Hip flexors: improved speed and height

[marshall]

thanks, as some of you have suggested, i started doing windsprints. and i feel alot faster since i started doing them. (i don't run alot before i started doing them.) anyway, i figured out something. alot of people have suggested ways to getting faster by strengthening your calves, hams, quads, etc. and almost all of you have suggested wind sprints. i remember doing lunges and getting faster, wheras doing squats just seemed to make me jump higher. The reason lunges and wind sprints make you fast is because they work your hip flexors. think about it, what are the most important muscles for sprinting, hip flexors. the muscles that move your legs. also why do squats make you jump higher? they work your hip flexors

[Workaholic]

Have you tried jumping squats yet? I recently discovered this technique. I put on around 135 lbs on the squat machine. Squat to the lowest possible position where my but is perhaps few inches touching the bottom, then explosively jump up leaving the ground. I feel my flexors are getting a good work out from this. and my Quads just *BURN* plus I feel it has some cardio values :thumbup: I'm not sure if I'm getting any faster but the exercise seems to be really working the muscle groups i wanted.

[kenyon21]

i don't think hip flexors are really the most important muscle for getting faster and jumping higher...

squats make you jump higher because think about it, when you really try on a jump, do you not squat down before the jump? if you're not, you're supposed to.

i'm a basketball player and jumping has always been a big part of my game so i've always looked into ways to improve it. Air Alert 2 is the program i started using for my vertical and the two most important exercises in it involve a form of squatting, and focuses on the same muscles.

the reason squats make you jump higher is they're a major body lift, they work more than just one muscle on your legs, and they are really done training in a natural jumping action, just in reverse. i mean yeah people talk about the calf muscles being important for jumping, and don't get me wrong they are. in athletic situations, you won't be squatting down as far and more of the power has to come from your calves. but if you're looking for just having a statisticaly high vertical leap, the squats will def. make you jump higher because of the muscles worked and the way they're worked.