We went down and visited Ben Patrick, Knees Over Toes Guy, and we tried to figure out his secrets that we can use to improve sports performance, recovery, and, in specific instances, improve people’s vertical jump. So I was able to ask Ben directly, and he came back with some key elements used to help improve the vertical jump

Doing sled work makes sense why Ben has a 40 inch vertically. When we did the sled with Ben, he cued the intention of driving forward with the sled. It made pushing the sled like a weighted jump through the concentric motion. The cue and the movement coordinate the body to drive that load which transfers to the jump. Or as Ben said, “When we are pushing we are in that jump position.”

Ben also noted that when we go backward, “We are in that position that is crucial for landing.” Going forward and going backward prepares athletes to still be bouncy at the end of a game. So the sled trains an endurance aspect, has the intent of acceleration as much as possible, and then the deceleration to absorb impact better to react quicker.

At the beginning of pushing the sled, Ben cued, “Drive through the big toe.” High jumpers are always thinking about the toe-off position. Essentially big-toe off into the jump. Jumping off of one leg, so not directly to a vertical, but to the court, and jumping off of one leg will transfer to more joint stiffness and bigger jumps.

Driving through the big toe. Drive forward. Jump forward with it. 

Often times we have athletes, high school football players are notorious for this, especially linemen, in that we see them pushing a sled really upright and flailing their knees all over the place instead of driving forward. I feel we are missing out on the concentric action in this regard.

The concentric action of the sled can drastically lead to improvement in the vertical jump. And athletes who typically jump off of two legs may struggle with the coordination of jumping off a single leg. Using the sled work is paramount.

Another big factor was focusing on driving the big toe, keeping the Achilles stiff so the heel doesn’t drop while driving, and keeping tension through the heel while pushing forward. That is where all the power will come out of. Everyone thinks about loading the sled up as heavy as possible (which is fine), but if we are looking for more rapid rates of coordination, which a vertical jump is, we don’t need a ton of weight on the sled, as long as we focus on the proper cues. 

The pushing and pulling of the sled will also increase the ability to ground. Being able to ground and react quicker, now we can reap greater benefits from plyometric movements.

Ben made a comment about, “Taking the concept of being strong, but then applying the reverse.” As he said this, he physically moved his body to add meaning to his words. The concept of being strong in this case was demonstrated by extending the body as if to jump. The idea of applying the reverse he illustrated by performing the eccentric portion as if landing or going into a squat. It was poetry literally in motion.

Al Vermeil brings up triple flexion quite a bit. Ben brings this up as well and uses it to guide his accessory work. This means doing hip work, different knee work (like nordic curls), and different ankle work (tibialis raises). If we do nordic curls, targeting the hamstrings, which are responsible for knee flexion and hip extension. So if we train knee flexion and hip extension very well, the stronger are hamstrings and hips are, the better we can absorb the energy. The same thing goes with working on the tibialis. Think of doing the penultimate step before launching into a jump. Our calves have to be strong to handle that brunt force.

It is important to do all this work twice a week. Do any type of movement that involves knee flexion, hip flexion, and anything that involves ankle dorsiflexion and you will improve your vertical jump.