Jump Into June

Why jump?

Jumping and high-impact exercise have numerous benefits including improvements in:

·         Bone mineral density

·         Muscular strength

·         Postural stability

·         Athletic performance via enhanced explosivity and running efficiency

Traditionally, jump training has been limited to younger athletes who are focusing on sport performance, but recent studies show that jump training has benefits relevant to all age groups and sport backgrounds. 

---

Let’s make jump training fun!

For the month of June we will be using hopscotch to gamify jump training. Earn a draw prize entry each day that you play a game, earn a bonus entry for successfully completing a full round of hopscotch.

---

Want to learn more about jump training?  Here’s an excerpt from an excellent review paper on this topic:

“Although plyometric exercises were originally utilized in sports training to promote jump performance, agility, muscular power, and rapid force production [28–31], these same effects of plyometrics can be beneficial for older adults. For example, high-speed training, which is associated with increases in muscle power, has been shown to increase functional performance and health-related quality of life in older women [32, 33]. Such increases in functional performance and health-related quality of life may be partially explained by increases in rapid force production, which declines more than maximal strength [34]. In daily life, rapid force production is crucial in situations when balance needs to be corrected quickly after tripping [35, 36], and its decline may be a major contributor to the loss of independence and falling accidents and injuries in older adults [7, 37]. Additionally, both agility and lower-extremity muscle power correlate well with balance [38], and having greater agility and more powerful legs thus likely indicates improved balance, which may decrease the risk of fractures and other fall-related injuries. Therefore, if increasing or maintaining rapid force production and power output of the lower limbs can help to maintain independence and decrease the fear or risk of falling, plyometric training may help maintain or increase one’s quality of life.”