| By :
Glenn Devey
If you want different results, you have to do different things. That includes thoughts as well as actions. You may have come across Yoga before and dismissed it as the domain of hairy legs and lentils, which is a shame because it works. A well rounded schedule of vertical jump exercises must included stretching as well as strengthening the muscles, otherwise your hamstrings will side with gravity instead of your jump shots. Most players concentrate on building powerful and explosive thighs and calves to give themselves a rocket boost at take-off. This is absolutely key, just as working to loosen the hamstrings is to prevent the retro-rockets fighting against you. We're going to take a look at a Yoga posture that works the hamstrings to add to your usual vertical jump training routine. The posture is called Pascimottanasana, which means... "Sitting Forward Bend." Okay, stick with me here, I'll bet there's a new twist in the way we're going to describe it. The posture starts with you sitting on your butt, legs together and out straight, back upright and palms down on the floor by your sides. To start the stretch, move your arms upwards in a straight arc from the sides of your body (like you were doing the "Y" in the YMCA dance - yes, we've seen you do it) until both palms come together like in a prayer position. Now, keeping your back and arms straight, bend forwards at the bottom of your waist and stretch forwards. Here's where it starts to get interesting. The objective of the posture is to get your nose down to between your shins. This is probably going to take more than a few goes to achieve, but there are some intermediate stages you can go through whilst on the journey. They involve various places to grab with your hands. 1. If this is a totally new and challenging vertical jump exercise to you, hold the ends of a belt or rolled up towel in each hand so that you can hook it over the soles of your feet to pull you forwards and down. 2. If you're feeling wild you can grasp your ankles or shins. 3. Feeling braver and looser you might like to try hooking your first and second finger of each hand around your big toes on the corresponding foot. (Obviously... without footwear on...) 4. Enlightenment is reached when you can grab one wrist with the other hand and loop them both over the soles of your feet, but I suspect that won't happen this week. If all of the above are still too challenging, sitting on a folded towel or a foam block might make it a little easier for you. As with all stretching exercises, the following golden rules apply. 1. Warm up your muscles first, don't do this from cold. 2. Relax gently into the stretch, don't bounce. 3.Breath deeply and evenly - about four or eight complete breaths in the stretch is good. 4. Pay attention to your body's signals - if you get extreme discomfort stop. This isn't recommended for those with injury, high blood pressure or during pregnancy. (Just as jumping as high in the air as you can isn't recommended either) As with all other aspects of vertical jump exercise, quality is more important than quantity, so work on perfecting your form whilst holding this posture. It's also a great way to cool down at the end of a workout. Chanting is optional.
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