even greater and you certainly don't see muscular football players triple jumping that far. Dwight Phillips, the world champion in the long jump for the past 4 years or so used to havea lot of muscle mass, huge pecs, biceps, and still LGed 28+ ft. His SVJ was probably decent, but his long jump success was primarily due to his speed, which allowed him to create greater horizontal forces rather than vertical. I.e. he didn't get up much in the LJ but pushed forward.


I used to ignore my upperbody as well two-three years ago. It is a bad idea imo as of today because it's going to create muscular imbalances. Bench pressing and doing pullups are probably the only thing you need to do and they will make your spine feel healthier. The arm swing isn't important forcewise, but for creating the right posture/form in a vertical jump. Doing pullups and a good combo of pushing work will keep you upright and maintain integrity of the spine and do not have to add much muscle mass. DOing curls and tricep extensions can actually also improve posture but will take more time out of your day and won't contribute much to VJ. For overall health though I recommend upperbody training. The effect on vertical jump once again will primarily be impoved jumping mechanics.

Most people on this forum have a relgious belief that muscle mass hampers vertical jump.

really?

harvey: i don't think you should do smolov or smolov junior or anything but 3x5 or 5x5 or 3x8 or some other simple linear progression scheme. but if you really, really want to do it because it's the new texas method or WSBB or whatever (and i identify with that, for real), then yes, you can do upper body. you just can't do upper body as balls-out as you might otherwise be able to.

do something SIMPLE and STRAIGHTFORWARD like [press 3 x 5, chinups 3 x F], or [DB bench 3 x 10, DB row 3 x 10] after you squat. pick something and be consistent with it and push but don't kill yourself on it.

from what i'm reading sounds like you're headed towards something similar to the old school squats & milk routine.  there are several variations out there if you want to google it but the one i'm familiar with would have you following up your squats with a set of pullovers w/25lbs and then 2-3 circuits of dips, pullups and situps.