Jumping Exercises
Page 4 of 5
Legs
- Jumping with deep knee bend. Same jump as before but start and finish with a deep knee bend. Jump with full power as high as you can while thrusting upward with the body and shoulders, but keep the arms held in guard. Land on the balls of the feet, with a keep knee bend, hesitate, and slowly lower to the heels. Make sure to get the feet to the floor as you land, do not let the floor come to the feet; if you do, you will land with a jolt.
Tuck
- Same jump as before but start with a knee bend that you would use while sparring. If you bend your knees before you jump, you will telegraph the jump to your opponent. Therefore, your normal fighting stance should be with the knees bent, and that is the amount of bend you must learn to jump from. This is not a diving exercise, so you do not spring up and down as if you were diving off a diving board into a pool.
- As you jump. Jerk the knees upward toward the shoulders. Do not pick the feet up directly under the hips and do not pull them backward as if you were kicking yourself in the butt; let the feet follow the knees and left slightly in front of the hips. Do not think about jumping the feet off the floor; think about lifting the knees to the shoulders, the feet will come along for the ride. Then quickly thrust the knees back toward the floor. Land on the balls of the feet, with a deep knee bend, hesitate, and slowly lower to the heels. Make sure to get the feet to the floor as you land, do not let the floor come to the feet; if you do, you will land with a jolt.