Chapter 4
ON THE BENEFITS OF SUBORDINATE EXERCISES
BOTH IN REGARDS TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE BODY AS WELL AS THE WELL-BEING OF THE MIND
BY DONNY SHANKLE CPT
“Familiarity Breeds Contempt.” Anonymous
8
WATER JUMPS
I have a recurring hip injury that has affected my training since the first day I took up this sport. Recently, the pain has increased and I have had to adjust my training to keep me both in shape and healthy for competition. A great exercise to strengthen your jumping power is wearing a weighted vest and performing box jumps. While this exercise carries over well in teaching the weightlifter how to powerfully use the hips during the finish, I personally wanted something with less impact due to my injury. Water jumps I found give me all the resistance I need without the painful impact of landing.
A great weightlifter is a great athlete. Athletes have the remarkable ability to adapt and improvise when the cards are down and keep themselves motivated. An injury 99% of the time will always be there especially for the long term committed weightlifter. It is up to you to not let such setbacks deter you from becoming a champion. Where there is a will there is always a way.
To perform a water jump find a pool deep enough that allows you to be completely submerged when you squat down. Blow all the air out of your lungs and sink down until both feet are flat on the bottom of the pool. Now comes the fun part. Jump as hard as you can and burst through the surface of the water. Be sure to wear some swimming trunks that tie real tight or else there is a great chance you will lose your britches at the top. Like a weighted vest during a box jump the water is your resistance. The great difference between the two you will notice is as you come down the water also catches you thus eliminating the impact on your joints.
Practicing this exercise is also a great way to relieve stress, have fun, and relax the body. I will go over other exercises the weightlifter can do in a swimming pool to optimally improve performance on the platform later on in this chapter. Your prime movers are the hips, quadriceps and glutes. The stabilizer muscles of the abdominals and calves are firing to a lesser degree because it is the water that is stabilizing you.
Reps: 3
Sets: 5
Advanced way: Wear a weighted vest in the pool
Time of duration: 10 minutes
Placement in training: Very end or active rest day
This is great. I've been doing something like this in the american river in sacramento, using the river current to challenge my stabilizers, both facing and with my back to the current. holding the squat at the bottom is a challenge, as is landing. all fun when it's 105 degrees out.
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