Understanding a Balance Profile

How it Plays a Role In Movement

Loaded jumps have a unique stimulus compared to a depth jump due to the fact you are loaded eccentrically and concentrically with an additional mass (bar on your back). This is quit different than a depth jump where eccentrically you are overcoming momentum (mass*velocity) and the velocity being derived from the decent. Once these eccentric landing forces are zeroed, you only have to accelerate your own body weight vertically without the additional mass a barbell would otherwise provide.

So one might ask, “What is the point of a loaded jump and how much does the weight on the bar matter?”

When doing loaded jumps, during the propulsive phase you have to concentrically “work” your way up the strength curve. In other words, you have to:

1. Develop force in a quasi-isometric position. (This occurs out of the bottom position)
2. Accelerate the bar at a low velocity. (Which occurs at the initial part of the movement and depends on the weight of the bar)
3. Continue to accelerate the bar as it reaches a higher velocity. (This occurs near the mid-range of the movement)
4. If it gets moved fast enough (bar light enough), near the top you will have more demands on maximum velocity.

The Payoff

With a jump profile, you can begin to look at which movement quality the athlete is deficient in based on how they move different loads. Because velocity dictates force, we can look at how different strength qualities manifest themselves in an athletic profile and how to optimize it.

Stronger is not always better, but optimal is!

This is why jump profiling is important. Without quantitative analysis, it would be impossible to objectify if an athlete favors one side of the force velocity spectrum.

Again, this doesn’t mean they can’t jump high with an unbalanced profile, it just means they are missing out on optimization.

 

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