Research shows vertical jump performance correlates with skating speed.

Not only that, I've noticed that without fail my fastest guys on the ice have the highest jumps on their team.

So I figured I'd disclose three great (but quite uncommon) exercises for increasing your VJ today.

That said, these are advanced movements you should NOT try if you can't squat two wet socks. Revisit this topic after you've spent enough time inside the squat rack.

With that mandatory disclaimer out of the way, let's dive right in...

1. Band ​Resisted ​Kettlebell ​Swing

I'm not a huge fan of kettlebells but this is one of the few KB exercises I like.

But why use a resistance band for this? Couldn't you just do regular kettlebell swings?

Two reasons:

* It accelerates the eccentric (lowering) part of the movement.

* It forces you to generate more force (see what I did there??) on the swing because there's more tension/resistance the closer you get to the top.

So what we get is a rapid eccentric followed by a powerful contraction.

Which happens to be exactly what we want in a vertical jump.

2. Depth ​Jump

An oldie but a goldie.

You step off a low to medium height box and immediately explode into a vertical jump in a reactive fashion.

The elevated drop overloads the stretch reflex, "shocking" the nervous system and priming it for positive changes in explosiveness.

3. Trap ​Bar ​Jump

Loaded jumping is another great method for training the nervous system to produce higher jumps.

We generally use around 40-60 kg on the trap bar with my athletes.

To discover how to program these (and lotza mo') VJ-increasing exercises into your workouts, jump right over to:

http://www.NextLevelHockeyTraining.com

Yunus Barisik