Threads like this are disturbing as hell. There is one guy that jumps really high and is really flexible and for people like Harvey the connection is immediately formed that more flexibility leads to a higher vertical. While strength increases have been shown over and over again to lead to higher vertical jumps (something that Harvey does not seem to believe), I do not know of similar cases where people just increased their flexibility and then jumped higher.
When Ziani would only eat grass, would you then conclude that his high VJ has something to do with his eating habits?
What in the fucking shit are you talking about. There are COUNTLESS INNUMERABLE examples of athletes that are weak as SHIT in the weight room who jump HIGH AS FUCK.
Strength training has NOT been shown over and over again to increase vertical jump. It does work, but some athletes have other means of jumping higher. As long as they exist, we know that there are other mechanisms besides higher force production as a result of force training such as squatting and deadlifting that increase explosiveness and vertical jump.
Kadour Ziani is not just "one guy." He's one guy who claims to only stretch to increase his hops (except for that stretch expert guy with a 14'' vertical on youtube), but not the only guy who doesn't strength train and can jump incredible high.
No of course no one would suggest eating grass makes him jump higher. Stretching is in no way analogous to eating grass.
Here is just one study showing that STATIC STRETCHING CAN INCREASE MUSCLE STRENGTH, AS MUCH AS RESISTANCE TRAINING
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21969080J Strength Cond Res. 2011 Dec;25(12):3391-8.
Resistance training vs. static stretching: effects on flexibility and strength.
Morton SK, Whitehead JR, Brinkert RH, Caine DJ.
Source
Department of Physical Education, Exercise Science, and Wellness (PXW), University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, North Dakota, USA.
Abstract
Morton, SK, Whitehead, JR, Brinkert, RH, and Caine, DJ. Resistance training vs. static stretching: Effects on flexibility and strength. J Strength Cond Res 25(12): 3391-3398, 2011-The purpose of this study was to determine how full-range resistance training (RT) affected flexibility and strength compared to static stretching (SS) of the same muscle-joint complexes in untrained adults. Volunteers (n = 25) were randomized to an RT or SS training group. A group of inactive volunteers (n = 12) served as a convenience control group (CON). After pretesting hamstring extension, hip flexion and extension, shoulder extension flexibility, and peak torque of quadriceps and hamstring muscles, subjects completed 5-week SS or RT treatments in which the aim was to stretch or to strength train the same muscle-joint complexes over similar movements and ranges. Posttests of flexibility and strength were then conducted. There was no difference in hamstring flexibility, hip flexion, and hip extension improvement between RT and SS, but both were superior to CON values. There were no differences between groups on shoulder extension flexibility.
The RT group was superior to the CON in knee extension peak torque, but there were no differences between groups on knee flexion peak torque. The results of this preliminary study suggest that carefully constructed full-range RT regimens can improve flexibility as well as the typical SS regimens employed in conditioning programs. Because of the potential practical significance of these results to strength and conditioning programs, further studies using true experimental designs, larger sample sizes, and longer training durations should be conducted with the aim of confirming or disproving these results.