High Jumper - Should I Work My Upper Body?

[Explosive]

I really don't see top High Jumpers with built upper bodies like Mo Greene or Ahhnold. Look at Staffan Strand, Staffan Holm, especially Amy Acuff.

They all look tall and lanky (except for Staffan Holm - his legs are just like springs, but still no upper body)

So should I just ignore all upper body stuff (bench press, curls, etc) and just concentrate on legs (Air Alert)?

Thanks.

[Sprints07]

Calf raises would do you wonders. Dont worry about the upper body so much, you dont need it on high jump. Do lots of toning for your legs so you dont get huge but still get strong. And work your calves to the limit, calf raises a lot, and I'd reccomend strength shoes, they put 9 inches on my vertical, but i did it for expslosiveness out of the blocks, But none the less 9 inches to your vertical wouldhelp you a lot.

[Explosive]

Right. I'm doing Air Alert (again), but this time with a weight vest and 10lbs. Anyway I still look...should I say...dorky...in front of the females.

Seeing as how I'm tall, lanky, and not built like a football player.

[Sprints07]

About 70% of your max. if you do too little weight then its pointless.

[Sprints07]

Push it to about 80-85% after youve done it for a while though, cuz your max will only go up even if you just do light weight, test like 1 a month to see what your max is.

[DUKETJ08]

A common misconception is that jumper get all of their lift from their calves. While it is important to get some calf raises in, make sure you put a lot of attention into squats and other quad workouts. You build power in your jumps from your quads which then transerfers to calves for the final push. So you should spend a little bit of extra time on your quads than your calves, which isnt as bad as it seems because there are many more lifts for the quads than calves. Also keep your upper body toned, light weight with a extra reps, and I can't stress how important your core is. A lot of ab work will give you that extra umph to go from a 6 foot jumper to a 7 foot jumper

[Explosive]

Jumping is primarily in the quads (about 50%), as seen here:

http://www.criticalbench.com/increase-vertical-jump.htm

and here:

http://kalenm69.tripod.com/muscles

Also, what is the core exactly? Abs only? Abs and back? Abs, back, and lats?

Any help would be awesome.

[DUKETJ08]

The core is anything from the bottome part of the pecs down to the waist, front and back. Another thing I forgot to say was to work on your flexibility. Not just your back, but your entire body. The more flexible you are, the better your body i able to convert strength into power. Baisically, you need to be an all around good athelete to be a good jumper.

[Matt]

work on core and legs first

[HJfrick]

HJ'ers tends to be a bit leaner up top, but for LJ/TJ types, upper body strength isn't a bad thing, especially in the LJ.

[aidan]

there is a lot of misinformation in this thread.. proceed with caution

[HJ Beast]

This thread is win.

[HJfrick]

there is a lot of misinformation in this thread.. proceed with caution

QFE.

[dbandre]

The simple answer is no, don't worry about your upper body. It's added excessive weight that doesn't help the jumper. Most of sprinters and long jumpers you see that are built with very strong upper bodies comes from the amount strength and power work they must do to be fast. Everything in the long jump, triple jump, and 100m is about maintenance of speed and for the 2 horizontal jumps it is maintenance of speed through take-off.

A high jumper needs to be very elastic in their movements. Meaning they use energy return quite efficiently. This is especially true in the last few steps of your approach on your curve in jumping. A HJ'er with poor elasticity will square their steps and use their concentric muscle poor to try an attempt. A jumper with good elasticity will hold their curve with a better inward lean which helps in translating horizontal velocity into vertical velocity (higher trajectory) and it also helps in giving the athlete the rotational forces necessary to clear the bar properly. You are better off doing multi-jump and multi throw sessions to help develop power and elasticity than going to the weight room and slugging around in there for an hour 2-3 times a week. Keep your weight sessions short and sweet with low reps (2-5) for 4-6 sets and 4 exercises maximum with 2 of those being a powerlift (squat or deadlift) and Olympic Lift (clean or snatch) 2 days a week. Sometimes even cut out the weights when you feel fatigued.