Run Faster Jump Higher

Your Trainer: Tim DiFrancesco - head S&C coach for the Los Angeles Lakers and President of TD Athletes Edge, where he provides fitness, recovery and nutrition guidance to aspiring and professional athletes.

Regardless of the sport you want to master, the game-changing attributes atop your hit list no doubt include moving faster and jumping higher. However, logging long, grueling training hours in search of adding inches to your vertical jump or shaving seconds off your sprint times with nothing to show for it can be supremely frustrating.

Fortunately, these four simple strategies will help you shed light on the small mistakes you might be making and then show you how to blast past old PBs to blitz your competition. 

Check your symmetry

You wouldn’t expect a car to perform well in a race if three wheels were inflated to different levels and one was flat.

So, expecting your body to set athletic personal records with musculoskeletal asymmetries is just as unreasonable.

By being more aware of how your body moves through the fundamental movement patterns, you’ll be able to recognize performance-stealing problems you have with your symmetry.

How to fix it

First, seek a skilled movement-based clinician to do a comprehensive evaluation on you.

If this isn’t in the cards, an easy solution is to become more skilled at assessing your body movement.

The gym mirrors can help you do that more than if you took a wide-angle workout selfie.

They’ll also help you spot movement asymmetries you never knew you had. They’re best done with leg movements. 

What to do

Perform your best squat, single-leg squat and lunge while you look to see if you shift off to one side, one knee caves in or if your balance is far different on one side versus the other.

It’s important to recognize that you’re looking for significant one-sided differences here.

There’s no need to get carried away with tiny, trivial asymmetries. No human body is perfectly symmetrical. 

A major shift in your squat, one knee that drastically caves in on your single-leg squat or a loss of balance on one of your lunges will ultimately sabotage your ability to jump higher or run faster.

As you become more skilled in recognizing movement asymmetries you’ll be able to recognize if they’re coming from a lack of flexibility or a lack of strength.

When you identify an area of poor flexibility or weakness you can correct it, start moving more efficiently, jumping higher and running faster. 

Single-leg success

You’ll need super single-leg strength, stability, and power to get game-winning sprint speed and vertical jump gains.

Remember: awe-inspiring jump height and lightning-fast sprint speed require impressive performance from each leg individually.

This means your training needs to include a healthy dose of single-leg strength and stability work.

Single leg drills

Here are the best exercises to enhance your single-leg performance:

Do 4 sets of 6-8 reps on each of these moves each time you use them. 

1: Rear foot elevated lunge

Works: quads, hamstrings, glutes, calves, core, glutes

A) Place one foot 2-3 feet in front of the other with your back foot placed firmly on top of a bench or 12-inch box. You could also use the bottom step on a flight of stairs if you’re working out at home.

B) Making sure your front heel stays on the floor, bend the front leg’s knee and hip to lower yourself as far as possible and then return to the start. 

2: Single-leg squat

Works: glutes, hamstrings, quads, calves, abs

A) Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart. Raise your left leg off the ground so its knee is straight and in line with the base of your abs, toes facing the ceiling.

B) Bend your right knee to lower yourself until the bottom of your thigh is parallel to the ground. Pause, then straighten your knee to press yourself back to the start. Repeat with the other leg. 

3: Bowler squat with single-arm row

Works: glutes, hamstrings, quads, lats, biceps

A) Stand on your left foot and hold a dumbbell in your right hand. Lift your right leg behind you and sink into a squat on your left leg. 

B) Bend your torso over and bring your right arm forward and across your body. Your raised leg will simultaneously move backward to create balance. Lower your torso until it’s parallel to the floor. Return to the start position, then row the weight to your chest.

4: TRX vertical row to single-leg press

Works: glutes, hamstrings, quads, core, lats, biceps

A) Set the TRX directly overhead so you’re sat beneath it, holding the straps with your arms straight. Extend your legs before you, but keep your left leg raised and right foot on the floor.

B) Pull yourself until the TRX grips make contact with your pectorals while straightening your right leg. Switch legs and repeat. 

The tried and true

High flyers and speed demons have a more remarkable ability to drive vertical (jumping) and horizontal (sprinting) force into the ground from their hips. This is what propels you higher and forward with more speed.

Improving your ability to drive more force into the ground through your hips comes from pushing and pulling weight with the tried and true exercises like squats, deadlifts and hip thrusts.

Many lifters feel pressure to make their workouts new and fresh using clever exercise tweaks, so to help you do this, try these change-ups on the classic squat, deadlift and hip thrust variations.

They are timeless because they produce results when you’re sprinting and leaping. 

1: Dumbbell goblet squat 

Works: glutes, hamstrings, quads, calves, abs

A) Stand with your feet hip-width apart holding a dumbbell in front of your sternum with both hands so your elbows are flared. 

B) Bend your hips and knees to lower yourself toward the ground. Stop when the bottoms of your thighs become parallel to the floor, but go deeper if this feels comfortable. Rise to the start. 

2: Barbell hip thrust

Works: glutes, hamstring calves. 

A) Begin seated on the ground with a bench directly behind you. Rest a loaded barbell on your upper thighs and hold it there with your hands. 

B) Drive through your feet, extending your hips vertically through the bar. Your shoulder blades and your feet should support your weight. Extend as far as possible, then reverse the motion to return to the starting position.

3: Hex bar deadlifts

Works: quads, glutes, lower back, abs

A) Stick a hex bar on the ground in front of you. Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart inside the opening of the bar. Bend at your knees and hips to bring your upper body towards the weight. Grab it with an overhand grip. 

B) Use your thighs to raise the bar so your legs become straight. Take 2-4 seconds to lower the weight back down, keeping your back straight. 

Keep your training complex

Combining plyometric exercises with your heavy strength work is a great way to get more out of your jump and sprint training.

And while it’s important to stick to the basics, adding some contrast training is vital.

This is when you pair a heavy strength exercise with a similar plyometric movement so you train your neuromuscular system to excel during explosive activities like jumping and sprinting.

In other words, you practice to convert strength into power more efficiently in both the short and long term.

This is huge for gaining a few inches on your vertical, or cutting time off of your sprints, but complex training has other benefits as well.

Joining heavy strength work with plyometrics during the appropriate training phases tends to be more sport specific from both movement-requirement and work-capacity perspectives.

Beyond that, it adds excitement to your workout without sacrificing your training goals.

COMPLEX TRAINING PAIR-UPS

Do 6-8 reps on the first exercise then 2-4 reps on the second. Repeat for 4-6 sets. 

1. Cable deadlift pull-through – broad jump

2. Dumbbell goblet squat – box jump

3. Barbell hip thrust – bounding