| First of all make sure to check out parts 1 - 5 | | | | a way to condition. Steve Cotter makes an excellent |
| Here's what was covered in these parts: | | | | point in his talk on power development training: It's |
| Part 1: Kettlebell exercises to jump higher | | | | like homeopathic medicine. You want a little bit of the |
| Part 2: Band training secrets to improve your vertical | | | | poison so that you adapt to it and get stronger and |
| leap | | | | more powerful. So only a little bit of power |
| Part 3: What to do the 22-23 hours outside of the | | | | development training in stairs can go a long way. Just |
| gym to maximize your vertical jump | | | | remember to work hard, be intense and don't over |
| Part 4: What does speed have to do with jumping | | | | do it! In fact our power development work in the |
| higher? | | | | stairs only takes up 15-25 minutes 1-2 times a week. |
| Part 5: Technique, weaknesses and mobility to | | | | Stairs serve as excellent equipment for plyometric |
| maximize your vertical | | | | training for many reasons. You have steps which |
| Of course I could not write an article on vertical jump | | | | serve as indicators of improvement. When an athlete |
| training without discussing stair exercises. After all | | | | begins he/she may be able to hop up 1 step at a |
| they do call me "The Stairs Guy, The Stairs Guru, | | | | time. As the athlete improves they can hop up 2-3 or |
| and even Step Daddy"! I was also fortunate enough | | | | even 4 steps at a time showing marked |
| to see first hand how valuable stair training can be | | | | improvement. |
| when I served as strength coach the WNBA's New | | | | Actual plyometric training equipment can be very |
| York Liberty in 2002 & 2003. We actually found | | | | expensive and usually is not available to many |
| ourselves with out places to train. Can you imagine | | | | athletes. This is not the case with stairs. |
| that? Well at the time the New York Knick's training | | | | The next reason is because stairs are excellent for |
| center was under construction and it really caused | | | | high end anaerobic conditioning and speed |
| problems for us. | | | | development. So what do I mean by high end |
| So why am so hung up on stair training for power | | | | conditioning. Simple: The conditioning that leaves you |
| development? The first reason is that stairs lend | | | | bent over and gasping for air. Getting in killer shape is |
| themselves great to plyometric training. | | | | important because jumping takes a lot of you. More |
| The exercises of choice are usually box jumping and | | | | importantly is that a great jump is just that a great |
| bounding when it comes to plyometric training. Stairs | | | | jump. You want to also be able to have a great jump |
| can replace the need for a box and bounding actually | | | | through out an entire basketball game. Don't be the |
| requires no equipment. Another thing I like about | | | | athlete that looks good in warm-ups when nothing is |
| stairs is that you can develop a rhythm which I | | | | on the line. Be the athlete that can jump, block shots, |
| believe to be very important. By this I mean you | | | | get rebounds, dunk and make a difference in the 4th |
| jump from stair to stair for the prescribe number of | | | | quarter. |
| repetitions. You really can't do this with a box which | | | | On top of that is that running and hopping up stairs |
| makes the stairs a better choice. | | | | for conditioning will in fact improve strength and |
| Another thing is I believe a hard surface works best | | | | power. In fact even if you just adopt running up |
| when doing power development training. A harder | | | | stairs for conditioning you'll notice significant |
| surface gives you a better ground reaction force | | | | improvement in strength and power. The reason for |
| thus making you more powerful. Some trainers | | | | this is because you are training to move your body |
| actually use sand training and I think this actually | | | | against gravity and that inherently has a strength & |
| defeats the purpose of getting a forceful | | | | power component. Even further is that in season you |
| stretch-shortening reaction. Keep this in mind though | | | | will want to curtail the heavy power development |
| as a hard surface can be hard on your joints. Stair | | | | work because of all the jumping you are already |
| work for power development should be done no | | | | doing. But you can still do the high end anaerobic |
| more than 2 times a week. And if you are in season | | | | conditioning (usually running up stairs) because it is |
| it should be done only once a week with very low | | | | time efficient and gives lots of bang for your buc |
| volume or low level hops (1 or 2 steps at most) and | | | | (conditioning, strength & power). |