Why Vert Shock Might Be The Best Vertical Jump Program

This post is a followup to the Jump Manual review we did not long ago on the subject of vertical jumping.

Another program, called Vert Shock, has established itself as a top vertical jump program that improves the jumping ability of an athlete.

Many basketball players have used Vert Shock to get the ultimate results and have increased their jumping ability significantly.

But there are many precautions to be taken to get things going in the way they’re meant to be. The program delivers the key points that can be used to bring out an efficient approach towards the athlete to achieve a desired result.

If you’d rather watch than read, a guy named Phil Clarke made a Vert Shock review and has broken down this program quite thoroughly.

Vert Shock Training

Vert Shock is a program which consists of loads of documentations and other things that are essential for delivering a more efficient approach towards the mission of getting a higher vertical jump. This program has helped a lot of athletes, especially the basketball players as this sport is all about jumping from here to there in order to dunk baskets and to block the opponent.

vert-shock-workouts

I’m a big fan of over delivery and Adam Folker’s Vert Shock comes in a package which consists of e-books that comprise the major part of the program. These include all the exercises that are to be done during the eight weeks of the program.

The rest of the package is occupied by the diet charts and the training schedule that needs to be followed appropriately for extremely high results to be attained.

Overall the program is an 8 week course split in to 3 phases that are strategically designed to increase your jump in an advanced systematic training.

The creators, Adam Folker and Justin Darlington (the world’s highest dunker), guarantee that by following the system in detail one can attain between 9 to 15 inches to his vertical. To prove their claims, they released many Vert Shock results to show people the effectiveness of the Folker System.

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Justin Darlington wins the Nike Dunk Contest

The Folker System

So whenever an athlete involves himself in any kind of program or sports activity, he is more likely to get sport injuries every now and then.

I know from experience in sports like basketball and volleyball, the injury rate is very high. These injuries are the result of carelessness caused during the practice of the exercises that are in other programs.

The most severe sport injury that is likely to happen to athletes that delve more into the vertical jumping exercises is the jumper’s knee – the area around the knee gets swelled up and the victim gets immobilized due to the pain.

The Vert Shock Folker System contains precautions that are taken before starting to work on the program to avoid any sport injuries. Other programs like BoingVert also do this, but to less extent.

Strength & Stamina Workouts

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Adam Folker on UC Irvine

There is an equal and opposite reaction to every action. This is the principle that can be used to explain the need to have stronger legs to prevent any sport injury while practicing vertical jumps and resisting gravity. The stronger the legs will be the higher the stamina will go to get a hold of things.

The exercises that are being done to improve the strength of the legs and to become more immune to injuries like shin splits and jumper’s knee, are many in the number.

Stretching Exercises

The stretching exercises in Vert Shock condition the whole body in the process of warming up and help in preventing the sport injuries that are quite common in programs like Air Alert. These exercises help in providing a momentum and activate the explosive parts of the muscle.

Vert Shock is very effective in providing improvement in vertical jumps but if the above mentioned precautions are undertaken the desired result is achieved more efficiently and the results stay for long term too.

One thing to mention though is that the program does not include a weight lifting module, if you’re in your teen years it’s better to wait until your skeleton is done growing and then incorporate the lifting into your workouts, other wise you might be hurting your growth spurt and stunt your height.

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Wait until you’re done growing!

For more mature athletes however (usually after the age of 18) no weight lifting would probably be a disadvantage because of several reasons, the most obvious one is that weight lifting keeps your joints more immune to injuries (especially the knees). Another benefit that could come out of it is that the lifting itself, when done in the right volumes, can produce lots of testosterone which is a benefit by itself for high intensity athletes. The reason being is that testosterone is an anabolic hormone and it speeds up the recovery of muscles after a long strain session like a basketball game.

If you are an adult athlete it might be more beneficial to actually go with the jump manual or mix Vert Shock with a strength training routine.

How Exercising Affects Testerone Levels In Men

I decided to open my first post on the blog on the topic of testosterone and its link to exercise. There are many benefits to exercising of course, but one of these benefits for men is the rise of testosterone levels.

According to health practitioners and fitness experts, there are different factors that come into play for improving testosterone levels on top of workouts. However, if you would like to reap the benefits of working out, you need to do it regularly. While training, testosterone levels rise, but only for a short period of time, mostly between 15 minutes and one hour.

If you’re a man with low testosterone, exercise alone may not be enough to raise your levels in a manner that you’ll experience a difference in the way you feel. According to endocrinologists, exercising has a more potent effect on men whose testosterone levels range from low to normal.

Factors Affecting The Effectiveness of Exercising on Testosterone Levels

There are different factors such as fitness levels, age, weight and timing of exercising that affects the effectiveness of exercises in raising testosterone levels. For people who are overweight, exercising can help them shed off the excess fats and this in turn helps to improve their testosterone levels.

On this presentation Michael Lara shows some of those factors that come into play and you can see how much weight or slice of the pie each of them has.

The age also plays a role as older men do not seem to benefit much from the testosterone boost after exercising. However, there are many other health benefits of exercising to older men such as muscle and bone health as well as better balance.

The period of exercising is also an important factor as testosterone levels differs in accordance to the time of the day. The testosterone levels are usually in their highest during the morning hours and lowest in the afternoon. According to research, strength-training exercises have a bigger effect on the testosterone during the afternoon hours.

Your fitness level also plays a role. If you’re not in a great shape and you begin exercising, you can benefit from a bigger but brief boost in testosterone levels as compared to a person who is already in great shape. However, the body will get used to the challenge after sometime and your hormone response will lower.

lifting-weights

Weight lifting is one of the best ways to increase testosterone

Why All Forms of Exercises Are Important

Endurance training such as long runs help boost testosterone levels but for a short period of time. Strength training exercises such as lifting weights causes a bigger effect on the testosterone. The good news is that there are a few strategies that you can use to get a bigger boost in your testosterone levels when doing strength training workouts. Some of these include:

  • Using more of your muscles. For instance, doing a full-body workout will have more benefits on your testosterone levels than doing one exercise.
  • Aim for intensity and not for volume. Instead of doing many light weight reps, lift higher weights (e.g. 3 sets of 10 reps at 85% of your 1RM are better than 5 sets of 15 at 70% 1RM).
  • Shorten your rest period during workout, again intensity being the factor.
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Dial down volume, up the intensity!

However, it is important to have an overall workout plan which should include flexibility training and cardios so as to enjoy an overall benefit on your health. Avoid overdoing it as it may end up backfiring on you.

Elite athletes as well as amateurs who overtrain can notice a drop in their testosterone levels and a rise in the levels of the stress hormone cortisol, this is an indication that they are harming their bodies. These athletes may suffer from signs such as excess soreness, insomnia, finding it difficult to recover from workouts and losses in strength and performance. Therefore, it is important to rest adequately between your workouts and stick to healthy meals to enable your body to recover after workouts.