explosive movements

Me too! When I'm doing them with wieghts I just about leave the floor! But its part of a class so the time I am down in a squat varies - much harder the longer you are at your lowest point.

Hey shewept, I don't know if it might help but I do deep squat jumps holding the straps of a TRX. I find it stabilises me so I (think) can jump higher and squat deeper without losing form in the squat (paranoid about my knees). It may be a way to try prepping for the higher tyres?

We do a fair bit of plyometric training for hurdles and jumps, and also work on weighted squats as a foundation (the heavier the better). Plyometrics is usually lots of different styles of hops and bounds - I tend to just do what my coach tells me but will ask about the science behind it and report back!

this seems sort of relevant:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=II2iGF67bVs
McGill talks alot about the need to be able to explode out of the deep squat position and that the ability to do that is heavily influenced by hip anatomy/structure.

Aw thank you all so much. I will check the link when ds is in bed. I am loving the improvement from just practising. Some people in my circuits class look like superheros because they can jump so high. Massively jealous

So my coach was a bit confused by jumping for the sake of it as he tends to do more event-specific training, but his verdict was that weight wise, heavier squats and deadlifts should translate into more power. Other things to work on might be stretching hip flexors, and developing arm strength as a strong 'pull' should help propel you forwards and upwards. I expect jumping lunges (with an emphasis on height) would help too. Let us know how you get on?

Ironmaggie that makes sense. More weight, create more power. I like it. I am increasing how high can I jump. Moved on the higher tyre today! Whoo hoo!!!!