Review of Jumpsoles and Strength Shoes-- Do they truly work?
Jumpsoles are one of the icons of the vertical jump training world. They have been around because the '90s and claim to increase your vertical jump by 5-10 inches by adding fast-twitch muscle fibers in the lower leg.
In this evaluation, you are going to discover if Jumpsoles in fact work and whether there are better options out there.
What are Jumpsoles?
Jumpsoles are basically a basic rubber platform you attach to your own shoes. They make it difficult to touch the ground with the heels therefore increasing the work of the calf muscles.
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Jumpsoles come with a plyometric vertical jump training program provided on DVD or VHS (yes, they are that old). The workouts of this program are intended to focus your body weight onto your calves and train you to spring off the balls of your feet like a powerful feline.
A comparable alternative: Strength Shoes
The difference in between strength shoes and jumpsoles is simple. While jumpsoles attach a rubber platform to your own shoes, strength shoes already included a pre-attached platform you can't eliminate.
The training philosophy behind the strength shoes is identical to the approach of the Jumpsoles. As you are required to do your workouts on the tip of your feet, your calf muscles get a heavy exercise in theory increasing your vertical jump.
In this post, whatever related to Jumpsoles is also true for strength shoes.
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How do Jumpsoles work?
Jumpsoles come with an 8-week training program of specific plyometric exercises. You perform these workouts two times a week with the rubber platforms connected to the front of your shoes. You can check out the total training program here.
Exercises range widely: 1-foot dives like skipping, fast two-footed dives (like lateral cone hops), and slower, two-footed jumps (like box jumps).
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These exercises are similar to the workouts in numerous other vertical jump programs and are proven to increase your vertical jump even without the addition of Jumpsoles.
At first, you will feel a bit awkward when training with Jumpsoles connected to your shoes. They are uneasy and rather heavy and the extra weight is very distracting specifically for one-foot dives.
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So, should I utilize Jumpsoles?
The difference in between doing the recommended exercises with or without Jumpsoles is the increased strength for the calf muscles. Does that even make sense?
I believe there are 2 reasons this is NOT the most reliable way of training your vertical jump:
1. Calves play only a little part in leaping
Vertical Jump height is identified by the fast extension of 3 different joints: hips, knees, and ankles. This so-called triple extension is a movement pattern including a great deal of different muscle groups like the feet, calves, upper legs, glutes, lower back, and even shoulders and arms.
The calves are only estimated to contribute between 10% -20% to the vertical jump height. Other muscles (like the quadriceps) are much more essential and contribute as much as 50% or more to leaping ability. This differs depending upon your leaping design (one-foot jumpers depend more on the calves, two-foot jumpers less), however it shows focusing on the calves might not be the best concept.
You can also do a little experiment for verification. Try to jump with your knees and hips totally extended and just using your calf muscles. You have to have pretty strong calves to get off the ground.
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2. Jumpsoles might destroy your jumping strategy.
You want to do workouts that closely look like the real motion for which you are why not try these out practicing if you desire to improve any athletic capability. By only leaping from your toes, your body might really "forget" how to jump using your heels.
By training with jumpsoles, you will become excellent at this really specific kind of jumping, but you still need to equate your new ability back to routine vertical leaping.